4 Feet Running

Once were Warriors

2011-07-09T08:00:00.011-04:00

A little late, but better that than never:

Nik & I did our first Warrior Dash on June 26 in Amesbury, Mass. It was an unusual challenge, because neither of us is much of a fan of trail running. Give me solid ground any day.

The event was huger than I'd expected. Over the two days of Warrior Dashing, about 15,000 people tromped through the woods, got messy, slopped mud all over the obstacles, and stunk up the joint.

It's technically a run, although we couldn't do much running at all because the trail was ankle-deep through mud for most of it, and the rest was mud past your knees.

Nik wore her new Brooks Cascadias and said they held her footing like a champ. She could actually move in those. If she hadn't had me dragging her behind, she could've actually done some running.

I wore an old pair of Brooks Addictions with worn-out treads, which was a mistake. I slipped the whole way and fell about four times. I walked almost the entire course.

Though mostly I got stuck in mud.

The obstacles were somewhat intimidating because they were slopped by the muddy shoes of thousands of people before us. Nik walked up this balance beam and took her time with it. I walked onto it and saw the whole beam, maybe 5 inches wide, was caked in mud, like frosted over with pudding. I suspected that since I'm a major league klutz I would fall and crack my head open, so I jumped down.

I did most of the obstacles, like this series of walls and barbed wire. A couple, I skipped because I either wasn't confident enough (the cargo net) or fit enough (the Warrior Wall).

No question: We ended up pretty damn filthy by the end.

Which is why we mostly left our good clothes at home.

But it was worth it. Nik got to prove that she's strong like bull.

I mostly got muddy. There was mud in my eyes, beard, mustache, and in that cup of water I'm drinking. Also, I'm almost positive there was a little poop in the mud. You could smell it.

They offer some rather rudimentary cleaning services, which in our case involved high-powered snow-making machines misting cold water into your face at gale force. It's like trying to take a shower with a hurricane. We couldn't stand to be in front of it for more than a minute at a time, and it didn't really work all that well.

But we ended up getting cleaned off rather well.

From the front, anyway.

Nik's Brooks Cascadias performed admirably under the pressure. This kind of thing is what they were made for. They got a little mussed, but they washed off just fine.

Afterward, we were pretty hungry, so Nik bought one of those giant turkey legs. It tasted more like pork. In fact, a lot like pork. So much so that we're about 99.999% sure it was pork. It was also salty as hell -- tasted like a big heaping bowl of salt.

Meanwhile, I did unspeakable things to the hole in a giant inflatable bouncy ball.

Later on, in the parking lot, we changed into a fresher set of clothes. I left most of mine in a trash can -- couldn't bear to bring the stuff home.

Overall, we both had a great time and it was a unique experience. We were both trashed afterward. Nik found a nice large bruise on her butt from this long, steep mudslide at the end of the race, but otherwise fared OK. I was less lucky. My hands and legs were cut up and bruised, and I sprained my left hand sliding down that mudslide -- which still has not yet fully healed. Oh, and a week later I discovered I got a dose of poison ivy rash on my left arm and both my legs. Nik's immune -- it's her one advantage over me, allergy-wise. But I'm not sorry I did it.

It wouldn't be the Warrior Dash without jumping-over-fire pictures, right? That's the whole reason why we did this. So here we go. Please excuse the giant watermark -- the actual photos are $20 each. Here's me jumping over the fire. It was quite easy and not very intimidating once you're next to it.

Check out the lift on Nik. Her Crossfit training served her well.

Check out our race reports on Daily Mile (Nik and Dan).

Video: Speedwork with Stanley

2011-06-10T14:25:00.000-04:00

4 Feet Running - Speedwork with Stanley from 4 Feet Running on Vimeo.

I tried to take Stanley on a quick 2-mile run. Stanley had other ideas. This is why we shouldn't run him the day after a rainstorm.

Blackstone Valley Half-Marathon

2011-06-10T13:37:00.000-04:00

Sorry this is a little late: on May 21, Nik & I ran the Blackstone Valley Half-Marathon, part of the Cherry Tree Running Festival in Pawtucket, R.I. Pawtucket isn't the nicest place on Earth, but this was the first year for this run so we figured we'd give it a shot. (Besides, most of the run isn't in Pawtucket.)

They put on a pretty good show for a small-sized half-marathon, complete with Chinese dragon dancers for some reason. What the hell, they make a nice addition to any event.

Not to be outdone by the dragons, they also had butterflies.

Nik didn't have such a swell race -- she felt kind of fatigued throughout, and the weather was humid. The course was actually quite pretty in parts. We'll have to go back there someday. But the run itself was tough.

Not a great half, but another half under her belt, anyway, and another medal for her collection.

I was more tired. In fact, I think I'm all done trying to race half-marathons for a while. I'm all set, thanks.

It wasn't the greatest half we've ever run, but we did see some humongous inflatable things that look like female bits. So there's that.

Run Photo of the Day 5.13.11: New Brooks gear

2011-05-14T13:57:00.000-04:00

Nik & I got some new footwear.

At left we've got the Brooks Ghost 3 for me, which are a neutral shoe and lighter than the collosamundo Frankensteinian Addictions I normally use. I'm a motion-control shoe guy but I'm trying to put some lighter shoes into the rotation for shorter speedwork runs. I've tried Ghosts in the store and they're light, cushiony, and roll very nicely. I'm going to try my hardest not to injure myself.

At right you'll see Nik's new Cascadias, which are a trail running shoe. She was looking for a shoe she could hike in and possibly do some light trail running in, something sturdy and waterproof. They're extremely nice and lighter than I would've thought. They feel lighter than my Addictions. Jeez.

Run Photo of the Day 5.10.11: Pointless stairs

2011-05-10T19:59:00.000-04:00

In a park near our house.

Run Photo of the Day 5.8.11: Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T19:06:00.000-04:00

Nik, I, and my mom spent Mother's Day morning in Mattapoisett, Mass., running the Tiara Classic 5K. Friends of ours had told us this was a flat & fast PR-worthy course. No free T-shirts, but you can't have everything.

Mom's gotten strong. She warmed up before the race by knocking out a few burpees.

Then she & Nik did some squats to loosen up the ol' quads & hammies.

It paid off with PRs for both Nik & myself, and mom was just 2 seconds off. But it's Mother's Day -- I say she can have the 2 seconds as a gift.

New episode: Boston Mini-Vacation

2011-05-05T10:45:00.003-04:00

Spend the weekend in Boston with 4 Feet Running! Known in the metro Boston area as Faw Feet Runnin. In this very special episode:

- Nik and Dan drive to Boston and get a wicked good paaakin space

- They get ready to run the Poco Loco, a 13-mile group run of Boston and Cambridge along the Chaaales Rivah, with Steve Runner, Zen Runner, Eddie Marathon, Chris Russell, Tim D., Tim C., Jay and Deb Kumar, Kelly, Jim, Ninjarunner, Kevin Z., Alett, and special guest appearance by John Ellis

- You will barely hear from any of those people because of technical difficulties

- Find out what Nik & Dan have been doing since December, and where they're going in 2011

- Dan's now unemployed. Will work for food (though I'd prefer to work for money)

- Talking skepticism with Steve and jazz with Zen Runner

- A walk through the park in the Fenway, and then a walk through Fenway Park

- Put on your mittens and long underwear, Satan: Nik attends her very first Red Sox game

- Dan gets super-excited while praying in The Cathedral of Baseball

- More of that appalling 4 Feet Running sound quality you crave

Thanks for listening! Enjoy!

[Direct download link]

Before we set out on the Poco Loco, we all heard a safety speech from Zen Runner. From left: Tim Doiron, Deb Kumar, Kelly Davis-Orr, Jim Snyder.

Adam gives us the lowdown on the course.

From left: Steve Runner, Eddie Marathon, Jay Kumar, Neal Bearse, who is clearly not paying attention to the safety seminar.

Steve gave Dan a pack of Phiten brand titanium stickers. You stick them on your body and there's some magical healing power that will, according to the pseudoscientific nonsense on the package, "increase your performance." So he put one on his brain. It did not work.

At a brief rest break in Cambridge, Steve looks out over the Charles River.

Nik stands in front of the Charles, with the John Hancock Tower behind her.

John Ellis once caught a fish this big.

Kevin Z., Adam, and Tim Cleary hang out during a brief rest break by the State Police barracks, about 3.5 miles into the run.

Jay Kumar and Nik were among the faster people in the group, so they helpfully waited for the slowpoke Poco Locoite (Dan).

After the Poco Loco, the whole crew went to the Sunset Grille and Tap in Allston. Check out this parking job. This isn't Nik & Dan's car -- this is Jim Snyder's. He drove us there and snagged this spot right outside the bar, parallel parking like a champion. It was truly a miraculous day for everyone's cars.

The day after the Poco Loco, we visited Boston again and walked through a rose garden on our way to Fenway Park.

Nik in front of a mural inside the stadium. Dan made her wear the hat.

Yawkey Way outside the stadium is packed with pedestrians, and it's one of the only places you can walk around on the street with a beer.

Our seats were in the right field bleachers and were actually very nice. Click the panorama to see it larger.

This cat was great -- he kept yelling orders toward the field, started several chants, and here he's singing all the lyrics to "Sweet Caroline." He was evidently 100% sober, too.

The place erupted into ecstatic cheers after the Sox won, 3-2. And to think, this wasn't really an important game.

Dan was all set to come back the next day.

Afterward, we went down to the field and walked along the warning track. We got close enough to the Green Monster to touch it. It feels pretty much like a wall.

Dan was very excited, and wanted to steal various bits of the field including these signs.

Even Nik enjoyed it too, although she remains baseball-agnostic.

Run Photo of the Day 4.25.11: Scenes from a creepy 9-miler

2011-04-26T10:40:00.000-04:00

I went on a solo 9-mile long run, taking a route I sketched out on Gmap-Pedometer.com, but had never actually ran before. It was a tough, hilly route, but I thought I'd get out and see the sights.

Like the city's Industrial Park. About 2 miles of the run was through our mostly deserted and kind of spooky Industrial Park. A few businesses call it home and all, but I didn't see anyone at all for about a mile and a half, and didn't hear any noise except my own feet and an occasional bird. The road is long and straight -- if someone decided to chase me for some reason, there'd be nowhere to go. These are the things I think about on the run. Also, see that thing that looks like a mountain in the background? That's a landfill.

I ran south along North Main Street, which was much pleasanter.

Then I spotted this thing in someone's front yard. It's a star shape made out of sticks and twine, and the dog from "Family Guy" seems to be hanged from the center. What is this, some Wiccan ritualistic sacrifice? The rest of the house looked a shambles, with dirty windows and peeling paint and dead bushes, so quite frankly I ran the hell away from there.

On my way home, I cut through a park by our house. I've been thinking about hiding a geocache somewhere in there (my first hide), so I decided to scout for places that might be safe, interesting places to share with people. Instead I came across this: it's some sort of abandoned building inside the park. I've seen it there a million times, because I've walked through this park more times than I can count, but I never actually went up to this building before. From the outside and front, it looks like some kind of shack. Behind it, the wood has rotted away and you can peek through to see the interior. We've got what looks like an old sofa, chair, oven and stove, possibly the remains of a bureau. There were several rooms in here I could see into, all full of trash and rotted furniture. I also got the hell away from here ASAP, because there's a definite willies vibe coming from there. Also, I didn't know if anybody -- or anything -- was living in it. It's the kind of place you can picture some monster crawling out of and dragging you inside to make a meal of you. It probably didn't help that I was listening to Stephen King's It on my iPod at the time.

Run Photo of the Day 4.21.11 : Starting to get green around here

2011-04-21T14:23:00.000-04:00

Run Photo of the Day 4.17.11 : Brayton Point

2011-04-17T19:05:00.001-04:00

New route into Somerset, MA

The beach are full of garbage and rocks along the Taunton River. This was one of the few clean spots.

I ran by the new power plant cooling towers. At 500 feet, they're impressive up close.

There was public beach access here, but it didn't look running friendly.

If you're looking to buy a house with a lovely marlin gate, guess what, you're in luck, there's one right on Brayton Point.

Just watch out for submarines crossings.

Run Photo of the Day 4.14.11 : Waiting for cookies

2011-04-14T13:07:00.005-04:00

We've been running to the nursing home to visit Gramma to try to cheer her up. Stanley is still working on being a good boy with mixed results.

Run Photo of the Day 4.12.11: Coca-Cola Classic

2011-04-13T13:27:00.001-04:00

We went on an 8-mile run from our city across the river and into the neighboring town. It used to be fairly easy to get to, and we'd run this route fairly frequently. But since the winter there's been heavy snow and construction so the route has been kind of unsafe. Now it's opened up again. Nice!

Oh yeah -- this decrepit sign is on the way. It's been there for as long as either of us can remember, but they haven't actually bottled Coke in this building for years.

Run Photo of the Day 4.4.11: Running with scissors

2011-04-04T18:48:00.000-04:00

Nik went for a little 3.5-mile run today carrying a pair of scissors. She was delivering them to her Gramma, who lives 1.75 miles away (naturally).

Nik reported no ill effects afterward.

Thomas Giunta 5K road race

2011-04-04T18:38:00.000-04:00

On Sunday, Nik & I ran the (long named) Officer Thomas Giunta Memorial 5K Road Race. It's the only road race in Fall River, and it starts only a mile from our house, so we decided to run it.

Since it was so close we decided to walk down there, pick up our T-shirts, run home to drop them off, run back to the start, run the race, then run back home afterward. Got all that? This is me after 2 of those miles.

This a city that loves its fatty food. We have one of the highest rates of diabetes in the state. True to form, the race served Portuguese malassadas as fuel before the race. These are chunks of sweet dough deep-fried in oil and coated with sugar. Normally they're much larger, but because this is a day for exercise they're cut into more reasonable fist-size nuggets. So you know, this isn't how you should carbo-load.

More than 1,100 people ran the race, all of them crammed into one narrow intersection near downtown. We've got people from 5:30 minute-milers to walkers and everyone in between -- and no pace corrals. And they don't move cars off the street. And there are only two port-a-potties a quarter-mile from the start. So the first half-mile is like the running of the bulls and everyone's the bull, except you're hip-checking somebody who desperately needs to piss and flinging him into a 1997 Ford Probe.

We did pretty well on the race, considering how crowded the first half-mile is. Nik decided to run with me and make it a fun run. And my mom ran/walked it with some friends from work. It's not the most organized race I've ever run, but it's the people who make it great.

Check out my race report on DailyMile here.

Run Photo of the Day 4.1.11: Bobbing for leaves

2011-04-02T10:22:00.000-04:00

Stanley is fascinated by leaves in puddles of water. He spent about three minutes looking at this one, while we were trying to go for a 5-miler. It disrupts the whole flow of the run, but he enjoys it.

Run Photo of the Day 3.25.11: You miss one day of running...

2011-03-25T21:44:00.000-04:00

...and the dog goes berserk.

Double race weekend

2011-03-20T20:57:00.000-04:00

This weekend was busy for Nik & I -- on Saturday we ran the St. Pat's 5K in Providence, and on Sunday was the New Bedford Half Marathon.

The St. Pat's 5K was the last race in the Tour de Patrick series. We both approached the series pretty casually -- just as a bunch of fun runs. Even so, we both did pretty well. The scenery was great, the crowd support was fantastic, we met up with friends, and we felt awesome afterward. Check out our race reports on Daily Mile for more details (Nik and Dan).

How did Nik do so well on the race? Turns out she's only 5 inches tall.

A nice, and unexpected, perk of the St. Pat's 5K was that we got medals. Medals! For a 5K! Stand back and be jealous!

The next day, we went to New Bedford for the half marathon. I had signed up for the race ages ago but I didn't run it. Getting the flu for about 3 weeks in January, then recovering from the flu for a few weeks after that, then getting hit with 7 feet of snow all winter -- all of that put the kibosh on my winter training. So I haven't run very long lately, and rather than suffer through 13 miles when I was unprepared, I figured I'd be a happier person standing on the side and cheering for other people.

Nik, on the other hand, approached the race like a casual long run -- she hadn't run 13 miles since January. She wasn't entirely into running it, but she has a good base and figured she'd see what happened.

There were 1,700 runners -- pretty typical for the NB half. Great weather for a race, too. Crisp.

I spent my time being Nik's purse, drinking coffee, taking pictures, and finding open WiFi networks around downtown New Bedford.

The fella who won the half marathon was fast as hell, unsurprisingly. After taking this picture, he stood over to the side, bent over like he was going to throw up and stayed that way for about half a minute, then got up and was interviewed.

The first female finisher did great, too. I managed to snap a picture right as she broke the tape, which I'm pretty proud of.

Nik did wonderfully on the race: 2:03:31, which is not far behind her course PR. New Bedford is a tough half -- hilly in the beginning, flat to downhill in the middle, windy and uphill at the end. Considering she hasn't been running much lately and isn't particularly bothered by that, she did amazing.

Another piece of bling to add to her collection. She's got, what? Five of these? Something like that. Not bad!

Run Photo of the Day 3.18.11: Nipping out for a 1-miler

2011-03-18T20:02:00.000-04:00

I took Stanley out for a short run, just a 1-miler to keep my running streak alive.

I've noticed a lot of nip bottles littering the grass near a church near our house. What's disturbing is that the joint hosts AA meetings. Someone's not taking it seriously enough.

run Photo of the Day 3.17.11 : Happy Birthday Myrna!

2011-03-17T09:55:00.002-04:00

Myrna turns a big 6 years old today, so to celebrate we ran a 6 mile run and later there will be frosty paws.

Celtic 5K

2011-03-13T15:50:00.000-04:00

Nik and I traveled to Worcester for the second in the three-race Tour de Patrick 5K series, the Guinness Celtic 5K. That's pronounced "Wuhsta" to out-of-staters. Although for some reason people kept pronouncing "Celtic" with a soft C, like the basketball team, instead of a hard C like the actual Celts.

The weather was freezing. Apparently the spring thaw hasn't entirely reached Worcester yet. A pond in Elm Park was still mostly frozen.

It also meant there was hard-packed filthy snow on the ground here and there.

There's a bridge across the pond in Elm Park that's a lot steeper than it looks at first. Once you start walking up, you realize you're about to fall on your ass and tumble back down. Tricky.

I tried to get a job with these people -- I don't know what they do, but I'm unemployed right now and I'm not Irish. No word about an interview yet.

The race was bigger than last week's 5K race in Pawtucket, and a bit more scenic. About 2,000 runners, if you believe the lady on the microphone. Not that I don't trust her necessarily, but you never know. Next week is the Providence St. Pat's 5K, which should have about 3,000 runners.

Both of us did great, by the way. Nik got a totally unexpected PR of 24:48, and I got close at 31:43 -- not bad considering we both treated it as a fun run, and we haven't been running very much at all. Check out Nik's race report here and mine here.

Run Photo of the Day 3.12.11: Water tank

2011-03-12T21:09:00.000-05:00

Ran by a water storage tank in the neighborhood. Beautiful scenery.

Run Photo of the Day 3.8.11 : Pre-run squeaky ballie warm up

2011-03-08T11:27:00.001-05:00

Run Photo of the Day 3.5.11: Irish 5K

2011-03-06T17:12:00.001-05:00

Nik & I ran the first in a three-race series of 5Ks, the Irish 5K in Pawtucket, R.I.

The race started in downtown Pawtucket, right next to the historic Slater Mill, which as any idiot knows off the top of his head without consulting Wikipedia at all is the first water-powered cotton spinning mill in North America to utilize the Arkwright system of cotton spinning as developed by Richard Arkwright.

We had a bit of a snafu before the race started -- we had picked up our bibs a few days beforehand, but then forgot to bring them on the day of the race. The bibs also contained our timing chips. So there was a few moments of panicking in the car about whether to give up, go home & try to drive back in time, or bandit the race. Instead we threw ourselves on the mercy of the race directors. They were kind enough to give us replacements for free. So thumbs-up to them. They're good people.

There were about 1,000 people running, and this is only the Irish 5K's first year. That's good, because Pawtucket could use all the civic pride it can get. For those of you not from our area, Pawtucket has a reputation as a shithole -- a well-deserved reputation. Apart from the quaint area where the race started, the rest of the route followed some of the dingiest, most broken-down industrial scenery we've seen in quite some time. Pawtucket also has a reputation as being a haven for cat-hoarders. We didn't see any cats on the route (probably because they were all being hoarded inside somewhere).

Still, the race itself was a lot of fun. Afterward, Nik auditioned for the new hit TV drama "CSI: Pawtucket." YEAAAAAAAAAAH!

To find out how we did, check out Nik's race report on Daily Mile.

Run Photo of the Day 3.3.11 : To the mailbox and back

2011-03-03T18:58:00.001-05:00

Run Photo of the Day 3.1.11 : Meshanticut Lake

2011-03-01T13:13:00.005-05:00

We took a little trip to Meshanticut State Park in Cranston, RI for a fun run...

...where Stanley spent most of the time pointing at nothing...

...which Myrna found very boring.

Wicked Irish

2011-02-28T18:59:00.000-05:00

Nik and I just picked up our packets for the Tour de Patrick, a three-race series of 5Ks around St. Patrick's Day, all in our area. They offered an orange, green, and white long-sleeve tech T for each of the races -- but if you signed up for all three you'd get a fourth tech shirt free. So yeah, we did. Because WE LOVE SWAG. Also to celebrate Nik's Irish heritage. No joke: Mrs. Wong is part Irish.

First up is the Irish 5K in Pawtucket, March 5. We've been there a million times -- Nik used to work in Pawtucket, too -- but we've never run there. So that should be interesting since we're both sick of running around our neighborhood.

Next up on March 13 is the Guinness Celtic 5K in Worcester, another place we've never run before. And, like the Pawtucket race, there's going to be a St. Patrick's Day parade right afterward. Begorrah!

The final race in the Tour de Patrick is the St. Pat's 5K in Providence on March 19. The route is pretty familiar, but this should be a huge race. Providence has been putting on some massive 5K races lately, with thousands of people elbow-to-elbow, fantastic tech shirts, and great support. Oh, and there's a parade after this one too. What is it with St. Patrick's Day and parades anyway?

Run Photo of the Day 2.28.11 : Rainy Run

2011-02-28T13:24:00.002-05:00

Run Photo of the Day 2.20.11: Humongous block of ice

2011-02-20T16:01:00.000-05:00

The weather is sunnier lately, and there's been some thaw, but overall it's still freezing cold. Proof: We ran by a monstrously sized chunk of ice sitting at the edge of someone's driveway. It's the size of a large bucket.

Run Photo of the Day 2.17.11: Water and ice

2011-02-17T17:56:00.000-05:00

Stanley spent some time sniffing a puddle today. It's been a long time since he's seen liquid water outside. He probably has only a vague idea what it is.

Much of the water outside still looks like this.

Run Photo of the Day 2.15.11: North Pole thaws out

2011-02-15T21:58:00.000-05:00

Run Photo of the Day 2.11.11 : Remnants of Christmas

2011-02-11T09:23:00.002-05:00

Run Photo of the Day 2.9.11 : 6 Feet Running in the Poi

2011-02-09T18:54:00.000-05:00

Nik & I and met John from the Poi for a short easy run through beautiful Mattapoisett.

The weather was chilly -- about 20 degrees -- but it was actually pretty ideal running weather around gorgeous Mattapoisett scenery. Click that panorama to enlarge it to see what I'm talking about.

We ran down past the Mattapoisett River (of course) and to the waterfront, near the (naturally) Mattapoisett Harbor. I'm in a secret contest with myself to see how many times I can get the word "Mattapoisett" into this post. The count is 5 so far.

We ended up running through snowy Cushing Cemetery, where many Mattapoisett (6) whaling heroes are buried.

Check out a special video podcast episode of 4 Feet Running below!

Check out Nik on the Runners Roundtable!

2011-02-09T17:10:00.001-05:00

You want to be strong like bull, yes? Then you need to cross-train like Nik does.

Nik will be talking about her experience with cross-training and doing Crossfit tonight, Feb. 9, live at 8 pm ET on the Runners Roundtable podcast! Check RunnersRoundtable.com to find out how to listen. She'll be joined by Margaret of Flutter-bys.com, Ann of Ann's Running Commentary, Tim from RunDervRun, and Joe of RunWestchester.

LISTEN AND LEARN FROM HER EXAMPLE, PUNY WEAKLING! Or do you need some tickets to the Gun Show as a convincer? KA-POW!

Run Photo of the Day 2.7.11: Slush mountain

2011-02-07T12:13:00.000-05:00

40-something degrees out today -- snow is finally starting to melt.

Run Photo of the Day 2.3.11 : Stanley before the run...

2011-02-03T11:33:00.007-05:00

The pre-run stare...

when the word "run" is said...

Run Photo of the Day 2.2.11: Snow cave

2011-02-02T20:20:00.000-05:00

Real snowy out there.

Run Photo of the Day 2.1.11 : Cross Training

2011-02-01T17:45:00.004-05:00

Run Photo of the Day 1.31.11 : Even Myrna's tired of all this snow

2011-01-31T10:42:00.001-05:00

Run Photo of the Day 1.28.11 : Dan's 1st run in 18 days

2011-01-28T11:28:00.002-05:00

Run Photo of the Day 1.26.11 : 1st run in 9 days so...

2011-01-26T11:46:00.002-05:00

...let's stop and eat strange cat poop.

Run Photo of the Day 1.16.11 : Take me for a run...

2011-01-16T13:08:00.002-05:00

or the bear gets it...again!

Special episode: Mojo Loco and 2010 review Part 2

2011-01-11T10:37:00.002-05:00

This is part 2 of a very special episode of 4 Feet Running with Nik and Dan! Use this one for a long run, folks, because it's gonna take a while. In this episode:

- Nik and Dan drive from St. Augustine, Florida, to infinity and beyond

- Infinity and beyond is located at Kennedy Space Center, apparently

- They reflect on the great time they had at the Mojo Loco 50-mile-ish relay in December

- Dan gets fed up with back-of-the-pack gripes and tries to run faster

- Nik overcomes her various dietary quirks at the Philadelphia Marathon

- A vague at their plans and goals for 2011, mostly vague because they're only sort of sure what they are at the moment

- Nik gets indoctrinated into The Cult of Crossfit

- Speaking of cults, they see an Amish person (don't worry, Amish people won't see this because it's on a computer)

- Apologies for the sound quality -- moving cars are noisy to record in

Thanks for listening, and enjoy!

Get the episode in iTunes

Team Mojo Loco

Mojo Loco on Facebook

Run Photo of the Day 1.8.11: New gear

2011-01-08T11:57:00.000-05:00

I got tired of wearing baggy workout pants in the winter, because they've been uncomfortable and slowing me down. So I bought myself a pair of Brooks Running Infiniti tights. Not the 3/4 capris -- I went ankle-deep with these babies. They were extremely comfortable, and after one run I'm sold. It's tights only from now on. When running in cold weather. I'm not taking them into the office or anything. And yes, I wear shorts over them because nobody needs to see what it looks like otherwise.

Also, Nik & I got us a headlamp -- this running in dark winter months is getting us down. One of our major running routes is shut down because of construction and won't be opening up anytime soon. Between that and the dark hours, our running routes have been feeling limited. This should open things up a bit.

Run Photo of the Day 1.7.11 : Zap

2011-01-07T15:38:00.002-05:00

Run Photo of the Day 1.6.11: Tired

2011-01-06T20:19:00.000-05:00

We took the pups on a 3-mile run in the dark on ice-crusted streets with big unshoveled mountains at every corner. They're already sick of winter, too.

Run Photo of the Day 1.3.11 : Running down the street

2011-01-03T20:40:00.002-05:00

Run Photo of the Day 1.2.11 : Foggy 2nd run of the year

2011-01-02T15:25:00.006-05:00

Stanley's favorite thing to do is stare at duckies.

Occasionally he looks at great monuments.

Sometimes Stanley just stares at nothing in particular.

Run Photo of the Day 1.1.11 : 1st run of the year

2011-01-01T12:18:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year

Wishing everyone a fantastic new year of running!

Run Photo of the Day 12.31.10 : The end of the road

2010-12-31T13:12:00.001-05:00

When it snows, you have to shovel it off the sidewalk. That's just how it works. Not everybody understands this tricky process, which can be tough when you're out on a run. Because stuff like this happens.

Happy 2011!

Screw your shoes!

2010-12-26T17:44:00.001-05:00

4 Feet Running - Screw Your Shoes from 4 Feet Running on Vimeo.

It's another 4 Feet Running video special! In this instructional tutorial, Nik and Dan make screw-shoes: they drill screws into the bottoms of their running shoes to make cleats for winter running. This is where they got the idea: http://www.skyrunner.com/screwshoe.htm

Enjoy!

Run Photo of the Day 12.24.10: Merry Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T12:07:00.000-05:00

Went for a nice little 5-miler today with the dogs in the ice and snow. I thought I'd celebrate the season by wearing my Santa hat.

The route took us by my old high school. Stanley found something very interesting over on the athletic fields.

Hundreds of Canada geese, all hanging around on the icy, snowy fields.

Only a few dozen meters away, we came upon a bunch of broken vinyl records tossed along the side of the road. Good stuff, too: Benny Goodman live at Carnegie Hall and Ray Charles. There were pieces of about five or six records that I saw, on both sides of the fence. Anybody who (a) litters and (b) treats jazz and R&B like this deserves to be on Santa's Naughty List.

Run Photo of the Day 12.23.10 : Hooray, it's official, we're in the Brooks I.D. P.A.C.E. program!

2010-12-23T17:40:00.002-05:00

Special episode: Mojo Loco and 2010 review Part 1

2010-12-21T09:23:00.005-05:00

It's a very special episode of 4 Feet Running with Nik and Dan! Remember them? This episode:

- Nik and Dan are in St. Augustine, Florida, to run the first ever Mojo Loco 50-mile relay run to Daytona with 11 other friends from the online running community

- Special guest appearances by Adam Tinkoff, Maddy Hubbard, Steve Runner, Steve Chopper, Ed Marathon, Stormin' Norman, Marathon Chris, Susan Stout, Samantha UF, Chris Russell, and the Crazy Runner

- Nik and Dan ain't afraid of no ghosts

- You asked for it, you got it! More of that classic "4 Feet Running ear-splitting traffic noise roar" you love so well

- They talk about a few great developments in their running since their last episode

- Go on a Gallowalk with the Zen Runner, Maddy, and Dan

- What else do 13 runners talk about when they get together? Shoes, shoes, and more shoes

- Everyone nearly freezes to death ... in Florida

- Nik survives almost a whole day entirely on Boost liquid

- A little bit of a short leg at the end due to a calculation error, but after 12 hours of running nobody's complaining

- Stay tuned for Part 2, coming very soon, where Nik and Dan go over their 2010 year in review!

Pictures to come!

Get the episode in iTunes

Team Mojo Loco

Mojo Loco on Facebook

Run Photo of the Day 12.8.10: Bundled up

2010-12-08T20:55:00.000-05:00

Run Photo of the Day 12.7.10 : It's getting cold outside

2010-12-07T09:49:00.001-05:00

Run Photo of the Day 12.4.10: One week left until Mojo Loco! -- and also here are some pictures of dogs

2010-12-04T11:17:00.000-05:00

Did Nik & I ever mention that we're running the famous AND infamous Mojo Loco 50-mile relay in Florida? I don't think we did. Hey, guess what! Nik & I are going to run the Mojo Loco 50-mile relay in Florida! It happens in about one week.

We're part of a 13-person crew of runners and support that will run from St. Augustine to Daytona Beach. It's a relay, so we'll be running about 3 miles at a time and maybe 10 or so miles total. Not a bad way to spend a day.

Among the incredible folks who will be there: Adam "Zen Runner" Tinkoff, Steve "Phedippedations and I'm not sure if I spelled that correctly" Runner, Maddy "Gotta Run" Hubba, Ed "Marathon" Marathon, Chris "YTK" Russell, Marathon "Running Adventures" Chris, Samantha "Uff!" UF, "Just Norman" Norman, The Crazy "Not Actually Insane" Runner, Susan "the Stout-hearted" Stout, and fleeing to dark, wet, foggy Florida from the bright and sunny shores of England, Steve Chopper. Learn more about the Mojo Loco relay here. There's also a Facebook page.

Keep an eye out for it -- I'm pretty sure Steve and Adam will be live-streaming as much of the event as possible with video and audio, so you can participate in the relay as well, without actually having to sit in a car with a dozen smelly runners. Although you could do that if you really wanted to and wrangled up some smelly runners of your own.

Now here are some cute pictures of the dogs getting ready to go for a run.

Run Photo of the Day 12.2.10 : Puddle sniffing

2010-12-02T08:33:00.003-05:00

Only Stanley knows what smells so good.

Philadelphia race weekend

2010-11-27T12:23:00.005-05:00

Here we are, folks. Nik and I have been training for Philadelphia race weekend for a while now, and it finally came: on Nov. 20 was the Rothman 8K (for me, Dan) and on Nov. 21 was the Philadelphia Marathon (for Nik).

This was my first 8K race. I've run longer distances, obviously, but since my New Jersey Half-Marathon 3-hour plod in May I've been focusing on doing short runs faster. I've been running since -- what, 2006? I can't remember, so someone tell me. And since then I feel like I hadn't made any really great gains. So I got myself a copy of Pete Pfitzinger and Scott Douglas' "Road Racing for Serious Runners" and did some of Uncle Pfitzy's speedwork-intensive plans. My goal when I registered for the 8K was an 11-minute mile, or 54:40. At the time, I was still running 12-minute miles with rare dips in the 11s and even rarer dips in the low 10s. By the time the race came around a few months later, 11-minute miles were typical, 10s were common, and even 9s were not unheard-of. Uncle Pfitzy can be a harsh master, but he gets results.

The race started in front of the art museum, same place as the marathon the next day. There were about 1,600 people, so it was a decent-sized race, slightly chilly weather -- which I prefer. I fueled up properly the night before and that morning. I settled somewhere in the mid-pack (that's a big step for me, since I usually hang out in the back with the elderly and infirm) and, when the race started, I trotted past the mayor and gave him a high-five. I even met longtime podcast listener Bill Dowis, who was surprised I recognized him. He's a fantastic, friendly guy with a luxurious beard.

Nik recorded some video of me crossing the finish. Check it out above.

The race was great: I took it easy the first mile to get through the crowds of other runners, and, once they got tired (a lot of people seem to flame out after the first mile where I am), I settled into a pace of just around 10:00 and hovered around there the rest of the way. It felt very strange, being at a pace where I pass people who are clearly in better shape (and better-looking) than I am. I'm not used to being in an area of the running crowd where I'm not in danger of the water stops closing and being followed by the police escort. It's weird.

I got an automatic PR, of course, since I've never raced this distance before -- but more importantly I beat my goal time by more than 4 minutes: 50:36. That's even much faster than my 5-mile PR, and 8K is just under that, at 4.97 miles. Read more about it on my Daily Mile post.

The next day, we got up early again to head back toward the art museum for Nik's Philly Marathon. This is her 3rd time running it, and her 7th marathon overall (although I don't think that counts that bad-ass time she ran a marathon all by herself at home, so that would be 8).

Nik has not been too confident in her training lately. She's just felt a little tired of running long distances all the time, so she's been doing Crossfit a few times a week to break it up. And when you're busy with other things in your life, like work and family, it's hard to feel OK carving out 3 hours to go run. Nik's a very schedule-oriented person, so when she misses a few runs she worries that the whole thing has gone down the tubes.

I was confident she'd do great, though. She's fit like you wouldn't believe. Strong like bull! Don't get into an arm-wrestling match with her unless you want to get humbled. Anyway, I was predicting she'd get a little PR, and she was just hoping to get through the race so she wouldn't have the pressure of it hanging over her. She didn't get to high-five the mayor at the start line. But I did, and then later I high-fived Nik, so in a sense she high-fived him second-hand (no pun intended).

After she took off, I got a coffee and tried to spectate on the corner of 16th and Chestnut streets, maybe about 6 miles from the start. If you've run Philly before lately (either the full or the half), you know Chestnut Street is a great stretch of downtown Philly with tons of shops and spectators about 3 or 4 deep on either side. There's hooting and cheering the whole way, and most people hand out high-fives and snacks. I tried looking for Nik here but didn't get to see her. I later checked out the online tracking on the Philly Marathon website and saw that the clock had her running a 1:22 at the 10K mark, over a 13-minute mile. I got worried for a second, like I do at every marathon, hoping she wasn't in trouble. But I quickly realized that the tracking was counting the 20-some minutes it took her to cross the start line, and if you subtracted that then she'd be in the 9:30 minute-mile range, which is just where she should be.

I got some footage of her crossing the finish too -- or, actually, getting near the finish. I couldn't get the whole thing because some guy's head was in the way. That's to be expected when there are 23,000 people just running, never mind spectators.

Her underconfidence be damned -- she got another PR of 4:10:37, about 10 minutes under her previous time. She ran well, with a series of little hills and inclines from 17-22 that bugged her more than stifled her progress. She got a little bit tired at 24, but got her second (or third or fourth) wind at 25 and kicked it in from there to the end. This puts her well within loogie-hawking-distance of a sub-4 marathon. Read more on her Daily Mile post.

Some other little notes and observations:

The expo? Fun stuff was pretty thin on the ground. Some decent T-shirts and the usual mix of good stuff (bargains on sneakers) and bad stuff (bullshit "Power Balance" bracelets, which be warned, every time you spend good money on one of those things a kitten dies)
Somebody dressed up the Rocky Balboa statue outside the art museum
Lots of Philadelphia-themed music played at race time, but again, no "Jungle Love"
I cooked our meals in the hotel's kitchenette and didn't almost burn the joint down, unlike last year
The swag bag was pretty lousy, except for a free $500 gift card on Red Star sunglasses. We were flabbergasted about this deal and obsessed with finding some kind of catch, and then we found the fine print and realized you have to pay a "service charge" on the list price of the merch. It might still actually be somewhat of a good deal, not sure yet. We'll keep you updated.
They must've given out 50 million free packets of Vaseline lotion in and around the marathon and expo. Lots of smooth elbows in Philadelphia that weekend (and other things).
While Nik was waiting in the corral to start running, I was just outside the barrier and chatting away to her. Some klutz came walking by, bumped the 15-foot metal pole that held a large purple-corral flag on it, and sent the pole toppling down on my head. Nik partially broke the fall by grabbing the pole just as it brained me but it still hurt like a mother.

Run Photo of the Day 11.18.10: Old factory

2010-11-18T15:29:00.000-05:00

Took Stanley and Myrna on a 5-miler through part of downtown Fall River, past an old plastics factory that went belly-up some years ago. They used to make Koosh balls here. I used to know a kid whose uncle worked there, and he'd brought home to his kids armfuls of irregular Kooshes they were just going to throw out.

Run Photo of the Day 11.16.10 : Getting ready to run

2010-11-16T20:36:00.002-05:00

Run Photo of the Day 11.14.10 : Bread & butter

2010-11-14T19:25:00.000-05:00

I took the dogs out today for 4, the first part of a multi-part run.
Stanley likes to do this around poles. We've been trying to teach him the "bread and butter" command, which means he should run on the same side of a pole as us -- but he hasn't gotten it yet.

After I dropped the dogs off at home, I went for 3 solo.
I ran in the cemetery by our house, mostly because it's close and quiet.

On the way there, I saw a notebook lying in front of someone's house that I'd noticed yesterday, too. If you click on the pic to enlarge it, you'll see it's someone's geometry homework. Later, in the cemetery itself, I saw some sheets of paper on the ground. I looked more closely and saw they were someone's algebra homework. Conclusion: kids in our city hate math.

When I got home from the 3, I logged my miles and noticed I was just 0.75 miles away from reaching my yearly mileage goal of 600 miles. So I figured since I was already wearing sweaty clothes, I might as well go out and pick up that last mile. I took the dogs again, and this time Stanley didn't get stuck around a pole. Instead he got transfixed by a sheet of plastic being blown in the wind across the street.

Run Photo of the Day 11.13.10 : Sunrise Run

2010-11-13T07:27:00.000-05:00

.65 miles later...

Run Photo of the Day 11.12.10 : black and green

2010-11-12T16:30:00.001-05:00

Run Photo of the Day 11.11.10 : Run under the bridge

2010-11-11T12:54:00.001-05:00

Run Photo of the Day 11.10.10 : Gray day and Golden Pigs

2010-11-10T16:09:00.001-05:00

Run Photo of the Day 11.9.10 : Shoe rack

2010-11-09T20:23:00.001-05:00

We decided to take the dogs on a 3-miler. Stanley double-checked our shoes to make sure we were serious.

Run Photo of the Day 11.8.10 : Crossfit

2010-11-08T08:13:00.004-05:00

This is my second week of boot camp. It been a fun asskicking so far.

Run Photo of the Day 11.7.10 : Ice Cube Massages

2010-11-07T12:17:00.000-05:00

All four of us went out for a 6-miler. It's typical November here, which means grayish-white skies, no sun, and temperatures just above freezing. It was 40 degrees.

Even so, Stanley demanded an ice-cube massage afterward.

Run Photo of the Day 11.5.10 : Errand Run

2010-11-05T15:52:00.001-04:00

Run Photo of the Day 11.4.10 : Graffiti

2010-11-04T11:33:00.003-04:00

Stanley's obsessive new hobby is staring at leaves floating in water. Myrna's a little bored by it.

Run Photo of the Day 11.2.10 : Nazi pumpkin?

2010-11-02T17:18:00.002-04:00

Nik & I aren't kidding when we say we see some weird stuff while running.

I went for an easy 2-miler today & saw several Halloween displays,

including one with a pumpkin decorated to look like ... oh my JEEZ,

is that Hitler? WHAAA? It's got the hair & distinctive mustache drawn in Sharpie.

I don't know what goes through people's heads sometimes.

Run Photo of the Day 10.31.10 : Myrna's first race

2010-10-31T16:46:00.001-04:00

Nik and I ran a 10K race in New Bedford, Mass., the Spooky Run.

It's a Halloween race, hence the wrestling mask I'm wearing.

We brought along Myrna (she's good at races, unlike Stanley,
who stayed home). We got her this adorable butterfly costume,
which she kept on the whole time. There were other dogs, but none as cute.
It was her first race.

It's not as hard to run in a butterfly costume as you'd think.
The wings are aerodynamic.

I registered for the 5K but at the last minute, since Myrna
doesn't like Nik & I to be separated (and because Nik asked me to join her),
I switched my race to the 10K. It turned out to be a good move:
I got a PR of about 1:08. Myrna, of course, got an automatic PR.

Dan's mom (in the background) ran the 5K in 44 minutes or so,
and we met John From The Poi there, who ran the 10K in 1:01.
Those are PRs for both of them! Congrats!

Run Photo of the Day 10.30.10 : Running Partners

2010-10-30T15:53:00.002-04:00

20 miles was on my schedule today, I've been having a bad couple of weeks

of aches, pains, colds and general lost of mojoness.

I was not confident about this run, but having some running partners along really helped.

Stanley's a champ and ran 13.7 miles with me.
We stopped at his favorite pond to point at some leaves or
whatever those fluffy seed-pod things are. He ate one.

After running 3 miles with Dan, Myrna joined me for 4.75 miles.

She prefers eating the grass by the pond.

After dropping the pups off,

I persuaded Dan to go out for a second run with me.

We stopped to take pictures and look for a geocache.

Dan was tired and decided to go home, so I ran the last 2 and a half miles alone.

It ended up being fun and strong 20-miler.

Run Photo of the Day 10.29.10 : 12 Feet Running

2010-10-29T11:46:00.000-04:00

All of us went for a 6-miler by the waterfront in Fall River. Stanley as usual took the lead.

We ran under the Braga Bridge, which is currently being painted from sick, rusty green to dark blue.

We take petting breaks every two miles.

Run Photo of the Day 10.28.10 : BCC Fountain

2010-10-28T16:43:00.001-04:00

The sun came out today!

Run Photo of the Day 10.27.10 : Foggy Waterfront

2010-10-27T11:31:00.001-04:00

Run Photo of the Day 10.26.10 : Dog Run

2010-10-26T11:06:00.003-04:00

Stanley always takes the lead.

Post run relaxing.

Run Photo of the Day 10.23.10 : Cliff Walk

2010-10-23T15:09:00.008-04:00

Dan and I went on a fun run in Newport, RI
You can read about our runs on the daily mile here and here.

We saw camels (sort of)

There are many mansions.

We ran along the cliff and didn't fall over into the ocean.

The pups stayed home.

Tie your shoes

2010-08-28T14:59:00.001-04:00

4 Feet Running - Tie Your Shoes from 4 Feet Running on Vimeo.

It's another 4 Feet Running video special! Nik and Dan wear their Brooks Launches, also known as the Awesome Magic Champion Shoes, and teach you how to tie your laces like an awesome magic champion. Featuring special guest appearances by Stanley, Myrna, and the contents of Myrna's colon.

Check out Ian's Shoelace Site, where Nik got the idea to tie her shoes differently.

Thanks for watching. Enjoy!

Cooking with 4 Feet Running (except there's no cooking involved)

2010-06-19T19:16:00.003-04:00

Find more videos like this on RuncastTV

Hey, everyone. Dan here. I've been promising people on Twitter for a while that I was going to blog about some recipes Nik & I have been making: homemade gels and drinks. But I'd been reluctant to share the recipes because I wanted to know for certain that they tasted all right and they worked. I don't want to be responsible for screwing up your run! I can't have that on my conscience!

We've been using homebrew stuff for a few weeks now, using different flavors and combinations, and we're pretty confident that we've come up with some good recipes and ideas, so I'm here to post some of them. Use them any way you like -- change them, improve them, love them, hug them, ignore them.

First, a little history, and an explanation of why we did this: This all started because Nik is allergic to nuts and stuff with nut byproducts in it. She also can't eat wheat or too many carbs, so that means most energy bars are out. We used to use Hammer Nutrition gels on the run. Once upon a time, they had a note on the website assuring you that their products were nut-free. Not anymore. We don't know why. Probably because it's extremely difficult to be legally 100%-cover-your-ass certain, given the cross-contamination that's common in food production factories. So she's avoiding Hammer gels, just in case. She also used to use Clif Shot Bloks. They're chewy, delicious, easy to use. But after a couple of long runs with those, she noticed a tightness in her throat that felt eerily similar to the kind of tightness she gets from nut allergies. On their website, they say they can't guarantee their products are nut-free, either.

She figured there's got to be a better way -- if she made stuff herself, she would know exactly what's in it, right? So she decided to start making her own drinks and gels. (She also made some dried fruit and fruit-rollups in a food dehydrator. We'll talk about those in a future post.)

At this same time, I was listening to an episode of the Running From the Reaper podcast, and Nigel described making his own homebrew electrolyte drink. I started thinking it would be great for me to try out this homemade stuff as well -- I'm not allergic to anything, but I've been low on Hammer gel and HEED, and anyone who's ordered products from Hammer knows that shipping time is ridiculously slow. I've never gotten a shipment from them in less than 2 weeks. I hate Gatorade because it makes me burp. And I was intrigued by the idea that we could make running fuel that was much, much cheaper. So I started making stuff too. I'm indebted to Nigel for his recipe, and I'll include it below.

We had two criteria when making stuff:

No exotic ingredients. Use stuff we already have in our fridge.
No expensive ingredients. Either it's cheap or it's not worth it.

Here's what we came up with. The basic recipes include possible substitutions. Enjoy, and as always, if you're unsure about using them, do your own research before trying these out. They work for us, but be sure they work for you.

HOMEMADE ELECTROLYTE DRINK

(makes 20 oz)

• 1/4 cup of orange juice
• 1/8 to 1/4 tsp (or less) of salt
• 2 tbsp of sugar or honey
• 2 tbsp of lemon or lime juice
• water

Put 1/4 cup of water in a microwave-safe cup and add salt and sugar/honey. Microwave it for a few seconds, just enough heat so the salt and sugar crystals melt. Pour the mixture into your running bottle. Add the orange juice, lemon/lime juice. Fill up the rest of your bottle with cold water, shake to mix.

Notes and substitutions:

I say "(or less)" because you can tweak these amounts to suit your taste and needs. If you generally sweat a lot and need to replace a lot of electrolytes on a run, like I do, add a flat 1/4 tsp of salt. If you tend not to need as much electrolytes, like Nik, add 1/8 tsp. If you don't want as much sugar, undercut that.
I've also tried this drink using limeade, iced green tea, or orange/banana/strawberry juice. They all taste great. The O/B/S juice blend has a much less acidic flavor than straight-up OJ, and the green tea is nicely sweet and dry. Note: I used powdered iced green tea mix, which contains a lot of sugar, so you'll probably want to cut down on the extra sugar you add.
If you try the limeade or iced green tea, be warned that those flavors alone do not contain potassium, so you'll need to add some. Potassium helps prevent muscle cramping, and I found that I got abdominal stitches if I had a drink without it. Use those juices but add a splash of orange juice (the flavors blend nicely together) to get in your potassium, or have a banana just before your run if you're not going very far.
The lemon and lime juice is in there for an extra kick of flavor. If you don't like it, or don't have any in your house, it's not necessary. Or just cut it down.

~~~

NIGEL'S ELECTROLYTE DRINK

(Makes 16 oz)

• 1 tsp sugar
• pinch of salt
• orange juice
• water

Nigel says he takes his 16 oz. bottle, fills it with half OJ and the other half with water. He adds the sugar and salt, mixes it, and it's ready to go. The key difference between this drink and the one above: since he's using more OJ it's got less sugar, because OJ has sugar in it naturally of course. There's a trade-off there. It's also got a stronger orange flavor (duh), so if you really like the taste of OJ, give this one a go sometime too.

~~~

HOMEMADE ENERGY GEL

• honey (1 tbsp = 60 calories)
• orange juice (2 oz = 30 calories)
• touch of molasses
• pinch of salt
• Total: 90 calories

This makes an energy gel with the same calorie count as one packet of gel. It's got electrolytes like sodium and potassium too, which is nice. Take a running gel flask (usually 4 or 5 oz), and, using a funnel, add a tablespoon of honey. Drop in a touch of molasses, about l/4 tsp or less. Add a pinch of salt, about 1/8 tsp. Add orange juice to help mix the ingredients and for flavor (2 oz is two lines' worth on a gel flask).

You will probably need to adjust this based on how long you're going, your pace, and your needs.

To calculate the proportions of stuff for you: Use a calculator like this one to figure out about how many servings of gel you'll need on a long run, based on your average pace and weight. Then use the formula of 60 cal. of honey + 15 cal. of OJ to make up your flask. You can add more OJ or less, more honey or less, whatever you like. It takes some math at first, but once you get your proportions set for typical long runs, it'll be easy.

An example: Nik knows she needs about 90 calories per hour on a run. She's going for about 2 hours. She'll need 180 calories of gel.

2 tbsp of honey = 120 calories
4 oz of orange juice = 60 calories
Total = 180 calories

She could've done just 3 tbsp of honey (60 cals. x 3 tbsp. = 180 calories), but the OJ makes it come out of the flask easier and gives it a nice flavor and some potassium. The molasses adds more potassium to prevent muscle cramping and acts with the salt as a concentrated electrolyte drink. She sips it throughout the run every 2.5 miles, rather than having a packet of gel that dumps a load of sugar into her system all at once.

Another example: I'm going for a run that should take me an hour and a half. I usually take about 1 Hammer gel packet on this kind of run, which is 90 calories.

1 tbsp of honey = 60 calories
2 oz of orange juice = 30 calories
Total = 90 calories.

You can tweak it more based on how you feel. Like, the one gel packet may not be enough. I may need about 110 calories for an hour's worth of running. Since I'm going for more than that, I may want just a little more than just one "packet's" worth. I'll add 2 oz. more juice for 60 calories there, plus 60 calories of honey = 120 calories of gel, or enough to keep me fueled up for over an hour.

Make sense?

We hope these recipes help you. If you have suggestions for improvement, let us know!

Some resources:

• Nancy Clark's homemade sports drink recipe (the electrolyte drink is also heavily indebted to this recipe too)

• Running From The Reaper

• Marathon gel calorie calculator
• Active.com: How to make your own homemade gel (plus more info on using gels)

54:40 or fight

2010-06-05T21:57:00.004-04:00

Hello everyone. Dan here. It's been a while since I've written here last, but let's catch up, shall we?

Nik's doing great -- for now, she's been on a "run whatever I feel like running" running plan, which I can totally get behind. She just started a marathon training plan and is trying out some new options for fueling on the go. I'm planning on writing more about that soon.

As for me, I ran today. It was a speedwork day, and after looking through my running logs for a while, checking the old splits, I realized today I ran my fastest mile yet at 10:39.

Go ahead -- sneer if you must! That's fast for me! I'm a big guy still! Plus I'm lazy! Really lazy! And it was hot out, too.

Since the last half-marathon I ran in early May, I've been fed up with running longer distances in half-marathon training. It's not the distance that gets to me -- it's how damn long it takes. My usual pace had been nestled comfortably in the bosom of mid-12-minute-miles for a while. I can log decent mileage at that speed, but I spend what seems like the best part of a day out there once you factor in all the prep, the running itself, the logging, and the post-run staring-into-space.

When I come home after an extra long day at the office, the weather sucks, I haven't eaten in hours, and I know I've got a 7-miler ahead of me that will take me just under an hour and a half, it's a pain in the ass -- I can kiss every free minute left in the day goodbye. I'm a man with many interests that need attention! My Facebook restaurant can't run itself, pal.

After the NJ half, Nik and I decided I wouldn't run any more half-marathons this year. I've proven I can be out there in motion for almost 3 hours, or in the case of the New Jersey half, 3 hours. Instead, I've come up with a schedule of much shorter races to see me through the end of the year -- a bunch of 5Ks, at least one 8K, a 5-miler, and a 10K or two. I even bought myself a copy of Pete Pfitzinger's "Road Racing for Serious Runners" and used it to build myself a nice 5K plan with lots of speedwork built in. Yes, I read a running book. I'm not all the way through it yet, so don't quiz me. I'm getting there, I'm getting there. What, you want a book report? I'm not on trial here!

Go here to see the details of my 5K plan. It's 12 weeks long and takes you up to 21 miles a week.

I'm 4 weeks in, as of this writing. Has it been working? As I said before, I ran my fastest mile ever and didn't even notice it until later. The other week I ran a 5K road race in Berkley (a few towns over) and got a PR -- 33:24, so a 10:44 pace. That's the fastest I've ever run without falling downhill. I'm also now mostly out of the 12s and into the 11 minute-mile range pretty comfortably. With any luck and a little less beer I'm hoping to settle into the 10s somewhere -- anywhere -- this year.

Here's my schedule of races for the rest of the year. These are the ones I've already signed up for, anyway -- there are at least one other 5K, 8K, and 10K nearby I can do, and I may sign up closer to the dates.

Next Sunday: Day of Portugal 5K, New Bedford: I haven't decided whether or not I'll run this one in my luchador mask. We'll see if (a) it's too hot to run 3 miles in a wrestling mask and (b) if I know anybody running, in which case I'll leave the mask at home, thank you very much. People I know think I'm weird enough as it is...
July 3: Mattapoisett Road Race, the Poi: I've run this race before. Last time I ran it I was still running in 13-minute-mile territory. We'll see how I do this time. Plus, I'll get to run with John From The Poi, which is always a treat.
July 4: Harvard Pilgrim 10K, Foxboro: This will be my first 10K race in over a year. I've run easily faster than my 10K race PR in training, so I'm hoping I can do that again. It should be a great race -- you end up in the endzone at Gillette Stadium, where the Patriots play. I hate football, but what the hell.
Oct. 9: ING Hartford 5K, Hartford: It's not the prettiest course, but it allows me an opportunity to try for a course PR. I ran this in 2009 and did pretty well -- we'll see how far I've come in a year.
Nov. 20: Rothman Institute 8K, Philadelphia: I've never run an 8K race before. It's practically 5 miles, but not quite. Isn't that interesting? It isn't? I'm going anyway. I've made a personal time goal for this race: 54:40. That's just under an 11-minute mile. My goals are modest. It's 54:40 or fight! Reacquaint yourself with American history if that doesn't ring a bell. Gordon will get it...

New Jersey Half and the first ever Fall River Solo Marathon

2010-05-16T14:29:00.004-04:00

Find more videos like this on RuncastTV

It's been a while since our New Jersey mini-vacation in early May -- apologies for not posting all this stuff earlier, but both have us have been either busy or sick with colds, or both.

To summarize: Nik and I went to New Jersey on May 2 to run the marathon (her) and half-marathon (him). By that time, both of us were kind of burned out on training and not terribly excited to race New Jersey, even though we picked that running destination because it has a reputation of being a fast and flat racing course. At some point before the race, we both decided we weren't in the mood to race the course -- just to run it.

The area of New Jersey we were in, Long Branch, consists mainly of highways and roads and complicated U-turn areas during which you turn around to go on the opposite side of the highways and roads. Now we know why they're called Jersey barriers. You ain't kidding. Nik and I aren't sure why New Jersey hasn't discovered the beauty of a nice grassy median and turn-signal yet, but once it does, look out! It'll do for New Jersey traffic congestion what the pointed stick did for catching buffalo. I don't mean to tell New Jersey how to redesign their highways, but I will say this: It doesn't matter if the Walgreen's is a block down the road from the hotel. Everything is 20 minutes away once you factor in all the U-turning.

The day before: Anyway, Nik and I had a good time outside of the car. But once again, we discovered that it's tricky managing her dietary requirements having to eat out at restaurants for every meal. For those of you keeping score, she:

is hypoglycemic, so she has to eat every 2 hours to keep her blood sugar stable
should not eat more than 200g of carbs a day because of her blood sugar situation
avoids bread and wheat products because of the above
tries not to eat too much dairy because it upsets her stomach after a while
can't eat peanuts or tree nuts or she'll have an allergic reaction

That leaves her with fruit, vegetables, and meat -- a good, healthy range of food there, but it's tricky because restaurants sneak stuff into food they shouldn't sneak in there. We went out for sushi the day before the race. Some people wonder if this is a good idea. Of course it is. Sushi is a pretty ideal pre-race food. You've got some carbs in the rice (but not too many) and nice clean protein that isn't spiced with anything weird that'll repeat on you.

The problem is that this sushi restaurant sprinkled on her rice what we realized later were toasted sesame seeds. She's not allergic to sesame seeds -- but she IS allergic to the peanut oil they likely used to toast them. Even after we told the waitress Nik was allergic to peanuts. Bastards!

So the night before the race, Nik started to notice her tongue swelling and her throat closing up. She sometimes takes antihistamines to help make it bearable until it goes away, but this time it was worse than before. So she pulled out her EpiPen, a self-injecting needle containing adrenaline, which is supposed to help stop the allergic reaction. I stabbed her in the leg with it and she began to feel better immediately -- then she realized her heart was pounding out of her chest. We gave her some time to see if she'd calm down, but she didn't -- so it was off to the emergency room we went at 3 a.m. to get some treatment. A few Benadryl and prednisone later, they sent us home, and Nik decided that she was in no condition to run 26.2 miles in a few hours. She was in no condition to sleep, either. She sat up all night watching "School of Rock" on TBS. Twice.

The race itself: I didn't feel like running the half, not with my wife awake all night with a swollen throat and a pounding heart -- but since we drove all the way there, she insisted I do it instead of wasting a trip.

I've written on the Daily Mile how the race went. I should let that speak for me. Not much I have to add to it, except this: I'm not running a half again for the rest of the year. I might tackle one again early next year, but for now I'm perfectly happy not running that long a distance.

Aftermath: We hobbled home, sore and full of prescription medication, and it wasn't more than a day before Nik was already talking about making up for her lost marathon by running 26.2 miles alone on the streets of Fall River. She spent a few days planning it and then set out on the first of three loops, coming back to the house briefly to refill a bottle with HEED and then set out again.

She wrote all about it on Daily Mile. Check that out here. She didn't have 10,000 other people elbowing her aside and Bruce Springsteen music and garden hoses spraying the street, but 26 miles is still 26 miles.

Handy tips, in case you ever decide to run the New Jersey Marathon:

If you're allergic to peanuts and you tell that to the waitress, say this, "No, seriously. I'm really fucking allergic to peanuts and anything that has to do with peanuts. Got it?"
Go for a walk on the beach the day before. The beaches aren't like New England beaches, unbearable to walk on with knife-sharp seashells and bits of crab that a seagull dropped. We're talking acres of fine sand. It's like a free foot massage.
Prepare to spend 80% of your day in traffic. Wherever you drive, take a travel pillow and an assortment of snacks.
They give you a grape-acai berry drink at the end of the course, not water. Do your mouth a favor and throw it away instead of drinking it. It's vile. It wasn't just me who thought that. Everyone who drank it said so.
There are ice-cold orange slices at mile 10 or so. Grab some with one hand, and with the other take a handful of ice. You'll thank me when you hit the long, hot, unshaded stretch that hugs the beach.

The New Jersey Situation

2010-05-01T15:53:00.000-04:00

Hey, everybody! Dan here. Nik and I are in New Jersey, ready to run the NJ Marathon (that's Nik) and the half-marathon (that's me). The weather in Long Branch is hot and dry, around 75 to 80 degrees. We're prepping for race day tomorrow by consuming massive amounts of fish and drinking gallons of water (it's the fishes' natural habitat).

I'm not sure if the NJ Marathon has online tracking. If they do, my bib number is 7770 and Nik's is 488. Apparently you can also watch the marathon streaming online at http://www.njdiscover.com.

Don't expect PRs from us, because we're actually not going for them. Nik's treating this run like a long training run and will actually be running with the 4:45 pace group, well below her marathon PR. I'm going to be running with a 12:35 min/mile pace group which should get me across the finish line in 2:44, which is my half PR. If I'm feeling up to it with a few miles left by the end, I might kick it up toward the end to shave a few minutes off -- but I'm not going to pull out any heroics here. We're both just going to run, not race.

Anyway, on to some fun stuff. Things we have seen so far:

The first night we were here, a couple got married on the beach at Long Branch. They had a small string section playing an orchestral version of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'." It was awesome.
An old Mafia-looking dude wearing sunglasses over a massive bandage that covered one of his eyes.
Lots of studded belts.
A kid in a grocery store wearing a straw fedora watched his younger brother pull the cart backward into the store. The cart smacked into a display of plants. The kid in the fedora said, "Good job."
Some kids fished a stingray thrashing onto the beach in Sea Bright, NJ.
"The Longest Yard" remake on hotel room HBO. It wasn't good.

Last exit before New Jersey

2010-04-24T17:55:00.009-04:00

"You guys running Badwater?"

Some guy rode up to us on the East Bay Bike Path where we picked it up in Warren, Rhode Island. Nik and I were doing our last long run before New Jersey next weekend. (I'm doing the half, she's doing the full.) Since the New Jersey race is by the beach and very flat, we figured we'd recreate the conditions of the event as closely as possible. We wore the Brooks Running ID uniforms they sent us and went to the East Bay Bike Path, a flat a running path as we have around here without finding a track. There were no Jerseyites with orange spray tans cheering us on, but you have to make some compromises.

The guy on the bike met us less than a tenth of a mile into a 12-miler. We'd just passed the Del's Frozen Lemonade stand that marked our starting point.

"Badwater's 135 miles through the desert!" he said. "Death Valley! It's 135 degrees!"

"I don't think so!" Nik said.

"That's a little too professional for me," I said, and we waved as he pedaled off.

New Jersey is not Badwater. It's not a 135-mile ultramarathon through Death Valley. It's a pleasant 2-loop course through Long Branch, NJ, by the water. But for some reason we're not exactly looking forward to it. We're both a little burned out from training -- we both kind of just want to run lately, not race. But we paid our money for the bibs, made the hotel reservation, got the time off work, so we have to grit our teeth and get through it. We don't expect PRs, but hell, it's another state, anyway -- somewhere new to run, some new scenery, and it's another state on the 50-state checklist.

This last long run was kind of important to me, mostly because I'd rather not go into next week's race feeling like a sucky-ass runner. Good a reason as any, right? So Nik and I took it fairly easy and enjoyed it. The weather was clear, sunny, about 60 degrees, and the bike path has beautiful views. We tried to get used to the flatness. Our normal routes around Fall River are pretty rolling. The variation is nice, and you catch a break on the downhills. When it's uber-frigging-flat, you're using the same muscles the same way, over and over.

Luckily, we have strong muscles. Strong like ox! See?

The muscles can't hold out forever, though. My goal in any half-marathon is to get through it well, to last until the end. Today, my man-muscles got me to about 8.5 or 9 miles on sheer awesomeness alone before they got too thirsty -- so I started to replenish them with some water. Around mile 10 my mouth started to get sticky. Thereafter, about every mile, I had to stop to drink. That's probably a consequence of me not hydrating enough yesterday. W.C. Fields said he never drank water, because "fish fuck in it." Don't be like him, kids. Drink your water.

But I made it to the end of the 12-miler stronger than I have ever before, with a faster pace than usual, so that's always good. I'm not expecting a PR in New Jersey (I'd have to run faster than 2:44:08), but at least I didn't suck. At least. I didn't. SUCK. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Just before the end, some guy spotted us -- almost around where the "Badwater" guy talked to us -- and said, "Just 10 more miles, you guys! You can do it!"

I told him I just ran 11 and a half. "You trying to kill me?"

Nik was fine, by the way -- these 12-milers are nothing for her. I refer you again to her photo. Strong like ox!

I always keep an emergency $10 bill in my Amphipod just in case we stop by Del's Frozen Lemonade. We conveniently started and finished our 12-miler right by the Del's in Warren.

Frozen lemonade is an awesome way to rehydrate after a long run -- and it's got sugar to keep your brain active and your mouth happy.

Interview with little ol' us

2010-04-03T09:31:00.003-04:00

Ian, a longtime listener to our show, has a great blog called Running OK in the UK. It's a fantastic blog with a great mix of stuff -- it's got recipes, his training, book recommendations, and more. I learned that Coke used to be green on his blog. Really!

And look: There's an interview with us! Ian sent us some really wonderful questions and we did our best to answer them.

How do we feel now that we retired 4 Feet Running? Would we ever come back? We just read and gave away "Born to Run" -- but what did we really think of it? How'd we get started running, why do we keep running, how do we stay motivated, and what are our dream goals? The answers to some of these questions may surprise you!

Maybe not -- maybe you're someone who's never surprised at anything. Or maybe you really are surprised by things but only pretend not to be. Because being surprised in that way makes you feel emotionally vulnerable and you don't want to let people in, so you project an air of cynicism and world-weariness that protects the vulnerable child inside of you at the expense of being able to feel a truly profound connection with people.

But the answers probably will surprise you.

Only one way to know for sure. Go check out Ian's blog. It's lots of fun and informative, and we hope you enjoy it!

Thanks again, Ian, for the interview!

Yours,

Dan

"Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall

2010-03-27T09:51:00.004-04:00

Who wants a totally FREE copy of "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall? ~~The first person to e-mail 4feetrunning@gmail.com gets the book. GO!~~

We have a winner! Congrats to Maddy of MaddyRuns.com! Woo hoo!

New Bedford Half Marathon

2010-03-22T05:37:00.013-04:00

It's a day after Nik's & my impromptu run of the 33rd New Bedford Half Marathon, and we're feeling fine and mellow. Our plan to execute a half-marathon course as a fun run together and not giving a crap worked beautifully, and Nik and I got to meet some people, spend several hours running together in warm sunshine, and I got a PR out of it: 2:44:08, an improvement of just over 7 minutes from my old time. (Nik, of course, missed a PR by 45 minutes plus because she chose to jog the course alongside my chubby ass.)

We put together a short video podcast from bits we filmed before, during, and after the race. Check it out above (it's also on the 4 Feet Running iTunes feed). If you really want to know more about the experience, keep reading.

Improvements: Nik's a veteran of three previous NB halfs, and I'm a veteran of holding purses through three halfs myself. The NB Half made some changes this year that were huge improvements. All previous years, you had to tromp uphill from New Bedford's downtown, past a broken-down McDonald's and a sketchy palm-reading place, to the Carney Academy to pick up your bib number. That's where they had the bathrooms too. It's a good half-mile away from the start line. This year, they switched the packet pickup and bathroom area to the YMCA, just a few blocks away -- and in NB's historic district, the nicest area of town. Free tip: If you run the race in 2011, pick up your bib the day before, if you can. It was a flipping madhouse there in the morning.

Second nice improvement we noticed: At the start line, they had pace zones this year. It's getting to be a fairly decent-sized race (2,400 racers this year, the announcer said), with a wide range of runners, so that helped when lining up to start.

Third, and possibly best improvement: They gave out T-shirts this year. Yeah, I know -- all previous years, they didn't give away T-shirts. What a rip! This year, somebody got on the ball and had some damn T-shirts made. If you're going to run all that way, the least they can do is give you a cheesy cotton memento. Nik gave hers away to her Gramma.

Friends: A slew of people we know ran the race: Dena from Twitter and the Daily Mile; @johnvaughn, aka John From The Poi; his neighbor Jack, who we've run with before, doing his first half; another friend Jocelyn, running her first half; Scott from Twitter and his brother; and @cyktrussell, aka Chris Russell from Run Run Live. We met everyone except Scott, his brother, and Chris. Always nice to meet online-friends in person, so you know you're not insane.

Weather: Nik and I lucked out and raced on possibly the nicest day of the year so far. The temperature was in the mid-50s, sunny, clear, a gentle breeze by the ocean.

Clothes and gear: Since we're in the Brooks ID program, we were naturally decked out head-to-toe in Brooks stuff. Nik wore her Launches -- she's loving them for long slower distances like this. I had on a pair of nicely broken-in Addictions with a little over 100 miles on them. I also tried out tight compression-type underwear. It worked great, but the less said about this the better.

Running the course: Nik and I had a strategy for this race: Since it's fairly hilly at points and I wasn't looking to race it, we'd take it purposely slow to start with. When we came to steep hills, we'd walk most of the way up and make up time on the downhills. That worked fine, except for the first 4.5 miles or so, when we were stalked constantly by an ambulance and a truck looking to pick up the injured and tired. It pushed my average pace up a little higher than I'd wanted, but not to the point where it was uncomfortable. It's always a great feeling to start a race watching the entire pack of runners leave you in the dust while an ambulance creeps impatiently behind you.

The strategy paid off, though -- I have a problem with being able to sustain an even speed for more than 11 miles or thereabouts, so my plan was to run conservatively so I'd have enough gas for the whole trip. I did, mostly. The middle miles and second half of the run, where I tend to flame out, I cruised nicely. I even horsed around a little bit -- I jogged backward for a few feet so Nik could get a picture of me (a cop nearby: "Aww, now he's just showing off"), which is actually not a bad idea. Nik tried it for a bit too and noticed that it almost gave her legs a little break, because you're using your muscles differently. It wasn't until about mile 9 that I started to flag a bit. The course gets monotonously flat and long there, which makes it tiresome to keep moving when you're using to running on the rolling inclines and declines of Fall River. After that, around mile 11, we started to encounter more hills, including a long, steep one at mile 12 that Nik had been telling stories about for years.

When we finally crossed, I knew even without checking my Garmin that I'd PR'd, which is a nice feeling, even nicer because I didn't expect it. I've got to run more races like this, where I genuinely don't give a shit about doing anything except having fun with friends in good weather. Nik's in this frame of mind, too. She didn't regret not racing this half -- she's more interested in having a good time these days.

Miscellaneous: The crowd support was excellent. Part of it was probably because of the gorgeous weather. But I can't remember giving so many high-fives to kids watching a race before.

Early on, we spotted some guy hanging out of a second-floor window to watch the race. He was wearing what looked like a bear suit, or possibly a Doctor Zhivago-style fur coat.

The smell of fish and garbage wasn't exactly as bad as it had been in previous years. It only lasted from about mile 9 to mile 11.

Mile 11 or 12 is about where you enter the really crummy part of town. As far as the eye can see, it's dives with barflies hanging outside with paper cups watching the route.

Kids in only their underwear spotted: 1

Housing projects we ran past: stopped counting at 5

I think Nik actually prefers to run in the back of the pack with me. She says it's much more fun, because people talk to each other more and we're all more friendly, instead of concentrating on breaking that 2-hour mark. The cops and crowd take pity on us more, too. While we were trudging up a hill early on, some lady said, "I know how hard it is! I used to be there too!"

Some gray-haired lady with a bandaged shin kept beating us for a while. I leaned in to Nik and said, "If the old lady with the bum leg beats me, I'll be livid." We ended up overtaking her fair and square. Take that!

At one water stop, a kid held out paper cups yelling, "GATORADE! GATORADE!" I didn't want Gatorade, so I said, "You got just water?" He said, "This is water." I checked his cup. It was water. All the other people at this refueling stop had water, too. So I don't know what was going on there.

View NB half in a larger map

New Bedford, prepare to be knocked out

2010-03-20T15:45:00.005-04:00

Dan here:

I'm running a half-marathon tomorrow. The New Bedford Half-Marathon. So is Nik. This wasn't on our plan until yesterday.

For months, Nik's been refusing to run the New Bedford Half-Marathon because she's already run it three times. It's not a pretty course and she wasn't ready to race. She's coming off a bout of bronchitis, bruised ribs, and a shaky ankle. For months, I've been refusing to run the New Bedford half-marathon because I felt I wouldn't be ready to run 13.1 miles until the New Jersey race in May -- and besides, races make me extremely nervous. In fact, I just told Nik the other day that I didn't want to run half-marathon races anymore at all. I wanted to stick to training and short fun runs. You can't screw up a fun run. You can screw up a big race. I have one bad run in training and I'm ready to flush weeks of running down the toilet. So if you'd asked us on Thursday, no, definitely not -- we're not running the New Bedford Half Marathon. Uh-uh. No way. We're not. But you go on! Have fun!

So how'd we both end up with bib numbers for that race?

Listen: last week, I had a simple 4-miler on my schedule. Easy. I go out, take a loop around the neighborhood, back home in 50 minutes flat. Except Nik had a 10-miler on her schedule and needed some company. She said, half-joking, "Come on. Don'tcha wanna run 10 miles instead?" I thought about it a second and thought, "Why not? What's stopping me?"

I usually have to screw my head on properly for these distances. It's a whole process. I have to worry about what I'm going to drink and eat when I'm out there. I have to worry about what I'm going to eat and drink the day before. I have to consider the idea that I might go 5 or 6 or 8 miles and suddenly run out of gas, or get an unexpectedly full bladder, or get so fed up of running that I have to call someone for a ride home, even though this has never once happened or come close to happening. I have to check the weather multiple times. Double-digit runs are still a big mental hurdle for me. I like having done double-digit runs. I don't like doing double-digit runs. It's a tense problem.

But for some reason, this time I thought about it for a second and said, "Yeah, sure. Let's knock out 10 miles." And Nik and I went out, knocked out 10 miles. I felt great. I probably could've knocked out another 3 if I'd brought more water.

That's been sticking with me for a while. I wanted to go for 10, so I just knocked it out. Boom. It took a while, but I got it done and it wasn't a big deal. It occurred to me: When you don't give as much of a shit, amazing things happen. Put that slogan on a coffee mug.

This week, I had a 10-mile long run scheduled for Sunday. Nik had a 12-miler scheduled tomorrow too. She decided to pull the same stunt: "You gonna knock out 12 with me?" I considered it and said, "Sure, I'll just knock out another 12." Just like that. Don't worry about it -- just go knock that out and be done with it.

Except Sunday is the New Bedford Half. I asked Nik why I was going to do just a 12-mile training run. "If I'm going that far, I could just knock out another 1.1 miles and get a medal for it," I said.

"If you want to sign up for the New Bedford Half, I'll run it with you," she said. "We can go slow and make fun of things."

I don't know if she thought I was serious or not. Either way, this morning Nik and I came to be in a line at the New Bedford YMCA laying out $40 each for a bib number to a race we swore several times we weren't going to run. The promise that there will be things to be made fun of, and I can make fun of them, is too good to pass up.

Neither of us is going to race it. I don't expect a PR, and if she's running with me Nik definitely won't get anywhere near one. We'll be the two hanging out in back, taking it easy -- especially at the beginning, so I don't flame out early -- and talking about what a craphole New Bedford is. Except for that part by the water where you can almost see the ocean if there wasn't that concrete wall in the way.

This whole "knocking it out" thing is fun -- a trick I'm definitely going to use elsewhere in life. But I'm curious about this situation specifically: Either I'm not respecting the 13.1-mile distance right now, or I've respected it too much in the past. I'll find out the answer tomorrow.

4 Feet Running Book Club: "Born to Run"

2010-03-20T09:37:00.004-04:00

Hey, Dan here. Remember the 4 Feet Running Book Club? We're still keeping it going! This time around, we're giving away the book that everyone's talking about: Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. Nik and I both read it, enjoyed it, and now, thanks to 4FR Superfan Sweet Daddy D, we're giving away a hardcover copy for free.

Curious about the Tarahumara, the "hidden tribe" of mysterious super-runners that no one knows anything about, except these people here, here, here, here, and here? Want to see if the book lives up to all the chatter? Or this chatter? And who the hell's this guy? Find out by winning Born to Run.

The rules of the book club are simple: Sometime just after 10 a.m. Eastern on Saturday, March 27, you will see a new post here saying we're giving away the book. You'll see the same message if you're following the 4 Feet Running Facebook group, following us on Twitter (Nik or Dan), or on the DailyMile (Nik or Dan). Once you see that message, the first person to email us at 4feetrunning@gmail.com saying they want the book gets it. We'll mail it to you for free. That's it.

You'll have to be alert and quick -- our books generally are won within seconds of us posting the notice, and this one should be especially hot.

Got it? We're giving you a week to make it fair, because some people don't check their blog subscriptions every day. Any questions, leave us a comment or email us!

Thanks, and see you sometime shortly after 10 a.m. ET, Saturday, March 27.

It's sunny -- finally

2010-03-07T18:35:00.002-05:00

It was actually sunny today -- the first warm, bright day of the year. So Nik and I celebrated by heading over to the East Bay Bike Path for a run. Nik was going for a 12-miler, and I was doing a 9. We lucked out because both of those should take about 2 hours -- so we could run separately but in the same place, if you follow me.

The path runs from Bristol, R.I., to Providence, but we usually pick it up in Warren. Here's the map of where we went. This is my map -- just imagine Nik's going further north another 1.5 miles.

We left the dogs at home so we could practice running on a flat, fast path. Stanley and Myrna took it out on us later by knocking over a trash can and spreading garbage all over the back yard. No photos of that.

This has nothing to do with running: On the way there, we started talking about cassette tapes, which veered off into a random conversation wondering what people who break up with each other do, now that record collections and books are digital. I.e., didn't people get cardboard boxes and split up their stuff? "These Sheena Easton tapes are mine." "No, those three are yours. These two are mine." "Like hell they are!" "Stop trying to keep my stuff!" Et cetera. What do people do now that there are iPods? You don't even need to have that conversation. Same thing with books now too. "Take your Kindle and your thumb drive and get the hell out of here." Is that it? If you've been through this, let us know.

Nik stretched a little after her 12-mile run. It's been a long running week for her, and she's trying to keep her ankle healthy.

Run happy? Yes indeed.

I'm not quite sure what that bright yellow thing in the sky was, but it made my eyes hurt. Warm, though.

Two 7-milers: One awful, one good

2010-02-27T11:15:00.006-05:00

From Dan:

I've talked about this before, but I have a tumultuous relationship with running. It's not like any of the other relationship with any of the other hobbies and activities in my life. I play guitar, for instance. I don't hate myself when I play, and the guitar doesn't hate me -- I'm just mediocre at it. Both of us are OK with that. I like to take pictures. Sometimes they're nice, sometimes not, but I've taken thousands of pictures in my life and I'll continue to do it either way. They're the kind of relationships that are adult, mature, mutually comforting. Sometimes we hit snags, but we talk out our shit and process it, work toward improvement so we can continue the relationship until we're old. I'm not a complicated person.

Running with me is like those goddam dramatic quarter-life crisis relationships you see on TV. One little thing happens and voices are raised, and we turn shallow and immature. "What do you mean, I can't hit my target pace? What are you trying to say?" Or: "It's raining out? I'm supposed to be out there an hour and a half! You think I appreciate that?" Or: "I've been doing this for years! Why haven't I gotten better? It's because you think I'm fat, isn't it? Say it!" I log a bad run and I say, "You know what? Screw this -- we're done." Then I storm out of the house.

It isn't always negative. When I run and it goes well, I'm excited -- it's all I want to do. I sign up for races and I log on to Twitter and try to cheer on my friends. It goes badly and I think I've been a clown. Sometimes the difference between those extremes is a matter of 5 minutes of overall time or less.

Long story short, on Thursday I tried to run a 7-mile interval run. I was lashed by a pouring rainstorm and heavy wind. It was pitch dark when I left and I stumbled into ankle-deep puddles in the broken sidewalks and potholed streets you find everywhere in Fall River. I stopped frequently to walk, catch my breath, and gnash my teeth in frustration. I asked aloud -- there was nobody around to hear me, because as I said, the weather was shit -- who the hell in their right mind goes outside to run 7 miles in a rainstorm, and why I was continuing to put myself through this kind of nonsense when running is supposed to be an enjoyable activity. I was soaked to the bone. My feet audibly squished with every step. About 2 miles in, I had to stop and hitch up my running pants because the bottoms were so soaked with rainwater that they began to sag into dangerous territory. I asked, "Who am I putting myself through this for, because it sure as hell isn't me?" So I ran home after less than 3 miles and was a miserable bastard for a while.

Friday, under better emotional and meteorological circumstances, I ran 7 miles and I felt much better. I ran through some wet snowfall, but I didn't get as soaked and it was actually sort of nice. I didn't hit my targets, either (it was supposed to be a relatively fast interval run), but I'm fine with it. I got a painful worn-out spot on the back of my right heel, but I ran through it and put a Band-Aid on it. So we've made up.

Podcast feed weirdness

2010-02-25T08:19:00.005-05:00

If you've recently checked out the 4 Feet Running podcast on iTunes, you will have noticed that three things are screwed up:

~~The author of the podcast is now "noreply@blogger.com (Dan)"~~
All podcast episodes are now dated Feb. 24, 2010
Episodes 1, 2, 3, and 4 are in reverse order

I switched RSS feeds and some things got wonky along the way. At least all the shows are still available for download! Right...? (If you find something is missing, let us know.)

Here's what's going on with the other problems:

This is is some weird thing with Blogger. I tried fixing it to say "Nik and Dan" again but it hasn't worked so far. If that doesn't work, I think I know a way at least to get it to say "noreply@blogger.com (Nik and Dan)" -- not perfect but closer. [Edit: This is now fixed.]
I reposted all the episodes on that day. Even though I back-dated them, the posting date still isn't right. I can't fix that, but I plan on adding the proper dates into each episode's show notes so it'll be clear.
Beats me. I posted all the episodes in the right order. We'll have to live with it.

So hold tight and we'll get it all fixed up. I think.

run happy

2010-02-23T12:03:00.001-05:00

Now I have my Brooks ID uniform too!

(Myrna's excited too)

We're in the Brooks ID program!

2010-02-18T19:10:00.004-05:00

Hey, remember all those times during the podcast when Nik and I went on and on and on and on about how much we love Brooks shoes? Turns out they like us too! They accepted us into the Brooks ID program! The ID stands for "inspire daily" -- so here's your daily dose of inspiration.

Run happy!

Valentine's Day run

2010-02-15T18:35:00.005-05:00

Nik and I have both been in iffy moods regarding running lately -- Nik's left ankle has been bothering her (more on this in a sec), and I've been exhausted from long tedious hours of work. So it's been a little tough for both of us.

Valentine's Day morning, we put on our screw-shoes and went out for an icy 5-miler, the last run in my step-down week (Week 4 of the NJ half-marathon training). Nik's ankle is sore in the Achilles area, so we left the dogs at home. As soon as Nik put on her screw-shoes and started to walk, she felt the ankle starting to nag her. She suspects it may be because her screw-shoes are an old pair of Brooks Dyads with close to 400 miles on them -- she normally ditches them just after 300 or so. I told her she could cut it short if she needed to, but she said she'd power through it.

Me, I had a spectacular run. We took one of Nik's usual 5-mile routes, a beautiful one that takes us to downtown Fall River, over to Kennedy Park, and along a boardwalk that winds along the edge of the Taunton River. We ran past some dude in a doorway downtown holding a purple left-handed BC Rich Warlock electric guitar, just holding it around his shoulder -- couldn't take a picture of him, unfortunately, even though it would've made a spectacular portrait. Someone else in a doorway (lots of people in doorways that day) told us it was a great day to go jogging. It was -- I felt pretty strong and confident throughout the whole thing, settling comfortably in the 11:30 to 12:00 pace range for long stretches. That qualifies as "fast" for my slow ass.

Some patches of ice and snow (particularly on the hills) threw off my average, and we stopped for a while to take pictures of seagulls perched on sheets of ice floating on the river, but we still managed to finish the 5-miler in just over an hour. Overall I tend to be more interested in how I feel than my pace, and in that respect it was a huge success for me. But Nik's ankle is still hurting -- she's changed her NJ marathon plan to make sure she won't put too much stress on it.

Nik and I have joked on the podcast more than once about how crappy Fall River is, about its crime and garbage and slummy neighborhoods. But there are days when it's actually pretty.

This is in an industrial area of the waterfront, by a huge mill. I think it's abandoned. Most of the mills in Fall River are empty, but the buildings are weirdly pretty in an Industrial Revolution kind of way.

Unfortunately, photography flattens out cityscapes like this. When you're here on Ponta Delgada Boulevard looking over the highway, you can see some pretty nice Fall River highlights -- the old Durfee clock tower, a church steeple, mill smokestacks ... the on-ramp to 195...

Part of the 5-mile route also takes you under the Braga Bridge, which connects Fall River to the (mildly) swankier people in Somerset.

This boardwalk takes you from the Battleship Cove area all the way to Bicentennial Park about a mile away (past that big red building).

Seagulls were standing all over sheets of ice on the river.

A seagull giving me a clever little "Go F yourself" look.

Episode 73

2010-02-10T17:44:00.005-05:00

It's the end of 4 Feet Running as we know it, and they feel fine! In this final episode:

- Nik and Dan read strictly feedback from you, the listeners

- No other news, to be honest -- just your e-mails and voice messages

- A huge thanks to everyone who wrote us, called in, left a review, listened to the show, interacted with us in any way, from us, Nik and Dan, and Stanley and Myrna

Follow us on Twitter: Nik and Dan

Friend us on Facebook: Nik and Dan

Join our Facebook group

Friend us on the Daily Mile: Nik and Dan

- Enjoy!

The cure for sticky nipples

2010-02-05T14:34:00.008-05:00

Dan here. My nipples are killing me lately. In the winter the skin gets sort of dry, which is a pain in and of itself, but it seems to make nipple-chafing during runs much worse. Plus, I'm on the end of a stick of Body Glide -- actually using what's left in the plastic bit that holds the stuff in. I've been using Band-Aids because they're what I have in the house, but I keep worrying that it's a waste of Band-Aids and one day I'll slice my finger of and there won't be any left when I need them to stanch the bleeding.

On the advice of fellow badass @keeponrunning, I decided to try duct tape. I have hair on my chest, which would deter most mortal men from applying an adhesive to it. But I figured if I just use a small piece and take it off in the shower, I could minimize the pain I'd feel later. So I dug out an old roll of duct tape in Nik's collection of art supplies, cut off three pieces and stuck them on my nipples. (The third piece I threw away because it got stuck to itself, silly.)

Went for a 3-miler. No chafing. Perfect, right? Got home, popped into the hot shower and started to peel off the tape, and immediately I began to regret it -- the plastic backing slipped right off, but the sticky residue still coated my nipples like a gooey film, gumming up the hairs encircling it. Soap didn't help at all, even when I turned up the heat to scalding and used a hard-bristled scrub brush. I tried pulling off tiny strings of goo with my fingers, but it barely came off. I'm not trying to make this sound hot. It just happens to deal with nipples.

I informed Nik of my situation. She promptly fell over in her chair in hysterics. Between crying jags she told me her roll of duct tape had been through several scorching summers in the attic and had mostly melted. She only kept the roll to use as a paperweight. I could see she was going to sit back and enjoy the situation as opposed to trying to help me.

So I turned to the Internet. Being a nerd, it's where I go whenever I have a problem. At this point, I'll turn things over to my Twitter feed, where I began to live-tweet the situation:

- OK, first and LAST time I ever use duct tape as nipple guards. I've got fking glue residue all over them and I can't get it off

- My shirt's literally sticking to me

- They're covered in duct tape goo. Tried nail polish remover, didn't work. Tried scrubbing w/ soap, didn't work. A scrub brush didn't work

[Several minutes later]

- I'm up to peanut butter. I'm going to put peanut butter on my nipples in the kitchen and hope the neighbors don't look in. Thanks, life. FU.

- I could probably try to unstick it with more duct tape, but I have a hairy chest. I didn't picture myself getting a waxjob today

[Several minutes later]

- So far the thing that's working best is more duct tape. @painternik thinks this is hysterical, by the way

After dabbing at the tape with MORE tape, I did succeed in removing a tiny bit of the goo and several strands of hair. I got several suggestions from followers on Twitter to use Goo Gone (I didn't have any), lighter fluid (I didn't have any), and olive oil. Nik suggested that the thing to do might be to wait it out -- let the stuff dry out and flake off on its own. That could take days, I thought. Meanwhile my T-shirt was sticking to my body.

- I think I'm gonna try the olive oil. Back in a sec

- Wonder if it matters if I use extra virgin

- So I, what? Put olive oil on my nipples and let it sit for a while before wiping it off? This is sounding filthy. I'm not spam, honest

At this point, @kelownagurl asked me to take a picture of myself. In other words, share topless photos of myself on the Internet covered in food products and sticky goo. How come if I asked women for things like this, it would be frowned upon, but in my case it's OK?

I tried one picture. It looked porny. I deleted it immediately.

Anyway, I soaked a paper towel in vegetable oil (I had olive, but it's extra virgin, and so too expensive to waste on nipples) and began dabbing myself with it. To my surprise and relief, it slowly began to melt away the tape goop, with the unexpected bonus that my chest began to smell like french fries. After a few minutes, it was all off and I was nice and smooth again.

So that's this week's Running Tip: if you've got sticky duct tape residue coating your nipples, rub in vegetable oil liberally. I swear I'm not trying to make this sound hot.

Thanks to everyone who helped me out with the suggestion.

Believe it or not, I may try duct tape again, but from a fresh roll this time that hasn't been through heat extremes. I'll report my findings after a 5-mile tempo run.

Episode 72

2010-01-30T13:40:00.005-05:00

It's the final 4 Feet Running! Which actually turns out to be the second-to-last 4 Feet Running. Again. It makes sense when you listen. This episode:

- Nik and Dan talk about why they're ending the show and their plans for the future

- They discuss what they thought would happen when they first started the show years ago

- Nik: "Now you have more time to run. So that means less griping?" Dan: "Not likely"

- They talk about the power of accountability to others, and how that helps

- Special guest appearance by their crazy neighbor who wants QUIET

- Nik has a comeback from her horrible bout of bronchitis and rib pain

- Dan's running plans in 2010 have changed again -- goodbye Hyannis, hello New Jersey

- Good running tip: register early for races now, because it's mental out there

- Science-based self-help with Richard Wiseman, author of "59 Seconds"

- Nik teaches you how to determine your child's personality using 3 marshmallows, and Dan describes how to lose weight using smaller plates

- Dan likes the new Nike Frees that Nik bought him as a special Martin Luther King Day present

- Nik and Dan review their 2009 year in running: more miles, more speed, more improvements

- Nik: "You wouldn't want to be at the top -- where would you go?" Dan: "I'd stick around there for a while"

- They read the results of the 2009 Feet Running Challenge

- Stay tuned for one more episode with just your feedback!

Clickables:
10 in 10 Challenge
"59 Seconds" on Amazon or Audible
All about Richard Wiseman

- Enjoy!

Episode 71

2010-01-06T17:53:00.012-05:00

It's a sick, sick, sick, sick world with 4 Feet Running! Where the hell have Nik and Dan been? And where are they going?

- Nik is waylaid by another long and arduous illness -- this time bronchitis

- Dan is waylaid by a small and squishy exercise ball

- A nurse laughs at Dan's pain

- After being floored by various ailments, they get knocked over by 2 feet of snow and then the holidays

- But they use the opportunity to try out their new screw-shoes (some assembly required)

- They adjust, and then re-adjust, and then re-re-adjust their training plans

- Dan's mom gets new kicks

- Nik reviews a nice running shirt from Thriv, but will not be seen in it in public for reasons of modesty

- They read more emails from wonderful listeners

- Hey! Adam Tinkoff has a new show! Go check it out!

- This is the second-to-last episode we will be producing. We have a brief note about the upcoming final episode of 4 Feet Running

Clickables:
Thriv clothing
Want to get screwed? Try it on your shoes!
Did we mention there's a new show from Adam?

Download this episode from iTunes, leave a comment or check us out on Podcast Alley. And feel free to call us at 206-367-0767!

Enjoy!

Here's a look at the soles of Nik and Dan's screw-shoes, all mucked up with slush, salt, and sand.

The screw heads stick out of the rubber sole a bit, so they act as cleats. No damage to the inside of the shoes, and no, you don't end up piercing yourself.

Nik reviewed a Thriv bamboo-fabric workout shirt. Nice logo, isn't it?

As you can see, the shirt is made of great bamboo material, but the white color is rather ... uh ... sheer.

Speaking of sheer-colored shirts: here's Sweet Daddy D just out for a quick holiday bite to eat with some of his buddies. It's amazing how many of them can fit in his hot tub! Thanks, Sweet Daddy D! Merry Christmas!

The 4 Feet Running Holiday Specials

2009-12-03T16:27:00.002-05:00

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