This week has been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster regarding my training. A friend who was to run the marathon with me got injured and can no longer train. He will not be running the marathon in June. The good news is he is still planning on coming down to cheer me on before / during the race in San Diego.

The other bad news is that I am now injured. After my long run Saturday (13 miles) in Fulton, I noticed pain in my groin on the left side. If I was just sitting around it did not hurt but I was walking with a limp and running was downright painful. Of course the leg felt better on Tuesday so I decided that a fast 7 mile run was a great idea which was not very smart. I felt great after the Tuesday run but woke up in pain on Wednesday morning with a pronounced limp.



I took the day off from training on Wednesday and went to see the good people at AthletiCo on Thursday after work. AtheltiCo specializes in rehabilitation, fitness, performance (at least that is what their business cards say) and gave me a screening.

The physical therapist that helped me did a great job trying to figure out exactly what my injury was, exercises to strengthen my core to help the problem, and a referral to see an orthopedic doctor (who I’m scheduled to see on Tuesday).

The folks at AthletiCo seem to think I have an impingement on the bursa contained in the ligaments of my left leg where the femur meets the pelvis. This problem was likely caused by my flat or ‘pancake’ left foot which pushes my left leg in as I run and in turn rubs the bursa causing pain when I move. Before yesterday I had no idea what the hell ‘bursa’ was but evidentially it is a fluid filled sac that acts as a sort of ‘ball bearing’ for the leg’s ball-and-socket joint.

The good news is ‘my boys’ are fine and don’t hurt (let’s leave it at that) but the bad news is I’ll need to train with some low or no impact cardio like the elliptical, Stairmaster, or stationary bike for a while. Last night I spent an hour and 20 minutes on the elliptical which works out to 7 miles or so. I was not so happy about the 11+ minute pace but I guess I’ll have to get used to spending more time on that sucker than on the treadmill.

The elliptical trainer - my sworn enemy

My appointment on Tuesday with the doctor will give me a better idea of how I should proceed. Thankfully both the physical therapist who helped me and this doc are both runners so they have some experience in this area to add to their training advice. The big thing is to rule out stress fractures or any tearing of tissue.

While I’m not really supposed to run before my appointment, I will still be participating in the Shamrock Shuffle this Sunday – hopefully I can walk normally (unlike this guy) on Monday morning!

Also thought I'd share an article about running blogs (like this one) from Runner's World...

On Saturday morning I once again pushed my personal limits and set a new ‘Personal Distance Record’ by running 13 miles in around 2 hours and 8 minutes. This works out to a blisteringly fast (that was a joke so laugh) 9:51 minute-per-mile pace.

Since I was home visiting my family for my Mom’s birthday I decided to run between Fulton, IL and Thompson, IL on an asphalt jogging path that was once a railroad track. As you might guess this makes for a long, flat, stretch of path that seems to go on forever.

Above: A stunning view of Fulton's Famous Dutch Windmill

I tried in vain to plot my course out with Google Earth but the maps / satellite photography for Fulton, IL are not quite as detailed as say Chicago. As a next best thing I elected to drive along the road which ran parallel to the path to figure where I needed to turn around. This worked fine for 4 miles until the path veered away from the road – the remaining 2.5 miles would be run in ‘no man’s land’ before I made my turnaround.

I left the house at just after 10 AM, hauling around my iPod, Garmin, and CamelBak wearing more clothes than I needed for the 41 degree and sunny weather. I started my timer / GPS and was off down our street. The first mile was fine and uneventful but during mile 2, the GPS went a little bonkers and got off track. It failed to count about 0.3 miles compared to the distances I had found while driving the route ahead of time. This continued to make me mad for the next 3 miles or so until I realized the GPS had basically regained it sanity and was counting miles as it should.

The route went from city streets to paved and marked asphalt path to concrete bridge back to rural street to concrete path and finally there was one half mile of gravel path that zig-zagged into a park of sorts. In the course of my 6.8 mile outbound leg (remember the GPS was nuts so I went farther than it showed) I didn’t see another living sole. In fact I didn’t see anyone else on the path / trail / streets until mile 8 when a guy on a bike gave me a weird look.

The best part of the run was the 2 miles after the turn around which felt effortless. I was tired and a little sore following the run but all in all it wasn’t too bad. In any case I don’t have to go this far again until the weekend after this one.

This week we up the weekday runs to 3 miles, 7 miles and 4 miles from 3 miles, 6 miles, and 3 miles. I will do my long run (10 miles) on Friday so I can have a rest day before the Shamrock Shuffle on Sunday.

Yesterday I had a three mile shoulder run* outside. I went the familiar route down Armitage and up Sheffield - I seem to be a creature of habit when it comes to my routes – and had an all around good run. This was my first run in the new shoes and everything went fairly smoothly. It’s never a blast to break in a new set of trainers but thankfully my Asics felt pretty good on their first 3 miles.

I’m still perplexed at how my last pair wore out so quickly. I was consciously trying not to scrape my left foot during the run yesterday. I kept thinking ‘push off lightly’ and ‘float don’t drag’ but we will know in a hundred miles or so if my stride changed at all. I am tempted to see an expert for some gait analysis to see if I can correct the problem – living in Chicago this shouldn’t be a big deal – but maybe it is something I just need to learn to live with.


Tonight is a new episode of Lost so I think I’ll head over to the gym around 7:45 to get a good treadmill. Thankfully the rush of New Year’s Resolution Runners has died down and grabbing a treadmill is not a problem these days.

I’m getting excited for my 13 miler this weekend and for the Shamrock Shuffle on April 2nd. There are 25,000 runners signed up which is approximately the population of my hometown.

*The term shoulder run is one I just invented (or unconsciously stole from someone else) to describe either of the short runs during a given training week. Since the pattern is short, medium, short, long each week with the short, medium, sort runs falling on back-to-back-to-back days the short runs are shoulder runs to me.

Since my last post I ran 21 miles – 6 on Wednesday, 3 on Thursday and for a new personal distance record I ran 12 miles on Friday. In case you are keeping track Friday was St. Paddy’s day so in honor of Ireland’s patron saint I listened to only Irish music during the run. This worked well while Flogging Molly or Dropkick Murphy’s were playing but not so well when it came time to hear The Dubliners or The Clancy Brothers. I will say that on a longer run the super-high-intensity music is not as essential as during a speedy short run.

Thankfully I ran my 12 miler outside on Friday morning. Since I took the day off I was able to run in relatively warm (25 degree) weather with only a little wind. I started at Equinox, ran around the baseball fields, over North Ave. Bridge and headed south (sound familiar?). I made it to Olive Park and out and back on that pier. Then I went out and back down Navy Pier and across the river. I made my halfway turn at Balbo Drive and retraced my steps back to the gym.

While running I thought to myself that the first mile of just about any run is not fun. Unless you are really feeling good (and I was slightly hung over from Thursday night) the first mile of a run is a lot of questioning … “Am I going too fast?” “Am I going fast enough” “Is my stride too short or long?” “How many footfalls am I making per minute?” “How does my cadence match my breathing?” … This is then followed by lots of conscience instructions from the brain to the rest of the body. That first mile is all about the nuts and bolts of running – getting comfortable with the trail for the many miles to go.

But then something great happened at around mile 2 – I did get comfortable. I was aware of my breathing and my strides but they became automatic. The best way to describe this is that at mile 2 I found my rhythm. I’d like to claim I kept my rhythm for the next 10 miles but it would come and go. I ran down Navy Pier too quickly being egged on by the groups of kids on field trips milling around. I tried to take it easy on the way out and still managed a negative split on the way back.

Following my long run I had a stretch, steam, and shower (again, sound familiar?) and made it back to my apartment. After a nap and some food I went out with some buddies in my neighborhood. I turned in early since I was fairly tired from the long run.

This week’s training runs are similar to last week’s. I have 3 Tuesday, 6 Wednesday, 3 Thursday and finally 13 on Saturday. I hope I can keep healthy and strong for the week ahead.


Also after 11 weeks and about 200 miles or so I have gone through my latest pair of running shoes. Notice the killer bald spot on the sole of the left shoe. A salesperson at Fleet Feet watched me run and informed me that I’m a foot-scraper. My right foot lands heel-first, I push off normally, my left foot lands heel-first, I push off but drag the foot forward and scrape the pavement in the process. The salesperson let me know that this foot scrape goes all the way back to the first humans who curled the toes and dug into the ground while running. She informed me that it’s sort of like having a vestigial tail or almost-opposable thumbs. It’s nice to know I have a bit of Cro-Magnon man left in me.


I replaced the bum shoes with a new pair of the same make/model. While I’m sure the Asics corporation and Fleet Feet are both ecstatic over this fact, I think I need to work on my stride to save shoe wear and cost and more importantly not waste valuable energy scraping (and therefore breaking) with every step I take. We will have to see how the next pair holds up.

Sushi, it’s what’s for dinner…

To answer the flood of email I have received on what type of nourishment fuels a Marathon Ninja I’ve decided to give you a taste (pun intended) of what I had for dinner tonight.

At the suggestion of my sister I made my way over to the Green Tea Japanese Restaurant and picked up some sushi. To be precise I had 4 pieces of sake (fresh salmon), 4 pieces of maguro (tuna), and a 10 pieces made from a Chicago Spicy Crazy Roll. This is a large order of food but I was H-U-N-G-R-Y after my run tonight.



The sushi chefs who tag-teamed my order did an outstanding job and I proclaim it some of the most excellent sushi I have had in Chicago. I am fairly sure the meal wasn’t very high in carbs but I had pasta for lunch and was in the mood for sushi. It was just d-licious enough to have me put the restaurant’s delivery number in my speed dial.

Since this blog is not sanctioned by the Food Network I guess I should talk about training a little. I ran 3 miles today in too much clothing (3 layers on top, 3 on bottom) for 29 degree weather. While I was warm when I started about a mile in I was working up a good sweat. To make matters worse one of my shirts was cotton, not a wicking material, so that was good and soaked rather quickly. The run itself wasn’t too bad but I was pretty slimy by the time I got back to my apartment (I ran outside).

The only other notable feature of today’s run was I didn’t wear a watch or use any other time keeping device. I might have run 3 twelve-minute miles (doubtful) or 3 seven-minute mile (for me impossible) I guess I’ll never know. The truth is it was probably somewhere between 8:45 and 9:15 since I was trying to take it easy today. I was still a little sore from lifting on Sunday but that’s the price I pay for being massive (kidding).

Until next time, “Go Ninja, go ninja, go!”

My seven mile run on Friday went well and I had a good (but brief) cross training session on Sunday afternoon. I have determined that nothing cures a hangover quite as well as a half hearted lifting session followed by 30 minutes in the steam room. But enough about that – today I have something much more important to discuss (followed by sock talk).

Origin of the Marathon Ninja

Where did the name come from you ask? This is a question that haunts some readers of this blog. Some speculate that I was born the love child of Steve ‘Pre’ Prefontaine and martial arts expert Michelle Yeoh of Crouching Tiger fame. While this is a good guess it is in fact not correct. Others claim that I combine crime fighting with distance running using only throwing stars and a beat up pair of Pumas to bring justice to my fair city. Again – wrongo.


My story is much, much more humble than those suggested above. It all started (and ended for that matter) on Christmas Day, 2005. I received as a gift from my parents a pair of black running pants and a running jacket. Those items in themselves are not enough to warrant the ‘marathon ninja’ moniker but this was no ordinary running jacket. My parents spared no expense in outfitting me with a Patagonia ‘thumby’ running jacket. When I donned the black pants, jacket, and black hat that very day my brother-in-law commented that I looked like an Irish Bank-Robbing Ninja of some sort. I took the liberty to modify his description into something a little more appropriate to the task at hand and became the Marathon Ninja. To be honest “Irish Ninja” sounds almost as cool but is getting a little too close to the title of a not-so-hot Chris Farley film (R.I.P.).

So that is the origin of the name. Good story ‘eh?


I have 2 more things. First, I got some socks today that have a dedicated left foot and right foot denoted by a little L and little R stitched right in. I don’t for one minute believe that putting the correct sock on the correct foot will help me break 4 hours in the marathon but it’s nice to have one part of your day planned out for you ahead of time. It helps to avoid the pesky ‘now which foot gets this sock?’ dilemma I face most days.

Finally I’ll wrap up on a serious note with a list of tips my buddy J.J. send me regarding distance running. FYI JJ is a member and head-honcho of the illustrious runtoo.org. JJ is the bearded fellow front-and-center in the photo displayed on the runtoo web site. Thanks J.J.!

• Still be alive the day after the marathon (seriously)
• Do nothing that will permanently injure myself
• Go the whole distance (crawling if necessary)
• Run the whole distance
• Finish under 4 hours ( or 9 minutes/mile)
• Qualify for preferred start in next Chicago Marathon
• Run under 8 minutes/mile
• Qualify for Boston Marathon
• So on and so forth

This is what a wet (and happy) me looks like after busting out back to back to back sub-eight minute miles. Today marked my official first 'rain run' on the streets and I was loving every mile of it. I finished in 23:30 but had to stop at 4 lights so I'm thinking it was closer to 23 minutes - bottom line is I was going fast (for me at least).

I have to get rolling now but I'm going to finish this post up later - or maybe tomorrow. Just remember that treadmills suck and running in the rain can be a blast*.

*Note it probably should be at least halfway warm and the route should not be EXTRA long for this to hold true. I can't imagine 20 miles of rain running.

I almost forgot. I have 3 things for you which are totally unrelated to running.

1) If you live within 50 miles of Potbelly's stop whatever you are doing and run out to get a chocolate shake right now. I had one for lunch today and forgot how excellent they are.

2) I can type 56 Words Per Minute (WPM). Adjusted for errors it was 55 WPM. If you think you are faster than me go to typingtest.com and prove it. I took the 3 minute test because it is the Ironman of online typing tests. Post your results in the comments section below.

3) Do you wish you didn't spend the last 20 seconds reading items 1 and 2 above?

The graphic we all know and love is back. My 10 mile run this past Saturday marks a new Personal Distance Record for me and serves as breaking the psychological "double digit miles" barrier.

I'm trying to be the glass-half-full guy and be proud of this long run (and I am) but at this point I'm still 16.2 miles short of a marathon. As far as the run itself I felt better on this long run in almost every way as compared with last week's 9 miler.

My original plan was to sleep in on Saturday and start my run close to noon when the weather would be warmer. I only made it until about 8:10 AM and was wide awake so I got myself ready and hit the streets. I figured it would be better to get the run done rather than hang around for 4 hours waiting for the thermometer to raise 7 degrees.

I wore the same clothes this week as last – three layers on the bottom and two on top – which kept me warm (after the first half mile or so) but not too hot. I also brought along my trusty CamelBak, iPod, and Garmin. Surprisingly my GPS grabbed a signal very quickly and allowed me to start my run close to my apartment. Usually it takes anywhere from 5 to 8 minutes to acquire a signal.


The first half of the outbound leg of my long run had me covering familiar territory. I ran across the North Ave. Bridge and south along the lake. When I got to Navy Pier I didn’t run out onto Olive Park or down the pier, instead I kept going south across the Chicago River and alongside Grant Park. My turnaround point was Soldier Field which is located south of the Shedd Aquarium.

I was a little worried I would get lost getting from Navy Pier across the Lake Shore Drive Bridge but the running path was well marked and it was no problem. My Garmin did lose its signal while running under the top part of the bridge but remembered where it was when I came out on the other side. Around mile 3 I passed a tent set up by the Chicago Area Runner’s Association who were passing out water but I didn’t know if I was allowed to partake as I’m not a member so I kept on going south.

I was semi-familiar with the route next to Grant Park since the 2005 Run Hit Wonder 10K followed this path as well. The trip back was into a light wind that didn’t affect me nearly as much as last time. I finished up the run feeling like I could have gone farther but was still happy to see the front door of my apartment.

After a shower, Excedrin, PB sandwich (boo jelly), and some banana yogurt I totally crashed. I spend two hours laying down watching TV and drifting in and out of sleep while I waited for my biological batteries to recharge.


Once I finally got out of bed much later, I went to California Pizza Kitchen for a real meal – 2 baskets of bread and a pizza – and felt MUCH better.

Sunday I did a cross training day (20 minutes on the woosher and a stretch) to cure my hangover from Friday night and this morning (Tuesday) I did 3 miles on the treadmill at Equinox (25:25).

I’m already getting excited for green beer this weekend.

I had a good run last night with the Chicago Niketown Running Club after work. We did the usual 3 mile route which goes down Erie, south on Lakeshore Drive, under Lakeshore Drive, out and around the tip of Navy Pier and back. I finished in 22:57 which works out to a 7:40 mile.


I’m not sure why I enjoy this run so much but there is something fun about a group of 40 people coming together to go run outside on a winter day in Chicago. Each run starts with our leader – and Nike employee – Chris telling everyone “we’re starting on time today and doing the Navy Pier route. Have fun and I’ll see you soon.” Then everyone files out the big revolving doors at the front of the store and walks about 10 feet before falling into a running rhythm. I found it interesting to start at the back of the pack – as I did yesterday – and see everyone spill out onto the street and into a run.

It’s also entertaining to have a bunch of runners to pass without having to enter (or pay for) a formal race. Between avoiding other runners, pedestrians, and cars, and listening to my iPod I had lots to keep me busy during the 3 mile run.

I finished somewhere between 5th and 10th out of 40 runners and had a good stretch outside and some bananas and a bagel inside. No freebies were given to anyone this time but I still had a great time and plan on being back next week. They are doing a Nike shoe demo on March 23rd that should be cool. I want to give the new Air Max 360s a spin.

The only problem with the demo on the 23rd is if I'm going to get new shoes I should do it now and not wait for the end of the month.

Since my last post I ran 3 miles on Tuesday and 5 miles last night. Both were on the treadmill at the gym and were for the most part unremarkable. I was a little tired for the first 1.5 or 2 miles of my run last night but I finished strong. I’m setting the incline on the treadmill to 1.0% rather than flat since some web sites recommend that and I believe everything I read on the Internet.

My real reason for this post is running music. I’m interested in what people are listening to while running fast on a shorter run or going slow on a longer run. Obviously taste in music will be a big determinant here – while I prefer Gregorian Chanting, others prefer punk, metal, or country.

Here is my ‘3 mile playlist’ loaded up on the old iPod:

Lost in the Supermarket by The Clash
Rock & Roll by Led Zepplin
Hitsville UK by The Clash
So Alive by Ryan Adams
Blitzkrieg Bop by The Ramones
I Wanna be Sedated by The Ramones
Rudie Can’t Fail by The Clash
Drunken Lullabies by Flogging Molly
Heavy Metal Drummer by Wilco
Dammit by Blink 182

As you can see it nearly all punk and half of the list is either The Clash or The Ramones. I really like the songs above but probably need a change of pace.

5 weeks of training are in the books and I’ve got 14 to go before the marathon. I had a cross training day on Monday which included the woosher (a.k.a. Elliptical Machine) and an abbreviated lifting session. It was nice to get a little bit of cardio work in while not hammering my legs into the ground for a change.

Yesterday I had a quick 3 mile run on the treadmill at the gym. I finished in 24:31 which works out to an 8:10 mile so I felt fairly speedy. When I tackle longer distances – even the 5 mile distance tonight – I want to scale back some to lower my chance of injury. I still figure I should be moving on a 3 mile day, however, since it’s so short.

I’ve been thinking about shoes a lot recently. Not flip flops, dress shoes, crocks, or even the dreaded aqua socks. I’ve been thinking of running shoes.

For a little background I currently own an old pair of New Balance 991’s and a new pair of Asics Gel-DS-Trainer XI’s. The 991’s have been my workout workhorse for over a year and logged around 200 miles in 2005 and probably another 70 to 80 miles in 2006. This is in addition to the running I did in them before I started tracking my miles (which I will admit was not very many miles). The 991’s still feel great and show little signs of wear but I did notice some plastic on the back of the shoe is cracking. I have read that the running life of a running shoe is about 500 miles so I’m wondering if I should replace the 991’s and get a second new pair of running shoes I could wear in the marathon.

As far as the Asics go, I got them at the end of 2005 (Christmas Gift) and have put somewhere between 100 and 150 miles on them. My concern as far as the Asics go is wearing them out just before the race and having the unfortunate choice of either having to break in new shoes at the last minute or just deal with a pair that is broken down. Since the Asics are a lighter (much lighter) training flat they will break down sooner than the 991’s.

So I need to decide if I will keep running in the 991’s and if so for how much longer. I also need to get a new pair of shoes sooner rather than later so they will be nice and broken in before the race should I want to wear those rather than the Asics. What’s a runner to do?

Tonight I’m going to hit the gym and bang out 5 miles like it’s my job. Tomorrow I’m going for my second consecutive run with the Niketown Running Club here in Chicago after work.