One month from now...

I'll have completed my first full marathon (26.2) and can proudly be one of those people that rock the sticker on my car or flight bag, my wife will have her first half marathon in the bag (13.1) and I should be gearing up for yet another sprint triathlon on September 11. (San Diego TriRock) Just in case I haven't mentioned it yet, I'm turning the "big" 3-0 in July and thought that I should run a marathon before then and that's the real reason behind this who fiasco. So far, training has been a hit or miss and up until just recently, I was free from shin splints and "hot feet."  Last night, after running for an hour on the hotel treadmill, I encountered both.  It's a scary thought that I signed up for the full marathon, but with all the positive thinking, I'm going to school it.  Unlike my others out there with a goal of 3:59:59, I'm just adding an hour to that and aiming for nice and "easy" 4:59:59.  I have yet to reach my 60 min 10K and with San Francisco's Centennial Bay to Breakers coming up on May 15th, I'm hoping that it will post as a good "warmup" with all the hills included.

The historic Zazzle Bay to Breakers is a USA Track and Field Certified 12k (7.46 miles).

From sea level at the Embarcadero the course rises steeply along the Hayes Street Hill. Around the 2.5-mile mark runners climb an 11.15% grade between Fillmore Street and Steiner Street. The remainder of the course gradually flows downhill alongside the Panhandle through Golden Park to the Finish Line at the Great Highway.

Here's to my wife and graduating Gonzaga 2011 w/ a Family Nurse Practitioner's degree! I Love ya sweetie!

A Beautiful 10K by the Bay!

After yesterday's 30 minute run on the treadmill, I felt good for another, longer run. I figured out a good route along the bay and plus, Adelle and I could enjoy some San Diego sun. Running from our apartment and finally getting on the Embarcadero, we set out at a good relaxed pace for 3.1 miles.

When we reached our turn around point, we took a quick break, then started our way back. Watching the Garmin, I noticed that Adelle and I ended up running the second half at a slightly slower pace which was a let down, but hey, we have nine weeks right?! I was able to snap this quick pic of Adelle wearing her San Diego Dodge Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Long sleeve training tech shirt and the awesome weather that we got to enjoy! Check it! I was also able to take a quick picture of the Petco Park from the new pedestrian bridge that goes from the stadium to the Hilton. Good stuff all around!

Now what stinks is the GPS readings and recordings. Compare the two maps below and you'll notice that the Garmin Edge 500 didn't "find" me right away even though it said that it captured my location and the sporadic mapping through downtown is a little off. More or less, with the data from Google Maps, my Garmin Edge 500 and my Nike+ Pedometer, I ran a solid 10K.

View Larger Map

It's March!!!

Feels like March came rather quickly this year and with that, it's always a good excuse to update and tell you what's been going on.  This year, I've been motivated more than ever to to finally get into shape.  It has, maybe a little to do with me turning the big three-oh, but I've noticed the fact that my metabolism, eating habits and general lifestyle is slowing down, getting worse and rapidly evolving when it comes to priorities. I have officially signed up for the San Diego Rock 'n Roll Marathon on June 5th and the Tour de Cure San Diego Century Ride which takes place just one month earlier  on May 7, 2011.  I can't say that I've officially setup my fundraising website for the Tour de Cure but I will have it up and running in the next few days.  I promise.

Competitor San Diego just updated, revised and released the official race route for this year's marathon (PDF) and included an elevation map too!  As you can see, there's a good climb / gradient starting at mile seven which, if you think about it, after you've finished the uphill battle, could reinvigorate you signaling that you're awesome done!  I can assure you that's the way I'll be thinking about it.

Thinking about other races, I'm seriously considering the Carlsbad 5K where I'm aiming for the All Day 25K (Five 5K) Challenge. I'm in it really just for the medal but I guess by Sunday April 3rd, I'll already be within 60 days of the full marathon so running a half should be alright right?  I even get breaks here and there between each 5K!  I'll know how I feel about it after today when I run Miramar Lake for the first time.  If I can do it without bonking out, I should be alright.

I'm also thinking about Bay to Breakers 2011 being the 100th anniversary on May 15th.  It's calmed down considerably with the removal and strict policy of no alcohol, but hey, it's a family deal right?  Should be safer and cleaner and... they also have a medal!  A 12K race isn't that bad right?  Who wants in on this one?!  With that, I better get back to my other job at adellelijah.com.

I still haven't done any official swim lesions so until I feel comfortable swimming 1500 meters, I will be holding off on the decision to race San Diego TriRock Olympic distance.

Off to a Bang for 2011

So far, 4 days into 2011, I've already logged two good workouts, bought some new running shoes (Nike Lunarglides+ 2) that I think I'll be training and running my first marathon with and have posted both on adellelijah.com and elijahnicolas.com! It's a constant barrage of staying busy and trying to utilize the time I have whether laying over at an airport or working while commuting using Gogo's Inflight WiFi. It's a bummer that the free WiFi, sponsored by Google's Chrome over the Holiday Season, has expired so I'm back to paying for it but count it as a business expense right? I'm currently working on more write-ups and reviews for the next few days and my wife even has a couple in the pipeline. I couldn't be more excited to finally get things going again. For now, here's my bucket list for 2011.

1) Run a Marathon before I'm 30 (San Diego Rock 'N Roll is in June and my birthday is in July) 2) Work up towards an Olympic Triathlon distance for the San Diego Tri-Rock 3) Ride a century either for the Tour de Cure of San Diego Century 4) Continue to post from 3-5 entries a week for either elijahnicolas.com or adellelijah.com 5) Focus more in the future on my cloud based endeavors 6) Eat healthier and less 7) Get down to my racing weight by June which is actually 20 lbs in 6 months

Check out the new Nike Lunarglide+ 2s!  A little loud as they didn't have the Wolf Grey / Blue combo at Road Runner Sports, San Diego.

Here's a quick pic of New Year's Eve 2011 celebrating it with great friends at Stingaree San Diego. Over priced at $50.00 presale and nothing included. Never doing that again.