Recharging Old Batteries

In the mid 80s, when rechargeable batteries first started to hit the market, they were a young piece of technology. Sure, theoretically they were better than a standard one-off battery in that they had the potential to last over and over and over, instead of just one use. The problem however, was that after each time you charged them, you got a little bit less life out of them during their next use, before they were simply zapped. Charging and after charging, eventually the batteries simply couldn't be recharged and you just threw them away.

My legs feel like 80s rechargeable batteries.

The race in Seattle got me pretty good. I was covered in salt, completely dehydrated, under-caloried, and utterly exhausted from cross-country flights and insufferable 7-hour drives in my rental compact (I have attached a pic for your viewing. No offense to those of you who own this model, but at 6'2 and change, it made the 7-hour bumper to bumper trek from Eugene, OR to Seattle absolutely miserable.) Even still, you can look for factors that contributed to your struggle, but you can't point a finger of blame. There's a big difference in the two and I've never been one to make excuses. That said, I got off my red-eye flight  back to DC (with legs and ankles that had swollen like stovepipes following the all-night flight) and I made a promise to myself as I limped to my spot in thelong-term parking garage: I would not hurt this badly again as a result of poor preparation. 

So I set out to train smarter, recover better, hydrate more efficiently, and get my head in the right mindset going into a very challenging San Francisco marathon, which was then less than a month away. As I write this--while waiting for call-backs from physicians with whom I'm scheduling some surgeries for three DLE client-athletes--I am now 16 days away from the marathon. Despite a disciplined protocol and sensible recovery/training plan following Seattle and leading up to San Francisco, my legs are much like the 80s batteries that just reached a point, where after multiple uses, they simply couldn't be charged anymore. Sure, you could plug them in and let them sit there, but there just wasn't any juice left. 

Let me be clear: this is neither a white-flag waiving concession nor is it intended to read as a litany of excuses. To the contrary, this is what I like to call 'white knuckle honesty.' Yeah, the kind that is so raw, that it just makes you flinch. The truth of the matter is that everything hurts right now. I'm sore. I'm tired. I'm not recovering...and now, I'm heading into the most brutally hilly city in the United States to do my seventh marathon in a ten-race campaign. 

So tomorrow morning, I'll get up early and do the last long run before the SF race. It'll be a hilly 14-mile run at race pace, from Ballston to Georgetown, around and through Rock Creek Park, flat along the C+O Canal, before crossing back over the Key Bridge into Virginia and beginning a 3-mile steep climb from the Potomac River back up to Ballston. 

Am I looking forward to it? Absolutely not. 

But I didn't sign up to host a polo match on the National Mall or host a celebrity golf tournament at a regional country club. I chose the most brutal, medieval format I could possibly envision as a means of dedicating myself to our nation's wounded young soldiers. I did so deliberately and I did so with eyes wide open. 

I do so willingly and count myself fortunate to have the opportunity to do so--both as an able-bodied man of good health and as an American citizen who lives in a country that would provide the freedom and liberties for such a platform to be successful. 

More than that, I do so because I believe that every one of those young servicemen and women that come thru Walter Reed Army Hospital, would do the same thing for me. One step, one race and one finish line at a time. 

Doug Eldridge

President

DLE Sports

PRESS: Seattle Times article on the 10-12-100 Campaign

A special thank you to Steve Kelley, who wrote a brilliant piece on the 10-12-100 Campaign which ran on the front page of yesterday's Seattle Times Sports section. You can read the feature, below:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/stevekelley/2009380374_kelley25.html

We had a phone interview earlier this week and I must say, Mr. Kelley was as informed and engaged as he was enthusiastic and supportive. I appreciate his willingness to so eloquently cover our campaign, as it will help us reach a whole new group of potential supporters in the greater Seattle area. 

I hope you guys enjoy the piece. There will be more media updates to follow later today. I'll try to make a posting when I get back to my hotel in Seattle, sometime around 2300hrs PST.

Doug Eldridge

President

DLE Sports

Seattle Marathon: 24 hours away

It's 0636hrs local time, as I type this from my hotel room at the Valley River Inn, in Eugene, Oregon. I'm here today for the USA Track & Field (USATF) Agent Conference, which coincides with the USATF national championships at the beautiful and historic Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon. 

Aptly titled "Tracktown USA" Eugene is home to the most rabid, devoted and knowledgeable T+F fans in the entire country. It is also the home of running legend Steve 'Pre' Prefontaine as well as the genesis of a small sporting goods company whose first R+D concept involved strips of rubber and a kitchen waffle iron and whose marketing and distribution plan consisted of selling new "waffle" pattern, rubber-sole sneakers out of the back of a beat-up two-door car. That company is now called Nike, or victory in Greek. 

It's rather poignant that a company founded on the dying utterance of Philippides, in 490 B.C. spawned generations of running and competition, founded a global athletic giant, spawned the first DLE clients, and in many ways are the reason that I'm here for today's conference and then traveling back to Seattle tonight, for tomorrow morning's Seattle Marathon: running, or more poignantly, running as the ultimate metaphor for dedication, pain, determination and accomplishment. 

As the story goes:

In 490 B.C. an army from Persia landed on the plain of Marathon, about twenty-five miles from Athens, with the intention of capturing and enslaving that city. The Athenians prepared for a battle that would determine the course of history for centuries to come. A victory for the powerful Persian Empire could destroy the independence of the Greek city-states and effectively end Greek civilization and culture.

While the massive Persian army landed, the Athenians sent a messenger named Philippides (his name was corrupted in later texts to Pheidippides) to Sparta to enlist the aid of the Spartans in the upcoming battle. He covered the distance of about 150 miles in less than two days, a remarkable accomplishment by any standard.

Back at Marathon, however, the decision was made not to wait for the Spartans. The Athenian army fell upon the vastly larger Persian forces while they were still preparing for battle. Against great odds, the Greeks prevailed. Though historians writing close to the time of the battle make no mention of the event, writers some 600 years later claim that a runner was dispatched to Athens to carry the news of the great victory. According to legend he reached the city, said, "Rejoice, we conquer," and fell to the ground dead. 

see: http://www.marathonguide.com/history/olympicmarathons/prologue.cfm

It is that sense of mission, duty, and fortitude that the marathon evokes, which in many ways is the nexus between this 10-12-100 Campaign and the young, wounded soldier we are trying to aid by this effort. 

And so after today's conference, I'll head back to Seattle and get a few, quick hours of sleep before getting up at 0330PST to begin preparation for my sixth marathon in this ten-race campaign. 

Yesterday, I sat down with Dan Cruz, PR Director for the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series, and we discussed the brutal profile for the back half of this course and the unfortunate last-minute pull-out of marathon legend Paul Tergat, of Kenya. Dan said that based on the difficulty (read: hilliness) of this course, consistent conservative estimates are adding anywhere from 4-6 minutes onto someone's average personal best. Given my aforementioned lack of 'real' training since Cincinnati, that doesn't sound good. My plan, however, is just to tuck into my pace group (yes, there will be one for this race), keep my head down, my arms pumping, and just hang on. Any way you spin it, this is going to be painful day. 

It's 46 degrees outside this morning, but the sunrise over the rolling valleys and pines of the pacific northwest was gorgeous. With that, I must return to some client emails and then I'd better get showered and suited for today's busy agenda. Thanks for all your emails, texts, and facebook messages of support. It means a lot.

More later. 

Doug Eldridge

President

DLE Sports

Race Preview: Avoiding the Swine Flu along the way to the Flying Pig

My flight departs on Saturday at 0600hrs for Cincinnati and the Flying Pig Marathon. 

This will be the fifth marathon since I kicked off the 10-12-100 Campaign on January 25 with the ING Miami Marathon. Moreover, it will be the much anticipated midway point of my ten marathon effort. As I sit at my desk, taking a break between client call-backs, I started scanning the weather and the local news. The forecast on Sunday calls for 60 and rain, while the news is dominated by reports of Swine Flu breaking out across the nation.

It's ironic that I'm heading to the Flying Pig Marathon on a weekend when the rest of the country is wearing sterile surgical masks out of fear of exposure to a potentially airborne epidemic that's been dubbed the Swine Flu. According to a front page article in today's Washington Post, the Swine Flue started in Mexico earlier this month and has since spread across the country in random patterns, as well as several countries in Western Europe. 

The flu's spread has become increasingly rapid, prompting some to warn of potential epidemic status, and has even caused Alabama state high school officials to join Texas officials in canceling all high school athletic contests. (check out the article  on ESPN at: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=4116671). Stranger still, is the fact that all of the scheduled soccer matches to be played in Mexico this weekend will be played, but will be done in empty stadiums without any fans, due to concerns about spreading the illness.

Speaking of swine...the Flying Pig Marathon seems to be a GO at this point. I'm looking forward to making the trip, as this will not only be my first time participating in the marathon, but it's also my first trip to the city itself and a rare chance to spend some time with my cousin, Chris. After speaking to race officials last week, the course will certainly be a challenging one, as miles 5-9 provide a solid four-mile uphill climb. As usual, I plan to drive the course with Chris on Saturday afternoon, so I can get a better idea of what it looks like. 

The other night I was laying out my race shoes, singlet, Fuel Belt, etc. and I was getting organized, I started wondering why this marathon is called The Flying Pig, so I did a little research about both the city and the race and here is what I learned:

-Cincinnati was the first major pork town in the United States. What Chicago was to cattle and slaughterhouses, Cincinnati was to swine.

-1818: the first slaughterhouse was opened in Cincinnati

-1829: because of its ease of accessibility by river, the city quickly becomes the (then) meat packing capital of the country, earning it the nickname "Porkopolis" (I'm not kidding)

-1861: the Civil War creates an increased demand for the production and circulation of meat, so Chicago seizes upon this opportunity and in so doing, gradually displaces Cincinnati as the meatpacking capital of the U.S.

-1909: the first pig flies. Literally. Apparently, Lord Barbozon--who was the first pilot to have a license to operate a bi-plane in the UK--took a pig up for a 3.5mile ride in his bi-plane over the city of Cincinnati. It is rumored that the pig was wearing a sign that said "I am the first pig to fly" (Seriously, I'm not making this up.)

...fast forward about 100 years

-1998: the Cincinnati "Flying Pig" Marathon is started

-2008: in its 10th Anniversary, the marathon has entrants from all 50 states

From the looks of it, 2009 will be a banner year for "The Pig" as it's commonly referred to in "the 'Nati" and I'm certainly glad to be a part of it. I'll be sure to post another entry before the race on Sunday morning and as always, I'll provide a post-race report as well. Additionally, due to broad demand, I will provide the following:

-updated information on the website (www.dlesports.com) about the easiest way to donate

-more race pictures 

-training diaries

-more frequent blog entries

-dedicated media section to more readily follow the coverage this campaign is generating

-the opportunity to order 10-12-100 t-shirts (with all proceeds going to the WWP)

As always, you can contact me directly with comments, questions and suggestions:

douglas@dlesports.com

I really appreciate the outpouring of support thus far, and I'm going to need it even more over the remaining eight months of '09 as we drive hard toward our goal of raising $100,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project. With your help, the 10-12-100 will be an overwhelming success!

Onward to The Pig!

Doug Eldridge

President

DLE Sports