I have many friends who have a wide arrangement of interests. One of these friends is from high school. She loves the outdoors. She skis in the winter time and has told me time and again that she will teach me how. In the summer she can often be found on some adventure climbing some mountain. She just finished a trip to the Grand Canyon where she kayaked the river.  Her name is Lindsay. We ran together in high school, so she understands my running obsession as best as anyone could. This last June she graduated from the University of Montana. She continues to live in Missoula and is actually going to let me have a place to stay in July as I hunt down the Marathon Maniacs entry with my third marathon in 90 (in my case 50) days. After that adventure my summer marathoning will have wound down to a close.

Or it might draw to a close. Lindsay came to visit my two roommates (also former high school running friends) and I a few weeks ago. It’s no secret that I have plans to visit every state and traverse 26.2 miles of their roads. This is made especially clear when visiting my apartment and a map of the United States hangs clearly on the wall. I have marked many of my “planned” events or marathons that I hope to run with yellow push pins. These events include the three that I am running this year, Coeur D’Alene, Seattle Rock and Roll, and Missoula, as well as, New York, Eugene, Mount Lemmon Marathon (Arizona), and of course Boston. Once completed I push a red pin into the board, I plan on pushing blue ones in for the second in each state (so for Seattle Rock and Roll upon completion a blue pin will be placed). We were chatting hanging around our dining room table looking at my map when she told me she had a goal of visiting each of the 50 states and a desire to see a national park in each. Now her goal is before she is 30, whereas mine has no age limit, it is just to be done when I can do them.

While looking at my map her mind was reeling with thoughts of trying to check off a couple of states a little further from home, maybe somewhere in the middle of the country as well as trying to get her into states she has not yet been to. North and South Dakota were two that came up as options. I pulled up my race calendar courtesy of Marathon Maniacs, and searched for races in both of these states as well as Utah. We knew I probably wouldn’t be able to do much more than two in the short amount of time we were thinking, only a couple of weeks for the trip. So we ended up searching for the Dakotas. We struck gold.

There are two national parks that Lindsay has in her mind to visit, while I was able to find two marathons a week a part in South and North Dakota in September. So the trip is in the planning stages. What do you think? The races are the Sioux Falls Marathon on September 9 and the Bismarck Marathon on September 15. Shall I mark off four more states this year? With 5 marathons, I’m ready to jump into the deep end!

Nobaching Down

Let me preface this post with the statement that I am not a doctor or physical therapist. In no way does the advice stated here mean that you should not see a professional in either of the aforementioned fields. I am not going to school to become either of them either. The only qualifications I have is that this has worked for me over the past year to help my ailments of IT Band Issues.

If you have been following me for the year I have had here in the blogosphere you will note that I have had IT Band issues. I struggled all of Spring term with them in one leg and from Thanksgiving until recently in the other leg. The problem that I had was that I wasn’t doing my exercises and it ended up hurting me in the long run. The exercises that I will give below were prescribed to me by a physical therapist over the summer, but again my passing them on is only in hopes that they may provide some relief to you until you can see a physical therapist or doctor. Without further adieu let’s get to it!

First the best stretch that I was given is stretching the IT Band for this lay on the ground and cross one leg over the other pulling the bottom leg to you gaining a stretch in the IT Band/Butt region. I usually put this both before and after the rest of the exercises, after my run or bike.

IT Band Stretch

The next thing that I do is a set of “kneels.” That isn’t exactly what they are, but I cannot think of a better term for them. Initially I did these on a raised box of about 8 inches in height, but have made due without one. The first is the Twist Kneel. In this you stand on one leg and pull the other around to the back kneeling down. While doing this keep the knee over the foot to have it hit more towards the hip region. I do one leg and then switch to the other 10 on each leg. Once comfortable with this increase the speed with which you do them, aiming for 1 per second. Also the more comfortable you get with it you can also increase quantity.

Twist Kneel Standing Right

Twist Kneel Standing Left

The next set of kneels is the side kneels. The same rules apply, don’t lean forward for this one as you tend to, but keep the knee over the foot. Moving to the right and to the left. I did lose my balance in the images below, for that I apologize.

Side Kneel Left

Side Kneel Right

The next set of exercises is a set of lunges in three directions: Forward Lunges, Side Lunges and Backwards Angled Lunges. I start with 10 on each leg alternating legs as I go. Increasing them when I feel I can handle more, but never less than 10 a side. The key to the forward lunges is to not lean forward but bear back a little feeling it once again in the high IT Band range to butt.

Forward Lunge Sorry a bit grainy

For the side lunges just make sure you keep your knee over the foot and lean into the lunge with your hip.

Side Lunge

For the backwards angled lunges the most important key is to not turn the foot facing forward when you turn your hips and upper body. If you turn that foot you would in essence be doing a forward lunge, we don’t want this. The back foot is angled at 135 degrees (relatively 45 degrees to the +) from your front foot.

Backwards Angled Lunge

For some reason the Backwards Angled Lunge isn’t loading correctly, click one the name to the left to view it.

So I hope this helps those of you who may be ailed by IT Band issues. It’s helped me. The key is to continue doing them even when you do get better as it will only help you. Again I am no doctor or physical therapist and my words should not supersede anything that those professionals might say to you.

Until another time,

Nobaching Down

I run two blogs. One for my what were once weekly updates on everyday life at school so that those who are near and dear to me could know what I was doing with my days, other than the obvious grind of school and running. The second is this one started nearly a year ago inspired by my friend Cami.

The reason that I can see for having neglected it is that I have been injured again. There is a direct correlation between the times in which I am injured and not feeling good about my running, and the number of blog posts that reach your eyes. For this I am sorry, especially for those that like to hear about my running.

I am once again being plagued by knee injury. Last March and April it was my right knee. I made my way though Spring quarter of school and back home started physical therapy where I learned stretches to strengthen my IT Band and ensuing muscle groups to counteract the pain I felt. They released me and I (probably should not have) ran the San Francisco Marathon shortly after. This accomplishment was something that I enjoyed greatly. Finally I was heading back to something I loved about running. Plan began forming I started signing up for marathons galore.

This is when I was hit with knee pain again, this time in the left knee. I have taken time off, slowly working back to it. In the winter’s at Eastern Washington University they offer a course called Bloomsday Preconditioning, a class I adore and love, I signed myself up of course again to take it. I have reverted myself back to the stretches given to me by the physical therapist and have seen some success in the amount of pain in the days after a run.

I will follow this post up with a post telling you how I myself have combated my knee issues over the past year. I want to include images that I do not have at this moment.

I will continue doing the things prescribed by the physical therapist though to help myself out. Hopefully I will be better at getting to the blog and you.

Nobaching Down

“The way this award works, as I understand it, is that one graciously receives it by (a) thanking the blogger who awarded it, (b) revealing seven little-known things about oneself, and (c) awarding one’s 15 favorite blogs with the award, thus bequeathing the honor forward.”

So here we are!

a) Thank you so much for this award Cami! It truly is an honor! You are one my favorite blogger, I enjoy communicating with you via cyber space, and I look forward to the day that we run together. For those who may not know I met Cami after reading her book 7 Marathons on 7 Continents. She went to high school with one of my many “mothers” in the world Linda. I was turned to Cami when I heard about her running a marathon on each of the continents of the world. I picked up her book and then found out she was heading to Spokane for a book signing! How could I turn away from that? So I hopped on the bus and headed down to the local bookstore and met this wonderful woman! Since then we have communicated via Twitter (@CamiOstman) and her blog, meeting up once since then in person. We will some day meet up and run a race together, something that I am looking forward to doing! If you want to visit her site (highly recommended) visit 7 Marathons On 7 Continents.

b) So 7 facts about myself that not many of you know, or may not know.

• Running my first marathon was terrifying. I may say that it was a great experience or that I really enjoyed myself. I didn’t have a lot of fun during it, but that may be why I am now out to conquer the states.
• During that first marathon I was so happy to see my twin brother and new sister in law. I held myself together when I saw them, but I wanted to cry after I left them behind. Who says this sport isn’t emotional? Not me.
• My goal above goals for marathoning is running the Boston Marathon. Right now I am so far away from qualifying, but I will continue plugging along. I will get there some day, even if I have to wait for ages.
• I am an Earth and Space Science Major at Eastern Washington.
• I can be a huge hypocrite when it comes to a lot of advice I give. Especially since I know a lot of the information I give here is about running. I know a lot of the right things to do for training and conditions to run in. I will suggest doing certain things then not follow my own rules. I’m working on this.
• I posted this with only 6 blogs at first, found one more I read a lot and updated it.
• That also means I posted this without 7 facts about me. Shh… Don’t tell anyone.

It’s been a while, for that I am sorry. It isn’t that I have not had a lot happen in my running life, it is that the other parts of my life have been busy interfering with my time to write anything other than educational papers.

Over the past few weeks I have experienced loss. I have thought a lot about the repetition of running. I experienced the thrilling sensation of running in the dark.

A few weeks ago the Marysville Getchell Cross Country team experienced the loss of one of their own. A few of our boys were involved in a car accident in town. If you are in that area you probably heard about it. I thank you all so much for your support and prayers over the last few weeks for myself and the team as them and I have dealt with the loss in our community. Juan you are missed dearly and we cannot wait to run with you again some day.

Here in Cheney I have a few routes that I run often. My most often run route is a 5.4 mile loop. It is one that I typically run for my daily mileage, when not looking for speed or hills. It allows me to take in the shape that I am in. If I can get the run to close to 35 minutes I am in pretty good shape. The other routes that I run frequently are the ones that I use for long runs. I know that it is a rule to not run the same route every day or at the same time so as to not draw unwanted predators. However, I tend to not follow that rule and run the same routes at more or less the same time each day. Call me daring, but I will take my chances against those creepers, but I will be a hypocrite if you ever ask me for advice on how to conduct your training runs, at least in this instance.

The reason I have a lot of redundancy in my running is because I have very few places to go. I live in a town 5 miles around (hence a 5.4 mile run being my most common run, I simply run around town!), which leaves very few places to go. The one trail in town is 4 miles in one direction, and is my main source of long runs. Things become difficult when the snow comes down, but I try to stay to the more common roads at that point! I go see the empty fields that used to hold the cows. Typically these roads have been plowed well enough for me to get in my training.

Now I don’t partake in evening runs often, but my crazy school schedule has forced a few upon me. I actually ran one tonight, in the rain, wind and cold I set out on a run. Now when running at night I have specific advice that all should follow as closely as possible. I will give two examples of runners (myself and another kid whom I ran upon tonight) and you will see why it is important to follow my rules. First wear bright colored clothing. Something that reflects some light. Dark clothing is a big problem, you cannot be seen very well with it on a dark night. Do not listen to music if it is dark. This reduces greatly the amount you can hear, and is especially important at night. Now these are my main rules. There are others, wearing lights is sometimes recommended. I don’t typically wear a light, but I don’t typically run at night.

So the two runners outfits that I mentioned. I have a pair of red tights that I love so I wore those with some red shorts. My roommate recently gave me a bright yellow Brooks running jacket and I wore that as well. I loved the outfit, I am a bit of an oddball as well, so this suits me fine. The other runner that I ran up behind tonight and scared (because of his music I did announce myself so as not to frighten him). He was wearing a dark gray sweatshirt and dark pants. Listening to music as well on a windy cold night. He also continued to run towards a part of town in which the power had gone out and a place I avoid even in the day light if possible as people often come close to hitting me with their vehicles. Something I won’t win against if I run into it.

Other news about my running life is I am now set up to become a Marathon Maniac. I simply need to compete and finish the three marathons on the docket for next year! Today I signed myself up for the Seattle Rock and Roll Marathon in which Duard King will partake with me in June. I also recently signed up for the Missoula Marathon to run next July, and am signed up for the Coeur D’ Alene Marathon in May. This will be 3 marathons in 42 days… Well within the range of 3 within 90 days. I may also be entering myself again into the San Francisco Marathon so that would be another accomplishment. Of course only two of these are adding new states to the list, but it is a goal to also be in the Marathon Maniacs, so it is a goal I will accomplish!

Anyways I hope this finds you well!

Until again,

Nobaching Down

I am sore! You know that feeling after a really tough workout or race? Well I haven’t had this level of soreness since my first marathon two Septembers ago. Sure I’ve run in plenty of races over the last year and a month since then, the San Francisco Marathon was probably the most prominent of those. I was sore the next day, but I had run a smart race and wasn’t as sore as I probably could have been, or in all reality should have been. It amazed Michael how well I was able to move around later that day and the rest of the week.

The reason for my soreness is that I ran in the Spokane Half Marathon yesterday. I bested my personal record on the course by over 8 minutes. Which wasn’t something that I was worried about doing yesterday, but was a nice perk. Walking into the race I wanted to run slightly faster than I did last year, in a race only a month after I had completed my first full marathon and had done very little training. This year I was a little more prepared for the race, but was still concerned with my knee. Would it hold up under the pressure of 13 miles at more or less race pace? Only time would tell.

I met up with a former Marysville Pilchuck cross country runner, Shawn, at the race and we ran the first few miles together, before we reached a hill and he dropped back and he gave me the go ahead to cut him loose. This is where I picked up a pace that was already “too fast” for the time I was shooting for. I felt good though, and was ready to start earning some “jelly beans.”

Jelly beans are something that one of my high school coaches used to talk about. They were something you earned as you were running in a race. Every person you passed gave you one of their jelly beans, or more fitting you stole a jelly bean from them, and every person that passed you stole one of your jelly beans. I earned a lot of jelly beans yesterday. My first three miles were run close to 7:30 pace, continually getting faster as the miles increased. That trend continued throughout the rest of the race. After I departed ways with Shawn I started increasing the pace from there onward settling in around a 7:10-7:15 mile pace at times getting back to the 7:30 depending on the hills of the course.

I know that just shy of mile 5 I was in 75th place. Over the next few miles I passed 5 people making my way to 70th place. Then hitting the proverbial “doomsday hill” I started to turn it up. Passing 7 or 8 people on the hill and just near the top at a water stop when I decided to just use the water at my waist, as I run with a fuel belt. Over the last few miles I worked my way into 52nd place overall of the finishers. I was chasing one girl in a pink tutu from mile 6 or 7. At mile 12 I was closing in on her before she opened up in a strong finish, and was thus out of my reach.

I have always been a fairly competitive person. I wouldn’t say I am a back of the pack person, but I am not a top tier athlete in my age group, there are many more people out there who run faster than I. I have only ever won two ribbons or medals from my races. This week I will have collected my third for taking third in my age group this last weekend.

I ran close to a PR in the half marathon. Having run 4 half marathons now I joked about getting slower with each one. My first one at Seattle Rock and Roll in 2010 running a 1:33:54. I ran the Spokane Marathon last year in 1:44:08 following it up with the Seattle Half Marathon in 1:52:58. Getting slower was obviously a trend for my half marathon times, until this weekend. I finally got a little faster with my time running a 1:35:58 at the Spokane Half Marathon.

I had given thought to running the full next year, but I think chasing the half PR is something that I want to do. I think I want to break the 1:30 mark, something that I believe with a full year of training and a few marathons in between I will be prepared to tackle that mark. Of course that’s a year in the future. A river to cross when I come to it.

Until then,

Nobaching Down

Being a part of something unique, something creative, something inspiring, is one of the greatest things in the world. Every year I get the opportunity to do just that.

This last weekend was the fifth annual Tomahawk Twilight Invitational and it is something that I have made the trek over the mountains from school the last four years. I had the opportunity to run in it the first year as a senior at Marysville-Pilchuck High School.

The idea took form 6 years ago on a long bus trip during the cross country season. We had traveled to Oak Harbor for a Thursday tri-meet. The day was simply gorgeous and had a beautiful sunset as the sun went down. On that bus ride home I was sitting close behind Coach Edens and Coach Kesler as they talked about an idea to run a race at twilight, with the idea of bringing in lights to light up a course. I was intrigued to say the least.

Months past and I found myself injured with plantar fasciitis and a teacher’s assistant for Coach Edens. We hadn’t heard much more about the meet, nothing had been said after that fateful bus ride. I brought it up as something that I really wanted to do. By expressing interest I was able to push the rock off the hill and get the ball rolling. He asked me to find some light towers and we could think about doing it. So I started searching, to no avail, in fact United Rentals is still returning my call.

Even though I didn’t succeed the meet as a whole did. I firmly believe that I played an integral part in getting it off the ground and that isn’t something you could sway my thinking on.

Now I go back. As you all know I help out in Marysville with the two programs, so this is has become the only weekend that I come back to town from college (typically only my second weekend of being away). I help to make sure things run as smoothly as possible. Doing any running around that I am asked to do. I help to position the lights on Friday night. We paint the course on Friday. I raise the towers Saturday. We pound the directional flagging Saturday as well as setting up glow sticks in front of them that correspond to the same directional flagging colors. I help with the odd jobs as far as balloon arches that we have. Showing the balloon people where the mile and two mile marks are. They have done it a few years so they have a pretty good idea of these things as well as a balloon arch for the finish line. Topiary’s are also placed along the starting line 3 on either side. I show them where to put these as well.

These things among others are things that I get to do. My favorite thing to do however, is to connect with the kids that I have been away from. I don’t get a lot of opportunity to do this, but I do get to connect with nearly every one of our athletes this weekend. I get to say hello, ask them how their running is going, and wish them well on Twilight day before I run off to do my next task.

Now the Tomahawk Twilight Invitational is not the ONLY twilight meet run in the country. There is one in Arizona that has been brought to my attention by Coach Edens. It is just as old as ours, but on a much flatter course. They require must less light towers as we run ours on a golf course with ups and downs. There are trees in our way that we have to work around and position lights in the right places.

Our meet is unique. There may be other races run the same years with the same concept, but a unique meet to our area of the country. Being a part of something like this is one of the greatest joys in life.

Until later,

Nobaching Down

Well it has been a couple of weeks since I last wrote to you! My surroundings have changed a lot since then! I have now moved back to school and started my latest stint in running in Cheney. This past week I got 25 or so miles, all but 4 of which were on the roads of Cheney.

In the past many weeks I have been doing an assortment of running with an assortment of different people. I helped to finish the half marathon training of a friend from high school whose story is one of the most amazing that I have had the chance to be a part of. She was in a car accident in high school and has made her way back to running. She is now completing her first half marathon in the morning. I couldn’t be more proud of her! Good luck Marissa, you’re gonna do wonderfully!

I also ran with the two cross country programs that are now in Marysville, and have been the topics of my last few posts! I already miss my runs with them and love the experiences that I have had over the last few years in coaching them. This year I got the chance to develop a home course for one of them and that was both a little stressful and exciting! Stressful in the sense that it took longer to pinpoint a good course (we used much the same course as I ran in high school, but lengthened it to a full 5k).  I have followed both programs closely since I have left thanks to the other coaches that I have worked with and I cannot wait to see where both teams progress in the coming weeks! I do get to spend one or two more days with them next weekend for the Tomahawk Twilight Invitational, easily one of my favorite weekends of the year!

Finally I have a few running partners here in Cheney that I will slowly work my way to running with each. I ran with one of them on Tuesday morning for a few miles, and tried running with another on Wednesday evening which fell through. I also do a lot more running alone here than I do when I am back in Marysville. I have done that a couple of times this past week and today was easily the best of those.

I ran 10 miles this morning by myself in 1 hour 18 minutes. Running a 7:51 mile pace for a long run which was great! I got to run the roads that I haven’t run since earlier this year when I got hurt. I ran by the cows that have spent only a few minutes with me over my time here in Cheney, but have been some of my favorite running partners. Why you ask? They remind me of so much, the fields in Marysville, the solace of previous runs, and above all the nature that I feel so connected to while running, and the One who created it all.

Well here we are. Running partners will be plentiful throughout my life as I gain more and lose less. I know that as I continue to run I will continue to add people whom are willing to traverse the miles with me, even if they sometimes thing it is ridiculous!

Until later,

Nobaching Down

Yesterday I got the chance to spend ALL day up in Bellingham watching some great races!

For the last few weeks I have been bouncing back and forth between the two high schools in town, Marysville Pilchuck (my former high school) and Marysville Getchell (the new high school in town). I love having the opportunity to spend so much time with the cross country teams of Marysville. I get to spend all summer with them, running with them, answering questions, giving routes, helping in any way I can. Then when the season starts in the middle of August I still have 3 or 4 weeks of time left to give them. Since Eastern Washington University is one of the last universities to start I am blessed with this opportunity.

When the season starts I get to nurture a love of running in runners who, at the time, may not know the joy of the sport they are signing themselves up for. This past weekend I saw two freshmen boys get excited about competing and cheering on their teammates. I saw a third freshmen boy run as hard as he could, getting what can only be explained as a crude welcome to the sport of cross country, getting tripped and throwing up will do that. I saw the returners give it their all, in one specific case a personal record of more than 3 minutes from a year ago. There were successes across the board for Marysville running yesterday and of this I can be no prouder.

Over the last many days I have had conversations with a few of the people that I look up to most in this world. One of them told me that these two teams were lucky to have me around. I don’t see it that way. I am lucky that they keep me around. I often joke with others that the Marysville programs “cannot get rid of me.” This is true because I have refused to let go of them. The kids and coaches in this town I call home are the best people I have been around and I do not care to part ways with them until it is time for me to do so (I hope it is not for a long time). Another conversation that I had was about my calling, or my gift as a child of God. This person in particular said that coaching was mine. It comes easy to me, it is something I enjoy, and something that I am good at. I love the job that I have with these teams and I hate parting with them each year.

The time is nearly upon me to part ways with these kids. I leave in a week for school. This year I will not be saying good bye to one team as I have in the past, I will instead be saying good bye to two programs that mean so much to me. I get to spend one more week with them a week that I will cherish deeply.

Until then,

Nobaching Down

On a related note a shout out to everyone who ran the Skagit Flats Marathon today! I know what you went through! I hope your experiences were fantastic! Also my friend Katherine just finished up a 160 mile bike ride over the last two days raising money for multiple sclerosis! Congrats to her and her teammate Lori! Finally on this 9/11 day I want to take a moment to remember those who lost their lives 10 years ago in the tragedies of the attacks on the World Trade Centers, my thoughts and prayers are with everyone who was affected by them today.

Where does the time go? We are closing in on the 5 week mark from the San Francisco Marathon! I cannot believe that it has been that long since I ran it! The whole trip was the high light of my summer, and even though there are a couple of weeks left for me, a couple of weeks that I get to spend with some of my favorite people in the whole world, the Marysville Pilchuck and Getchell Cross Country teams, I know that San Francisco will be the highlight of the summer.

This is not to say that my time with the teams are not something that I cherish. I hold every minute that I get to spend with the kids near and dear to my heart. I love every minute and cannot wait until I am able to spend a full season with them as a true coach. I love each and every kid. I love the 5 coaches that I get to work with. I love that I am finally able to run fully with them.

Which is what this summer has been about.

3 months ago when I was on the brink of ending my Junior school term at Eastern Washington University this summer seemed as though it would be a bleak one. I was hardly running. The pain in my knee still plagued anything that was too fast or too long. I made plans to bring my bike back home, hoping to at least getting in longer bike rides if I could not get in the long runs. I had been running once a week with Mia, but wasn’t doing more than that one time a week.

As summer came and I begun seeing the physical therapist I was getting excited as I started running more than once a week. Well into the middle of July I was back to a couple of times a week for a few miles each. Getting somewhere between 6 and 10 miles in those weeks with a knee that continued to tighten itself up as I ran. I kept to an icing and stretching regiment as I finished up physical therapy. Then the marathon rolled around.

As I have said 6.6 miles was my long run in preparation. I wasn’t excited about my training. I didn’t know if a week after I completed that run if I would be able to tack on 20 more miles and complete the marathon. I was worried.Yet here I am writing this message to all of you, and I can say that 5 weeks ago I did complete the San Francisco Marathon, and I am ecstatic about that.

I am now finishing up what could potentially be a 40 mile week. Something I am wary of because it is not the 10% increase that is recommended over previous weeks. After all is said and done it will be most likely be a 40% increase if I add (and most likely I will) 6 miles to this weeks total.

So I guess that means I am back. I will start to add mileage to my long runs when I get back to Cheney. Working my way up to 10 miles, and build from there. I will continue to keep you up to date on my training and where I am with it!

Until then,

Nobaching Down