Running Thankful

A year ago, I was nearly through my first month of almost 200 miles/month of running. November 2010 was the first of many high mileage injury-free months. This year, I'm dealing with some tendonitis in my foot that won't allow me to run on back-to-back days. It's my first injury in over a year and like all injuries, it's annoying. But even so, I come into this holiday (my favorite holiday, actually) thankful for the year of running I've had.

* This year I ran races of distances I never did before: my first 10 miler, my first 16.3 trail mile race and my first 50 miler.

* This year I PR'd at both the 5k and marathon distance.

* This year I enjoyed AG awards in 10 of my 12 races, plus 2 races where I was top 3 overall. This included my first 2 trail race awards and my first ultra award. The only 2 races I didn't win an AG award at were both of my marathons, which gives me a nice goal to continue to chase.

* This year I qualified for the Boston Marathon. I've chased this goal for a handful of years and the 5th time was finally the charm. I should also point out I'm thankful for my coach who helped me make it after I declared after my 3rd marathon that I was giving up on that goal.

* Of course I did all of this inspired by my teammates on Team Type 1, who have been even more amazing than I imagined. Next year's squad includes some names I know will make incredible contributions, too.

The smart thing to do with any injury is to allow yourself the ability to heal completely, but I'm not doing that quite yet. Team Type 1 is gathering for one more event - the Holualoa Tucson Marathon - on December 11. (Speaking of thankful, this will also be my first trip to Arizona!)

Until then, I'm doing a lot of cross training, and running 3-4 days per week and hoping that gives me a decent performance in Tucson. But after that, it looks like my next focus race will be the Boston Marathon, which gives me the opportunity to take a few weeks off and let my foot heal completely. I'm thankful for that, too. My 2011 race calendar was aggressive and I need to stop running fast for a little while, so that's the plan.

And even if Tucson doesn't work out in a great race, I've got nothing to complain about. Running-wise, this year has had way more ups than downs. I'm looking forward to being healthy and fast again, but for now, thankful will have to do and I'm ok with that.

From Team Type 1 SANOFI's Run Across America - Night Shift

Night Shift by Marcus Grimm

“We saw what you wrote about us,” Team Type 1 SANOFI runner Eric Tozer said to me, in a way that made it clear that he and his night-shift teammates, Jon Obst and Ryan Jones, were not entirely pleased with one of my earlier dispatches.

The fact that Tozer would voice his displeasure at all meant something in and of itself. If you were to make a list of the most easy-going members of the team, you’d be hard pressed to top the youngster from Sacramento.

Tozer’s complaint was in regards to my first story about the team’s new strategy nearly a week ago. I had written then that the plan for the night-time crew was to run slower and to cover fifty miles per night. In my defense, that was the plan. But as we all have come to learn, many things in the Run Across America didn’t go according to plan and one of those was the success of the night crew, which somehow managed to run similar paces as the day crew, despite limited visibility and fewer than half the number of runners.

“I think our shortest night has been about sixty-five miles, and most have been around seventy-five,” said Ryan Jones. I asked the night crew why the plan had been for them to run slower and why they hadn’t.

“Some of the guys don’t like running at night as much,” Tozer speculated. “So early on, I think a lot of our night running was slower. Truth is, I think some guys got weirded out by some dogs early on and other strange sounds. Me, I don’t know… I think it’s kind of cool. I don’t know if I thought that when we started, but I think it now. “

“The first few hours, when the cars are whizzing by are a little tough,” added Jon Obst. “But then it gets real quiet. The cars are very few and it’s just beautiful.”

Though the squads share a common mealtime and are more united than the two shifts earlier in the trip, make no mistake; the night shift thinks of themselves as being a little different from their day-time counterparts.

“We’ve got this thing,” Jones said, with a twinkle in his eye. “Wherever Dave (crew manager Dave Eldridge) tells us to stop, we go further. Some nights it’s ten or twelve miles further. One night it was only one. But we like to have them wake up and be surprised where we are.”

Looking at the night-time crew, haggard, thin and yet brimming with energy as they waited for the day-shift to drop off the van, I couldn’t help but ask Tozer how things would be for him in just a few days, when he was forced to reprogram his sleeping schedule for the third time in two weeks.

“It’s going to be a little strange,” he admitted. “I’m probably going to be a mess. I could see my wife hating me for a few days.”

And if Tozer couldn’t have been more right when we first started talking, it wasn’t lost on me that he was probably entirely wrong now.

From Team Type 1 SANOFI's Run Across America: The Importance of Team

The Importance of Team by Marcus Grimm

Run across the country for two weeks and you figure, a man could change. Things that maybe seemed impossible before might be entirely possible now.

In conversations I’d had with Matt Patrick, who won a 100k (62.5 mile) race earlier this year, he’d often told me that he thought guys like Jon Obst and Ryan Jones, who compete regularly at 100 miles, were crazy. That there was “no way” he’d do something like that.

And so it seemed like a logical question to ask him how he felt about such races now; now that he alone has traveled nearly 300 miles in two weeks, on slight sleep, through mountains, snow, ice and rain. Truth be told, the writer in me was looking for a story about a man being transformed.

“After a couple days of doing this, I was sore,” reflected Patrick. “But strangely, the soreness went away. Your body adapts and things don’t always get worse. So, physically, I think, ‘Yeah, probably my body could do that.’”

“But then again,” he said, “I really feel like so much of my energy is coming from these guys around me. It’s impossible to not be motivated by every one of them, and I’m not sure I could do one of those races without that sort of inspiration around me.”

“So yeah, if they were with me, I think I could do it.” Patrick scanned the RV, looking at his exhausted teammates, icing injuries and desperately trying to replace thousands of calories of lost nutrition. “But good luck convincing them.”

Somehow one gets the feeling it wouldn’t be that hard to do.

From Team Type 1 SANOFI's Run Across America: Whatever it Takes

Whatever it Takes by Marcus Grimm

As Team Type 1 SANOFI heads into less than one thousand miles to go in their amazing run across America, the excitement of their new strategy coupled with some solid sleep has the runners moving at a more rapid pace than on any stretch of their journey so far.

Utilizing their new plan of seven men running fast pulls during the day, and three men running slower miles through the night, spectators in Illinois were surely to be disappointed if they weren’t paying attention, as the team crossed the entire state in a mere twenty-four hours.

“We’re in a totally different place now,” said Kevin Powell, “There’s chatter in the van, again, and all kinds of excitement.”

But recent calculations determined the team still was behind their goal of the East Coast by Sunday, so the men have ratcheted up the logistics of the journey. Now, the van drops a single runner off, moves another mile and then does the same and repeats the process until six runners have been dropped off. Just as quickly, it circles back and picks up each runner at the conclusion of their respective miles. If they do it well, and after a full day of practice, they are doing it very well, they can cover six miles in the time it previously took them to do three.

“Logistically, it’s crazy,” said Powell, whose bum knee relegated him to spending most of the day behind the wheel, assigned to the unenviable task of driving the van and managing who got out when and, as important, when they got picked up. “But we’re making up time and that’s what it’s all about now.”

The day-time crew also found themselves energized by their three teammates on the overnight crew, who passed their own fifty mile goal and decided to keep going.

“Unbelievable,” said Powell. “This whole trip has been about just missing our goals, just missing our marks, and these guys blow right through the stop sign and pile on fifteen extra miles. Epic, completely epic.”

The same can certainly be said for the entire team, putting more and more of the country in their rear-view mirror with each passing minute.

From Team Type 1 SANOFI's Run Across America: Happy Birthday, Ingrid

Happy Birthday, Ingrid written and edited by Tom Grossman & Marcus Grimm

Tom Grossman had felt many things since the start of the Run Across America a week ago; highs and lows, both in spirit and in blood sugar, as well as fatigue and energy. But what he hadn't felt until today was the realization that he was simultaneously exactly where he should be at the same time it seemed he was precisely furthest away from where he wished he was.

Grossman, like all on Team Type 1 SANOFI, understand the importance of what they're attempting here, to revise the public understanding of diabetes, so that they can better encourage those that live with it it. As someone whom has lived with diabetes for nearly three decades, Grossman is particularly qualified to understand the misconceptions diabetics are prone to receiving from those around them.

But there on Highway 56 in Kansas, Grossman felt his mind drifting, as it did often, to his home and family in Midland, Michigan. He thought of his dear wife, Jennifer, his son, Tommy and daughters, Gretl, Liesl and Ingrid. Truth be told, today he thought the most of Ingrid, celebrating her eighth birthday while her father pounded the asphalt on a windy Kansas highway that couldn't care less about his cause. Still, Grossman was steadfast in his purpose.

"Ingrid turns eight today," he reflected. "The same age I was when I got diabetes. Seeing her at the age I was when I was diagnosed drives home the importance of our mission; how much it matters and what we're trying to do."

For Grossman, the choice was made and the sacrifice of time followed, but not without love. In Midland, Michigan, Ingrid Grossman received a bouquet of flowers addressed to the birthday girl, sent from a loving father, still more than a thousand miles away from seeing his children, but getting closer every day.

From Team Type 1 SANOFI's Run Across America: Aretaeus Returns

Aretaeus Returns by Marcus Grimm

Most people are unfamiliar with Aretaeus and the place he holds in medical history. A disciple of Hippocrates in ancient Greek, he was the first to name “diabetes,” based on the Greek word “to siphon,” emphasizing the symptoms of excessive thirst and frequent urination common when the blood sugar is high.

Aretaeus referred to this, mostly incorrect, “as a melting down of flesh and limbs into urine.” And despite the fact that Team Type 1 SANOFI is made up of a group of remarkably well-controlled diabetics, it’s possible that Aretaeus might feel otherwise had he come upon them, running their way across the windy plains of Kansas.

The group, fit and trim when they started the journey a week ago, are thinner to a man. Their lives are as simple as could be, consisting only of running, eating, sleeping and managing the mathematics of a disease that demands you know how these factors will affect your blood sugar at all times. And make no mistake – simple and easy are unrelated perhaps more often than they are. The runners are balancing all of these factors on little sleep, and without the benefit of the comforts of home.

To succeed, the excesses of their lives have been stripped away. Phone calls home are necessary, but their fatigue necessitates, too, that they are brief. Meals are consumed with passion, but quickly, so that there is more time to sleep. Everything has changed for them. Everything, that is, except the running and the diabetes, the two unrelenting factors in their lives right now, that refuse to let up.

From Team Type 1 SANOFI's Run Across America: Going to the Dogs

Going to the Dogs by Marcus Grimm

As Team Type 1 SANOFI said goodbye to New Mexico and hello to Oklahoma today, it's fair to say the runners are hoping for slightly different types of homeowners.

Matt Patrick said, "I hate  to generalize, but it really seems as if a lot of people in New Mexico have dogs, and many of those dogs are of the loud, scary variety."

The threat of defensive canines was no more prevalent than at night. Said Kevin Powell, "It was so dark, you'd hear them before you saw them; just a frantic barking coming out of the night."

When the runners could spot the dogs in advance, they adapted a sneak tactic, having the vans pull up beside them and drive slow. When the canines caught on to them first and seemed intent on dining upon diabetic runners, the members of Team Type 1 SANOFI would be forced to dig deep for a fast twitch muscle response and dive into the van.

By the third night through New Mexico, however, the decision was made to purchase a spot light so that a non-running crew member could hopefully detect the dogs prior to the runner surprising them. The team hoped that would create enough of a buffer to protect them from a serious altercation.

"There's no question that the dogs are probably the scariest thing we've faced so far," said Casey Boren, "but they're just being protective of their property. They're simply doing their jobs."

The same could be said of the runners,  just hours away from reaching the one week mark of their incredible journey.

From Team Type1 SANOFI's Run Across America: Snowbound

Slippery Situations by Marcus Grimm

Of the many hazards faced by Team Type 1 SANOFI thus far on the Run Across America (and to be clear, there have been many), one of the obstacles they haven’t had to face was the weather. Until today, the runners had enjoyed remarkably clear weather, with sunshine during the days and bright stars at night.

This all came to a close shortly past three AM this morning as Van A traveled from Taos, New Mexico toward their final destination of Eagle Nest.

As the runners crawled higher toward nearly two miles of elevation, a flash blizzard came upon the crew. For the runners, the road became slippery, yet passable. But for the vans, equipped for conditions in California, where they were first rented, the situation turned much worse.

The van struggled to make it up the high ascents, as did many of the vehicles around it. The situation went from bad to worse as a semi-truck in front of them began to slide backwards and sideways, both toward a steep ravine and toward their own van.

The van found itself in a precarious situation, trying to avoid the semi sliding backward while keeping contact with their runner, still negotiating his way toward the summit. Eventually, the semi stopped, mere inches from the van carrying the four others members of Van A’s crew.

Tom Grossman called it, “A harrowing experience for everyone,” saying, “The weather has been a blessing for us until now, aside from the very cold nights. But we’ve come to realize that the weather conditions can deteriorate particularly quickly in these steep elevations. It’s something we’ll have to keep a special watch out for over the next several days.”

To counter the low visibility in bad weather, the team has taken to wearing the same gear during bad weather that they’ve used at night, courtesy of RoadID. Products from RoadID’s Firefly line provide the runners with illumination and reflection to guard against vehicles on the highway. Team Type 1 SANOFI runner Jon Obst says, “We’re concerned with so much right now that the RoadID products offer a great level of protection, so that we can be less concerned about the vehicles on the road.”

Team Type 1 is made up of 100 of some of the finest professional and diabetic athletes in the world. Their mission is to promote wellness and achievement among diabetics worldwide. The Run Across America, a journey of more 3,000 miles, culminates on November 14, World Diabetes Day, in New York City. 

From Team Type 1 SANOFI's Run Across America: Setbacks and Recoveries

Setbacks and Recoveries by Marcus Grimm

Cuba – New Mexico –

For Team Type 1 SANOFI runner Brian Foster, it seemed like the Run Across America was over almost as soon as it began. Foster, of East Amherst, New York was navigating a construction-strewn shoulder of a road on the first night of Run Across America when he rolled his ankle. Pain shot through the joint immediately and Foster had to pull over, forcing teammate Matt Patrick to take over early.

At the time, Foster thought he’d be back to action in time for his next run in the rotation. He hobbled a few more steps, expecting the pain to subside, but it didn’t. And very quickly he realized that with only four miles done of the three hundred he expected to run during the next two weeks, he incredibly might be finished.

Worse, Foster’s injury meant that the runners in Van A were pressed into twenty percent more mileage, and twenty percent fewer recovery breaks. They accepted their fate easily. For Foster, it was much harder.

“For several hours, I sat in the back of the van, sweatshirt pulled over my head. I was upset; upset for myself, upset for the team; just upset.”

A small relief came when Van A met Van B for the relay pass and Foster was attended to by Chris Zenker, who in addition to being a diabetic distance runner happens to be a podiatrist. If there were anyone who could understand the situation, it was Zenker, and the prognosis was good.

“No broken bones and no broken tendons, which kind of surprised me,” he said, “But it meant that when Brian could bear the pain, he could return to action.”

The pain was intense, however, and Foster attacked his recovery with a vengeance while his teammates attacked the asphalt. Icing, elevation, and ibuprofen every few hours. For Tom Grossman, Foster’s setback seemed familiar to him.

“It kind of reminded me of how we all come to deal with diabetes. First, there’s shock and more than a little anger. Then, we find all kinds of support in our loved ones. And finally, we realize that we hold the fate to getting better, so we do.”

And yesterday, after more than two days without running a mile, Foster returned to action for Van A, completing every one of his scheduled pulls. The injury isn’t gone, and Foster attends to the ankle by wrapping it before every leg and icing it whenever possible. But he’s back, and thrilled to be so.

“It feels wonderful,” he said. “Not my ankle. It still feels awful, but it’s getting better, and I’m so glad to be able to contribute the way I wanted to.”

Team Type 1 is made up of 100 of some of the finest professional and diabetic athletes in the world. Their mission is to promote wellness and achievement among diabetics worldwide. The Run Across America, a journey of more 3,000 miles, culminates on November 14, World Diabetes Day, in New York City. 

8:15 Miles - From Team Type 1 SANOFI's Run Across America

8:15 Miles by Marcus Grimm

The Run Across America itinerary is based on Team Type 1 SANOFI running 8:15 miles.

How fast that sounds, of course, is relative. To the men on Team Type 1, an 8:15 mile – or a few of them strung together – is not particularly fast. In fact, most of their marathon times are faster than that per mile.

But don’t kid yourself; 8:15 isn’t exactly slow. Go to any local 5k in your neighborhood, pay the twenty bucks, toe the line and knock the race out in about 25:30. In most cases, that time will put you in the top third of the field, and depending on your age group, you may even come home with a magnet or ribbon for placing in the top 3. Now realize this: the pace you just ran is equal to what the members of Team Type 1 SANOFI are averaging for their entire run across the country.

Not that they’ve been able to knock out even efforts so far. At this point, in Arizona, more than seven thousand feet above sea level, they’ve climbed a lot of hills. In Van A, Matt Patrick jokes that Tom Grossman has been lucky enough to have taken most of his pulls on the uphills while Patrick has benefitted from more than his share of the descents, which he’s taken at more or less his own 5k pace. For reference, that’s about 5:30 per mile, while Grossman has chipped away at the grotesque uphills at a much slower pace. Still, when you average it altogether, Van A seems to be holding up their end of the 8:15 bargain.

Speed is one of the advantage claims of Newton, the upstart running shoe company out of Colorado that sponsors Team Type 1 SANOFI. Many of the runners on Team Type 1 SANOFI believe there’s more than marketing behind this claim.

“The shoes really make you feel fast,” says Jon Obst. Obst has been pounding out many of his miles in the Distancia, one of Newton lighter models, primarily designed for speedwork or shorter races. Then again, for Obst, used to one hundred mile races, the Run Across America is somewhat like speedwork.

Meanwhile Matt Patrick has been chewing up his miles, downhill and otherwise, in the Newton Gravitas and is very impressed with their performance. The shoes encourage a mid-foot strike that Patrick loves. Heel striking, he knows, can be the equivalent of tapping the brakes and with millions of footfalls from California to New York, nobody has any interest in hitting the brakes on this trip.

The secret of the Newton shoes are the lugs, a raised platform in the forefoot of the shoe, that helps to roll the foot forward, creating a fulcrum-like effect that propels the runners forward.  Eric Tozer is taking pictures of the lugs as the journey progresses.

“These shoes are incredibly durable,” he says, “But I’m eager to see how they change by the time we get to New York.”

Curiously, we could all probably say the same about the runners, who are merely one-quarter into their epic journey at this point.

Team Type 1 is made up of 100 of some of the finest professional and diabetic athletes in the world. Their mission is to promote wellness and achievement among diabetics worldwide. The Run Across America, a journey of more 3,000 miles, culminates on November 14, World Diabetes Day, in New York City.