Saturday, August 22, 2009

Episode 1

I am exhausted! I don't know what will be more tiring, shooting, editing, website building and blogging or doing the actual run! Episode 1 is finally done and posted here. The "Run for Liberty" website is coming along slowly but surely. I would love to write more but, I'm beat. On top of sitting in front of my computer for 8 hours today, I did a 10 miler and I have a 20 miler tomorrow for a total of 54 miles. Not a bad week.

Paul

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

8 weeks to Long Beach

I am half way through my training plan in preparation for The Long Beach Marathon. I really do love this point in a marathon training program. I love high mileage! I feel pretty relaxed most of the time and find it very easy to sleep :) This week I will run 54 miles and it will look like this..

Monday: 4 miles- easy
Tuesday: 10 miles
Wednesday: 5 miles
Thursday: 45 min tempo
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 10 miles- marathon race pace
Sunday: 20 miles

I am feeling really good and I have been training at the paces that would indicate a sub-4 marathon. That would be sweet! I will be visualizing a 3:xx:xx on the clock from now until Oct. 11th. And, of course, praying for great weather!

We shot more footage on Sunday for my "Run for Liberty". I, once again, was not at a loss for words as I rambled on about all things running. I really do love this sport and get VERY excited when I talk about it. We have enough footage for our first piece and Chris is editing it now. It should be done in the next few days. I am working on the website in the meantime. I am more than excited to get this first clip up!

I am looking for a Trainer and Nutritionist to help me prepare for the run. It's not easy, since this type of endeavor has it's own specific challenges. You can't open up the Yellow Pages and find "Transcontinental run" under "Trainer". In any event, I think it will be similar to training for an Ironman, as opposed to training for a 5K. I will need to get my body used to staying aerobic for anywhere from 6-10 hours a day, pretty much everyday. And preparing my body for the pounding it will take day after day after day. And then, of course there is the nutrition part. I see a LOT of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in my future! By the way, why is it that so many runners and triathletes love PB&J? I digress.... If anyone knows of a trainer or nutritionist that might be qualified in this area and is not camera shy ;), please let me know.

Paul




Thursday, August 13, 2009

180 Days

180... That's a nice round number. It represents a half circle, the amount of days in a child's school year, an "about face" and a change of direction, or in this case, the number of days till I start my "Run for Liberty"

I have decided on Tuesday, February 9th 2010 as the start date. But, as with anything in this journey, it is subject to change. I have a nice little countdown app in my iPhone so I can obsess on the date. But more importantly... PLAN!

We shot some more footage yesterday and hope to have the first webisode edited and posted within a week. Until then, I am working on my website and hope to have more information about the run ready to go live at the same time the webisode is done. I've also booked my first interview on the show "Stars of PR" with Cindy Rakowitz on the Voice America Radio Network! It will air at 7 am on Thursday, September 10th.

Progress!

Paul

Monday, August 10, 2009

One step at a time

"One step at a time" best describes my approach to planning my upcoming run across America. I have a very specific goal... To run from Huntington Beach, California to the Statue of Liberty. That part is specific and concrete. The rest however, is not. That is what is so exciting about this endeavor!

I have always been very goal oriented. I think in big, overall goals and concepts and (usually) am able to break those down into smaller chunks that are more easily achieved. Until all those smaller goals eventually lead to the ultimate goal. I have had pretty good success with that approach. This one, however, is pretty big and is taking a bit more... ummm.... FAITH!

As anal as I am, and as much as I would like to have every aspect of the run planned out, to ensure success, I have quickly realized, that would be virtually impossible. I must just keep taking steps. Perhaps that is the ultimate allure of doing it.

It's not really the running part that keeps me up at night. I pretty much know how I'll train for that. I have a good idea how I'll go about consuming enough calories. I can visualize (very important tool) tweeting updates and posting my progress to my blog and facebook. Those things feel real and doable. It is the other things that I can't see yet. The things that I can't ...... CONTROL! What a great lesson this will be.

I have given considerable thought as to what I should post, how much to post and where. With so many ways to communicate, it is hard to find the right medium, for which information. Plus I don't want to burn you all out :) I have decided that this blog is read by my more intimate group of friends, so I feel comfortable sharing more of my "thought process" than just the facts and statistics of the run itself. This gives me the opportunity to share some news while I am still working on the website, which will be much more official looking.

So, here's where we are at so far.

The run will start February 8th. I will be leaving from the Huntington Beach Pier. I am attending the 2nd annual reunion with this group of old friends, and some of them will be running in the Surf City Marathon on Feb. 7th. They have expressed interest in seeing me off, so that sounds like a pretty cool way to start the journey. We will have to wait and see which distance I will run, since a full marathon may or may not be a good idea the day before what lies ahead.

I will be doing the run supported. Chris Swenson, a guy a work with and a good friend will be driving the support vehicle. But, more importantly, he will be filming the run for webisodes and most likely a documentary. We are both in production and have the gear to shoot it in High Definition. This is a BIG plus! It will look fantastic! We are fully prepared to do the trip using my Xterra as the support vehicle and load it up with our supplies and tents and do it on the cheap. The ideal scenario and goal, however, will be to travel in an RV with a designated driver, so Chris can concentrate on shooting and editing the webisodes. That's where the faith comes in.

I do have a message and a purpose for this run, which I will be articulating as time goes on. I spent a couple of weeks thinking about how I could get sponsors, so I could have a more comfortable place to rest between runs. I started feeling pressure and realizing that my reasons for doing this run may be compromised if I had sponsors that wanted to temper what I have to say. Boy talk about a moral dilemma. The minute I decided that we could plan the run on the cheap, and any added luxury would only be welcomed with acceptable compromises. It was as if a giant weight had been lifted. So as of now this is the plan and it feels doable.

Yesterday, we did our first shoot for the first webisode. We are editing it now and should have it done in the next week or so. This should shed some light on my reasons for the run. For now, I will let "Run for Liberty" speak for itself.

I am excited to be documenting my progress in this way. I think it is important to show the process. In the past, all you might hear is "So and so, is running across the country". That seems impossible! The question is, how did he get there? or even more important, how did he START.

I'm an average guy with a big dream. Unfortunately, too many people believe that they can't do big things. That the other guy was "born better" or is "luckier" or "more talented". I have all of those doubts. I have that little voice in my head that says "the guys who have done this, were better runners" or "you're not good enough" or "what if this, or that happens?"

I invite you to join me in silencing that voice!

One step at a time.

Paul

Saturday, August 1, 2009

A new PR, hardware and a little road trip

I'm a bit behind on the blogging, so let's get right to it! Brittany and I ran the Guy Poncy Memorial 5K today, at Angel Stadium. My mileage is up, in preparation for the Long Beach Marathon in October, so I was feelin' good vibes about todays race. I woke up at 6 am to find my Garmin Forerunner 305 dead as a doornail. Bummer! I am a stats FREAK but, alas, I would have to do todays race au natural.... or as one of my tweeps put it "Zen".

What a race! I felt great, and running sans gadgets (even without my iPhone) proved to be a good move. I PR'd by 13 seconds with a 23:13 and even better, placed 2nd in my Age Group. Was there another race today?? I mean, I am VERY happy with my PR, but my time wouldn't usually snag 2nd, in the m-40-44 age group. Oh well, I got hardware and and I'm not gonna question it!



Brittany ran a great race as well. This is her second race running barefoot and finished in 29:41! She was asked several times about running barefoot and was quite the ambassador for the cause. Spurred even more, no doubt, by a recent article in the OC Register about barefoot running.

We also met up with a couple cool runnin' tweeps Danica and Carmen and talked running and snapped a photo to document our "tweetup".




Now, about this "Road trip". It's interesting, with social media being as it is, this won't be the first that I have talked about my plans, but this will serve as more of a formal announcement than tweeting about it or through status updates on facebook.

I am going to run across the United States, from the Huntington Beach Pier to the Statue of Liberty. I will run between 20 and 30 miles a day and the run will take approximately 4 months. The tentative plan is to start in late January or early February. I will do it with a support vehicle and will most likely be shooting it for a documentary.


Why do I want to do this? The simple answer is, that I LOVE TO RUN. It has become my passion and my therapy. Every night when I go to bed, no matter how challenging the day has been, I look forward to running the next morning. It's almost like a new beginning, and every day I get to challenge myself with a specific purpose, which is usually a training session designed to make me faster at my next race. It reminds me every day that, although we have no real control in our lives, that in the things we can control, we have a responsibility to do them, whole heartedly and with passion. There are some circumstances in my life right now that have been really challenging for me and have beaten me down pretty bad. There have been times when I have felt like I have come to a real fork in the road. Where, depending on my response and attitude, it could go two very different ways. I have decided to take a road which, I believe will get me much better results.

I can't really explain where I got my idea for my "Run for Liberty". But I do know that it has been nagging at me for quite some time now and won't let go. As I started mentioning it to people, a surprising thing happened. Instead of "that's impossible" or "your crazy", people have been very supportive. I've heard things like "what route will you take?" and "anything you need, just let me know". It has been a very pleasant surprise.

But, I have no delusions about this run. It will be extremely hard. I am not an elite athlete. But I am is extremely focused (read.. obsessed) and... well... stubborn! I have run 4 full marathons, 2 ultra marathons (50k's) and an Ironman. I have a pretty good idea, the level of fatigue, boredom and sheer determination it will take to get to NY.

There have been approx. 220 Trans Continental runs recorded. Of these, 6 were unsupported and the rest were supported with some sort of support vehicle. Originally my plan was to go unsupported. I wanted to go almost immediately. I wanted to go buy a baby jogger, load it with my essentials and take off. See where fate took me (cause of that fork in the road I was talking about). I planned a route to San Francisco, so I could avoid the heat, and then I would make a right and head East. As I planned my original route and saw the real possibility that I would be stuck in the middle of nowhere with no water or food, I started thinking I need a better plan. I decided a Jan/Feb start will be much better weather wise and will allow me to take the southern route. I will do it supported, which in all honesty, takes care of my biggest anxiety... a place to sleep.

I am very fortunate to work in the Film/TV production and post production industry. I know a lot of people which I hope to use to my advantage in documenting this entire journey. Anyone who reads my blog or knows me, knows how I feel about reality shows. The last thing I want, is to shoot a reality show and be scripting fights between me and the Driver. It ain't gonna happen. But the reality is, running across the country is going to take money and the way to get money is sponsors. The way to get sponsors is exposure. I think there is an honorable way to document this, that other runners (and anyone with a crazy dream) will find interesting. I will be pursuing, as sponsors, companies that make the products that I use.

We are going to start shooting very soon, starting with an appointment with a Sports Physiologist/Trainer to discuss my fitness level and a training program to get me ready for the run. The plan is to post those clips as webisodes as we go along. I am hoping that people will want to follow this journey. It is a cliche but "A journey of a (3) thousand miles, starts with a single step". I've taken about 2 steps so far.. the rest is faith. Oh, and LOTS of hard work!

I will be tweeting, facebooking, blogging and updating my website as things progress.

Oh... And here's my hardware.

I'm sure glad the super fast guys didn't show up :)

Paul