One week before Ted and I embark on our Oakland Half Marathon journey, thousands of runners took to the streets during the L.A. Marathon this morning.  Both Alameda Runners (my Twitter) and AlamedaTed have chatted with people who participated in what sounded like a great event.

From what I’ve read, it seemed like a chaotic, yet wonderful journey for many of you. I’ve Tweeted with a few different L.A. runners, but have selected three I would like to give special shout outs to:  @Chicrunner, @PunkRockRunner, and @LARunr.

Over the past couple weeks of massive amounts of Tweeting, I’ve enjoyed reading their contributions regarding their running adventures.  Hopefully one day we’ll all be able to run together!

“Mount Diablo Half Marathon March 20, 2010”

Today was a taper day for Mike. Since he is resting up for our big half marathon next week in Oakland, I decided to do a trail run. I had a ball.

Kevin and I started out the day as a team and we quickly met up with Mary and then Doug. After a little while in the hills,we met up with Miss Reno. We separated during the day but we all had fun.

Brazen racing puts on a wonderful trail racing series.  On Saturday I ran the Mt. Diablo run. It is a typical trail series with small crowds and a friendly support group. I think all support groups are friendly but the smaller events seem to be much more personal.

Any run that has Mount as the first word in the name is bound to be difficult. If Diablo is the second word difficult is a sure thing. We were going up hill before the first mile was over. We were running through water before the second mile was over. We ran through a lot of water. I would have more pictures but the batteries on my camera died early. If anyone from the event is reading this and has pictures, please send me some. I will be happy to post them.

This course had a lot of water and hills. The cold water on my feet felt really good. Towards the end of the run, I went out of my way to play in the water.

Did I mention the hills. I like hills. They really get your heart rate going. It seems that people who are just cruising along for a run form a bond that is nice to have. When you get really tired, you don’t worry about forming an image and keeping it. The true people come out and relax. You know that your running partner (or partners) are working hard and they worked hard to get to that point to be there with you.

I must apologize for the pictures. I have been having a hard time
with the camera lately. I just don’t have the enthusiasm to practice with the cameras these days.

Tip first found at Diet Coke’s Live Wholeheartedly Now booklet (picked up from Anytime Fitness in Alameda, Calif.).

“Eating a variety of foods is key to health because of the wide range of nutrients different foods contain; you can achieve this through color, texture, shape and temperature.”

You hear that? Mix it up a bit and try cooking something new! If you’re out at a restaurant and can actually find something healthy you haven’t eaten in a while, go for it!

Ted and I both planning on sharing some excellent recipes, though you’re free to send any of your own. You can tweet me or Ted, but if you’re not on Twitter,  feel free to e-mail me any neat recipes!

As part of helping contribute to the great athletic community here in the San Francisco Bay area, I’m happy to announce we’re having our very first contest here on Alameda Runners.

The lucky winner will receive a small gift package that includes Clif Bars, Clif Shot Bloks and Clif Shot Roks — “great runner tools for energy and recovery, plus all-natural and organic to boot,” Clif said.

As with any contest, there are a couple of basic rules that must be met before you can win.

– You must be local to the Bay Area. We’re working on contests for our readers in other parts of the country, but this one is for our local peeps.

– You should follow us on Twitter:  Michael’s Twitter (Alamedarunners) and Ted’s Twitter (Alamedated)

– No P.O. box, only street addresses.

If you don’t meet these requirements, this contest isn’t for you!

The challenge?

While you’re out enjoying your adventures in the area (running, cycling, hiking, whatever it may be), take a couple of pictures and send them to Alameda Runners. A quick caption or note about the image and what we’re seeing also is required. You have until Tuesday, March 23 at 3:00 p.m. to complete this task.  The winner will be chosen randomly.

All entries should be e-mailed to Mike

The winning selection — along with other contributions — will be featured here on Alameda Runners over the next couple of weeks.

Good luck!

Perseverance is one thing all endurance athletes have in common. It is a good trait that helps us get things done and make it through the day when things get tough. Unfortunately, that same dedication and persistence drives us to push ourselves beyond our limits. We always get injured and then make things worse by not stopping to rest for a little while until we heal up a bit.

If you are reading this page, you are either an athlete or my mother. I know my mother is not going to swim from Alcatraz any time soon so this article is for the rest of you!

Rest and recovery is advice that we all get from friends, doctors and consultants on the Internet. Of course, we ignore all of the good advice and continue to carry on until we make things worse.

Most of us have visited the doctor for one or two of our injuries gaining nothing but some time off work to see someone who does not care about us hurting ourselves. It often seems that our doctors don’t care to treat something they can’t sew back on or give us a pill to treat it.

I always tried to treat my injuries myself until my son found a sports chiropractor while writing for an MMA site.  It seems those MMA guys are always tearing their backs up but that is another matter. My son told me to visit the sports chiropractor.

To learn a bit more about chiropractors and what they do, here is a bit of reading material.

Dr. Nejad of Chirosports USA (Union City, Calif. office) is my sports chiropractor. I don’t know if he is better or worse than any other sports chiropractor, but I am astounded by the quality of the treatment that I have received over the past year.

Dr. Nejad goes over my injuries and takes the time to look at them and find ways to treat them. If he gives me exercises to do, he checks to make sure I am doing them right and he tracks my strength to make sure I did them. Sounds like a normal doctor and physical therapist but it is much more than that.

Dr. Nejad gives you personal attention and tries to find the root cause of your injury and treat that. The root cause of my injuries is usually getting carried away and injuring myself. Treating that is not as easy as it may sound but he has been successful. I am now as healthy as I have been in my whole life (outside of my first year in the USMC).

He treats my injuries and the reason for them. Every time I visit, I am reminded of life style changes to keep myself healthy. I get to interact with other people with similar injuries and very dissimilar injuries. I learn from the couch potatoes and they learn from me.

Most insurance companies cover chiropractor visits but they don’t advertise it. If you have insurance or can afford an additional doctors visit, I suggest you give a sports chiropractor a call. Dr. Nejad has been very good for me. Hopefully you can find a sports chiropractor who is very good for you.

Ah, the power of the Internet!

American running seemingly fell off the face of the Earth as Kenya, Ethiopia and competitors from other nations persevered. Now, U.S. running is continuing to evolve for a number of reasons.  In the March 2010 edition of Competitor Magazine, Tracy Sundlun, who used to be an Olympic track coach, noted the power of the Internet:

“The Internet has been critical.  People are sharing their times and their workouts.  High school kids can watch the best runners train and listen to interviews with the best in the world.  These kids are finding out what other people are doing and then trying to do it themselves.  Seeing is believing.  When you know hard other people are working, you understand what it takes to be great.”

Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites have led the way, as regular athletes have a unique chance to chat with high-level pro runners and triathletes.  American 50K record holder, Josh Cox has almost 9,000 followers whom he is more than happy to interact with.

On a smaller scale, I’ve discovered a number of Alameda and East Bay runners I look forward to the possibility of running with in the months to come.  Special kudos go out to Runalameda and Powerfitness, who will hopefully make me faster.

I recently chatted with a couple of runners who go out just to get some exercise and fresh air, with no set goal of entering any events.  They mentioned how the cold and rainy weather in the SF Bay Area last week temporarily dropped running morale a bit.  They simply lack the motivation to go out and jog on the trails if they’re all muddy.

(I did urge them to sign up for a local event — just to get the experience and a free T-shirt — and I don’t think they’re going to line up any time soon.)

I’m not likely to be the best person to talk about motivation, so I will offer a quote and link to a wonderful blog from a fellow Alameda runner (and exercise coach) Erin Shirey.

“Our brain plays many tricks and while some people want to lose weight for an event, drop the baby weight, or one day do a marathon the goals seem far off unless written down.  They also seem far off if you don’t share your goal with somebody- be it your partner, best friend, or even your child’s teacher. When writing a goal down, you make it a reality that you want it to happen.  When you say it out loud to someone you see regularly, seeing that person is a reminder of what you shared.”

Erin then urges readers to complete three tasks to help follow through on exercise goals.  To learn these three tasks, however, you have to take a look at the blog.

Hope everyone had an enjoyable morning running with a wonderful view of the beach.

Runalameda and Powerfitness both placed third (Runalameda was third overall while Powerfitness was third in the women’s division).  Well done!

Whether you’re out running, riding or driving around Alameda when it’s raining, remember to pay attention!

I’m amazed by the number of drivers — and I don’t want to profile, but it seems to be an epidemic around elementary and middle schools — who buzz pedestrians in cross walks and bicyclists in the bike lanes. Read more… »

This will be the first review co-written by both Michael and Ted, with Michael’s contributions added in italics.

The Moji Knee ice wrap is available from Moji, and can be purchased for $89.00 MSRP.    An additional cold cell costs $49, while a knee wrap and an extra cold cell is available for $119.

My first experience with the Moji Knee product came the day after a 12-mile hilly run in San Francisco.  The instructions said to freeze the ice pack for 4 hours before use.  I did not want to wait so I just grabbed an ice pack out from the freezer and used it under the wrap.  The wrap works pretty well with any old ice bag under but it is nothing special.

I’m much younger and more durable than Ted, so I don’t require the use of ice very often.  I normally use it just as a nice way to relax my muscles, even though I’m rarely as sore as him.  I also used it after the 12-mile run, along with several other periods over the next couple of weeks.

Full review after the jump! Read more… »