Book Review + Giveaway: Running on Empty

I was contacted awhile back to see if I would be interested in writing a book review of Marshall Ulrich’s “Running on Empty: An Ultramarathoner’s Story of Love, Loss, and a Record-Setting Run Across America.” I gladly accepted. I’m a bit of a running book junkie—I’ve read and enjoyed Born to Run, 50/50 and Ultramarathon Man. I’ve read and enjoyed these stories of extreme distance and challenge even though I personally don’t have any real desire to climb mountains or run for 24 hours +.



Here is a little preview from Marshall’s site about the book:


“Running on Empty is the story of Fall 2008, where MARSHALL ULRICH COMPLETED the mind-bending and body-breaking equivalent of 117 back-to-back marathons as he ran an average of more than 400 miles a week, and climbed 84,430 feet, in temperatures ranging from below freezing to the upper 90s. He crossed 3,063.2 miles and 12 states on foot from California to New York. All at the age of 57.”


This was the first running book I haven’t immediately gotten sucked into from the very beginning. Marshall’s story isn’t all roses and pizza-eating on the run. He was real. He was real about his relationships with his family and friends and about how running and his many adventures took time away from his marriages and children. The first part of the book was actually a bit tough for me to read. I kept thinking why is this guy running away…away from responsibility, love, his kids, etc? As I continued to read, it made me so grateful for all that my parents did for me growing up. My parents were at every softball game, dance recital, water polo tournament I ever participated in. I’m sure they wanted to have more time for themselves, more time for their hobbies but they pushed that aside for me. Throughout the early part of the book, I found myself feeling sorry for Marshall’s kids and sorry for his relationships. At one point, I wasn’t sure I wanted to finish a book about a guy who essentially chose his hobbies over his family—BUT—I’m glad I did!


As Marshall’s journey across the United States began to form, I appreciated his story more and more. As he assembled the team that would help him cross the US on foot, the tone of book changed. I felt that instead of him striving for some future goal, he began to live in the moment. His descriptions changed, instead of always describing the finish or the next “big adventure” he began describing the little things, the peculiar things—for example, a random tree alongside the road that was laden with shoes. He too, tossed a pair up in the branches.


His descriptions of relationships, especially his relationship with his wife, changed too. His words softened. His words made me feel he was truly appreciative of what he had and who he had in his life. As cliché as this may sound, I could feel the love he felt for those supporting him on his journey. Clearly he went through physical changes on his run but I think the emotional changes are what were the most powerful for me to read. As he reflected on his relationships he admitted to missing out on certain aspects of his children’s lives and for not fully participating in his previous marriages.


By the time he gets to New York State, his body and mind have been through the ringer but it was almost as if he’d been healed on the run. I know that sounds cheesy but I went from almost disliking the book to really enjoying the story. I felt that Marshall’s story went from a tale of a cocky, very talented and accomplished athlete to a story about how running and seeing the world from a one step-at-a-time perspective can really grow a person. Marshall is clearly very talented but instead of having the attitude that he has to prove it he can just be. He can be a loving husband, father, family member, friend and very accomplished, talented athlete.


If this has made you want to read the story for yourself, here is where you can get a copy:

Running on Empty: An Ultramarathoner’s Story of Love, Loss, and a Record-Setting Run Across America, now available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and local independent bookstores.

OR you can enter my giveaway below where one lucky US or Canadian reader can win a copy. Here is what you have to do to enter. Leave me ONE comment that answers the following questions (4 entries per person if you answer all 4 questions).


Contest will end at midnight (pacific time) on Friday, May 6th—winer announced Monday, May 9th.


1) What is the highest mileage you’ve ever seriously contemplated running?


2) What is something that gets sacrificed during your training?


3) What is something that absolutely does NOT get sacrificed during your training?


4) For those that know how I like to do giveaways…what is your favorite running movie or running scene from a movie?

Three Things Thursday

1. Morton’s Neuroma. One word: SUCKS! Right as I was hitting a groove BOOM. I’ve been doing everything right too—wearing flats to work, taking Ibuprofen, icing at home but it’s not getting better. Yesterday I ran 5 miles and by the end it was so painful my whole foot and lower leg was in pain. It hurts to walk even. Basically what this means is I’m going to lay off running (except for my long run) for the rest of the week and re-evaluate when I get to my schedule next week. I had set a 30 mile goal for this week (following my new plan of setting weekly distance/time goals) but that is definitely not going to happen. I’ll be lucky if I hit half that distance—UGH so annoying. Anyone else have this problem? Any advice? I’m also thinking about getting re-fitted for running shoes since my favorite shoes (Saucony Pro Grid Rides) changed their model again and in the words of sweat once a day, I may have to “break up with them.”




2. It is bring your kid to work day today and the office this morning is teeming with rug rats. Apparently the company has a whole program for them, where they take different classes on different topics. The older kids get a more in-depth overview and the younger kids get to watch videos of wind turbines and light bulbs (kidding, I really have no idea what they get to watch or not watch). The whole thing is pretty cool though. I remember in elementary school I always wanted to go to a fancy office building with my parents---my parents were both teachers so going to work with them was like another day at school =). If you have kids, have you ever participated in bring your kids to work day?



3. Fragility of life. I have a blog and I’m on twitter and Facebook so it’s not like I try to make my life private or secretive. But out of respect and privacy of others involved, I’m not going to go into a lot of detail with this bullet other than to say the last few days have really made me think a lot about the people in my life and how lucky I am to have to so much love around me. The last few days have also made me realize that things like bullet #1 above are so very trivial. This is going to sound trite but it’s hard not to sound trite sometimes---let’s all take extra time to tell those around you, you love them! Here goes…parents, family, friends—I love you!

Spring Training, Treats and Cleaning

This was one of the best weekends in a long time (week was good too but the weekend was stellar)!

Spring Training, not the baseball kind, that’s over—GO GIANTS—but the Alisa gets her butt in gear kind.  Friday the weather turned absolutely beautiful—sunshine as far as the eye could see.  It was REALLY hard to be at work.  Luckily, my boss thought so too and let us out early which was awesome. I quickly got home, changed and hit the road in a new running skirt (this one) and a TANK TOP.  Yes, A TANK TOP!  Which anyone that knows me, knows is my favorite thing to wear while running but I’m a cold runner and need it to be like 65 and sunny for me to break out a tank top.  I wanted to get in about 7-9 miles.  I was meeting Mr. Pi for drinks/food at a bar that I knew only kinda where it was located but I knew on a direct route it was only 3.5ish miles so, I did something I NEVER do---I just started running, no route planned, I turned when I felt like turning and ran past a lot of really neat neighborhood pockets that I’d never seen before.  I made sure to go the least direct route I possibly could and when I was within a few blocks of the bar I looked at Garmin and I was almost at 7 miles—mission accomplished.  After our “dinner” which consisted of beer and for me the hummus place, I told Mr. Pi that I was going to walk home.  He had his bike with him so I figured he would bike home and I’d see him in 3.5 walking miles but he said he’d walk with me part way.  Turns out he went with me the whole way—he got on and rode his bike slowly alongside me through neighborhoods and I even manned up and ran a few blocks (before stopping b/c  the beer and hummus plate were not getting along in my tummy).  When we got home we sat outside on our Adirondack chairs until the sun went down and I was officially too cold to be outside.  

Friday night was just an awesome way to kick off a great weekend.

Saturday morning was gloriously sunny!  I have such an easier time waking up when the sun is pouring through the windows.  Saturday’s workout was the highlight of the weekend—I rode my bike OUTSIDE for the first time since last September!  I was actually a little nervous, would I still know how to clip in and out?  Would my legs take me for a good ride or poop out after only a few miles?  We met up with another friend and rode a glorious, leisurely 26 miles.  I really didn’t feel tired until about 20 miles in, which I thought was great.  Our pace was slow, barely hitting an overall average of 12 MPH BUT it was so fun.  It made me really want to get back out and ride!

The rest of Saturday was equally great.  I did some yardwork including mowing the lawn for the second time of my entire life (the first being last weekend) and in general relaxed in the sun.  

The dogs both our Zoey and Sarah’s Vaughn had a great day too—they spent half their time lying lazily in the sun and running around the yard.  

Zoey and Vaughn looking pensive.

Zoey lounging in the yard!

Mr. Pi did some planting in the evening.

Our flowers sure have sprouted!

They make great fresh cut additions to the house too!

Mr. Pi BBQ’d for dinner and I successfully spent almost ALL DAY outside.

Sunday morning we woke up to drizzle, which was disappointing but what can ya do---it is PORTLAND!  I checked the temperature and realized it wasn’t that cold out so that was a plus.  I got my running stuff together and as I was getting ready to head out I realized that my legs weren’t sore from riding but my neck and shoulders were very sore.  I’ve also been having episodes of my Morton’s Neuroma flare up—basically it’s a pinched nerve in the foot where the toes meet the main foot.  It causes my foot to sometimes go numb and in general send shooting pain throughout my foot and lower leg.  However, I was determined to get in my run so I headed out.  About 6.75 miles in I heard footsteps approaching and thought to myself “that kinda sounds like how Jen runs”—weird that I know how my friends sound when they run but I do.  I was right it was Jen.  I was walking at that point my foot was feeling sore, she stopped to walk a little with me and told me that I’d probably see Zach on my way back.  Sure enough as I was trotting along back toward home, Zach pulled up alongside and ran a little with me before picking up the pace and leaving me in the dust.  As I was running along I got to thinking about how lucky I am to live close to a bike trail and to have friends that I randomly run into while I’m out on my own run.  I pulled into the house 14 miles later, having run the farthest I’ve run since the Goofy Challenge.  I ended my Spring Training week with 26.25 miles run, 26 miles biked and zero of anything else—you win some and lose some.   The spring weather really did a lot for my mood this week too, I am such a warm weather and sunshine person—it just makes everything so much brighter and happier.

Spring treats!  Mr. Pi and I aren’t religious but we do have an Easter tradition.  Every other year we get to play easter bunny for each other.  This year was Mr. Pi’s turn to play easter bunny and my year to be the recipient---wahoo!  Sunday morning I woke up and found this pot of goodies on my nightstand.

Full of some of my favorites!  YUM and a few extra special treats, like a postcard saying we belong to a wine club (yum) and inside the card a note about wanting to pick out a new running skirt or ?? for me.  Yay!

Spring Cleaning!  I am a domestic goddess.  Not in the same way as her—I can’t make you yummy canned goods or bath salts BUT I can scrub your house like nobody’s business.  It’s a little known secret that I love to clean.  Not the sissy kind of clean like wiping down a counter but the breakout the tooth brush and scrub kind of clean.  Sometimes I dream about moving to Hawaii and when I tell people they always ask me what I would do for work—I would totally work as a house cleaner or maid in a hotel.  I figure that’d give me just enough money to afford my small hut with an ocean view-RIGHT!?  I don’t know why I like cleaning so much but I find it incredibly zen and therapeutic.  So I set out with a mission to deep clean the house and take breaks to fold laundry and give the dogs a bath.  Step one, move all the furniture out the way and vacuum the floors to prepare them for the steam mop.  

Before

After all that is down it’s time for the bathrooms and to break out the toothbrush to scrub.  Then, I find dirty window sills and clean all those out too.   

Nasty mop!

Yup, it was a DEEP clean kind of day.  About 4-5 hours later, I have a clean house, clean laundry, clean dogs and I got in my cross training for the week!

Clean front room with fresh cut flowers and all the clutter put in it's place.

Whew, I’m ready for bed and ready to tackle another week.  Hope everyone else had as great of a weekend as me!

Three Things Thursday

I've hopped on the three things thursday train and it seems to be sticking.  Yay Thursday!  I have to say it's one of the best days, I'm still motivated to get work done (unlike Fridays) and I have all the excitment of the weekend to think about.  Top it off with decent weather for the week and a prediction of a 63 degree sunny (0% chance of rain) Friday and I'm stoked for it to be Thursday.

1.  Sunshine!  Yes, it's been sunny in Portland--which means, Alisa has been in a great mood and has been spending as much as possible enjoying the sweet rays of sunny goodness.  Tuesday, I skipped my planned three miler in favor of spending time in the backyard with Mr. Pi, Zoey and Vaughn (Sarah's dog who we have on loan for the week).  It was a glorious evening of pulling some weeds, planting some veggies and sitting in my new adirondack chair soaking up some rays.

Mr. Pi planting beets

My new chairs!  Thanks Dad, what a great present.

Vaughn living it up.

Zoey, my sunshine doggie!

2. I've been trying a new thing with my training plan.  I set a number of miles I want to run for the week and run them the days I feel like running them.  So far, this system is working out well for me.  I'm going to need to start adding a swimming and biking component to this too but for now I've really been digging the "Alisa you need to run XX miles this week, go get em" attitude.

3. Racing fever.  So many people are posting race reports.  I'm really getting excited about my first half marathon of spring (I'd say of 2011 but I already did one at Goofy).  I'm also getting realistic about my expectations.  I don't think I'm going to try to PR, I think I'm going to save that for a later date.  I'm just not running the paces I would need to for a PR.  This doesn't mean I'm going to take it completely easy.  It just means I'm not going to go into a race setting myself up for a PR disappointment.  After reading so many race reports lately I have really come to notice something.  I LOVE reading the race reports where the writer is happy, even if they didn't hit their planned pace/goal.  It made me think about the days of just running races to run races---I don't think I've ever had as much fun as I did those first few 5k's I did with my Dad where we had no expectations, I didn't own a Garmin, I wore cotton t-shirts and basketball shorts (the only experience that's come close is Goofy!). Anyway, what I'm saying is sure I want to do well and I'd love to kick my half marathon time in the ass this year but it's not going to happen next month so I'm not going to pressure myself.

Happy almost Friday!

Groovin' through the week and weekend

Monday: 30 Day Shred (20 minutes) + 15 minutes extra weights/abs + Walk with Zoey

Tuesday: 7 mi (1.5 warm up- 6x800 descending (.25 rest)-1 mile cool down)
Wednesday: 2650 yd swim + 35 minute spin
Thursday: 3 mi
Friday: 9 mi long run BEFORE 7:00am (whew!)
Saturday: 2-3 hours of yardwork + long morning walk with Zoey, my MIL and Mr. Pi
Sunday: Sweet nothingness


Okay now that the workout recap is over I can go into all the other awesome things that happened this week/weekend.


First, my tulips are blooming! I LOVE tulips and can’t wait to see all of them coloring my side yard.  I have been really enjoying having fresh cut flowers in the house.  I think I need to invest in a few more vases since at some point this summer I should have lilies and gladiolus.

Mr. Pi also planted an herb garden recently.  Yum!  Can't wait til the weather heats up and we can get some basil in there too.

Second, my awesome in-laws came into town on Friday and we had a fun filled packed weekend. We started Saturday off with some minor yard work…

Now ya see it

Now ya don’t

We've wanted to take down the tree in the front since we moved into the house last July.  The tree was all mossy and never flowered or did anything pretty--it had to go.

Mr. Pi made a stump chair out of the stump for now until we grind it down.

For anyone that is interested here is a video of Mr. Pi's dad chainsawing the tree and it toppling over.

After a day of working hard (seriously, it's amazing how sore yardwork can make you), Sunday we went wine tasting.

On the way out to the wineries in the Gorge.

Mr. Pi and his mom!

 Maryhill winery---you go far enough east and it gets SUNNY

Gorge Grapes

Happy tasters

More grapes

Looking East

And, on top of all that fun, I even squeezed in a baby shower for my good friend and fellow runner.  I'll always remember mile 6 of the Nike Women's Half last year, that's when she told me she was preggers!

Pretty momma to be with all her presents

Action packed week and weekend. I’m really proud of myself for fitting in (mostly) all the workouts (I had planned to swim and/or run on Saturday or Sunday morning but that didn't happen but I think the yardwork counts as cardio)! I think I’m finally starting to get my groove back, it's taken awhile to get into a routine at work and back into a consistent training schedule.


At the pool on Wednesday, I met this woman training for her first sprint tri. She recently lost a lot of weight and has started her 3x per week balanced plan. We got to talking about fitting it all in (work, family, training, friends, personal time, chores, other obligations, etc). She asked how I fit it all in when I was training for the HIM…honestly, some days I have no idea. Time with my friends became time coning them into running, biking or swimming with me and trying to catch up in the car on the way to/from said activities. How chores and other obligations became minimal and time with family often involved them spectating races or training runs/rides/swims before getting to the fun stuff. As I contemplate adding more events to the schedule I’m definitely thinking about fitting it all in. Part of me feels like the busier I am the more productive I am and the better I feel but there is definitely a breaking point. Right now I’m really content with what’s on my plate and am looking forward to building up slowly.


After an awesome week and weekend I'm looking forward to tackling the week ahead!

March Recap and NEW April Goals

Pretty good success on hitting goals for March! Can’t believe the first quarter of the year is already over.



1.  Register for some races: CHECK, you can read all about my upcoming race schedule here.


2.  Create a schedule: CHECK, mostly. I’ve been constantly revamping the sched and I’ll need a new sched for the tri’s this summer—haven’t even started that one yet.


3.  Read 2 books this month: EH…I am a little over a 1/3 of the way done with the book club book for April. I’m enjoying it and really trying hard to shut off Netflix to read more in the evenings but sometimes all I want to do is watch mindless TV.


4.  Have an awesome weekend with my Dad when he comes to visit: CHECK, we ran errands, we went to the gym, we went wine tasting and best of all we had a GRAND time doing all of the above! (right dad?? He reads the blog once in awhile, I should show him how to comment =)).


5.  Start using dailyplate again: CHECK, mostly. I’m finding I’m really good at using the dailyplate during the day but I always forget about it in the evening. Anyone else have this issue? On the “lose weight” part—I’m staying mostly flat, I haven’t gained or lost anything.


Now onto April goals…


1.  Run 100 miles this month. (I’m slowly building my base back up and I’d like to get up to 30ish miles per week by the end of the month. As I mentioned in my last post that’s my sweet spot, where I’m challenged but also have time for other activities.)


2.  Go back to "crazy" weights class, aka Bodypump, 24SET, 24LIFT. (I feel best when I’m doing weights—I know this yet it is hard to get there sometimes. I’m going to revamp the training sched yet again to accommodate getting to weights at least once a week in April.)


3.  Re-do my blog layout. (I started creating tabs but didn’t get very far. I have some fun ideas but I just haven’t forced myself to sit down and write.)


4.  Limit my coffee buying. (I don’t really drink fancy coffees just straight up Pike’s Place roast from Starbucks BUT I do go for coffee A LOT. I have three reasons for this: 1) I’m lazy in the mornings. 2) Starbucks Pike’s tastes better than the black coffee I can make at home. Yes, I know, I should just buy some Pike’s beans. 3) It is a social thing at work. Literally, every afternoon it’s coffee break time. I don’t always get coffee sometimes I just want to get up and go for a walk but more often than not I’ll get a cup as well.)


5.  Have an awesome weekend with my in-laws when they are in town. (Again, I need to put something on here that I know will be a smashing success. We already have a full weekend planned when they are here.)


6.  Continue using Dailyplate and be faithful to using it in the evenings as well. (I don’t think I really need to add anything else to this goal, it is what it is.)