Golden Arches + Running = ????

Tomorrow I'm embarking on a sort of nutritional/social experiment (whilst running of course). I'm going to run around Lake Washington (about a 60ish mile run on road/bike path that I've done a handful of times before). But the catch is that this time my goal is to do it while nourished from nothing but 3 squares from none other than McDonald's.

Why on earth am I doing this? Well, in the spirit of New Year's resolutions and people probably starting to fall off of them already at this point, my goal in this is just to get people really thinking about what they eat and what goes into their bodies. I doubt honestly that many people eat 3 meals a day at McDonald's (and I certainly hope not), but with obesity more on the rise in our country now than ever, I fear it's not far from the reality of most peoples' diets (over 1/3 of Americans are now OBESE!). So the goal is just to say hey- if just 3 meals at McDonald's can fuel me to run this far in a day, just think about what that same caloric intake is doing in the average sedentary American's body in a given day while sitting at a desk!

So my goal is to do this run fueled only by 3 meals from McDonald's (which I'll of course stop at along the way). I'll just eat standard value meals or whatever the norm is. I never eat fast food, so I fear this could get really ugly with my GI system, but it'll be an interesting experiment.

More to come on this, and I'll be updating probably via Twitter throughout the day tomorrow with caloric intake, progress, etc. Pass it along, and tell your friends! Let's do our part to make a dent in our nation's obesity problem! See you on the pavement!

Snowy Seattle

Wow, another snow storm in Seattle Sunday night, but this one didn't have nearly the same effect as the Christmas time storm that totally shut down the city. With temps above freezing, the 3 inches or so that poured down on Sunday are pretty much all gone now. I just started a new book and read an incredibly apropos paragraph regarding winter storms and the joy that comes from a kind of unanimous and corporate inability to carry on with your usual day to day tasks- kind of a universal get out of jail free card for all your typical activities. It's easy to get bogged down with a negative attitude with weather like this, but I think it's so important to look for the positive. I like this a lot, and think it gives a neat perspective;

" There is something joyful about storms that interrupt routine. Snow or freezing rain suddenly releases you from expectations, performance demands, and the tyranny of appointments and schedules. And unlike illness, it is largely a corporate rather than individual experience. One can almost hear a unified sigh rise from the nearby city and surrounding countryside where Nature has intervened to give respite to the weary humans slogging it out within her purview. All those affected this way are united by a mutual excuse, and the heart is suddenly and unexpectedly a little giddy. There will be no apologies needed for not showing up to some commitment or other. Everyone understands and shares in this singular justification, and the sudden alleviation of the pressure to produce makes the heart merry. "

-from The Shack, by Wm. Paul Young

Here's to making the most of these winter storms!

What A Day!

Well, once again, I've learned that the idea of success can definitely be relative. Did I accomplish what I set out to do? Yes and no. My goal was essentially twofold- 1) to help out the Seattle Public Library system by spreading the word about the amazing resources that we have all over the city here in Seattle, and to encourage folks to pay a visit to their local library, and 2) to that end- to run to all 27 branches and get my passport stamped at each one.

Obviously yesterday was not the most idyllic of days to tackle an adventure like this, with the snow coming down essentially all day long and below freezing temps all day. However, I had made a plan to do the run on yesterday, and with a day job flexibility to change my days wasn't really an option. So I went for it despite the weather, and had a wonderful day in a beautiful winter wonderland. The media was very supportive and helpful in getting the word out with a nice article in the Seattle Times, an interview on KIRO radio, and a story on KOMO 4 News last night, a feature on the Seattle Public Library website, and who knows what else. The support along the way was also incredible- from my friend Michael who documented the day and gave me pumpkin pie for a treat mid-way through, to a brand new friend Zack who joined me out of the blue for a lengthy chunk of the day, to all the fantastic support from the librarians I met at each amazing branch of the libraries. All in all, it was a wonderful day, and despite not totally making it with goal #2, I feel like goal #1 went swimmingly well, and I hope that Seattleites are more excited to go check out their library today than they were just a few days ago. Given all the bad news of late with our economy in bad shape, etc., I thought a bit of good news would be nice. We definitely need to count our blessings and be thankful for all we do have, and the libraries are certainly one of those things I'm thankful for.

So, on to the blow by blow of the day (though briefly) if you care to read on. The day started out with a bit of unfortunate news, and that was that the libraries would all be opening late (noon instead of their usual 10am opening), but knowing it would be a time crunch to make it to all 27 in 10 hours, I decided to press on as planned and just snap photos at branches until I could start getting my passport stamped. I started with a short run from home to the Broadview branch, then on to Lake City, Northgate, and back to Greenwood. At Greenwood I got my first passport stamp, so that was really fun. Then on to Greenlake, Wedgewood, University, and Wallingford branches. As I was running down Stone Way, Zack appeared out of the blue and asked if I'd like a bit of company. I of course said absolutely, and the miles passed very quickly as we talked for quite a few miles. We made it to Fremont, Ballard, over the locks to Magnolia (with a short pumpkin pie break thanks to Michael), then up to Queen Anne. Zack headed home at that point, and I braved the Queen Anne Ave. hill as I headed for the downtown branch. I arrived there about 4pm I think, and upon arrival learned that all the branches would be closing early at 4:30pm. Bummer, and at that point I was very torn about what to do- continue on the planned route in the dark as the conditions got more and more icy to a bunch of libraries that would be closed, or go for an amended route at this point. I opted for what I figured would be the safer/smarter option and cut out going to the West Seattle and South Seattle branches. I went down to the Int'l District branch and got there just before closing. As the cold was intensifying, I put on some tights, an extra layer on top, an extra pair of gloves, and pushed on in the blustery cold. I pressed on and snapped photos at the Douglass-Truth branch, Madrona, Capitol Hill, and finally the Montlake branch around 6:30pm. Somewhere along the way I realized my hydration pack was frozen solid so fluid intake was no longer an option, but then again I wasn't exactly sweating. With the dicey roads, I just continued north from Montlake and ran on back towards home in the Broadview area. All told it was probably about a 50 mile day, but a really fun journey indeed. I may attempt this again in January sometime since I missed seeing a good chunk of the branches this time, but won't guarantee anything at this point. I'll definitely get to the other branches at some point though and finish up my passport stamps.

Answers to the 2 most common questions I've gotten since/during yesterday's run;

-What were you wearing/how did you not slip?
I am very fortunate to be sponsored by a great company that makes excellent running gear (The North Face), and had just the right gear to be well-equipped for yesterday's weather. I wore pretty basic layers on top with a great waterproof hooded shell called the Diad, wore just normal comfy running shorts (tights would've been too warm), and had the perfect shoe for the weather- the Chinscrapers, which have great traction even on the slippery snow and feature a water resistant membrane through the upper which kept my feet warm and dry all day long.

-What on earth did you eat?
I must confess that my nutritional intake was pretty atrocious yesterday, and my wife (a dietitian at Children's Hospital) was appalled to hear what I'd eaten all day when I finally got home last night. Typically I'm far better about keeping up with my nutrition during a run like this, but I think with the cold weather my body just kind of went into hibernation mode. My best meal of the day was just before I started. I woke up very early yesterday in order to start the work day at about 4am so I could be done with work before starting to run at 10. I had a big bowl of oatmeal just before I started at 10, which sustained me for quite a while. Through the rest of the day all I had was a handful of gels, some sports drink (before it froze in my hydration pack), a small slice of pumpkin pie (thanks to Michael), and a candy bar. I refueled in earnest when I got back home last night though, and felt relatively fine throughout the day despite my careless eating.

Well, that's about it- that's the day in a nutshell I guess. It was an incredibly fun adventure and all in all a very successful day, and a great day for visiting the libraries. All told I visited 19 libraries and got 11 stamps yesterday- a good run in the snow for a hot weather guy from Mississippi. I think I may just stay inside where it's warm today though and maybe spend a bit of time on the old treadmill instead of another day in the cold. Thanks to everyone for all your support and encouragement yesterday, and hope to see you soon- either at the library or on the trails!

maps

Rough map of my run;

http://www.mapmyrun.com/route/us/WA/Seattle/908102738476

Map of library locations;

http://www.spl.org/default.asp?pageID=branch

Come on out and join me! See you at the library!

-Sam

Go time

Well I can't figure out how to post blog pictures from my phone, so you will have to settle for word updates on Twitter. You can follow me here;

http://twitter.com

and my username is seesamrun.

The snow is piling up by the minute, so it should be a really fun day of running. The libraries are opening late today, but I am going to go ahead and get going and just snap photos at each library I get to that isn't open. See you in the snow!

Seattle Public Library Passport Run

I sure do love my local library, and I go there often. Every time I go in I'm amazed by how much information is there- just asking to be read! So when I heard that the Seattle Public Library had started a new passport program to encourage people to get out to see all the new and improved libraries around Seattle, I knew I had to get busy. So I mapped out a route, and I'll be running tomorrow to all of the libraries in the Seattle Public Library network (27 to be exact!), and it'll be about 60 miles total. The weather looks like it will be awful, so that should make things even more interesting.

My goal in this is quite simply to get people excited about their public library, and to get out and use their local branch (hopefully on foot or bike!), and to encourage you to help out the SPL Foundation as well. More info about them can be found here.

I'll be updating throughout the day on Twitter through my profile there seesamrun, so be sure to follow along! If I can figure out how to blog photos from my phone, I'll throw some photos on the blog throughout the day tomorrow as well, but I wouldn't count on photos til Friday. Thanks for following, and go read a book!

Cool Article

Forgot to post this earlier, but here's a great article from fairly recently in the Seattle Times on Brock, Carkeek 12 Hour, etc.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/outdoors/2008382933_nwwextreme130.html