Becoming FitFluential

If you are on twitter as much as I am, you've probably noticed hash tags that say #fitfluential or seen the official twitter handle @fitfluential

It's not just a clever way to tag your workout, athletic lifestyle or nutritional recommendations. It's a nationwide network of fitness enthusiasts called FitFluential. It was founded by Kelly Olexa in April of this year to help motivate and inspire others. A lot of us bloggers got started looking to not only reach out to others, but to catalogue our journey and self-inspire from current and past experiences. We put our thoughts or challenges down and embrace the community that welcomes us as we share stories similar to theirs with motivation and inspiration flowing both ways. Better to give than to receive? Yes, but it can be both.


I'm proud to announce that I was asked to join the FitFluential Ambassador team. What does this mean? It means I'm joining a network of highly influential people with various areas of interest. From runners, to bloggers, to nutritionist, to yogis, to people interested in keeping a fit lifestyle. I'm happy to join the team and look forward to additional opportunities (through working with brands) and information (through working with other FitFluential Ambassadors) I'll be able to share with you in the future.

Here is my official page. Yep, that's my name and photo. Weird, right?

So, does this mean my holiday list just increased 10 fold?

Feel free to share in the comments how you maintain a fit lifestyle or ways you wish you could improve upon it..

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Win an entry to the Oakland Running Festival

What are you doing on March 25, 2012? Wanna experience the Oakland Running Festival?

I came across the Oakland Running Festival in 09, its inaugural year and the return of a full marathon to Oakland in 25 years. Compared to other Bay Area events the distances may be the same, the runners may also be the same, but what makes the Oakland Running Festival unique is the community and fans along the course. With a 97% saying they would recommend the race to a friend (from post-race surveys) there is clearly something going on with this growing event.

When I run other events I always notice people along the course cheering on specific runners: "Go Suzy!" or "Go Team in Training!" Such signs are popular and motivating. But what I noticed the past 2 years in Oakland is that although there are similar signs, there are also members of the community that aren't cheering on "specific" runners. Rather they are cheering on everyone. They are cheering for the city and happy to see thousands of people participating. It's people stepping out of their homes and business and clapping, simply because they were moved to do so.


The race has sold out each year in its existence, but I've squared away two complimentary entries for the 2012 (Full or Half Marathon) and want to share them with you! I'm running the event again and want YOU to join me!

I'll draw two names at random on December 15 at noon (PST). That gives you two weeks to enter. Here are several ways to throw your name in the proverbial hat:

1. Follow my blog. 1 entry per person


2. Follow @PavementRunner on twitter and/or "friend request" on FB. 1 entry per person — (let me know you've done this or already do this in the comments)


3. Follow @OaklandMarathon on twitter and/or "Like" on FB. 1 entry per person — (let me know you've done this or already do this in the comments)


4. Tweet out this contest (tagging @PavementRunner and @OaklandMarathon) and/or share on FB — tweet/share buttons at end of post. 1 entry per person — (let me know you've done this or already do this in the comments)


5. Leave a comment below telling me "Why you think you should win the entry." Also, if you've done any of the ABOVE, let me know here as well. This is the easiest way for me to keep a reliable count. 1 entry per person

That's a total of 5 entries per person, but here is the bonus part:

BONUS: Each day you can send out a tweet (tagging @PavementRunner and @OaklandMarathon) about anything. (Running related is encouraged. Negative tweets disqualify you entirely. Sorry, I am judge and jury on this.)

That's up to 15 additional entries. 1 per day, per person will be counted. If you @tag me, I'll see it, so no need to notify me on these daily tweets through the comments. Sorry, this *bonus* is a twitter only opportunity.

That's it! If you do it right, you can enter the contest 20 times. Wowzers. Good luck everyone. Any questions, let me know.

The entry forms will be mailed to the winners to be filled out and returned to the Oakland Marathon. Postage and a return envelope will be provided to each winner. Travel and hotel expenses will not be provided to or from the event. The entries can be transferred PRIOR to filling out the entry form. Once the form has been mailed to the Oakland Running Festival, all information is final. Entries must be filled out and received by the Oakland Marathon prior to 1/15/2012.

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A Turkey Decision, Recap and PR

I recently made one of the best decisions of my running career. It may be a simple one, but at the same time one I'm ashamed to admit that took a bit longer than it should have to pull the trigger.

This year I decided to do a local turkey trot in Walnut Creek (Ca). It's a small 5k/10k that benefits local education. Which is great. I've done it once in the past and enjoyed it. I've only run a couple 10ks so it isn't a distance I typically do. That last time I ran a 10k I pushed myself to a 51 min. finish, which at the time was challenging. I'm trained for long distances, not fast paces over smaller distances.

The decision was this:

1. Register for the 10k and see if my recent increase in pace allows me to push myself even further for a faster time.
2. Walk the 5k with my mom who has been walking a lot over the past year and is getting excited about improving her health/pace.

Seems like an obvious choice, especially on Thanksgiving. But being competitive with myself and always trying to improve my time over any distance made me think, shamefully, longer than I should have.

I thought about it for a couple days, already knowing which was the right decision to make. But that little devil on my shoulder kept whispering: "Your mom won't mind if you run the 10k." Which is true, Moms rule that way.

Although the devil kept whispering, I didn't let that little red bastard get the better of my judgement and registered my mom and myself to walk the 5k. And I couldn't have been happier.

We made our way to the start line decked out in our running gear, my mom wearing her race day tech shirt, which I think may be her first. We started at the back to avoid becoming jammed in a bottleneck on the course and allowed the speedy folks to start ahead of us. We weaved through other walkers, strollers, dogs and even these guys in turkey capes:


My mom has become pretty fast at the walk. I definitely felt the burn in my calves. Funny, right? But I'm built for running, not speed walking. Different muscles are emphasized.

We walked and talked and grabbed a couple photos together. Laughed at some folks taking short cuts over the sidewalks, easily shaving .1 off the course. Disqualified. We talked about running watches and how my mom could start incorporating some running into her 3 mile walks. I was pretty proud. Yep, son was watching his mom start to get the race bug. This was her third 5k and now that she is seeing the differences in events, starting to discover what she likes and doesn't like.


It was a great way to start Thanksgiving Day and I'm glad that I decided to spend some extra time with my mom. She has done so much for me and I was happy to experience the event with her. I would make that decision 10 out of the next 10 times. Oh ya, and since this was my first 5k, I set a PR!

Thanks mom for a wonderful day and kicking my butt on the 5k. You go girl!

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A photographic run

With my this weekend's run, I decided to have some fun and photograph my journey. Sure that meant taking a 1-2 minute break mid-run to dig out my phone, snap a photo, tweet it, then resume running, but my I was willing to make that sacrifice for the sake of twitter-dom.

And I haven't run over 13.1 miles since February, so striving for 16 was going to be a journey on it's own.

I used a hash for those that wanted to follow along, #Sunday16, but I also want to share with my non-twitter readers or those that may have missed it. Here we go. Text below the photo's is what I Tweeted out with the photo.

"If I sit by his running shoes, then he has to take me, right?"

Couldn't resist the pup's face, so I took her for 3 miles, dropped her off, heading for remaining 13

I always see this hill, parallel to my normal route. Today I'll go up it.

Mailbox! How long will we still be using these? Timeless? Something to think about over the next few miles.

Where I married my wife a little over 6 years ago. Heather Farms Rose Garden, Walnut Creek.

Still Thanksgiving on my run. 11.38 miles, home stretch. Gobble Gobble.

Up the hill. Pay attention WC Half Marathoners, this is your future. It goes higher after the bend.

Sometimes you have to listen to the signs and your body. 15.5 miles and done.

There is my photo journey. I fell short, which gives a little humor to my #Sunday16 hashtag, but it was too late to change it to #Sunday15.5 — which looks funny, so forget it. Thank you to everyone that responded along the way. I definitely recommend giving this a try on your next run. Most cell phones have cameras, so it's an easy point and shoot. I found myself looking around a lot more as I ran.

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All black everything

In honor, or perhaps protest, of black Friday, I'm going to write about something that has nothing to do with black Friday. So for poops and giggles, here are all the black running items in my closet:


Adidas 3-stripe pants
These are my favorite running pants in the world, better yet, universe. I have 2 pairs, the one shown and a gray pair with orange stripes. They fit well, are light and keep me warm. They also have zippers on the pockets that come in handy when holding shenanigans. The also have reflective piping towards the bottom and slight ventilation as well.


Adidas 3-stripe 1/4 zip Bruce Lee 'thingy'
This is also one of my favorite running tops (not a jacket, not a t-shirt, a 'thingy') in the fall/winter. It totally gets me in ass-kicking mode, Bruce Lee style. Mid-run, I've been known to confront the Korean underworld gangs, fight my way up the levels of a pagoda and kick a seven-foot basketball player in the face. It happens — like I said, one of my favorite tops. (the colors are inverted, but let me have my childhood moment)


Champion running shorts
Clearly Adidas makes super-duper running clothes, but not everything has to be three-stripe gear. Here are a pair of cost-friendly running shorts by Champion. They have reflective piping, light weight and comfortable. Draw string keeps them comfortable and they are (for me) a proper length since I don't rock the 70s jogging shorts. Not pretty.


Asics running socks
My feet are sponsored by Asics. Well, they are sponsored by my paychecks, but they prefer Asics. I have been wearing Asics Kayano's since 2006 and is the only shoe I run long distances in. But those are typically white, so screw them. However, my socks are ALWAYS black Asics socks. I've bounced across a couple styles, but they are always black, low cut Asics. These are hydro.


Road Runner visor, Nike arm sleeves, Nike gloves

Visor: I purchased the visor after seeing them popular in the ultra community. It made perfect sense. When wearing a hat, at some point in the race my head became too warm. Perfect solution: a convertible hat for my head.

Arm Sleeves: I like these because they are made of dri-fit material. They breathe really well and keep me warm. Perfect for the beginning of races and if it becomes too warm, they easily roll down or fit nicely into your pocket. Definitely not bulky, but effective. Downside? The upper arm is too tight. If I flex, it is uncomfortably snug. Luckily I don't make bodybuilder poses mid-race.

Gloves: these rock. I have 2 pairs, both Nike. The ones shown are lighter and all dri-fit material with reflective swoosh. My other pair has a bit more warmth to them, which can help. Not too heavy, but more in comparison. It also has a terry cloth thumb and outer, inner-hand section for wiping sweat. Important especially if it's misty and you have a mustache. Sorry ladies, well some ladies, but that was a boy perk.


Finisher shirts
I have two black finisher shirts. One is a RNRSJ shirt which I wear often and the second I just received from yesterday's Walnut Creek Turkey Trot. It has a fat turkey on the front wearing a race bib and running shoes. Silly turkey.

There you are. That's a peek into my running closet, your black Friday is complete.

Any of you have these also in your closet? I was surprised at the lack of black running gear I have, but I guess brighter colors benefit us in the morning or at night.

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