Running For Our Lives On Them Backstreets

"You can't just stop at Chhomrong."

"I wish I would stop sweating!!!"

Many of you have been following my self-inflicted "Tri-ing Hard" and "Chumps Like Us" training program to get back into better shape for everything -- softball, tennis, races, mountains, whatever. Today I made my 15k race debut, but that's not the main event though.

The race that should grace this post is Racing the Planet's Namibia 2009 ultra-marathon, in which competitors ran (and trekked, and climbed, and put one foot in front of another) 250km across an African desert in seven days. There were 213 competitors this year, and one of them is my good friend Belinda Holdsworth. I'm the reason why she signed up for this insanity -- a friend's husband and his brother, Philipp and Mark Mossiman, are doing this for the second year um, running, to raise money for Operation Smile. I forwarded their drive for donations email to my Annapurna trek team and said dismissively said, "Whatever, this can't even come close to what we went through!" As a joke, of course, but momentarily forgetting about Bel's sense of humor. A couple of days later, she responded: "I signed up. And we might not be friends after I'm done with this."

Bel began her racing career at about the same time as I did, and although we didn't know each other then, we had both run Chicago as our first marathons in 2006 (well, I only ran the route pacing Mofo for 18 miles). In just three years, she has completed many more marathons, Olympic distance triathlons, half-Ironmans and is working her way towards an Ironman this year. We met trekking the Himalayas last year and after lots of ascents side by side, or when the going got tough there was always one behind the other, great conversations and beer, we promised to run a marathon together this year and we're signed up for Chicago. Not bad, but I'm the chump here -- Bel is a sleek slicked machine, a brick house of grit. She'll say yes to any physical challenge. Her philosophy: "How hard can it be?"

I admire every single competitor who signed up for the Namibia 2009 ultra-marathon, because it takes guts just to even consider this endeavor with any sort of pure seriousness. Although I haven't heard from her, I know as I'm writing this that Bel has completed the race. She would not and will not take no for an answer. Her feet had been split, her back chafed, her ankles swollen, her legs locked, her arms numb and soles ravaged but her spirit never once broke and her soul remained intact, even as she's succumbed to periods of hysterics and hysterionics. But don't let me do the talking -- in her daily blog, "This Is Crazy," she tells all by what she doesn't say. She doesn't own up to what it exactly takes to not cave in to pain and going against physical impossibility -- humans (that is, regular humans) are just not constructed to inflict this upon themselves. She doesn't admit to what's in her that propels her up each sand dune and to keep moving. I have trekked seven days with this girl and I know that nothing is more sacred to her than a shower, and the fact that she had to go without cleaning herself properly while running/trekking/suffering 250km is likely harder than the physical exertion itself. But this is what you should know: she never once shed a tear, even as the torrent of swear words expunged across the continent likely stunk more than camp each night. The only time she has gotten verklempt is at the thought of completion. Bel is a fighter, a champion and a true competitor. I will be very proud to run with her this fall. Although, ya know, she is a sub-3:55 marathoner and I would be happy to finish in 4:30. At least I know she'll be waiting with the beers.

Now, my piddly 15km debut at the Singapore PAssion Run this morning was exactly that -- piddly. I was extremely excited for the race. I probably didn't prepare for it as well as I should have in training, but I wasn't worried about it -- I am in sprint tri shape and I just biked across some mountains. Obviously, the question isn't whether or not I could finish, but how well I can (let's take "quickly" out of the equation). I even went as far as to play around with some radical tapering nutrition, carb draining between Monday and Wednesday, to starve and deprive my body of the energy it needed while continuing to work out, then re-loading to ensure every milligram of energy is absorbed.

According to my watch, I completed in about 1:27, with my splits being about 27, 30 and 30 each 5km. This was a great learning experience, as I move from being just a distance finisher to trying to improve on all aspects of racing. I had set a goal of completing under 1:30, which I did -- however, I've also completed the distance in training in 1:23, so I definitely could have done better. I'm happy to get this out of the way and set a standard for improving, but I wish I did not made the following mistakes:

- I only slept a total of 4.5 hours last night. I went to bed at 10pm for a 6pm wake-up call, but adrenaline woke me up at 1am and I couldn't get back to sleep until close to 4.30am. This is my problem -- I get overly excited about races and never enough rest the night before. I should have made sure rest was adequate all week. I've completed a sprint tri on just 2.5 hours of sleep, but that was my first one, which I didn't train for and it took me 2:00. Adrenaline and the beautiful city of Chicago kept me going though -- I never once felt it until I collapsed on my couch back home, two burgers and slabs of watermelon later. Heat, humidity and the individualistic atmosphere of races in Singapore didn't help much this morning, but then again, the distance wasn't long enough to need much value-added excitement.

- I charged out of the gate, which goes against my regular pattern. I should have aimed to complete the first 5k closer to 30:00, and then build up a steady stride. I was so eager to go quick that I lost my focus and burned up too much momentum. I usually go my last 5k pretty hard, but I found it tough to stay consistent. In fact, I was pacing a stronger runner for 7k, and lost him at about 12k. I took longer to get going after water stops...

- ... which brings me to my next point. A new challenge is learning how to respond to my body's needs for this distance. I can usually complete a 10k race without needing to stop for any water, because I'm very comfortable with that distance but the additional 5k threw me off a little. Also, I always had a tube of gel tentatively in my hand each time I approached a water station but didn't know if I should eat it... and I didn't. I probably should have -- I was getting pretty winded by the heat and humidity. I stopped at every station from 6k onwards and likely drank more than I should have. I know I should "listen to my body", but honestly, I'm not sure what my body wants for this distance. Training mindset and conditions today differed a lot, so I need to find the synch between the two. Coach Mick and others...?

Of course, as I do after every goddamned race in Singapore, I think to myself -- I am never running here again. It's just too hot. I took close to 45 minutes to completely cool down after -- I dripped the entire time. In fact, my entire kit was drenched by 3k into the race. But, of course, the only race I am never running here again is the marathon. Other distances keep me honest and would only make me better-equipped for more temperate conditions. Thank you for your support, encouragement and advice, as always -- next week is a bit of a break, then June 1 I officially begin training for the marquee Olympic distance triathlon and marathon events of the year. It will be a new challenge as I've never done an O.D. tri and full marathon within six weeks of each other, but it should be fun. Actually, it would be my first ever O.D. tri! In the meantime, I will continue to work towards getting leaner and more than ever, expect resistance training and conscientious recovery to be an important part of the program.

By the way, did you know my brother Dion surprised me with a visit home to cheer me on? He is a Spartan who rocks hard!