If you don’t see any new posts here for a while it’s because my family and I are living on the island I’m about to buy….

FROM THE DESK OF MR. LEE KIM-CHUNG
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE HANG SENG BANK LTD,
SAI WAN HO BRANCH SHAUKIWAN ROAD,
HONG KONG.

Lee Kim-Chung.

At the beginning of the week my wife gave birth to our daughter, Katherine Avery.  This was amazing and exciting and consumed all of my time and sleep (not complaining – I’d happily give up more time and sleep for her).  Saturday night before the race I was so physically exhausted that I was sure I’d have no choice but to run slow and easy the next morning.

Sunday morning, race day, I got up at 4:30am and started eating and getting ready for the race.  By the time I showed up at the event I wasn’t tired at all.  I was energetic and had this feeling inside that only competitive sports can bring out.  As I made my way through the crowd of 30,000 people the competitive spirit that I had promised to keep on a leash started getting restless.

Up ahead I noticed the 1:45 pace group lining up in their corral.  This was the group I had wanted to run with before the ankle injuries sent me to physical therapy.  By the time I had made it to corral number 5, behind the 1:45 pace group, I found myself continuously saying in my head, “It’s just a fun run.  Don’t run fast.  It’s just a fun run.  Don’t run fast.”

A few minutes before the starting gun I was positioned in the middle of everyone in the corral and still repeating the same words in my head – although by this time they were starting to lose their meaning.  I could feel myself getting more competitive as I checked out the other runners around me.

By the time my corral had made it to the starting line I found myself at the very front, eyes fixed on the corrals that had already started and anxiously awaiting the gun.  My last thought before the gun went off was, “It’s just a fun run….”

The gun shot rang out and I tore off the line, my vision fixed on the corral a few hundred yards ahead.  I felt great.  No pain or tightness anywhere.  Every joint felt like it was brand new.  As I caught up to the people in the back of the corral ahead, I glanced at my Garmin to check my pace….

Up until this point, a “fun run” meant that I needed to keep my mile times around 8:30/mile.  I felt like an 8 min mile pace might be pushing it a little too hard and my 12 Mile Issue would set in.  As I was getting ready to pass the people in the back of the corral ahead, my Garmin said I was running a 6:30 mile pace.  It was at this point I knew it was going to be hard to slow myself way down to “fun run” pace.  Competitiveness had set in completely and all I could focus on was finding the quickest way through the crowd.

At the end of mile 1 I decided to slow until I was running about a 7:30 pace and just listen to my body.  If my ankles, or any other joint, started complaining then I’d take it easy immediately.  I found myself running the same pace as a few other people around me so I followed them through the maze of other runners along the course.  By mile 5 I realized that I was still running at a 7:30 pace and everything still felt great.

The course was pretty fun.  There were bands set up about every half mile and lots of people standing on the side of the road cheering everyone along.  My favorite part was the run through downtown San Antonio.  The streets were really narrow (compared to the others we had all just been on) and there were tons of people everywhere screaming and yelling.  First mile aside, this was my fastest area of the race.  It felt like we were flying through downtown below the tall buildings.

There were 2 sections with some gradual hills where my pace slowed to about 8 min and then I got to mile 10.  At this point I was running about a 7:45 pace and knew the race was coming close to an end.  Up ahead I could see the 1:45 pace group that had started a few corrals ahead of me.  I suddenly wanted to beat them more than anything.  I new I was already running a little faster than they were so for the next mile and half I stuck to my 7:45 pace and caught up to them.

At 11.5 miles I was running along side the pace group.  Then I realized I was almost finished with the race and my legs still felt fine.  I pushed my pace up to 7:30 and left the group behind me.

The end of the race was a blur.  We circled around the Alamo Dome, ran up a short steep hill and then the finish line was 75 yards ahead.  Suddenly there were masses of people cheering on both sides of the course.  I felt a huge wave of energy hit me and found myself sprinting as hard as I could for the remainder of the course and across the line.  I pressed the stop button on my Garmin and was excited to see I ran a 1:40 over 13.28 miles!

The post race assessment of my legs was as encouraging as my finishing time was – my legs were tired, but there was no muscle or joint pain anywhere.  The 12 Mile Issue had never come up!

The morning of her delivery was bittersweet for me and my wife.  We were excited that we were going to be able to see her, but pretty depressed that we were not going to be able to take her home for almost a month – or even hold her for longer than a few minutes after delivery.

Thankfully, Katherine arrived almost 2 lbs heavier than the doctors expected and very healthy.  She never went to the NICU and was able to come home with us after only 2 days in the hospital.

The happiest moment of my life was in the delivery room after they weighed her and announced her weight.  She’s perfect!

[View with PicLens]

After not running for a year, I shouldn’t have jumped halfway into a marathon training schedule and pushed myself as hard as I did (although I’m pretty proud of the progress I made on my mile times he he), while at the same time quickly transitioning into a barefoot running style (The Pose Method) requiring the muscles in my feet and ankles to try and re-learn how to support me.  

Everything I’ve read about the Pose technique and barefoot running has said that it requires a transition period to avoid injury.  They coach to slowly ramp up the miles alternating regular running shoes with the Vibrams until after a long transition, the muscles and tendons have strengthened and the new running form can be supported.  Did I listen to any of that?  No.  I got competitive with my common sense and thought I’d show it up.  Common sense won. Common sense now has me rehabbing my ankles and has capped my workouts at 3 runs a week of no more than 6 miles each time.  Good job Matt.

The first physical therapy session was great.  They gave a definite No to running the full marathon in 3 weeks but a green light to running the half – if – I didn’t run it to compete and ran it at a slower pace.  They said we’d use the half marathon as an easy training run on a new schedule to build my mileage back up along with some strength training to give me a better foundation.  Sounds pretty smart to me.  My challenge will be to keep myself from getting competitive on race day and pushing myself too hard.  Maybe I’ll wear a backpack full of bricks so I can’t run fast even if I try.  haha

The race was held at the Flat Rock Ranch in Comfort, TX.  This is a working ranch – meaning people take care of herds of cows, sheep and goats out there.  In the race instructions they actually mentioned to make sure not to let the cows out of the gates if we opened them.  Ha!  The race was being setup as a duathlon – running and biking.  I registered for the long race so I would compete in a 4 mile run, followed by a 12 mile mountain bike ride, followed by another 4 mile run – all offroad.  I couldn’t wait to get out there!

The weeks leading up to the race I had been running and mountain biking a lot (mostly running as I was training for a marathon).  I had never done a race like this but I felt like I was doing an adequate amount of training for it.  I thought I would use this race as a learning experience since I had never raced in a mountain biking event.  I wasn’t concerned with winning, just giving a good showing and having a lot of fun.  Little did I know, the type of mountain bike riding I was doing wasn’t anything compared to what I needed to be doing….

The week before the race I flew out to LA for work and while I was gone, it poured rain all over the Texas Hill Country.  The race course was getting soaked.  Back in town the day before the race, I drove out to the course and was prompted to park in the mud pit make-shift parking lot where I sank in mud up to my knees.  This was going to be great….  I got my gear ready and set out to familiarize myself with the course and prepare for the next day’s race.

The start of the course was a moderate up-hill climb that eventually twisted around into some tight turns and transitioned into a fun little downhill section.  I was about a mile into the 12 mile course and realized that the course really wasn’t that muddy.  There were some slick spots, but over-all not bad.  Seems the water drained really well and mud wouldn’t be a factor in the race.

Since this was just a pre-race ride, I didn’t want to use up too much energy.  I spent about 90 minutes navigating the course and mentally plotting markers to help myself remember what gear I would need to be in to get through the section the quickest and where to turn when the course wasn’t marked well.  After 90 minutes, I was stoked.  Totally excited about the race the next day.  It was a fun and very challenging course.  It had everything from long stretches of level ground with tight fast turns at the end to very technical up-hill climbs over rocks to fast downhill sections with some small jumps at the end.  I did, however, start worry about 1 thing: I hadn’t been training for all the hills and most of the uphill sections were very long and very steep.  After running 4 miles, even though fun, this was going to be a lot more difficult than I had realized.

After finishing my pre-race ride, while loading up my bike, I got to talking with a girl, Jessi, who had just flown in for the race from San Diego.  She was decked out in race gear with sponsors everywhere and looked legit.  I had thought this was just a local race.  Apparently people were coming from all over the country to race in this event.  Great.  I picked a big one to learn how to race.  haha

The next day I woke up early to eat a carb loaded breakfast and head out to the course before the crowd showed up.  Too late for that.  The crowd got there even earlier than I did.  Oh well.  I started stretching and getting ready and happened to run into the same girl I had met the day before from San Diego.  While talking to her, the race announcer came over the mic and announced that they were happy to welcome Jessi Stensland – pro triathlete – to the race and asked that she report to one of the booths.  At that, Jessi (the same girl from San Diego that I was talking to), said she needed to go check in.  Ok, so not only are people coming from all over the country to race here, but there are professionals in this race too!  Awesome.  Hi, I’m Matt and this is my first time to ever race a mountain bike.

The start of the race was staggared.  The men’s long race started first, about 5 minutes ahead of the women’s long race group who was followed by the different short race groups.  I started off in the first group and watched the semi-professional men rocket ahead like we only had to run a few hundred yards.  I set myself into my race pace and was having a great time.  I felt great, the running course was fun and by the time I got to the transition area at the end of the 4 miles, I had actually made up some ground on the semi-pro group (ok, not that much ground but enough to make me feel good).  Jessi Stensland – the pro – had passed all the guys behind me and was now setting up to leave the transition area about the same time as I.

Sure enough, we started the bike course at the same time.  I was just barely in front of her and was riding a LOT faster than I had planned – pro or not, I couldn’t let her beat me.  About 2 miles into the course, one of those turns where I made the mental note about which way to go came up – the mental note didn’t.  I went the wrong way and led Jessi the wrong way as well.  Immediately I knew something was wrong.  I didn’t recognize the trail and then realized that the pro was following me.  50 meters later, and really embarrassed,  I stopped knowing I had to turn around and go back.  She stopped behind me, confused, and all I could get out was, “Uh…wrong way.  Trail back that way.”  Awesome Matt.  Nice job.  Talk much?

Back on the trail, she eventually left me way behind.  Oh well.  What was I thinking trying to keep up with a pro-triathlete?  Six miles into the race the hills took a toll on me.  I had used a lot of energy on the run and went out way too fast at the start of the bike course and now I was paying for it.  The hills were brutal.  They seemed to be 10 times higher than the pre-race ride, 10 times longer and 100 times steeper.  I got passed by a bunch of people and only passed a few.  The good time that I had made on the run was being lost here.  I was cursing myself for not doing more hill rides in my training.

Then I saw her.  The pro – walking her bike up the next hill.  I thought – oh wow!  Maybe I’m not doing so bad!  If the pro is having to walk up I must be doing a lot better than I thought!  I passed her and from that point on my energy was renewed.  Three miles later, I flew down the last hill back into the transition area and took off for the last 4 mile run.

The run was over the same course as before, but it was for sure harder this time.  My quads and hamstrings were cramping due to low electrolytes and I was out of fuel.  At this point, adrenaline was the only thing keeping me going.  All those people that passed me on the bike course – I passed them all back on the run.  The last mile of the run felt like my fastest of the whole race.  I passed a few more people and finally crossed the finish line.  Twenty minutes later, Jessi Stensland crossed.

After cooling down I caught up with her.  What I had seen as her being really tired and walking her bike up a hill, was actually her pushing her bike along the course as she RAN the entire thing – her chain had broken rendering her bike useless.  She ran the majority of the bike course and managed to only finished 20 minutes behind me.  That was, and still is, amazing.  I have no idea how she did that.  I guess that’s why she’s a pro and I’m not.

At the awards ceremony, I found out I actually won my age group and placed 5th over all!  This was my first race of this type and I was extremely happy with those results!  I learned a ton about how to race in an offroad event, how to train for one, what gear I needed/didn’t need – I learned a ton.  It was also really cool that I got to meet and race with a pro-triathlete known all over the world – even if I did lead her the wrong way on the race course. haha  It was a great race.

A year after the surgery, neither one of my knees were feeling back up to being able to run competitively. The pain that previously kept me up at night was gone, but I wasn’t able to run without the pain coming back at least temporarily.  Sadly, I accepted the fact that I would never be able to run long distance again, or even compete in a short 5k.  Then I discovered the Pose Running Method.

I won’t go into a lengthy description of what the Pose Running Method is (you can check it out at the link above), but basically instead of running heal-toe, you run toe-heal. It’s forever changed how I look at running. By using the Pose Running Method, you greatly reduce the severity of the impact that comes from connecting with the ground at each step. Between learning the Pose Method, and receiving some encouragement from The Chic Runner (Thanks D!), I was not only running again, but even optimistic about running in a marathon 5 months away! My knee problems seemed to be gone for good.

Enter the 12 mile issue. At this point, I’ve got a few hundred new miles under my belt and for the most part, I feel as great as I did before I started getting knee pains early in high school. -That is, until my Garmin tells me I’ve gone 12 miles. At 12 miles, my ankles, then my knees and eventually even my hips start hurting like crazy. It’s a different pain than the meniscus and normally only lasts until I stop running and cool down. Being that I’m training for a marathon, this is a big issue. I’ve cut several key long distance runs short because the pain was just too bad to continue. On those runs, I felt like if I kept running I’d injury myself seriously.

Enter frustration. I’m running with a great running form that’s proven to reduce the stress on joints. I cross train – I mountain bike a few days a week and I get in a mile swim every Saturday. I lift weights. I run on different surfaces – dirt trails, grass, asphalt, gravel. I vary my workouts and follow a tough but not overly-demanding training schedule. I stretch regularly and even do yoga sometimes. I practically overdose on glucosamin, chondroitin and methylsulphonylmethane (MSM) to help out my cartilage.

I can sprint short distances as hard as I can and do interval workouts – no pain. I can really push myself on shorter distance runs 5 – 8 miles to wear I’m out of breath and on the verge of throwing up at the end – no pain. In longer distances greater than 10 miles, I can run a comfortable pace, slow pace or a really fast pace and no matter what – at 12 miles the pain starts in my ankles, is in my knees by mile 13 and in mile 14 my hips are starting to feel it.

What the dang heck? I know my endurance is there. On the runs I cut short, I wasn’t tired – if I hadn’t been hurting so bad, I could have finished the distance no problem. If tomorrow the pain didn’t show up, I could run the marathon and probably finish close to the time I’m training for. So, what do I do? I have about 4 weeks until the race and the last two of those weeks are for tapered workouts. So, really I’ve got 2 more Sundays (long runs) before the race.

Enter nervousness. I can’t seem to find a solution to this 12 mile issue.  And at a time when my confidence needs to be at an all time high, being nervous about whether I can even get to the finish line is frightening. I feel like I’ve come a long way since the time when I thought I would never be able to run competitively again. -But I don’t want this 12 mile issue to end my race early! If you, or any coach or experienced runner you know, has any thoughts or ideas – please share them with me! Leave me a comment below on this post and tell me what you think.

Thanks!!

Obama's Home Page is Beanarita.com

So what’s been going on the last month?
Well, things have been pretty busy. The wife is now 7 1/2 months prego, I’ve been on the road for work, training for a marathon and raced in my first adventure race: an offroad duathlon. This coming week I’ll publish a few posts with the deets of all those things, so check back soon if you haven’t already set Beanarita.com as your Home Page.

Why was the site down?
When I originally setup Beanarita.com the sole reason was to teach myself a little about basic web design and html. As I made my way through numerous WordPress themes and started learning how to integrate plugins, I slowly picked up some of the basic knowledge I was looking for. Then, I kinda got addicted to this place. I tried out as many different plugins as I could find to see what they did. I customized some of the php on the back end of the themes and kept rewriting the style sheets until before long, I had a website that was cluttered and indiscernible of any theme or real organization.

Ultimately, I made the decision to take down the site so that I could figure out what I had created and what I wanted to do with it. At this point, life hasn’t slowed down a bit – it seems to be speeding up! I decided that, while I may use Beanarita.com as a test bed for new things every once in a while, the site will move forward as my personal blog to share all the randomness and funny stories that keep me going every day.

So until the next post, here’s your homework: check out the archives at the bottom of the page and catch up on some of the older posts, follow me on twitter at http://twitter.com/beanaritadotcom, set Beanarita.com as your Home Page and get ready for some better-organized randomness!

OH! Also, click on the “comments” link below the post and leave me a comment!

Thanks for stopping by!

Just got back from a vacation on Grand Cayman Island – it was awesome. White sand beaches, crystal clear water. It was very relaxing and a ton of fun, and I almost died. That’s right. I almost died.

Over the six days we were there I went scuba diving 5 times. One of the times was at night and we had to use flashlights to navigate. It was a crazy awesome dive. We got to see bioluminesent plankton, squid that flashed different colors, and a few box jelly fish (also known as a sea wasp). On the way back in, I brushed one of the jelly fish with my left forearm. Immediately the area of my arm that touched it started to burn like crazy. At this point, we were about 25 ft under the surface and I wasn’t sure if this was serious or not (I didn’t know it was a box jelly or how dangerous they are), so I decided to finish the dive and tell everyone I got stung when we surfaced.

Once we surfaced (5 – 7 mins later), I mentioned my encounter with the jelly fish and how my arm was on fire.  The dive master started rushing everyone out of the water and back to the dive shop. He said another guy had hit one a few months earlier and went into anaphylactic shock, stopped breathing and was in the hospital for a while, just barely surviving.

We made it back to the dive shop and he started spraying my arm down with vinegar, but by this time my entire body was experiencing surges of intense muscle cramping and sharp pins and needle type stinging pains. It was terrible. I don’t think I have ever felt anything remotely like it and hope I never do again. Every single nerve ending was on fire and every muscle was cramped up. Then everything would go away and I’d get another surge of it all another minute (or less) later. The place on my arm that hit the jelly fish got so hot from the chemical reaction with the venom that the pores in that area were actually sweating. I still have some wicked cool red scars where the venom burned my skin.

One of the guys that dove with us was a doctor and told me to monitor my breathing. He said that if I started wheezing or found it difficult to breath, get to the emergency room immediately. He said I was experiencing the beginning stages of anaphylactic shock. Great. He also mentioned that the first few hours would be the worst and if I made through that time ok, I’d probably be fine.

So, like a responsible tourist in a foreign country, who is on the verge of dying, I chose to go back to the condo and hang out with my wife and friends instead of going to the emergency room as a precaution. Very responsible.

Back at the condo, I did the best I could at keeping myself relaxed and focused on breathing. After 2 or 3 hours, the pain wasn’t any better but the surges were starting to spread out. Instead of every minute, it was every 5 minutes or so. I decided to go to bed and for the rest of the night I was kept awake by the surges of pain that were slowly fading out. By 7am the next morning the surges stopped and I felt fine.

Over the next hour I ate a light breakfast, drank a bunch of water and made the decision to go out on another 2 tank dive. hahaha!

Special thanks to Rob at Don Foster’s Dive shop in Grand Cayman for being quick on his feet with the vinegar. I was told later that if I hadn’t gotten sprayed down that quickly, more venom would have entered my blood stream and everything would have been much worse.