I'M A RUNNER ... OH, AND I HAVE LUPUS!

THE GOOD NEWS: After taking the winter off I got out there and ran a little today. IN OTHER NEWS: I just found out I have LUPUS. What in the world is lupus?

HERE’S THE STORY: Went to a dermatologist thinking I had skin cancer (I've already had one bout with it a few years ago.) He tells me I don’t have skin cancer. I have discoid lupus (basically means I'm allergic to daylight). OK, I can deal with living A VAMPIRE’S LIFE. I can make that work.

Then they wanted to take a blood sample just to rule out systemic lupus (the bad lupus ...) He told me if I'm a runner there's no way I could have systemic lupus because YOU DON'T RUN with lupus. So they draw blood. I wait a week or so then they call.

NURSE: “We got your blood test back and the doctor wants you to see a rheumatologist …”

ME: “Did they find something in my blood work?”

NURSE: “Yes, it showed positive for ANA. (ANA? I had to look it up: It stands for antinuclear antibodies … I know, it sounds cool, right? Like I’m turning into a superhero or something … but it isn’t and I’m not.) “The rheumatologists’ office will be calling you in the next two weeks.”

ME: oh, OK. Thank …thank you. (I was kind of in shock. I have never even heard of lupus before a couple weeks ago and the derm doc kept telling me I didn’t have “THE BAD KIND.” But I guess now I do.

I still haven’t looked it up too much to see exactly what it is. I’m kind of a hypochondriac so if I read the symptoms I’ll probably start imagining I have them.

I don't know yet how much of an impact this will have on my day-to-day life since I love the sun and love being outdoors. Only time will tell.

ANYHOW … the good news is … I RAN TODAY! I’M A RUNNER!!!!

The good news is I finally have a legitimate excuss to wear full-brim hats, which I've always wanted to do.

#lupus #runningwithlupus #wtfislupus

FROM ZERO TO HALF MARATHON IN 10 WEEKS

Distance running: I've done it, on and off, my whole life. From marathons to Ironman World Championship where you swim 2.4 miles, Bike 112 miles then, after all that, You run a marathon (26.2 miles) all in the same day.

So, let me just put it out there for everyone to read: In the next 10 weeks (basically over the summer) I'm going to go from zero running to 13.1 miles (a half marathon) distance. AND within another 4 weeks after that I'll be able to race at that distance.

The past two years is the longest break I've had from running since 2006 when we moved to the Big Island.

Yeah, it's a lofty goal for someone in their late 50s who hasn't run much for the past couple of years.

In the past 9 years I've competed in two Ironman World Championship triathlons and several half Ironmans and numerous other triathlons, marathons and other distance running events. but for the past two years I've reverted back to a couch potato.

Now I want to change that and get back into Ironman shape. Well, at least marathon shape.

All I can do is either succeed or fail. And you can follow along, either on this blog or on my YouTube channel, to see which I do and to hold me accountable for training and sticking with it. I will need your support, encouragement and advice along the way so please subscribe to either or better yet, both, and comment on each of my training videos. I'm lazy and can't do this on my own.

You can watch a video on our YouTube channel where I talk about this 10-week challenge of getting off the couch and running a half marathon here: https://youtu.be/2paSWjyCDuA

ABOUT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL: Adventure Road Travel Sketchers
you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/user/rdubinhawaii

Our channel is evolving as our lives are evolving.

Our channel started out while we lived in Hawaii and I was competing in Ironman triathlons. That's why the first few videos are about running and Ironman competition. Since we have moved back to the mainland and I became interested in sketching I switched it up to producing sketching videos, sketchbook tours, reviews, and how to sketch videos.

Recently our lives have taken a new direction. We moved out of our three bedroom house with a double car garage and moved into a 264-square-foot fifth wheel RV. We plan to begin traveling the country as soon as possible and sketch the places and people we visit and meet along the way. We plan on sticking to the rural areas as much as possible -- the roots of America.

We also plan on interviewing some of the people we meet and discover what makes their town and neighborhoods special to them.

We will be producing content about sketching, RV life, which includes repairs, coping with small spaces and the pros and cons of full-time RV living. Our daughter, Rebecca is disabled and is wheelchair bound so we will also be talking about how we manage all the work arounds in a world made for people who walk, including how accessible places are for disabled people.

I've changed the name of this channel (for now) to Adventure Road Travel Sketchers (ARTS for short) and my wife Karen, daughter Rebecca, 4-year-old twin grandsons Leo and Desmond and our 6-year-old grandson NJ, will be contributing content as well.

Thanks and please subscribe (it's absolutely free) and it would mean the world to us.

RERUN ON RUNNING

I guess I just need more to do or something, but I watched my Youtube video on running in Vibram Five Fingers shoes and decided it needed some editing and music.

I first posted the video of Karen and I running in Kona in 2012, shortly after purchasing our Vibrams. The video was taken using a GoPro Hero 2 and running around the perimeter of Old A's soccer fields and on the Jurassic Trail (at least that is what we call it) off Koloko Drive.

You can watch the re-posted version here: Vibram Five-Fingers review

We still have those same Vibrams believe it or not. I use mine mostly for running on the treadmill these days.

Below are  some Amazon links for the Vibrams and the Go Pro if you are interested in them.

I'm an Amazon associate so I get a small commission if you click on any of the links and buy anything, but Amazon pays it so it costs you nothing extra.

Thanks and if you are interested in running, Ironman triathlon or sketching and drawing, please subscribe to my blog and YouTube channel.

Vibram Men's Bikila EVO on Amazon:  https://goo.gl/ZvBLkV

Vibram Fivefingers Womens Bikila on Amazon: https://goo.gl/wmTgej

Video was photographed with a GoPro Hero: https://goo.gl/49pb9B

CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN ZOMBIES AHEAD ...

It's slow going but I'm up to 12 miles on my long runs and 10k (6.2 miles) on my other running days. I still need to add one more day of running to get it up to 4 days but I just don't know where I'll get the time, especially with winter coming on.

This Sunday I should be up to half marathon distance (13.1 miles). I can't wait to get up to three hour runs but by then it'll be cold and dark and rainy here. I know, I'm a wimp, but after training for years in Hawaii it's hard to get motivated in poor weather.

Karen and I, NJ and the twins are planning on racing zombies on the 25th in Albany. My guess is we'll not make it too far before we are "bitten." But it should be fun anyhow. I've always wanted "The Walking Dead" to do a show on zombie babies, especially zombie twin babies.

Oh, since Ironman World Championship is this Saturday, here's a video of my first world championship finish shot by my friend Giovanni.

This is from 2009. Back then 13 miles seemed like nothing. In fact I remember racing a half marathon a few weeks before where I went out and ran 3 miles as a warm up then ran my fastest half to date just so I could get in my 16 mile run for the day. Dang I miss in that kind of shape.

DEATH BY ZOMBIE

"A zombie film is not fun without a bunch of stupid people running around and observing how they fail to handle the situation." - George A. Romero, director, writer of Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead, among other zombie movies

Well I participated in my first-ever zombie run recently. It was a 5k run at Blue Lake Regional Park in Portland Oct. 26.

I managed to make it about halfway before I was consumed by the mindless, brain eating walkers -- who, just for the record did some running to chase me down -- what's up with that?

Oh well, it was fun and even my 19 month old grandson liked seeing all the zombies, who looked pretty good, er, dead.

Here's a few photos from the event for your entertainment. These are all frame grabs taken from video from our GoPro Hero 2 camera. Love that camera.

Here's a link to my flickr account with more photos:
Zombie apocalypse

A QUICK CHECK-IN

It's been a busy time since we left Hawaii just over a year ago. We've lived in three different time zones and have driven across the U.S. four times. We have seen Yellowstone, the Atlantic Ocean and had a few tornado scares. Three grandsons have been born in the past few months, including twins, (giving us 6 grandkids total) and so much more has been going on that it has been hard to catch my breath.

I've barely had time to do any running or biking over the past year. I've only been swimming twice since leaving Hawaii, which is really sad. I love swimming. Now we live just 2 miles from a swimming facility so hopefully once we get settled in our new location - Oregon, by the way - I'm hoping to get back into the water.

This blog has slowly transformed from a triathlete's journey off the couch to more of a family focused blog, but I'm hoping as we get settled in the Northwest I'll get back into training and find some interesting experiences to write about such as how hard it's going to be to "learn to swim" again. Or how to get and stay motivated in a cold, rainy climate. 

I've always marveled at how mainlanders could stay motivated to train for a triathlon all winter long compared to how easy it is to those of us in Hawaii who always have great weather and a beautiful ocean to swim in. Now I'm about to find out.

Anyhow, this is just to revisit "The Kona Life" and say what's happening. I should change the name of this place but I think I will keep it. After all, The Kona Life is a state of mind more than a place where I lived. 

Take care and I'll hopefully be writing again soon.

CROSSING THE COUNTRY

At the beginning of this month I got to drive and run across America. All in only 3 days. From Idaho to North Carolina by way of Alabama and Georgia. Long, long days.

( Each pin point on the map represents places we have been over the past month. From Portland, Oregon, to Yellowstone National Park to Georgia to North Carolina and back again.)

Our son, Daniel got married in North Carolina and we decided it would be more fun to drive across the U.S. instead of fly. It would give us a chance to see places we have never seen and also to stop by and see our daughter, Rachael, and our two grand-daughters, Maddie and Zoey, in Georgia.

Somewhere in the planning stages I thought it would be fun to try and run in each state we drove through. After all, how many chances will I have to do something like that. So I decided I would try to run at least 5k (3.1 miles) in each state, But knowing we would only have three days to drive nearly 3,000 miles I knew that would be tough. Plus the second day of driving we would hit 6 states. That would mean driving a thousand miles and running 21 miles all in 15 hours.

A pretty ambitious plan. One thing I didn't figure on was how cold it would be in the first few states we passed through. It's been six months since we moved here from Hawaii and I still don't have cold-weather running clothes.

I can say I didn't hit my 5k goal in every state and I did skip running when we passed through Tennessee, our sixth state in one day. It was dark, cold and I was tired.

Nonetheless, we had a blast. There were a lot of firsts for me. The first time driving across America. First time being in most of the states we've been in. First time in the eastern time zone. First time I've ran in 5 states in one day. (How many people can say that?) And my first time to see the Atlantic Ocean. Not bad for a couch potato.

So get off the couch fellow couch potatoes and get out there and do something. Have fun, get healthy. Life is calling ...

(Maddie and me making faces for the camera)

(Daniel and I at the beach at Camp Lejeune)

(Running in Georgia)

(Karen and Rebecca at the beach)

Karen and I at the beach)

(Maddie)

(I got the chance to shoot with some Marines at the shooting range.)

(Running next to the Atlantic Ocean)

(Echo Canyon in Utah)

(Daniel and Dawn's wedding)

(Running in Utah)

(Running at sunrise in Iowa)

Maddie and I shopping

Zoey.

(Running in Missouri)

The Atlantic ocean

(Stepping into the Atlantic)

(Rebecca at the beach)

ROAD TRIP

Athens, Alabama ... That's where we are tonight. Karen, Rebecca and I are traveling cross country from Idaho to North Carolina for our son, Daniel's wedding next Saturday.

We left Monday morning around 5 a.m. and made it to York, Nebraska by about 10 p.m. One of my goals is to stop in each state we travel through and run just enough to say I ran in that state. Its been fun. So far I've run in Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky. I missed Tennessee just because it was dark and frankly I was tired. I'll catch it on our way back. 

As I said we are in Alabama tonight (Tuesday) and I plan on running here in the morning. Tomorrow we head down to Tuscaloosa where we are stopping by to say hi to a friend from Hawaii who lives there now, then we are off to Georgia to see our daughter Rachael and our two granddaughters. 

The next day we head off to the East Coast and North Carolina to See Daniel and his bride-to-be, Dawn and attend their wedding Saturday. 

Come Sunday we do it all again and drive three days back to Idaho and running in whatever states we go through that I haven't run in yet. 

Running in Iowa at Sunrise. 

Running in Utah on Monday just after sunrise.

So there you have it. This is a first for me. I've never been to most of these states and running in them is a blast and makes for some interesting conversations. It's mostly been cold however. That's why I'm wearing jeans in the Utah photo. I don't have any cold-weather clothes since this is my first fall/winter

on the mainland since we moved from Hawaii. hmmm ... maybe I can get some clothing and shoe sponsors out of this ... lol 

See you out there.

RACING AGAIN

I ran my first race in Idaho last weekend. The Rim2Rim canyon run. 7.5 miles of pain. It's the hardest running race I've done. As I posted on Facebook, the race was like running Kaloko ( a very steep,winding road in Kona, combined with running the Hawaii 70.3 triathlon running course (a half marathon on a golf course, hot roads and gravel) then running down Kaloko followed by running back up it again. All fit into 7.5 miles. It felt a lot farther than that though.

Anyhow it was fun finally racing again. It's been a while since my last race and it's my first race on the mainland since college.

I am still trying to adapt to mainland living and no ocean in sight. The biggest trouble has been not being able to swim anymore. The only swimming here is at the YMCA, of which we are members, but they have such an odd schedule for lap swimming that I have only made it to the pool once since we've moved here.

Cycling is another issue. There are no shoulders on the roads here and traffic is fast (75 mph on the freeways and 65 or so on the back roads) so it doesn't feel safe to bike. Most people bike with the bike club but they DO NOT allow tri bikes and I don't like riding in groups anyhow, so I've restricted my cycling to using the bike trainer in the garage.

So mostly I've only been running, which is fine. I like running. My goal is to participate in an ultramarathon sometime in the next year.

On the bright side, we have been doing a lot of road trips since we've moved. I even got to check off a bucket list item (going to Yellowstone and seeing Old Faithful).

Here are a few photos of some of the places we've visited:

Yellowstone 

the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Madison river in yellowstone

road trip to Balanced Rock

Hidden Lakes.

Jerome County Fair

On the Snake River at Twin Falls Park

At the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Craters of the Moon National Monument

Craters of the Moon national Monument.

Oh, we are planning a speed trip cross-country at the end of October and running in as many states as possible, but more on that in my next post. 

Be safe.

MY 7-YEAR SUMMER IS ENDING

My perpetual summer has come to an end.

As of May 24th my family and I are moving back to the mainland. I got a new job and a new adventure awaiting me in Twin Falls, Idaho.

I've learned so many things while living here it doesn't seem real that it is all coming to an end. My greatest fear is that I will become that couch potato I once was. Hawaii is so much a part of who I am now that I can't imagine myself anywhere else. I have met so many wonderful people here. Made so many great friends. But it's time to move on. Since three of our kids and two grandkids live on the mainland, it's for the best. We'll be able to see them more often.

I can honestly say I am a different person now than when I arrived in the Aloha state 7 years ago. I guess the true test of character comes from challenges, and moving to a completely different climate, culture and economy will certainly be challenging for me.

I have always felt that Kona made me special, at least, made me feel special. It taught me how to swim, how to bike and how to run. It  taught me how to be strong, how to be encouraged by encouraging others. To be inspired by inspiring others. Without it, without being here, seems like I just might be leaving my identity behind. The person I have learned to become.

I've never swum anywhere but here - the ocean and the Kona pool. I've never done a triathlon anywhere but here. I've trained with some of the best athletes in the world here (I wonder how often Lance makes it to Idaho?). I've trained with some of the best people in the world here - Kona People.

But, just like moving here was scary and exciting and a giant mystery of what to expect, moving to a place I've never been is just another step on this adventure I'm on.

I don't know much about Twin Falls other than that it's on the Snake River Canyon. The pictures look pretty. There is no Masters swimming there, which is very disappointing to me. Hopefully there will be lots of good running trails and biking routes. Whatever the negatives are, the positives will outweigh them. Our son, Jon, lives in Portland (about 9 hours away) so we will be able to see him a lot. Rachael is in Georgia and Daniel is in North Carolina so it won't cost nearly as much to see them as it does now.

So, here's to a new adventure. Scary, exciting, mysterious! Just like doing my first Ironman.

I'd like to leave you with this song by Loudon Wainwright. It characterizes my 7-year summer more than anything I could ever say.

Oh no, I just realized I'll have to change the name of this blog next month. Maybe I can call it "The Spud Life," or "Beets Me." (They grow sugarbeets there).

Thanks so much for following "The Kona Life" all these years. I'll start posting my new adventure once I get settled and come up with a new blog name. Take care my friends, Randy

BAREFOOT RUNNING

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been trying out barefoot running. Although it's not true barefoot, I've been running in home-made huarache sandals. the shoes the Tarahumara Indians in Mexico run in. And they run hundreds of miles at a time over treacherous landscape.

I've been reading a lot about barefoot running and running in general, including the book "Born To Run" by Christopher McDougall. His book is about the Tarahumara Indians andhe is an advocate for barefoot/minimal running. I've also been following Anton Krupicka's blog "Riding The Wind" . He's an exceptional ultramarathoner who lives in Colorado. Check out some of the videos of him running on Youtube. His form is awesome. No wasted motion.

Anyhow, I've been really working on my running form and barefoot/sandal running on trails seems to be helping me get to where I need to be.


These are some huarache sandals I made. The work pretty good for getting my running form in balance. Slow and easy and build up the mileage, that's the trick. I'm up to 4 miles with the sandals on trails and an additional 2 miles on the road in shoes so far.