Sciurophobia!

For those unfamiliar with the word, sciurophobia is fear of squirrels. And yes, I had to look it up.

I used to think they were kind of cute. The furry tail, the playful running around the trees, the small hands turning a piece of food, you know... A few years back I had to remove a deceased one from my back yard and remember getting a closer look at one and it seemed just too close to a rat, so have not cared for them much since, but certainly no fear had yet started.

As I started to run in the city in the early morning, I noticed a surprisingly high number of rabbits and squirrels crossing my path. They all try to get away from you and often take the wrong turns and run in the wrong direction (forward just a few steps further on my path), so they keep freaking out in a stop and go motion.

My sciurophobia developed as I saw them try to get away from me. My active imagination came up with a scenario in which a squirrel, feeling cornered, jumps from a tree in a defensive move and starts gnawing at the carotid artery in my neck.

The thinking goes that, with my heart rate around 150 b.p.m. while running, once you make an incision on that vital artery, I'd loose all the blood in my body before I even had a chance to finish the song currently playing.

So needless to say, I no longer see squirrels the same way.

Study: Accuracy of Human GPS Capabilities

Runs4Food is proud to announce the completion of a study on the accuracy human GPS capabilities in collaboration with Minneapolis Law Enforcement. The purpose of this important research was to determine whether humans can accurately and in real-time identify an running route that will end in a specific location while at the same time reaching a predetermined mileage.

Here is how the study went... Diego Ramallo, editor in chief for Runs4Food and identified as 'subject A' in the study went for the usual 4-mile Saturday run. The original plan was to run to the electrical tower just past the Union Yard sign by the railroad tracks (exactly two miles) and back home.

At a randomly selected spot in the running route, a Minneapolis Law Enforcement official ('subject B'), is placed to force a change in the route. Specifically, this happened at mile 1.72 just passed the entrance to Union Yard. Subject B triggers the change by uttering the following words to subject A: "You can't be here. Didn't you see the Do Not Trespass sign?" Knowing that subject A is blaring music at exactly 85 beats per minute, subject B adds emphasis by making a U-turn motion with his right index finger. To guarantee compliance, subject B is equipped with a Minneapolis PD standard-issue gun.

To indicate acknowledgement, subject B lowers head, utters a simple "Sorry" and without missing a step (a running step, that is, since average speed is also important) , turns around. The experiment has been triggered!

Subject A's goal at this point is reaching the back of the Phoenix (identified in the study as 'handrail where subject A likes to stretch his legs after every run') while running exactly 4 miles. No more, no less. Success will require making additional turns and running around blocks to compensate for the portion of the planned route that could not be completed due to subject B's compelling argument.

Interested in the result? Was subject A able to reach 'handrail where subject A likes to stretch his legs after every run' at exactly 4 miles (measured to a hundredth of a mile)? Intrigued to see the route? Go to the Garmin Connect route player and click the play button.

A new visit to Chimborazo

Chimborazo is the little Ecuadorian restaurant located on 2851 Central NE. I wrote a review in this blog last August and a Chelle, a neighbor who read it back then, just happened to mention to me during a social event that she finally had a chance to go there and loved it. So that got me into thinking I had to go back.

The place is just like we remembered it. Small, colorful, warm and with great food and prices. We also learnt that they have live music on Fridays from 7 to 9 PM. Might be worth checking it out, although I suspect that the place may fill up at that time and you may not get the personalized attention you usually get (including a little chat with the chef and owner).

In addition to the Empanada de carne (savory beef turnover), that we ordered as an appetizer and that we already had the last time, we had the following:

Chupe de pescado - Tilapia sautéed with peppers, onion, and tomato. Served with rice and plantain.

Llapingachos con chorizo - Potato pancakes with rice, chorizo, eggs, and peanut sauce.

Chaulafan - Ecuadorian fried rice with pork, chicken, shrimp, and egg. This is a terrific dish somewhat reminiscent of a paella because of the diversity of proteins and the flavorful rice, but with a definite latin flavor,

If you haven't tried it just yet, don't miss an opportunity to surprise your taste buds.

Crab cakes! (with the help of Jenelle)

Who doesn't like crab cakes? Yesterday we made some great ones. And I'd like to share the recipe, but I only have part of it... See, what happened is that last Friday we had our Third Friday Happy Hour in the building. Everybody brings some wine and an appetizer to share. Jenelle brought this unbelievably good crab dip. I don't know the ingredients but given the taste it must include love, motherhood and world peace. As for the rest, I can't really say.

Lucky for me, there was some left over and Jenelle and Spencer were leaving town the next day, so I was offered to take the leftovers home. We had some of that with crackers Saturday and by Sunday, with fear that it'd go bad, I decided to make crab cakes.

So I can't take much credit for them. However to all that goodness, I added the following: egg, cilantro, some chiles that I got from Rosemary, panko breadcrumbs, a couple of slices of French bread in larger chunks, a little Worcestershire, a little Cholula sauce, salt and pepper. We then fried them in goat butter and added a some homemade mayo.

Paired with a Heineken, the result was just the perfect appetizer for an evening playing cards.

Many thanks Jenelle and Spencer!

Big Woods Run

Yesterday was the Big Woods half marathon in Fairbault, MN. A great trail run. I went there with Sharon, Mike and Anita (all the them run the 10K), and my mother, Bity, who served as the official photographer.

The run was fun. I heard from Tim (who was also running the half), that they had about 900 for the 1/2, 10K and 5K. I started right up front, so for the first mile or two, lots of people passed me.

The first few miles make for a fairly flat and quick course. That changes around mile 5 where some very interesting and steep inclines (up and down). You can see the elevation chart here.

From mile 2 to mile 10, I passed a coupe of people but saw a few pass me, but for the most part held my place, even when on mile 9 I took my eyes off the ground to look if somebody was coming close to catching me and hit a root that made me kiss the ground. I scrapped both my knees and right had, but quickly stood up and kept running. No biggie.

I am really enjoying trail runs. I feel the miles go faster because you are so focused on looking at the ground to avoid falling that tim passes faster. They are very entertaining. I also suspect that because of the shorter steps required, my speed increases. Perhaps something to try on paved road.

By mile 10 I was seriously pumped up. I felt great. I wasn't tired at all, so I picked up the pace slightly at a time when people where starting to slow down. The cool thing of running marathons is that half marathons are very short races to run. Easy to do beginning to end. at least in comparison to the full. The result was that I passed about 15 people on those last three miles. The more I passed, the better I felt and the more I targeted to pass.

crossed the finish line at 1:53:33. That is 8:40 per mile. In fact, while I have run 13.1 mile distances faster, I have never done it on a race, so this PR is the equivalent of an Olympic, but not world race. It is interesting how much I need to twist, search and rationalize to find a PR on my runs....

Dinner with Mom

My mother is visiting from Spain. Not surprisingly, she loves food just like I do, so cooking while she is here is always fun. We had a beautiful and large piece of Arctic char in the fridge that we had bought at Coastal Seafoods and was asking to get on the grill. That along with some of the last fresh corn of the season did the trick. The pan was to add a beurre blanc sauce, but after it split, it looked more like melted butter. It did the trick anyway.

The Arctic char was cooked with just olive oil, salt and pepper on the grill for just about eight minutes on the skin side only.

For the corn sauté, we used a recipe I have adopted from Fine Cooking. Cut up some nice bacon into small pieces, cook and reserve. Cook onion and garlic in the bacon grease or olive oil until they start to soften, add mushrooms (chopped) and cook until almost done. Then, add frozen peas, the corn (shucked). Right before they are done, add the bacon and some chopped chives.

For the starch, we cooked a large sweet potato in the oven until soft and served sliced with a little olive oil and kosher salt.

Here is the result... delicious!

Tokyo here I come

Last night I received confirmation indicating I was selected in the lottery to participate in the 2011 Tokyo Marathon. A privilege extended to no more than 35,000 people. Clearly a very exclusive club. Here are the first few lines of the message.

Dear Mr. Diego Ramallo

Congratulations!
You have been selected to run the 2011 Tokyo Marathon.

What's more, Sharon was also selected to run the 10K, so that pretty much seals our plans to travel to Tokyo on late February. I was sad to learn, however that my brother-in-law, Edu, was not selected. Edu, who is temporarily living in Tokyo, run a number of Marathons in his youth, some decades ago. Since I run the Madrid Marathon with his 16 year old son (his first), I though it'd be a great idea to bring back Edu from running retirement and run Tokyo together. It wasn't meant to be. He lives in Tokyo, so there is always 2012 for him :-(

The news of my selection puts me on a wining streak. I am 2-0 for recent lotteries. Just a couple of months back I was selected to run the Zoom! Yah! Yah! indoor Marathon in St Olaf College. Maybe it is time I try signing up for New York again. My attempt a few years back was met with a rejection. The tide seems to be turning my way.

Cold schedule

Next weekend is the Big Woods Run, so I decided to get a nasty cold this week in which my training scheduled called for no miles anyway. Seemed like a good opportunity. One I didn't want to miss.

With the races I have planned for this fall, I didn't want to risk being healthy through the fall. The fact that I am getting a flu shot sometime mid-October also limited my possible cold schedule. Had I waited until after the flu shot, getting a cold would have required much more effort. Really, who wants to be searching for the right strain of the virus that is not covered by this year's shot? While I am usually very successful at that, There is always risk that I may not find it this year.

Twin Cities Marathon - Race report

Last Sunday I completed my 10th marathon (4th run of Twin Cities). Weather was nearly perfect. A cool 39 at the start and about 55 at the end. At least that was the forecast on race day. I definitely think it felt a tad warmer. Perhaps the absence of clouds and the bright sun made it feel that way. In any case, a good run.

As much as I like running marathons, I've never been crazy about seeing every mile marker. On my training runs, I like to look at my Garmin 405 to find out I have completed another 3 or 4 miles since I last checked. That doesn't happen on a race when every mile is shown with a colorful sign. Still this time, at least for the first 15 miles, I kept being surprised every time I saw another mile. As in... "Another mile already? I just passed the last one!"

Seeing Tim cheering me on at mile 11 was a pleasant and unexpected surprise (that sounds redundant, aren't surprises by definition unexpected?). I nearly missed him in my usual run-looking-at-my-feet mode while listening to my iPod. Fortunately he shouted y name so that made me look up. That made me wonder how many times he might have called my name on earlier miles but I didn't see him... :-)

Miles 15 to 20 were also good and easy, but I definitely was starting to feel exhaustion coming up. I did feel great all the way to mile 20, I just got the feeling at some point that wasn't going to be the feeling for the entire race. At mile 19.5 (Franklin bridge) I got a nice boost from my wife Sharon, my mother Bity and our good friend Patty Mayonnaise. I sort of caught them by surprise as I don't think they were expecting me that soon. By that point, I had averaged 8:54 per mile.

About 3/4 of a mile later I saw Tim again. I think he was alone. Was he there for me? Do I have a fan? Perhaps a stocker? Either way, it helped me keep going a little longer. :-)

Not much later, I took my first walking step of the run. The big long hill before getting to Summit was just a tad much after 21 miles. I might have even walked before mile 21. Can't remember.

This brings me to something I thought while running. Every long distance runner and multi-marathoner has experienced runner's amnesia. This is a well documented and discussed phenomenon by which at the end of the race or shortly after, you forget about the pain and exhaustion you felt while running. You forget you swore this would be the last marathon ever. You forget the pact you made with yourself that if you finish this one, that will be it. You even forget having rationalized the number or marathons run by whatever your age and forget being satisfied with such a significant accomplishment that does not requires repeating any more.

I wonder if those who run a marathon and never repeat the feat do not experience runner's amnesia and that is what keeps them from running another one. Is there a Runner's Amnesia gene they lack?

But that is not what I was thinking. What came to mind was not the documented phenomenon of runner's amnesia, but the far less discussed and pretty instantaneous recovery from the amnesia that takes place around mile 20 of your next run. As in "That's right! I said I was not going to run any more, and this is why!" You remember not only your last miserable run, but every miserable run you've had and think: "How could I have forgotten?" That recovery last a from mile 20 to about mile 25, at which point you feel this is about over and endorphins kick in and the new wave of amnesia starts to slowly settle in your mind like a dense and quickly moving fog.

By the time I hit mile 25, I was tired and knew would not be breaking 4 hours again (not that I had expected it, I was aiming to 4:15 or 4:20 to enjoy the run). I didn't want ti walk any more, so I had an idea. Change the playlist on my iPod to Sharon's running list. I usually don't like it because the list os too short, but she has some kick-ass songs. I immediately started skipping songs to find one that would take me to the end. About the third song in the list did it. Eric Clapton's San Francisco Bay Blues from Unplugged did the trick.

As I calculated, I had about a mile left and the song must be four or five minutes long. If I listen to it twice while running and didn't stop to walk, I'd be at the finish before the second playing ended. That worked beautifully. Not only I run until the end, I was flying. I was singing out loud. I was smiling. I was truly enjoying those last 8 or 8 1/2 minutes were awesome! Here is a picture the organizers took by the Cathedral almost at the end.

The mile 26 market and the finish line really took me by surprise. Was I finished already? I passed Sharon, Bity and Patty while singing out loud and finished in 4:07:18 (chip time). Or about 9:26 per mile on average. As I said, a good run.

AWESOME wine party the day before TCM :-(

Just as last year, Mike and Anita scheduled their very awesome wine party the day before the Twin Cities Marathon. That means I will have to enjoy the company and the food (mostly whatever has high carbs) and perhaps a single glass of wine while I hydrate with lots of water... :-(

Here is a picture of the winning bottle, from our good friend Patty Mayonnaise.