San Francisco: 2 hours away

I didn't sleep well last night. I tossed and turned thinking about clients I still need to place for the upcoming football season. I got up a couple times, sent emails, made notes for follow-up calls this afternoon (yes, I make calls on Sundays) and generally jotted down some reminders for myself and a timeline for their completion later this week. If there's one thing  that my clients never worried about when I told them about this campaign, it's that the level of service and representation would diminish in any way. If anything, it's only increased. 

At any rate, the San Francisco Marathon is now just under two hours away. Right now it's 53 degrees outside with low lying clouds, incredible moister and if the sun were up, it would reveal that the City by the Bay is undoubtedly covered with fog. Looking at the hourly breakdown, it's not supposed to get above 60 degrees during the entire marathon. Though that sounds chilly to many people, for a bigger guy like me, that's ideal. 

Ever the data nerd I keep pretty detailed training and racing logs, to try and take the guessing game out of both good and bad performances. I account for variables such as sleep, fatigue, body weight, temperature and humidity, terrain, intensity and duration of workout, extrinsic work-related stress, etc. Point being, I've determined that despite diligent hydration in the days leading up to the marathon--and despite going through both bottles on my fuel belt as well as multiple 'running cups of water' along the course--on a typical marathon where the air temperature is 70 degrees or higher, I will lose between 8-12 lbs during the race. By contrast, when it is 60 degrees or cooler, that quotient drops to 6-10 lbs. Although that might seem like minutia to the casual observer, that's actually a substantial difference in terms of variable dehydration and the resulting cramps that ensue between miles 18-26 on the course. That said, the fact that it's in the low to mid 50s, with damp air and near complete cloud cover, bodes well for my race...especially given all the hills I'm about to battle. 

Regardless, I'm going to run with a slower pace group today. After my meltdown in Seattle, and given the brutal nature of this course, I'm going to start running with the 8:30 pace group (3:42 finish time) and see how I feel. Looking at the topography of the course and after having driven it yesterday, the hills, though pervasive, are pretty much over at the 18.5 mile mark. That said, it's better to start conservatively and hold it (or pick it up if I'm going good) than to start too fast and burn out and be passed by slower pacing groups. Trust me, the humility of this endeavor is not lost on me. 

There is no greater metaphor for life than running and no better narrative for perseverance, self-awareness, and accomplishment than distance running. In less than two hours, I will add another chapter to this ongoing saga. 

Doug Eldridge

President

DLE Sports

PRESS: San Francisco Examiner

I did this interview earlier in the week with a San Francisco-based writer, author, PR man and personal fitness fanatic, Mark Davis. The interview lasted about 30 minutes and Mark and I--both SF natives, Ironman finishers, relentless sports fans, and committed runners--talked about a wide variety of topics. Because the general focus of his articles is on training, racing, recovery, etc. that's what was reflected most heavily in the article below. I enjoyed talking to him and as always, I'm thankful for the coverage of our campaign. 

As I've said all along, without media, there can be no exposure. Without exposure, there can be no awareness. Without awareness, there can be no contribution. Without contribution, there can be no call to action...and without that, we cannot invoke the change on behalf of these injured American soldiers that was the genesis of this entire campaign. In that, I say thanks to Mark and a very special thank you to Courtney, who has proven to be an invaluable addition to the DLE family. I appreciate your tireless hours, attention to detail, and unflenching loyalty more than you know. 

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-7447-SF-Extreme-Training-Examiner~y2009m7d24-Sports-agent-running-10-marathons-to-benefit-wounded-Iraq-and-Afghanistan-veterans

Doug Eldridge

President

DLE Sports

San Francisco Marathon: 13 hours away

As I type this, I'm looking out the window of the Hotel Palomar, with the sunshine beaming through the glass and the American flags on the opposing buildings, blowing nearly straight out to the side at times. Chicago may be the windy city, but the poet said it best:

"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."

Indeed, back home in Washington, DC it's in the high 80s with complete humidity, yet here in San Francisco, it is in the mid 60s, windy, damp and rather cool. This is the kind of weather we're accustomed to in DC around the middle of October. Nonetheless, it has all the makings of a great marathon tomorrow morning--my seventh race in the 10-12-100 Campaign.

I drove the marathon course this morning around 0900PST and it was chilly! I had a light jacket and a scarf on for most of the morning as San Fran is known for it's low-lying fog in the early morning. Today was  no exception and by the time I made it around to the Golden Gate Bridge at about 1100hrs, you could still barely see it through the fog. We'll be crossing that tomorrow between miles 5-9 on the course. Speaking of which, the course itself is just what you'd expect: hilly. Add to that, the aforementioned morning fog, damp air, and a crisp breeze and it will be nice conditions for what promises to be a very demanding course. 

I must say, however, that for all of its challenges, this course matches its inherent brutality with breathtaking beauty. Tomorrow's route will take us along the Embarcadero, past the Fisherman's Wharf, through the Presidio, over and back across the Golden Gate Bridge, through Haight Ashbury, across the Golden Gate Park and then back along the water to the finish line. Though it will be chilly and inevitably foggy--and I'll most certainly be hurting at any and all points listed above--this is going to be one gorgeous race. 

In terms of sightseeing--and in the interests of 'saving my legs' a bit--I've postponed China Town, the Wharf, and most of the fun areas for tomorrow afternoon and/or Monday morning. But I can say, that after my 4-hour excursion earlier today, San Francisco is unquestionably one of the most unique and beautiful cities I have ever visited. In many ways, it's a shame that it took 31 years to return to the city where I was born. As many of you know, I was born in San Fran, but my father (who was active duty military) got orders soon thereafter, so we left when I was only six or eight weeks old. 31 years later, this is my first trip back to the City by the Bay. I can assure you, it will be the first of many.

With that, I'd better finish some client work I'm doing and then grab an early dinner. I'll need to be up tomorrow around 0230hrs (local time) since the race begins at 0530hrs. I need a couple hours to wake up, stretch and caffeinate before the race. 

Thanks for following along and thanks for your words, letters, emails, texts and Facebook messages of support. Please continue to spread the word about this campaign and let's take the fundraising up a notch in the remaining months and marathons that lie ahead. We've got a lofty goal to achieve and I can't do it without your help.

More soon. 

Doug Eldridge

President

DLE Sports

PRESS: Seattle TV Interview

Dan Cruz was kind enough to send this link to me last week--it's the TV interview I did with KIRO CBS in Seattle, two days before the marathon. 

The piece was shot directly across from the base of the famous Space Needle, but when I walked into the station, everyone's eyes were glazed over as it had just hit the wires that Michael Jackson had collapsed in his LA home and was being transported by ambulance to the ER. It was presumed that he was DOA and the shock and awe that rippled through Seattle--a town with no shortage of musical influences and icons--was palpable. 

Regardless, many thanks to both Courtney and Matt here in DC and to Jake in Seattle for making this possible. Not only does the campaign exposure continue to grow, so too is the case with generous financial contributions. 

mms://streaming.vmsnews.com/media/INSIGHT/20090627-651771-7343E96A-262A-48C7-B93E-669512AB98AD.wsx

I leave for San Francisco in two days so I'll post another entry very soon. 

Doug Eldridge

President

DLE Sports

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

Seattle: Post-race

Man, when the wheels fall off....they're off. 

When you get a flat, you can drive on it for a while, but eventually the flat will flop around the rim and the rubber will shred with the thousands of RPMs as it beats the asphalt of the road. At some point or another it will totally break off of the rim and you'll be running metal on the asphalt with sparks flying everywhere until you come to a grinding halt somewhere down the road. Then you're just stuck.

Yeah, I was that guy today. Shredded rubber, rim on road, grinding halt.

I ran strong through 18 miles hitting at or under 8 min pace, but at some point, things took a turn. I was covered in salt, completely dehydrated (despite going through both bottles in the fuel belt and taking a 1/2 cup of water at each stop from mile 10 on) and then started to cramp with increasing intensity from 18 through 22. The last four were brutal. Don't have the words yet. 

I would, however, like to thank Aaron, who was one of the assigned members of the medical team for the Seattle Rock 'n' Roll Marathon. She rode next to me and talked, from mile 15 (when I was strong) all the way through 25.9 (and all the starts and stops in between) as the cramping set in and I was cut from a run, to a jog, to multiple stretching stops, to simply shuffling across the line. Aaron, you're great. Thanks for your support. 

So I finished in 3:42 (8:28 pace) which is the slowest finishing time of the first six races by nearly 9 minutes. Ugly day...re-wording...beautiful weather, great city, 25,000 runners, but a tough day and a grueling performance. I'll write more tomorrow or Monday and give a more in-depth breakdown but for now, I need to grab a bite before meeting up with some of the RnR crew for an event this evening. 

Six down. Four to go.

Doug Eldridge

President

DLE Sports

Seattle: 3 hours 'til the gun

It's 0345hrs PST and true to form, I beat my alarm on race morning. My internal clock says it's 0645 back east, so the early call time wasn't a problem at all. My body feels pretty good, considering my 4.5hr trip from Eugene, OR yesterday turned into 6.5 after a two-hour traffic jam in Portland. My compact car is really compact, so those extra 2 hours made my lower back super tight...long story short, I'm good. Sitting here drinking a couple 180 Energy drinks, gels are loaded in my Fuel Belt, 180s are in the small bottles, new Nike Lunar Trainers are raring to go and I'm waiting for the decongestant to kick in for my nose and throat. 

I think there's a difference in humility and unnecessary self-deprecation. I say that to say, all of my prior statements about my uncertainty regarding my fitness level (or apparent lack thereof) leading up to this race were an accurate portrayal of how I'm feeling inwardly (self-confidence) and how I'm feeling outwardly, given the mile splits and relative soreness of some recent workouts. Nonetheless, the marathon is about controlled suffering or as a DLE intern said to me in an email last night, controlled relentlessness. What a brilliant way to put it.

So as I do my final prep over the next 67 minutes before boarding the hotel shuttle for the drive out to the Tukwila starting line, I will be thinking about all the local support I've received here in Seattle, as well as all the well-wishes, and steady contributions we've received at the office for our continued drive towards $100,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project. 

Six Awaits.

Doug Eldridge

President

DLE Sports