News

Team Sweet:Cheeks finished The Relay in 27:40:40! Good enough for 33rd place! Here are my photos. We also managed to raise over $2000.00 in donations for Organs 'R' Us! Thanks everyone! Here are Tom's photos!

I ran my first marathon last Saturday and it went great! Details here.

I'm running The Relay! Yeah, that's right. 199 miles, from Calistoga to Santa Cruz. I'm not doing it alone, of course. We just started putting together the team, but it looks good so far!

Training

Currently I am training for The Relay .

I keep a training log in an excel spreadsheet. So if you are curious about how much I'm running or what my schedule is, check it out! Come run with me sometime!

Here is my training log.

I've also been using this really cool service called Bones in Motion (BiM). It consists of some software that runs on my cell phone and a web site. The software on my cell phone uses GPS to log the path of a run. When I'm done with a run it uploads the information to a website where I can look at the details of the run and then post the run to a blog. I don't use it for all of my runs, mostly just the long ones. It works pretty well, although since I mostly do trail runs I have run into the problem of losing the GPS signal. Anyways, you can check out some of the runs I do on my BiM blog.

I ran in Adidas Response Trail shoes for most of my running life. I'de been running in them since high school and love them! I tried a pair of New Balance once and immediately switched back. In my last few months of training I tried the Adidas Supernova 5 Trails and absolutely love them. I guess they are slighty more cushioned and more stable than the Response Trails. They have worked great for me so far!

I used to do my long runs with my CamelBack but a little while ago I picked up an Ultimate Direction Access 2X waist belt and it works great. It just fits a little more snug than the CamelBack did it's nice to have my shoulders unencumbered by straps while I run. I also picked up a couple of the gel flasks for the belt so that I don't have deal with Gu packages durring a run. Sounds trivial, but it's really nice!

I have been using Cytomax and Gu, the Lime and Vanilla Bean flavors, on my long runs these days. Cytomax is amazing. I noticed a huge difference the very first time I used it.

2007 Races

• Sunday - 02.25.2007 - Lake Merrit Couples Relay 5K
• Saturday - 03.03.2007 - Woodside King's Mountain Half Marathon
• Saturday - 04.14.2007 - Muir Woods Marathon
• Sat-Sun - 05.05-05.06.2007 - The Relay
• Saturday - 06.23.2007 - The Double Dipsea 14M
• Saturday - 07.21.2007 - Tahoe Rim Trail 50K
• Sunday - 10.07.2007 - Bizz Johnson Trail Marathon (Boston 2009 Qualifier)

History

I hated running when I was little. It was one of those things that other kids seemed to do naturally but I just couldn't figure it out. When I tried to run fast I felt akward goofy and probably looked even worse. Then in highschool I joined the cross country skiing team and then a season later the X-C running team to get in shape for skiing. It was terribly hard at first but I learned a great deal, mostly about how fun trail running can be. I picked up a few technical tips on stride and training, diet and the other details. I was never very competive in the races, but I ran as hard as I could and felt good about my efforts regardless of where I was in the pack. My coach was a great guy named Joe Alward. I feel like he focused more on the comraderie and fun of being on a team and the adventure of running on trails. Some of my close friends turned out to be damned good runners nonetheless. They were always nice another to let me tag along and I'm grateful for it.I ran here and there through college and when I went home to visit and then in spurts once I came out the bay area.

About 5 years ago I started training again with my buddy Tom from work and we ran the Run Through the Redwoods down by Felton. That was actually one of the first weekend dates for Ariel and I! I must have been pretty stoked to have her along because I got second in my age group! After that Tom and I decided to train for the Redwoods Marathon. That was about 4 years ago. The training went well but I ended up missing the marathon to attend a friend's wedding. I never bothered to look for another marathon to do and did really run much after that. I think I probably started climbing more seriously about that time.

After climbing pretty hard for a few years we started surfing and didn't look back. I really started running again back in October to train for a 7 mile race on Angel Island, on Ariel's suggestion. I came in third place and had a great time at! I've done a couple of other races since then, usually placing in the top 3 for my age group. Shortly before the end of last year I decided to try training for another marathon. This time it's the Muir Woods Trail Marathon. I have run about 15 miles of the course and I can honestly say it's some of the hardest and most beautiful running I've ever done. I'm really excited for the race and my training has been going great so far.

Some day I would like to do the (don't laugh) Western States 100. Maybe in 3 or 4 years if all goes well. Between now and then I'de like to keep training for trail marathons and then start doing some shorter ultras and eventually one of the easier 100 milers. I'm certainly sticking to trails as much as possible with the longer distances being my goals.

Personal Records