Running in a state of anarchy

This week I visited the town of Thessaloniki in northern Greece for an academic conference. Upon making my flight reservations I started receiving ominous warnings concerning threats posed by ultra-leftist, militant anarchist groups. (These warnings were sent to me from a security company contracted by my employer, not from the anarchists groups themselves...) The threats consisted of car-bomb attacks in Athens and Thessaloniki, the suspects being a group called the "Revolutionary Struggle". I was warned to avoid political demonstrations, allow extra time for travel and to exercise increased vigilance near official buildings and banks. I decided not take these warnings too seriously. Living in the UK throughout the 70's and 80's when the IRA were regularly blowing things up has made me a little blase about these sorts of things.

On my first day in Thessaloniki I went out for a run. Thessaloniki has a nice harbour area with a pedestrian walkway, starting from the downtown party district and going for almost 4 miles to the far reaches of town populated at nighttime by fishermen and wild dogs. I enjoyed some very pleasant running, passing hot dog vendors, tourists and even occasionally other runners. I did see some very troubling signs of a society with a serious sense of humour. Along with some anti-USA and anti-police graffiti, I saw some graffiti that I thought was fairly original.

Otherwise, I didn't really encounter any other signs of an anarchist uprising. I went out for a four hour long run on Sunday night, and was fairly well tolerated. I was only made fun of once during the entire time by a group of teenage kids. Given that the rest of the town was out partying hard before returning to work the following day, I thought the group's observation that I was a wierdo had some validity. I fueled myself during the run with massive hot dogs and corn on the cob bought from sidewalk vendors. The wild dogs I encountered on the far side of town were far better behaved than the domesticated dogs (and owners) I usually encounter on the Brooklyn Heights promenade. Overall, the running that I did while in Greece turned out to be one of the favourite parts of my trip. Running in an unfamiliar town can be a real adventure, especially when there are anarchists hiding in the shadows.

A rare moment of foolishness

Earlier this summer, in a rare moment of foolishness, I applied for a spot in the JFK 50 mile race in Maryland in late November. My application was accepted. However I wasn't ready to mentally deal with the prospect of training for a 50 mile run. My longest race up till now has been the marathon. So I decided to forget about the JFK 50 miler, and hoped it would go away.

The JFK 50 mile race is one of the oldest and largest ultra-marathons in the United States. It starts with 16 miles along the Appalachian Trail, followed by 26 miles along the C&O Canal Towpath and finishes with 8 miles of paved roads. It attracts over 1,000 starters from all walks of life. Most people finish the race in 9 to 12 hours. I wouldn't be finishing in 9 to 12 hours since I had no intention of actually running this thing. After running the Sri Chinmoy marathon a couple of weeks ago I decided that running another 24 miles after completing a marathon was a really stupid idea. So I decided once again to forget about the JFK 50 miler, and hoped it would go away.

This weekend I decided to see what training for a 50 mile race might be like. I ran two back-to-back longish runs, 18 miles on Saturday and 9 miles on Sunday. Both runs were quite hilly, on Route 1A by the sea starting from Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island (where we were staying with family.) I completed both runs quite happily. With memories of the Sri Chinmoy marathon fading, I am once again toying with the idea of actually running the JFK 50. With 11 weeks to go I have time to push my long runs up to 30 miles, which is enough to finish the race according to majority opinion surveyed on the internet (many people run the race on much less training mileage). The key to finishing the race seems to be to combine running with regular walking breaks, and coping with massive amounts of pain for a very long period of time.

After outing myself, I am hoping this won't be my last blog entry on the JFK 50 miler. If all goes well, I should be blogging about my training, and the race itself, in the weeks to come.

Inspiration for running

I really love this:


UltraRunning from Matt Hart on Vimeo.

Comments from the sidelines of the running shoe revolution

The New York Times had an article yesterday on the "back to basics" movement in running shoe design (link). The last few decades of increasingly more sophisticated (and more expensive) running shoes have apparently not lead to any reduction in the number of running injuries. A passage in "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall cites the statistic that there is a correlation between how much money people spend on their running shoes and how likely they are to become injured. More expensive shoes equals more likely to become injured (however people who spend lots of money on running shoes might be likely to run more...)

I started experimenting with the Nike Free 5.0 a couple of months ago after reading "Born to Run" (which I highly recommend). The Nike Free is marketed as a training shoe, providing minimal cushioning and support in order to develop and strengthen the foot muscles. It is claimed by proponents of the back to basics movement that shoes with too much cushioning make the foot muscles lazy and weak from under-use, increasing the likelihood of injury.

I bought my Nike Free's from Paragon in New York in July, and the next day did a 15 mile training run in them through Brooklyn and Manhattan. My feet did get a little sore, but I also noticed some tiredness in my core muscles and glutes that I had never experienced before: these muscles were being engaged more to power my running. I also noticed that my posture was more upright, whereas in cushioned shoes I tend to lean forward quite a bit when I run. Since then I have ran exclusively in the Nike Free's while training for the fall marathon season. I am not sure I would recommend these shoes for marathons, but at this point I am not sure I want to run a marathon in my regular cushioned shoes either. My old running shoes felt like superbly comfortable slippers when I tried them on recently, but I couldn't imagine running in them again. One unexpected benefit of the Nike Free's is that my chronic lower back pain has completely disappeared, a back pain I have had for several years. It never occurred to me that back pain can be caused by running.

Some drawbacks of the Nike Free's. There are deep carves along the length and width of the soles in which small stones become trapped. I have found it necessary to remove stones from the soles once or twice a week. I have also had problems with the sizing of the shoe: the upper of the right shoe sometimes presses quite a bit against the top of my foot, causing some discomfort on longer runs. Other people have recommended going up a size when buying these shoes.

My conclusion so far is that the Nike Free's are a stepping stone on the way to running in lighter shoes. I will probably keep using the Free's for training, but I would like to find a lightweight shoe with a little more support for long distance running.

Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence Marathon

Yesterday I ran the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence marathon. I did not find transcendence. The race took place in Rockland State Park, near Nyack in Rockland County, New York. It was hosted by the Sri Chinmoy spiritual organization.

This was not a typical marathon for a number of reasons. Firstly, it was held on a Tuesday morning, in the middle of August (and over 80 degrees). Secondly, it consisted of 9 loops of a lake with aid stations at every mile providing sea-weed, M&M's and coke. There was a very serious-faced poet stationed at one point who for the entire race read inspirational pieces in a monotone voice about overcoming adversity to reach one's goals. Musical groups seated in the shade along the course sang us happy, bouncy songs. There was a guy under a tree playing a sitar. I turned up at the race ten minutes before the start and was told while picking up my number that I had plenty of time.

I ran the race in my Nike Free 5.0 running shoes, which I had been experimenting with for the past month. These shoes are designed to make you feel like you are running barefoot, providing minimal cushioning. They lived up to their goals: my feet and legs hurt quite a bit after 18 miles of pounding. The hardest part about the race was seeing my car parked on every lap and wanting to jump in and drive home. I recorded my second worst time ever for a marathon (4:17), and almost fell asleep in the car driving home. In hindsight, I had a great time. Looking forward to next year...