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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Last Chance to Order

First off, I want to thank all of you for putting up with my tweets and Facebook posts about these shirts. I've had a lot of orders, which is fantastic. To be honest, I'm just real excited about making running shirts. I'm a graphic and web designer, so excuse the inner nerd.

Note: If you would like a cotton version, please let me know. They are not available on the store, but I can order you one for $15 (regular or v-neck).

Online store: http://pavementrunner.bigcartel.com/

Because I'm ordering these in bulk it benefits me to obviously have more orders, hence the frequent promotion. If I can get 20+ orders, then I should be able to keep the cost around $20 each. Not bad.

If you are wondering, they are costing me about $17 each, so I'm not in this for the profit, but for the thrill of making something for me (and us) to run in.

For future shirts, here is my plan:

• I'll design a unique running shirt every 2-3 months
• I'll take pre-orders during that time frame to (hopefully) get a decent quantity, keeping the price low.
• If I can consistently get 20+ orders, then I can afford to do this. If it looks like the demand is low, then the order might be cancelled and refunds issued.
• Luckily with these two, we came pretty close to what we needed. I'm also giving some out to friends as Xmas presents (and maybe a couple runner bloggers out there).

This seems to be the easiest way to help help keep the cost down and allow me to make one giant order and distribute after. If we had to print one at a time when ordered, these would be $30 shirts, and that ain't gonna happen.

That also means, this is your last chance to get these two designs. I'll end the sale Wednesday (11/23) morning, so I'll only print what has been ordered. It takes 2 weeks to print, which gives me a week to ship them to you, arriving just in time for the holidays.

Thanks again and I'll definitely plan on posting some photos of you awesome runners rocking the shirts. Thanks again.

Here is the link to go shopping: http://pavementrunner.bigcartel.com/

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Pavement Runner Shirts

What do runner's need? Running shirts, of course. As if your closet wasn't full enough with finisher shirts and training shirts, here is another one to add.

http://pavementrunner.bigcartel.com/

I've designed a couple shirts that runners, more specifically, twitter users will enjoy. They use hashtags which are common in twitter-verse.

Definition: The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages.

As runners, we use several hashtags daily on twitter, so why not use one on our shirts? "Runner." It says so much about who we are and what we do. We have our own community and speak our own language. How many times are we introduced using that noun. "This is Brian, he's a runner." Which usually results in a conversation about how crazy we are. Guilty as charged.

So here are my two shirt designs and my store. Click here. It currently just has the 2 shirts in men's and women's sizes, and in black, red and navy with white lettering.

The shirts can be ordered and paid for, but will not be shipped until early December, just in time to arrive at your house for the holidays. Since this is a new venture for me, I'm gauging the feedback for the next month. I anticipate taking orders for 30 days at a time initially and shipping all shirts once a month. More designs to come later. The shirts will be printed by Custom Ink which is the same company I used to print our relay shirts the past two times. They make a great product that lasts and their customer service is second to none.

And #running …a long-distance relationship — how cool is that?

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at pavementrunner@gmail.com

Enjoy, feedback greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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