Stop this Train

I ran this morning and listened to music and thought. That’s what I do when I run. I think.

John Mayer’s song “Stop this Train” came on and I listened … and thought. He sings about how the world isn’t always the most ideal place, especially as you get older and watch the generation ahead of you get older. And I thought. And I agree.

The world is not an easy place and the longer you live the higher the chance that you will experience something that is hard. It is hard to watch your parents grow older or even to lose them. It is hard to know and experience that you are not always the awesome husband or father or friend or employee that you thought you were. It’s hard to watch people around you suffer. It is easy to look around and read the news and listen to people talk and know that the world is a messed up place. All of it makes me want to sing “Stop this train. I want to get off and go home again. I can’t take the speed its moving in. I know I can’t. So honestly won’t someone stop this train.”

And then the song takes a turn:

Once in a while when it’s good

It’ll feel like it should

And they’re all still around

And you’re still safe and sound.

There is the hope. The world is messed up. Heck I am messed up. But at the worst there are still glimpses of how it is supposed to be. How it is getting fixed even though I can’t always see it. At my most broken is where redemption has the most potential. It can be fixed and made new.

I know that redemption won’t be fully realized until the other side of time. But somehow I know it can get better here too. And that is my hope. To be redeemed. To be made new. To be a part of that process and not just hope it happens without my participation.

“If anyone is in Christ they are a new creation, old things are passing away and all things are being made new…”

In other news I am training to run Mount Taylor 50k. It is a race in the mountains outside of Grants, New Mexico. The entire race is above 9000 feet and tops out at 11,305 feet at the summit of Mount Taylor with 7000 feet of elevation gain.

I haven’t run anything longer than a half marathon since my last marathon in Singapore in June of 2013.

What am I doing to train for altitude? Nothing really, just running miles at sea level.

What am I doing to train for running up and down mountains? Nothing really, just running miles in pancake flat south Texas.

It may sound cliché – but really, my only goal is to finish. And I am looking forward to the race very much.

When Running Might be Unhealthy and a Memorial to a Great Place to Run

My plan for a long time has been that on my last morning in Singapore I would run the trails around MacRitchie Reservior. It is without a doubt mine and Jakeb’s favorite run in Singapore and I’ve written about it quite a bit here already.

The problem though is that for the last couple of days Singapore has had a haze problem. “Haze” is really too benign of a word for what we are experiencing. Farmers in Sumatra Indonesia have been burning fields to prepare for planting palm trees for the palm oil business and the smoke from those fires are washing over Singapore. The government is issuing health warnings and saying to wear a mask and stay indoors. Walking around outside is like walking in the smoke of a campfire. It is horrible.

So should I run or not? That was not even a question for me really. I had to run MacRitchie on my last day here. I had the trails mostly to myself like when it rains. I saw seven people and only two were runners. I think my oxygen uptake and my carcinogen uptake were probably equal. But I see it as a gift. I got to run MacRitchie almost alone. It was a good morning … and kind of coughy.

At the end of the run I sat at the trailhead and took off my running shoes. I unlaced the string from a couple of holes and tied them together at the ends. I stood knee deep in MacRitchie and slung them up in a tree as high as I could. There is a pair of Brooks Pure Flows with a little more than 300 miles on them hanging from a tree over the lake as a memorial from the running Stunzes.  

Goodbye Singapore.

Sundown Marathon is done – It’s time to go to Texas!

Jakeb and I spent all day Saturday trying to figure out how to act. How do you prepare for a Marathon that starts at 11:30pm? We’ve always run morning marathons. When do you eat and what? How much do you sleep and at what time?

I ate ceral for breakfast, pasta from Dan Ryan’s for lunch and beef hor fun for dinner at a little before 7pm. I slept for about two hours from 2 – 4 pm; otherwise the day was pretty normal.

Andrea saw us off at about 9:30pm and graciously volunteered to pick us up when at the finished if we couldn’t find a taxi. As we walked out of the condo to catch a taxi to the race my friend Procosh pulled up beside us in his car and asked if we would like a ride to the marathon. I said “sure.” He works downtown and planned to park at his office and walk to the starting line so we went along for the ride.

We checked in our bag told Procosh “good luck” and waited around for the start. When the start chutes opened we lined up near the four hour pace group and were only a few yards from the starting line. The fastest pace group at the race was four hours. This is not going to be a fast crowd. I am normally in the very center of the starting chutes at a marathon with as many people in front of me as are behind. But not at a Singapore marathon where much of the crowd is planning to go much slower.

Beforehand Jakeb and I decided not to try to stick together. He wanted to hang with the four hour pace group as long he could. I knew I didn’t have a change at anything near a four hour marathon especially since we had trashed our legs two weeks earlier climbing Mount Kinabalu.

The gun went off and I told Jakeb “later” and off we went. I started at what felt like an easy pace but I checked my watch at the first mile and was running a 9:10 pace which would be a four hour marathon. So I slowed down and tried to stay in a comfortable zone. And pretty much that is how the whole race went. I ran almost the entire way with the exception of the last 4 kilometers where I mixed in some walking but mostly running.

Jakeb finished in 4:20:39 and I finished in 4:41:52. It was Jakeb’s slowest marathon and my second slowest. Singapore is a tough place to run a marathon especially if you want a fast time. Jakeb finished in 360th place out of 6389 finishers (top 5%). I finished in 709th (top 11%).

In my opinion the Sundown Marathon is better than Standard Charter. This marathon is more of a runner’s race than Standard Charter. The start finish area has more for the runner. And the course is better with well planned water stations some with bananas and gels. Much of the course is the same as Standard Charter but the night time views are cool especially when you run across the bay from downtown and the flyer. And the best part is the course doesn’t go over that bridge at the finish in the searing Singapore heat. Obviously the weather is milder at night.

We were spent when it was over. There were taxis everywhere on the streets near the finish so Andrea got to stay in bed. I hit the pillow at 5:30 am and didn’t get up until 11:30 am.

That was the last big thing on my personal Singapore list. Anna needs to finish 8th grade. There are still places we need to go eat. Jakeb is on the schedule for another tattoo while Andrea has hers touched up. We need to say some “see you laters” to some people. But for the most part it is time to go home. Andrea, Anna and I have been looking forward to June 22nd for what seems like a very long time. Texas here we come!

Sundown Marathon – most unorthodox training cycle ever and why I CAN

The Sundown Marathon starts Saturday night at 11:30 pm. Today I started carbo loading. It’s weird because Andrea and I have lessened our starchy carb intake recently so eating rice noodles for breakfast and rice for lunch has me feeling heavy. Our change in eating (which you can read about here ->link) makes me feel much better but I know I need the fuel for the marathon and really don’t know any other way to get it other than eat potatoes and rice. I plan to skip the bread and pasta though.

My training for this marathon has included a 30k race called The Maze. The weeks following The Maze I mostly took off from running while we worked on our house in Texas. Then I came back to Singapore and ran an 18 mile, a 20 mile and a 19 mile long run followed by a back off week of 12 and then I climbed a mountain with Jakeb. For the last two weeks I have been recovering from the climb and have done very little running. Jakeb and I ran MacRitchie on Saturday for eight miles. I had no fuel in my body and the run was horrible. Three days from now Jakeb and I will run a marathon for which I don’t have high expectations as far as my finishing time goes.

As I read that last paragraph I am struck by the reason I CAN run marathons (and climb mountains). One reason is because God has given me a healthy body and I work hard not to take that fact for granted. But another major reason is that I have a wife in Andrea who supports this craziness. Andrea from the beginning almost exactly 20 years ago has not just endured my running but has encouraged it. We go to bed early so I can get up before work and run. She hangs out without me for hours on Saturday morning so I can run long runs. Just now we changed our plans to eat Peaking Duck because I need a more starch heavy meal the night before the marathon. And she agreed. And we both really like Peking Duck. I love Andrea for a bunch of reasons and one of them is that she is a big part of nurturing my love of adventure and the everyday journey that running is. She has even run and walked races of her own. And I believe as a result we’ve passed on that love of adventure to our son.



Climbing Mount Kinabalu in a Day and Happy Birthday to Me

I woke up on May 19th 2013 in Malaysia (Borneo) to a card from Andrea for my birthday. To paraphrase she encouraged me to “get closer to the one who created you, to get closer to the one you helped create, and get closer to yourself”. Andrea always encourages me to be a better me, sometimes on purpose and sometimes without trying. I am lucky to have her as my wife. How many other women would encourage their husband to take his son and climb the highest peak in Southeast Asia on his birthday? 

Jakeb and I woke up, ate a breakfast of bread pastries and was downstairs waiting for our ride to Kinabalu Park Headquarters at 5:30 am. 

Mount Kinabalu is the tallest peak in Southeast Asia at 4095.2 meters or 13425 feet. It is normally climbed over the course of two days with a one night stay at the Laban Rata Resthouse at 3272 meters. For my 46th birthday I wanted to hike to the summit and back down with Jakeb in one day.

I had made arrangements with Amazing Borneo Tours to do the one day hard core Low’s Peak Summit hike. The main reason I booked a tour is because when I researched climbing Mount Kinablu in one day I found that only four permits are issued a day and if you try to get one on your own you have to be at the park headquarters the day prior to your climb and there is no guarantee that you will even get a permit. But pay extra and book early through a tour company and of course your chances are almost 100% to get a one day climbing permit.

We arrived at the park at 7:15 am and the guy from Amazing Borneo got our climbing permits and introduced us to our guide Safree. Safree has run the Kinabalu International Climbathon from the trailhead to the summit and back in 2 hours and 44 minutes. He would be more than capable to take us to the summit and back down in a day no problem. Now it was just up to Jakeb and me to make it to the top. The permits we signed made it clear that to continue to the peak we would have to make it to the Laban Rata resthouse by 10:30 am and to Low’s Peak by 1:00 pm. And if the weather deteriorated we would be turned back.

The skies were clear as we started out from Timpohon Gate at 7:55 am. We were supposed to start by 7:30 but the tour bus had to pick up another couple which made us a bit late and me a lot nervous. Being late put me on edge but I also felt like God was saying, “I’m in control of this Tommy. You can’t change the timing. All you can do is hike. Stop worrying about it.”

We set off on a brisk pace with Safree up front, Jakeb in the middle and me behind. The uphill hike is mostly made of steps that are either carved in the hill or made from various sized rocks. There is never a consistent rhythm to the steps one takes because the steps in the mountain vary in size so much. As we continued on it slowly became clear to me that we were moving at a pace that was faster than I could maintain so we backed off a little. 

Jakeb and I were both taking S-caps to maintain our salt and electrolyte levels and we were eating almonds and trail mix. We each had three liters of water in a camelbak and a one liter nalgene bottle. I was sweating like crazy but I always do.

The lower parts of the trail had the same sort of foliage we walked through in New Zealand. As we got close to Laban Rata we met people who were on their way down. One of the locals told us we would not have a problem making it to the top because we had the mountain runner as our guide. Just below Laban Rata I started feeling the beginnings of cramps in my quads from all of the pulling up the taller steps.

We arrived at Laban Rata at 10:18 and Safree told us to rest for 10 minutes and then we would continue the climb. Jakeb and I drank a cup of hot tea and ate some trail mix and then continued on. On the steps above Labal Rata my quads cramped for the first time. I had to sit down and elongate the quad muscles to stretch them. Afterwards they felt better and we continued to climb. Jakeb’s muscles bother him a little too but not nearly as bad as mine. Right as we hiked above tree level the clouds got thick and we would get the occasional sprinkle of rain. I was worried we would get turned back but Safree kept charging ahead.

Then climbing up one section where we had to use ropes my quads cramped again. I stretched and started moving but I only made about 10 steps and they cramped again. I told Jakeb “I’m done. I am going to sit here while you and Safree go to the summit and then meet me back here.” He asked “Are you sure.” And I said “yeah” and I assumed my day was done.

If I would have stopped there I would have been disappointed but I would have been okay with it. I had done my best and that’s all I can ask of myself.

I lay down on the side of the mountain with my heals pulled against my butt to stretch my quads. I was there about 5 minutes and it started raining. I stood up to get my rain gear on and thought to myself “My legs feel okay”. So I started to hike uphill slowly. And I felt good. I decided to walk until I came upon Jakeb and Safree coming down from the summit and see how far my legs would take me. 

As I climbed a little further I came out of the clouds and in the clear there was an amphitheater of peaks around me and I was struck, like I always am when I take time to look, at the wonder of God’s creation. I looked at Low’s Peak and I could see Jakeb and Safree starting the climb up the ridge line. Above them were four other climbers. So much for the fact that the park only issues four one-day permits; this day they issued five.

I continued to walk steadily upwards and before long I found myself at the base of the ridgeline that leads to the summit. Some of it requires you to use your hands and feet to climb up. I heard Jakeb yell, “Come on dad!”

Jakeb made it to the summit of Mount Kinabalu at 12:30 and I arrived at 12:42. As soon as I got there he said “Happy Birthday Dad.” We stayed on the summit for a few minutes. A guy from New Zealand took our picture as it started to rain. We got our rain gear out and headed down.

The walk back down was wet and slippery and we had to use the ropes quite a bit. We stopped at Laban Rata and got a bowl of cream of chicken soup each (sans chicken) two Carlsbergs for me and a coke for Jakeb. I paid more for that meal than any we ate on the whole trip.

We walked hard and got back to the trailhead at a little before 5 pm for a total of 9 hours of hiking.

It was a good day. I got closer to Jakeb, I learned more about myself, and I got closer to God. It was one of the better birthday presents I have ever been given. Thanks babe.

Running in Texas, Running in Singapore

For my two weeks home in Texas the weather was cool. It was in the 40 or 50 degree fahrenheit range every morning. On the mornings I ran at home I ran on the sidewalks around our subdivision so it was all flat. I wore my garmin every run because I don’t have any idea of the distances yet and I would consistently see paces in the 8:15 to 9:00 minute per mile range while running comfortably.

So I got back to Singapore and last Monday morning I laced up my Brooks and took off toward Telock Blangah hill. I ran like I was still in Texas. As I pushed up the tree top walk I felt good and strong. But I paid for it. By the time I crossed Henderson my legs and body said “that is enough” and the last three miles were brutal. Now I am back to running at paces more like 9:00 to 9:45 range. It is amazing what heat humidity and hills do to one’s ability to maintain a pace that is completely manageable in cooler weather.

I look forward to running in cooler Texas weather for a short time every year. I will not miss the Singapore humidity but I will miss running in the rain. It is somehow different running in the rain here than in Texas.

I do not look forward to the monotony of flat Texas sidewalks in a subdivision. I will miss the treetop run, Kent Ridge and MacRitchie Reservoir. I hated the hills when I got here but I have made peace with them now.

I’ve known people who have trained for marathons in the US tell me they could never train for one here in Singapore. But Singapore and its heat humidity and hills have made me a better runner. I trained in Singapore for the 2011 Texas Marathon and set a marathon PR.

I have a friend named Procosh. He is from India and he runs. I had no idea. I saw him at our condo a couple of times with his kids. I’ve seen him outside smoking a cigarette. And then I was running at MacRitchie one Saturday morning on a training run and there was Procosh with a camelback on his back running the North Face 100k. A guy who smokes running a 100k! We hadn’t really talked before then but on that day we said hi and now we have great conversations about running while standing in the condo driveway. I will miss the diversity of people in Singapore – like my friend from India who runs and smokes although he says he is going to stop someday soon (smoking that is).

Two weeks in Texas

My flight from Doha landed early in Houston Saturday afternoon and I was on the road to Austin by 7 pm and in Austin by 10. My prerun dinner was a chicken sandwich and fries from Burger King on the road between Houston and Austin with a couple of Newcastles when I got to the hotel for good measure.

Jakeb and I woke up at 5 am and got ready to run. It was really windy and cold (about 45 degrees) when we picked up our race chips. The race started at 7 am and we were completely unprepared for it to be dark. It was a good thing other people around us had headlamps. We were running behind a girl that asked if we wanted to pass her. I said “No we appreciate the light.” She replied “Oh I see, you’re using me for my light. When you win make sure you mention my name.” I said “No chance of that happening. Me winning I mean”.

Jakeb and I ran the whole race together. Our pace was right on and we ran comfortably the whole time. I tripped on the second lap and scrapped up my knee and right hand. Then on the last lap I tripped twice. My left pinky was bleeding pretty bad but we were almost done. My race number has spots of blood on it. I thought that was cool.

We ran the whole race except through the aid stations (2 on each loop) and the last hill. We finished in 3:19:56. The Maze is a great race.

Afterwards I spent most of the rest of the time in Texas working on the house. Andrea and Anna got there on Thursday night and Tori, Austin and Jakeb came on Friday. We were all together for Easter weekend and it was good to have everyone under one roof.

We primed, floated, textured, and painted. We hired a contractor to remove almost 800 square feet of ceramic tile (what a mess). I built a new gate for our cedar fence. We ate good food. Some we cooked and some we ate out. We celebrated Jakeb’s birthday. I got to spend some time with my dad.

It was hard to leave Texas to come back to Singapore. But it helps knowing we have tickets to move home in June.

For this is your calling - to do good ...

I got a new tattoo and I like it a lot. This makes tattoo number three and it is on my forearm so it is exposed most of the time. The reactions I’ve gotten from it have been interesting. Most of them have been positive.

In a week and a half I fly to Houston, land on Saturday night, drive to Austin and then after a short night of jet lagged rest I run a 30k trail race. Training has gone really well so I am hoping for an awesome race at The Maze.

I am still doing speed work at the track one day a week and it has been a bit of a soap opera. Over a month ago I was running in the inside lane like normal and an old guy was weaving in and out of lane one and two as he walked. I timed his weave and said “on your left” and I freaked him out. I didn’t mean to but it scared him and he jumped on to the grass beside the track which was to his left and we almost collided.

The next week I went to the track and was running hard around a turn and the same old man, walking again in the inside lane, started motioning wildly for me to pass on the right and not the left. I was not in the mood to be accommodating so I passed on the left and brushed by him sliming him with my sweat.

He was obviously not amused. When I finished up I walked backwards on the track to meet him and try to explain why I was doing what I was doing. I told him it was normal for those going fastest to use the inside lanes and those slower to move progressively to the outside lanes. That is track etiquette. Those are normally the rules.

I thought this would make sense to them because Singaporeans supposedly are famous about following the rules. What I forgot is that rules are only to be followed when they are convenient or when there is severe punishment attached to breaking them. Anyway an older lady came up to help the man I had offended and she said “He is very old and it is much too far for him to walk on the outside lane.”

I thought "he may be very old but he is in very good shape because his walk is brisk. And I am only asking for half a lane not the outside"

I said, “Well he is here for the exercise right? Just don’t walk as many laps if it is too far. And second, are you telling me if you are old you don’t have to follow the rules?”

They said, “We have been coming here for a long time and you just started coming.”

I said, “And … that means you don’t have to follow the rules?” I told them “Nevermind” in my most sincere singlish and said “I like it here. I’ll be back next Wednesday.”

The next week I made sure I swung wide around the walkers using the inside lane and didn’t get too close to offend. I also told every person “Good morning!” in a loud happy voice. I was not trying to be insincere but hoped to smooth it over a little. The man that was mad at me looked at me out of the corner of his eye, pressed his lips tightly together and gave me one stern head shake then stared off in the distance. I guess he did not want me to be nice.

This morning the old man and his wife showed up at the track after I had already started running. They sat on the stands and watched for a while and left before I was done. I guess they decided it is not worth exercising when the big white guy is on the track. I wish they would exercise when I am there but I am not going to stop going so they can - at least not until June when we move back to Texas.

Never pay back a bad turn with a bad turn or an insult with another insult, but on the contrary pay back with good. For this is your calling—to do good and one day to inherit all the goodness of God. 1 Peter 3:9

I am obviously not always so good at this …

Adapting, self-discipline and a better me

Jez Bragg recently completed a run the full length of the Te Araroa trail. The trail starts at the tip of the North Island of New Zealand and finishes at the tip of the South Island. It is 3054 kilometers (1898 miles) and he completed it in 53 days – the fastest ever – completely under human power either running or kayaking. I watched a video where he talked about being amazed at his body’s ability to adapt to the long distances he ran day after day.

I haven’t run 1898 miles in 53 days. I fell 500 miles short of that all of last year. But I am still amazed at my body’s ability to adapt to increased mileage. In the last couple of weeks my long runs have gone from 8 miles to 12 miles to 14 miles in just three weeks. I’ve added speed work at the same time. Last week I thought I was probably overdoing it because my hamstrings, especially my right one was hurting. It was bad enough that on Wednesday what I did at the track could better have been categorized as “faster than a jog” work.

But this weekend I ran 14 miles again and I felt strong throughout the whole run. Then I ran 5 Sunday and felt like normal – almost like I hadn’t run a long run the day before.

It’s not just a physical thing. It is mental as well. I knew in my head that when I stepped out this morning that my legs would be dead and because of it I didn’t want to go. But I went anyway. I ran over Telock Blangah hill and my legs were surprisingly fresh. I am glad my brain didn't keep me from running. Some mornings it would have.

I think about Lent starting this week. The body has to adapt to the Lenten fast. It can be physical, and mental. But adapting to the physical change and the mental shifts that have to occur are part of what changes me for the better spiritually. Making my mind and body do something that is not easy or comfortable make me a better me.

In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves... self-discipline with all of them came first. Harry S. Truman

Self-respect is the root of discipline: the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.
Abraham Joshua Heschel

I was worried about building up to The Maze, but I think I will be just fine. I have to pay attention and not take advantage of my body’s adapting to high mileage by overdoing a good thing. If I can keep pushing myself out of the door in a sensible self-disciplined way I’ll be okay.

Same with Lent, I have to pay attention to everyday discipline and when Easter gets here I will be a better me.

MacRitchie and the track

This weekend I ran around MacRitchie and added the out and back to rifle range road in the middle for a total of eight miles. It was raining – sometimes a little, sometimes pouring down. I saw maybe 15 or 20 people 95% of which were westerners. I’ve asked this question here before but I don’t know what it is about Asians not wanting to get wet. When you run around MacRitchie on a clear sunny day you get as wet with your own sweat as you do when it is raining. And a rainy run is much more pleasant. I should not question it because it was good to have the woods and trails mostly to myself. Running around MacRitchie is one of the things I will miss about Singapore.

I ran at the track this morning again. That makes two weeks in a row. I ran a mini ladder, 200-400-800-400-200 with 200 recovery in between. Once again it was good to run hard. I glanced down at the Garmin and saw times in the 7 minute and change pace per mile. It has been a long time since I have run under 8 minute pace. The last 200 was rough because my legs were tired but I kept telling myself “strong and in control”. The inside lane had a few walkers like last week. It is okay, I can go around.

The Maze ... who needs sleep?

Jakeb sent me an email and said “Hey, if I can get some people interested would you help me out getting to Austin to do this?”

He added a link to the Rogue Running Trail Series of which the first race is The Maze. The Maze is one of my favorite (if not my all time favorite) trail runs. It takes place in Walnut Creek Park and the course is three 10k loops through the hills north of Austin with a couple of stream crossings per loop. The race has a distinctly Texas feel to it which is something I could use right now.

The trip always includes food from Chuy’s. I was jealous that Jakeb would get to run it and I wouldn’t. I considered replying and saying “Heck no I won’t help you get to Austin (meaning pay). You can find your own way!”

But I am a nicer dad than that so I didn’t. Then I looked at the web site and realized the race is on March 24th. I will be in Texas on March 24th so I shot back an email and said “I'll be in town on March 24th. Maybe I can meet you there and run it too.”

The euphoria was short lived when I figured out that I would not get into Houston until 5:40 pm on the 23rd. After flying for over a day, I would have to clear customs and get a rent car, drive between three and four hours to Austin to meet Jakeb where he would have checked us into a hotel and picked up our packets. Then get a short night’s sleep assuming I could sleep through the jet lag and then get up and run 18 miles.

That’s crazy! So I considered not doing it. I asked my voice of reason (Andrea) what she thought. Her reply was “will you regret not doing it?” Of course I would. So that night after Jakeb checked his school schedule I signed us both up for The Maze.

Am I crazy for doing it? Dang right. But Jakeb pointed out that he was coming to Singapore when school is out in May and hiking to the top of the highest peak in Southeast Asia a couple days after he arrives. I guess it runs in the family.

Speed and Nutrition

We live a little less than a mile from a track. I’ve driven by there but have never actually been on foot. This morning for the first time in Singapore I decided to do some speed work.

I ran easy to the track and once I got there ran 4x400 with 200 recovery. It felt good to move fast and work on controlling form. It was much slower than when I used to do speed work in Texas and it wasn’t very much as far as volume was concerned but I did it. And I think I will do it again. I would like to run the Sundown Marathon closer to four hours than five and I think this will help.

There were old Asian people walking on the track and a few “middle-agers” like me. I was the only one running. As is typical here there were a few people who walked as if they owned the place. Some weaving in and out of the inside lane while they walked. So I followed American track etiquette and elbowed the old ladies out of the inside lane as I was running past. Okay I didn’t but I felt like it. I made sure I ran on the inside of them fast and close …

Andrea and I have made some tweaks to our nutritional routine without making a big deal of it. We have pretty much cut out starchy carbs, sugar and dairy and are focusing on eating lots of vegetables, fruit and a moderate amount of lean meat. Both of us have lost weight without really trying too hard. I was scared I would not be fueled well for running. At first it seemed that way but I think it was because I was recovering from getting sick in London – and in some ways I am still recovering. But I feel like I have enough fuel to run  typical morning runs without any problems. I haven’t run any long runs while eating this way and those may require me to add some starchy fuel the night before – we will see.

We started eating this way hard core on January 8th - we dabbled with it for a couple of months before. So about the second week of February I will go to the doctor and get a physical (it is time). I am really interested in what my cholesterol numbers will be.

End of 2012, London and the Beginning of 2013

The Stunz Family finished the year in London. Andrea, Anna and I flew from Singapore and met Jakeb, Tori and Tori’s boyfriend (now fiancé) Austin who flew in from Texas. We did a bunch of the touristy things, watched an amazing fireworks display, saw a premier league soccer match (Chelsea va Queens Park Rangers) and Tori and Austin got engaged.

In the middle of it all I got to do some running. The first morning we were there Jakeb and I ran from our rented house in Chelsea to Hyde Park and turned around in front of Albert Memorial. It was good to run with Jakeb and as usual he push the pace for me.

The next time I ran was on New Year’s Day. We had stayed out late for the fireworks so I slept in and ran around noon. It was still cool (in the forties) and I ran King’s Park road to Westminster Abbey. It was a four mile run and when I arrived there was a New Year’s Day parade and the Stephen F Austin marching band had just finished and were stowing their gear. “Hello fellow Texans!” I got on the London Underground at Westminster and made my way back to Parsons Green.

The last time I ran was early on Wednesday morning. My plan was to run an easy three. I ended up getting lost on the way back and had to ask for directions. My easy three turned into a tiring six. But that is okay. Being lost running is not so bad of a thing.

London was a good trip.

In 2012 I ran 1388 miles. I ran in the US, Singapore, Italy, Vietnam, New Zealand, Cambodia and the UK. I ran a marathon in Christchurch New Zealand while Andrea did the 10k and I ran a marathon in Singapore (an hour slower than the first).

In 2013 I plan to hike up Mount Kinabalu with Jakeb and then run the Sundown Marathon in Singapore. After that it will be back to Texas and who knows what running will be like.

The list of countries I’ve run in will probably never be as long as last year but if I only ever get to run in Texas that will not be a bad thing.

What's next?

With the Singapore Marathon thankfully in the rearview mirror it’s time to look ahead to what is next to keep me motivated to get out and run.

Our time in Singapore is coming to an end and Andrea, Anna and I are excited about moving back home to Texas. We have been thinking about what it is we want to do before we leave Southeast Asia.

I told Andrea a while back I wanted to hike to the top of Mount Kinabalu – the highest peak in the region – on my birthday. She said, “Go for it.” My plan was to hike alone because it is hard to stay on pace with another person. But then I started thinking about the times Jakeb and I have trekked and it just so happens he will be out of school then. I called and asked him if he was interested and didn’t have to convince him at all.

On May 9th-14th Jakeb has finals at Texas Tech. On May 15th he gets on a plane to Singapore. He gets to Singapore on May 17th at 12:20am. Then on May 18th he and I board a plane to Kinabalu in Borneo Malaysia. At 7:00am on May 19th (my 46th birthday) we will attempt to hike to the summit of Mount Kinabalu and back down in one day. Most tours require two days to climb to the summit. There are only four permits issued a day to do it in one. Then we fly back to Singapore on May 20th.

Jakeb will be worn out just from all of the travel. I will be worn out because I am getting old.

As if that were not enough we found out that the Sundown Marathon is on June 1st in Singapore. It starts like at 11:30 pm at night and you run to beat the sun - which is good because it is cooler. Jakeb pleaded with me to sign us up. So I did. Maybe I am foolish to think we can do both. I have been told already that I am. But what would we be if we didn't try - you have to try ...

I have plenty to train for. My goal is to train to go up. Then add enough miles to finish a marathon.

Afterwards it’s home to Texas! I can’t wait.

Singapore Marathon 2012

Like I wrote in my previous post I did not feel well prepared for the Singapore Marathon. And my feelings were true. But I finished and I have a medal and a finisher’s shirt.

It was weird not having Andrea around in the couple of days leading up to the marathon. She is in Vietnam playing Christmas music with the hand bell choir from church.

My race can be summed up in two halves. I mostly ran the first half and I mostly walked the second half.

I didn’t run with a watch and thought it would help me run an easier pace but I think I ended up pushing way too hard in the beginning because I felt like the pace was slow. Even though I realize now I was probably running way too hard.

I ended up slowing and running with the 4:15 pace group for a while. Then at 10k my legs started feeling bad. At 15k I felt like I was going to throw up. At 17k I ate my PB&J sandwich and my stomach settled down.

I made it to the half-marathon mark at about 2:10 or 2:15 and if I would have had a way home I would have dropped. I thought to myself that I had to get to the finish line to get my stuff anyway so I may as well walk there.

So I started walking fast. I didn’t pay attention to kilometer markers. I just kept drinking water and walking at a fast pace. After a while I felt okay and would jog a little. Then I would walk. I did that until the end and finished in 5:04:19.

I thought of my mom some along the way and near the end especially. It is kind of fitting that I struggled with this marathon. Mom and dad have always made sure that I knew that they loved me no matter what I did. They taught me there are consequences to my actions like running a slow marathon when you haven’t trained well. Still I can hear my mom say, “That’s okay Tommy.” And I know it is.

Singapore Marathon Training

The Singapore Marathon and I have a rocky relationship. I ran it in 2009 and it was and still is the slowest marathon I have run. Last year I signed up but didn’t even toe the starting line.

In my optimism or maybe it was my ignorance I signed up for it again this year. As soon as the email hit my inbox announcing registration was open for Singapore marathon veterans only I found myself pulling my credit card out.

With the couple of trips I’ve taken to Texas, marathon training has been hit or miss. I find myself about ten pounds heavier than I need to be and running too few miles to be able to run one of my better marathons. Now I am back at it but I am on a short schedule. I surely will not run a great time and may set a personal worst.

It may sound like I am complaining but I am not. This is a season of life where running a fast marathon hasn’t been and frankly isn’t now even near the top of my priorities. And I use the term “fast” in a most relative sense. I want to run the Singapore Marathon on December 2nd. I may even lose a couple of pounds on the journey to the starting line. But I am not even going to wear my watch in the race. I am going to run comfortably and get a medal and a finisher’s shirt. This year that has to be enough.

How can people not run?

I am sure that title is not grammatically correct. In fact it may sound arrogant to ask how people can live life without running. For me it is a coping mechanism. I know that others have other ways to cope with life – some healthy some unhealthy – but I cannot think of a way better than running.

I run when I am happy and the happiness seems to double.

I run when I am angry. I am not normally an angry person but when anger is there running dissipates whatever level of anger exists, from rage to irritation.

When I am being irrational running across the ground and allowing thoughts to run through my mind brings rationality.

On September 6th my mother died only about a month after being diagnosed with cancer. Andrea wrote about mom on our family blog here -> link. I think about mom when I run. It does not make me miss her any less. But it helps me to understand a little and remember the good things. It lessens the sting when I remember that I can’t call her today. Although the sting still exists.

How can people not run?

Tattoo two

I went back to see Moon to get a tattoo on my left arm. He is an amazing artist. If you are in Singapore and you want a tattoo you need to go see him. www.moonstrucktattoo.com

I wanted to balance myself out and I wanted to brand myself with the name of the woman I love so ...

I really like it. I think I like it more than the first one.

Christchurch Marathon 2012

On June 3rd I ran my third Christchurch Marathon. This is also the third different course I have run it on. The first year was downtown. Then there was an earthquake and it had to be moved to a small township outside of Christchurch. This year they moved it back to Christchurch and since the major sponsor is the airport it was run on the roads around the airport. This is the least favorite of the three courses for me because it had too many out and back sections. Hopefully one day it will be moved back into the city when the rebuilding is finished.

The first half of the race was sunny and was in the lower 50’s deg f. At times there was no wind and it bordered on warmish. I hit the half marathon in almost exactly two hours on my watch. Some of the miles were faster than four hour marathon pace and some slower but I was happy to hit the half in two hours. I knew that all I had to do was run a negative split to finish in less than four hours overall and at the time it felt doable.

The second half of the race was totally different. I felt strong but at about mile fifteen or so a storm blew in. It was nice that it cooled down but the wind went crazy. There was a point at around mile sixteen where the wind was so strong it stood me straight up and I felt like I was not moving at all. I probably could have walked as fast as I was running but I kept running. It was a little bit disheartening. To be fair there were a couple of times later on where I felt like I was being thrown down the road when the wind was at my back.

At about mile 18 I started passing people – a lot of people. Around mile twenty there was this guy who would almost sprint past me and then he would walk and I would pass him. This repeated itself about ten times until I dropped him around the twenty-four mile mark.

My last three miles were the fastest three miles of the race. 24th mile – 8:53, 25 mile – 8:48, 26th mile 8:45, last 0.2 – 8:42 pace. But I came up a bit short. I finished in 4:02:18 chip time (4:04:25 gun time). Given the conditions I am okay with that.  It is my fastest time in Christchurch so far. In fact I get about a minute faster each year. It is still about ten minutes off of my marathon PR.

I am encouraged that I was passing so many people at the end and I feel good about how strong I was running in the last miles. My last couple of marathons have been this way. I am considering another try at Singapore Marathon in December and I am sure it will be a different beast as far as finishing strong is concerned.

Andrea and I spent the two weeks after the marathon roaming around the South Island of New Zealand. I had a couple of really good runs on single track and lakesides in Queenstown, Te Anau, and Franz Josef. I am blessed to be able to run in such cool places.

The training is mostly done ... now it's time to run.

I have written this here before I think, but it is hard to gauge my fitness level while training for a marathon in Singapore. It is so humid and hot and there are hills. As I finish training for the 2012 edition of the Christchurch marathon I really do not know what to expect. I am confident I will finish it but I do not know how fast. I would love to break four hours because both of my other New Zealand marathons have been a bit over four.

Saturday I ran eight miles around MacRitchie. I wanted this last long run to be more than just a slow slog on flat ground so I tried to push myself. My goal was to run as close as I could to marathon pace but the hills and humidity made it almost impossible. I ran mile six 10 seconds per mile off of marathon pace as it is the only semi-flat mile on the MacRitchie trail. Based on that I think with a flat marathon course and a cold day I should be able to get close to breaking four.

The early weather forecast has Christchurch temperature at a low of 40 deg f and a high of 56 deg f and mostly sunny. Marathon weather for sure.

I have put in the training. All that is left is for me to get to Christchurch and execute. I will let you know how it goes.