Backup Plan

I woke up at 5:15am today to do my typical Tuesday early morning hill repeats at the park.

My Monday night workout left me a little more drained than normal.  I'm training for a 5k that's coming up soon.  I'm going to try to PR so my training has shifted from long traing runs, to short faster runs.

Currently my Monday workout is consisting of 10 mins of jumping rope, a hard 2 mile run, jumping rope for another 10 mins, another hard 2 mile run, and then finishing with 10 more mins of jumping rope.

After all that I head over to Jiu-Jitsu and train for 90 mins, and once that is over I drive across town to teach a cardio boxing class at the gym I work at here in Fresno.

Then I head home and lift weights before I go to bed.

So... when I woke up today to go do my hill repeats, I was really tired.  I headed out the door, got on my car and headed to the park.   Halfway to the park I realized something very important... my Garmin watch.

This wasn't a problem because I normally have a backup watch on my glove box.  But, when I opened my glove box I realized that my backup watch wasn't in the glove box of my car because I took it out the other day to use it at the gym. 

This was a major problem because I needed to be home by 7:00am to get my son ready for school.  My run was about to become very short.  Then I remembered that I had my cellphone fully charged and I have a running app installed on it.

So, when my backup plan failed, I was able to find a backup for my backup.  I really don't like running with my cellphone, especially when my running shorts don't have pockets, but it's better than nothing. 
I generally try to keep backup supplies in my car.  You never know when you might forget something.  I generally keep a running outfit, a pair of shoes and socks, a few bottles of water, a headlamp, and an extra watch in my car.  You never know when you might need to replace something.

I also like keeping all that stuff in my car because you never know when you might be driving around town a think to yourself, "I should totally go for a run right now!!"  It's nice to have the means to go for an unplanned last second run.

Until next time...

KEEP RUNNING!!!!

I'm Not Just A Runner

Before I was a runner I spent my free time practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.  Running was my cross training.  It was something I did to make sure I made weight for tournaments, and I honestly wasn't really into running but I knew it was something I needed to do to stay fit.  The more I competed the more I ran.  Eventually my sister would convince me to run a 5k, and then eventually a half marathon.

Before I knew it, I was running and doing Jiu-Jitsu and not much else.  I was competing in Jiu-Jitsu tournaments, running half marathons, and I was in pretty good physical shape.

Then my life took an expected turn.  Jiu-Jitsu took a back seat because of some personal life struggles I was going through, but running ended up taking a front seat and before I knew it running was dominating my life.

Running became my outlet.  I was able to head out to the park for a couple hours, burn off some energy, and most importantly have time to gather my thoughts. 

After awhile Jiu-Jitsu became something that I use to do.  After I did my first marathon I dove into running ultra marathons very quickly and running ultras pretty much consumed all my time.

Jiu-Jitsu would always randomly pop back into my life.  I would have old friends randomly ask me to train with them, and I would, but I could never seem to get back into training. 

When I stopped training Jiu-Jitsu it was a very complex time in my life.  I think that deep down I constantly associated Jiu-Jitsu with that part of my life and that's why it was so hard for me to want to train again. 

Then one day I got a call from my old friend Steve RedLion.  He was getting ready to open up a Jiu-Jitsu school and wanted me to start training again.  I reluctantly went to class from time to time because I still had old feelings of frustration that I associated with that part of my life.

After a year of training off and on (more "off" than "on") I just stopped training altogether. 

I once again gave up on training...

Then one day Steve called me and asked me why I wasn't showing up to class.  I slightly remember giving him some bull shit excuses and Steve wasn't taking any of them.  I remember our phone conversation ended with Steve telling me that he expected me to be in class and that I better be there.

Steve isn't the type of person I can easily say no to, so I unpacked my Jiu-Jitsu gi, got my blue belt, and went to class that night.

I figured I should give it one more shot.  Steve obviously felt I should, and I always trusted his opinion.

My work and family schedule is very busy. I have two kids, I work full time, have a part time job, train for ultra marathons, and I'm recently remarried.  I have to balance work, family, and training... and sometimes it seems impossible.

Well, one thing that Steve told me was this, "I know you're very busy, but you get in here, train hard, and we will get you your purple belt."

I had my blue belt in Jiu-Jitsu for a very long time.  With my "on again off again" training that was almost expected.  I honestly never thought I'd make it to the next belt ranking of purple belt.

I trained when I could, usually only one day a week, but I would randomly have weeks where I could train 3 times a week.  I quickly started telling myself "quality over quantity."  I knew with my schedule I wasn't going to be able to train as much as some of the other guys, but I really needed to make those days that I could train count.

After about 9 months of Steve patiently working with me, cleaning up my Jiu-Jitsu technique, and changing the way I fight... on January 12th, 2013 I was awarded my purple belt in Jiu-Jitsu. 

I've had a lot of people in this sport help me along the way.  But no none of them have helped me along the way like Steve has.  He's been an amazing teacher, mentor, friend, buddy... and when I was married last June of 2012 Steve stood right next to me in my corner as I exchanged wedding vows with my wife Lori.

Now comes the next stage in my Jiu-Jitsu life... going for my brown belt.

I feel a renewed love for the sport of Jiu-Jitsu.  I'm excited to take my Jiu-Jitsu game to the next level.  For the first time in a long time I'm excited about training.  The balance of family, work, ultra running, Jiu-Jitsu, and friendships all seem to be getting in sync.

I have many 50 mile and 100 mile races planed for 2013, but I know if I want to get my brown belt in Jiu-Jitsu I know I'll have to step up my Jiu-Jitsu game, and I'll also need to start competing again... and hopefully I'll step back into competition by the end of this year.

I have to admit, the thought of competing again makes me a little nervous.  My last tournament was back in 2008.

I look forward to the challenge ahead of me.  I also know that with Steve, and the other many awesome training partners I have, any challenge put in front of me will be overcome.

One important lesson I've learned from Jiu-Jitsu and ultra marathon running is this... sometimes believing in yourself isn't enough.  You need people in your corner reminding you from time to time that you need to keep pushing through all the barricades that life puts in front of you.  The people who love you will help keep you well grounded and humble when you're at the top, and they'll help pick you up when your at the bottom.

If it wasn't for Steve, I might never achieved my goal of getting my purple belt in Jiu-Jitsu.  I also know that he doesn't expect me to stop progressing from there.  I know he expects me to eventually get my brown belt.

Well, that's it for this blog entry.  I hope it wasn't too long and boring for you guys.

...to all my running friends,

KEEP RUNNING!!!!

...and to all my Jiu-Jitsu buddies,

I'll see you on the mat, and keep rolling!!!

Plans For 2013

It's that time of year again where I sit down and plan out my races.  So far I have a list of 50 mile and 100 mile events that I plan on running.  Many of these races I've ran before, but a couple will be first time races for me.

Here's my list so far for 2013...

February 24th San Bruno 50 mile

April 6th American River 50 mile

April 27th Leona Divide 50 mile

June 8th San Diego 100 mile

August 4th Cool Moon 100 mile

September 14th Headlands 100 mile

I'm sure this schedule will change a little.  I also plan on doing a couple half marathons and a marathon here in my home town of Fresno California.  Hopefully I'll also run a few fast 5k races this year. 

I'm also working on a fundraiser with some friends to benefit The Central Valley Ronald McDonald House.  We plan on raising money by running from the Bakersfield Ronald McDonald house to the Fresno Ronald McDonald house.  Right now we're guessing the run will be somewhere around 130ish miles.  There should be a group of 5 of us running the entire distance together in November of this year.  It should be an awesome adventure.

Until next time...

KEEP RUNNING!!!!  

2065 Miles

I had a very eventful year in 2012.  I ran my 3rd consecutive AR50 and also set a 50 mile PR while doing it.  I received my first DNF while running the San Diego 100 after accidentally going off trail and getting lost.  Going off trail led to me missing the time cutoff around mile 31.

The night before my wedding I held a fundraiser for The Central Valley Ronald McDonald House where myself and other runners raised over $2500.00 running around a local high school track.  I ended up running 12 hours (9:00pm to 9:00am) and accomplished 54 miles.

I ran my first 100 miler in under 24 hours, ran my furthest race ever (125 miles), and I was once again privileged to crew for my friend Oswald Lopez at the 2012 Badwater Ultra Marathon.

My total mileage goal for 2012 was 2000 miles.  I hit that number in the middle of December.  All the extra miles after that were a bonus.  On December 31st I drove about 2 hours to San Martin to run with my ultra running friend Leigh.  She arrived to our running location about an hour before me and got a jump on her miles for the last day of 2012.  When our run was over she had run a 50k (31 miles) and I had ran a marathon (26.2 miles).

My total mileage for 2012 ended up being 2065 miles.  It felt good to run 65 miles over my goal, especially since I was very behind on my mileage the first half of the year and had to play "catch up" the second half of the year.

2012 was a good year of running, and I can't to see what will 2013 will bring.

Until next time...

KEEP RUNNING!!!!