If you are what you eat, does that make Cookie Monster a cannibal? or Have Carbs, Will Run

I know it's common knowledge but it has never made more sense then on these longer runs to cut the crap food and start eating smarter and healthier. I mean, think of it like this...Nascar, Formula 1, Speed Boats, the Space Shuttle all use a high quality fuel in order to reach the speed and maintain that performance for extended periods of time. They don't use the same use the same 87 unleaded you, me, or Mr. Walters who lives on the corner puts in his 1971 Gremlin, (which, if you didn't know, was voted one of the top 50 worst cars of all time according to Time Magazine). If they did, there is no way they can do the things they can do. And yes, I know the space shuttle uses liquid Oxygen and Hydrogen instead of gas, I'm just trying to make a point. (Will sticks his tongue out defiantly).

You could also make the point that if Mr. Walters did put jet or race car fuel in his car, it would probably sputter, back-fire, and you would hear a knocking sound in the engine. But let's not kid ourselves here, it was probably going to do that anyway, (ZING!). However, with some work (training) we could make Mr. Walters 1971 Gremlin into a racing machine; one that would be able to use that fuel more efficiently.

Same goes with me and food. With the training I've received from Team Challenge, I've been able to get myself into much better shape and can easily run some pretty long distances, with much sweat but fairly comfortably. However, that is of course, if I'm not fueling myself with Nachos, fast food, heavy boozing or any other junk food. If I do, it feels as if I'm wearing a weighted vest or having a sumo wrestler piggy backing on top of me.
I learned my lesson early on about the pains of drinking and fast food before exercising. But now, with the training runs hitting double digits, every sweet, every beer, every anything, weighs that much more upon me. I'm not saying it's salads and pasta from here on out, but I'll be passing on cookies, candy, and anything that has a drive thru.

Man VS. Nature or Rain Man or Will Goes Au Naturale

Please see last post for an apology but I have a new laptop so expect more consistent posts. No, really I swear....(fingers crossed). Damn stream of consciousness.

Back to the post. There are certain things I hate doing alone; eating in a restaurant, driving with no radio on a long road trip, playing chess (that Kasperov computer is merciless harbinger of death, seriously!), etc. However, running is not. As long as I have some tunes going I could probably Forrest Gump it across country. Even without music, as long as there is some scenery, I'm good to go. I mean you never really hear about people talking about the amazing views through Nebraska do you? Claudia, I believe you can vouch for me.
Anyways, I think my favorite time to run is when most people second guess their plans outside and decide to watch back to back reruns of "House" on USA. For me, the nastier the weather, the better the run. It is like having mother nature as a training coach. A few weeks ago when clouds looked heavier than a parade of sumo backpackers, I took a run along Crissy Field and Fort Mason. With waves crashing into the seawall and blasting over 15 feet in the air then crashing into the saturated pavement, wind pushing against me, and a slight drizzle periodically paying as visit as the sunset breaks through the clouds, how can you not feel like you've accomplish more after a run.

A lifetime ago back in college, I used to do this think called Crew or Rowing for those who are not familiar. One weekend, not unlike this weekend (Memorial Day), told us over the weekend to get in an hour and a half worth of cardio. It didn't matter how, it just needed to get done. With Zen (iPods weren't big back then) in hand, I took off on a run of epic proportions. Leaving Santa Clara with dark clouds over head I was sure it was going to rain. Near the end of the run, the heavens open up and the warm rain came pouring down like Niagra. To accompany the downpour, bowel shaking thunder erupted with streaks of lightning tearing across the ceiling of clouds. I tripped over three curbs on my way back watching the heavenly show. Although I may have been soaked by the end, I can honestly say I have never had a better run.

So if Mother Nature has got you down, she's just training you for future runs.


P.S.  Sorry about the rambling in this post. I'm a little rust after two-ish weeks with no posts.

So...I've been busy...

I believe it was the great rapper Timbaland who said, "I never should have left you, without a dope beat to step to." With that in mind, I'm sorry I've fallen behind on giving you all updates. I've been pretty busy trying to get my fundraiser (The First Annual School Yard Games) together. I should be getting an invite out to everyone by Friday 05/07/10. Please let me know if you would like to be included in the invite. The games will include but not limited to foursquare, handball, cornhole/beanbag toss, and kickball homerun derby. There will be trophies at least for first place in each category, as well as a raffle for various prizes. The location I am about 85% sold on is The Big Rec. Field in Golden Gate Park. Park rules state that beer in cans are the only beverages allowed and only in designated BBQ areas, which I'm not sure is the Big Rec. Field or not. If that is the case, I will probably just get some catering from a Hawaiian BBQ.

If you have any ideas for the event, would like to help out, or just want to chat, email me at wkardas@me.com or write to me on Facebook.

Sun and Hills and Bison, Oh My!

Let me start by saying I'm sorry I didn't get this post out sooner. The events of the past post were very unexpected much like this video.

This past weekend, Team Challenge had a run through Golden Gate Park. I thought, "Cool, it's like I'm running through my backyard since I live so close and usually frequent the many groves, lakes, ponds, and meadows in the park". However, sometimes I forgot how different driving, riding, and running are. Awkward.
I started out the run at a slower than normal pace to try and work on negative splits for the second half of the run, but that idea was quickly thrown to the side of the road like cow in a tornado as the competitive side of me (I call him Gamey McMustwin) started to take over. Please watch this video if you need more illustration. Any who, I push myself a little to hard out of the gate and I getting pretty gassed. My feet begin to drag and my shins begin to tighten up like wet leather in the sun as I slowly trudge up the "hill", if you can call it that. Thankfully, a few of the other runners caught up to me and took my mind off of the task by talking about the park.
After much discussion about the "Golden Gate Effect" pioneered by Mr. McLaren, (seriously look it up, interesting stuff) and a brief pass by the water station complete with cheerleaders, we hit the downhill. This is usually where I can shift myself into neutral and just let the hills carry me comfortably down the road. Unfortunately, soon after starting my decent, my left leg started going to sleep. Not exactly the thing I was expecting on the easiest part of an already unexpectedly hard run. Being the level headed and logic minded individual that I am, I decided that I could probably just jog it out and it would be fine in no time. After nearly a half a mile, my narcoleptic leg had fallen into a appendage coma. It pained me to stop, but it pained me even more to continue. I started by loosening my shoelace, then taking off my shin sleeve. While it did help, it didn't help as much as I would have liked and the rest of the run felt as if I had been shanghi'ed onto a ship, had my leg replaced with a small coffee table leg, and was running to catch the boat before it set sail.

Needless to say, I was glad when the run was over and I also learned a few things to continue my running education. One, carrying water or some other type of hydration on a warm day while running is never a horrible idea. Two, energy bites, bars, gels, gu's or any other performance/endurance booster could only help me get past my physical limits. Finally three, my shins had finally gotten strong enough to the point that if I left my shin sleeves it would only cut off the circulation to my legs, which from what I understand being a novice endurance runner is bad.

Thank You Calee!

I'll try and get two posts done today, since I have been lagging in my logging. The first, I would like to thank Calee, the Endurance Manager for the CCFA who unfortunately was let go today. Without her and her energy and motivation, I probably would have second guessed joining Team Challenge as well as keeping up with runs and training.

While I will be continuing Team Challenge, her presence will be missed. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way due to the barrage of text messages and emails I received from fellow runners.

Thanks again and I wish you nothing but the best in whatever you move on to.

Next post, PICTURES and Bison...sort of...

Stuff I've learned so far.

There is an old saying that goes something like, "you never know what you had until it is gone." While I might be butchering the quote, I think you get the general idea...don't you? Well this weekend, I definitely learned how true and versatile that quote really is. Using that quote, here are a few things that I lost this weekend and what I learned.
1) Common Sense - I try to pride myself on thinking practical and using common sense, yet somehow this weekend I naively thought that I would be able to get some sleep after driving down to Gilroy to see a concert by one of my favorite bands and good friends Five Minutes to Freedom and staying in a hotel room with 3 of my friends. I even set several alarms on my phone to make sure I woke up in time to make my running practice. While this may not sound like a mistake yet, this is mistake #1.

2) Water/Hydration/"the good stuff"- After several of my friends bought drinks for me and vice versa during the concert, I decided to slow it down and taper off my drinking. Sound thinking, that is until the after party at the venue. Needless to say, drinking ensued and the tapering and H20 took a back seat. Then the after after party, (that's right two afters), which ended up back at our hotel room. Please see Mistake #1. We had several of the band members, opening acts, techs, a few groupies and a juggling bear all in one quaint hotel room. Alright, no bear but you get the idea. I would like to take this time to thank and apologize to the Ramada Limited of Gilroy for the your patience and tolerance of room 238. Contrary to popular belief, there are no hydrating qualities from a gin and tonic nor from beer of any kind. Mistake #2

3) Sleep - How often we all neglect sleep. A minute here, a hour there never seem like much until it all adds up. Since I started my training, I knew sleep was going to be one of the most important things. I had even tried to get myself into more of a regular sleep pattern. Unfortunately, last week was anything but ordinary. Several nights of restless, broken sleep, and early mornings had left me scatterbrained and weak. Before arriving at the hotel, I grabbed an energy drink to help get me through the night. Please see Mistake #2. The night commenced and then my alarm went off. I had gone the whole night without a wink of sleep. True, I left myself enough time to get back to San Francisco, but not enough time to go to sleep after I got there. Mistake #3

4) Food/Nutrition - It's not what you think. In my haste to Gilroy, I had failed to bring some food to munch on in the morning. After stopping at a Jack-in-the-Box, I thought I would have just enough energy to carry me through my run. Please see Mistake #1. You can't drive cross-country on a gallon of gas, at least not that far.

The perfect storm of events that occurred Saturday morning was capped off that morning as I was sipping my coffee with a running clinic about, (can you guess?), Nutrition and Hydration. As the clinic went on, I slowly crossed off almost everything I had done wrong the night before. There there was the run.
After what seemed like the longest 3.25-3.5 mile run of my life, with no sweat, multiple muscle cramps/aches, and breathing that burned as I exhaled, I realized I had lost one more thing.

5) Being Unprepared - Never will I ever come so unprepared for a run ever again. I'm just sad it took me this long to realize it. I'm not the NCAA athlete, Fraternity member I used to be. I may have the will/drive to do the runs and finish the race, but that's as good as soapbox racer in a Nascar Race. But hell, with nothing in the tank and running on flat tires, I'm excited to see what happens when I do.

P.S. Special Thanks to Charmin who stayed with me during the run at what would probably be her walking pace while I was gunning it in first gear.  

And so it begins...sort of...

Roughly three weeks into training and I finally decide to start a blog. In my defense, it is my first blog and I didn't want to rush into it. However, with time ticking away, peer pressure, and my own procrastination weighting as heavy as a Biggest Loser pre-season pyramid on my shoulders, I figured it was time to get the show on the road or at least the shoes on the pavement and fingers to the keys.

A long time ago, I vowed I would never run a Marathon. I also vowed I wouldn't do any sanctioned run unless it was for a good cause. I don't plan on breaking either of my vows anytime soon. But there comes a time when you're standing at the top of the stairs to you flat, sucking air, with your cat laughing at you that you realize that it's time for a change.
I had always been looking into doing some sort of team training type of thing to keep me motivated.  After much comparison and scrutiny of numerous team training organizations, I decided to go with Team Challenge. Right from the get go, they got me excited about running again and any group that has mimosas at the informational meeting only needs to tell me where to sign. But the best part is that all the training is to raise awareness and funding for a great cause. That cause is Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA). Between having some of the most encouraging mentors and coaches and having a friend and co-worker who recently had to have some surgery done for his Colitis, I knew that this was the group for me.

That being said, this blog will be about my victorious triumph/agonizing defeat over/to rolling foothills, increasing mileage, general boredom, lack of new or exciting music, nipple irritation, shin splints (my arch nemesis), and anything else that an out of shape (besides round) athlete such as myself might run into on my way to conquering the daunting 13.1 mile Napa Half-Marathon.


  I promise to keep this interesting. If you have read anything or mine or met me, I try to use as many obscure references as possible while keeping my word selection under a $1.50 at most.

I highly encourage your feedback. So please tell me what you would like me to write about or anything else you would like to tell me.

I'd like to thank everyone who helped me come up with both the name and the address. Thanks for checking out my blog!