Just Say No ... to Watermelon

One of the greatest things about summer is watermelon. I have loved this fruit for many years and so far this year I have enjoyed it more so than normal. Maybe because it has been on sale so frequently, or maybe because we've had more occasions this year to purchase them. For whatever the reason in the past month we've had 2 or 3 watermelons in the house. I'm the kind of person that once we cut it open, I have to cut out the entire melon and then save what we don't use in the first helping in the fridge instead of only using the little we need at the time and wrapping the unused part of the melon in foil. Well, the problem with that is the melon inevitably get older and soggy the long it stays in the fridge. So you must consume said melon before it goes beyond the point of no consumption. This then leads to me and the family eating lots of watermelon in a week span. While it is delicious, it does tend to have adverse affects.

Why did I just spend 5 minutes talking about watermelon on my running blog? Well, here's the reason. Over the past several weeks I have been planning to run 12 miles on Saturdays that I end up not reaching for whatever reason (too hot, too tired, not enough running during the week so my body was not ready for a long distance run of 12 miles and other reasons). Just as my previous entries you have seen that I have recommitted to reaching that goal of 12 miles. So last Saturday was going to be the day I achieved that goal. Since there was a party at the house during lunch and early afternoon I did not make it out to run until 7pm. As it turns out, it was a good time to run. The heat of the day was done, there was a nice breeze and all of the kids were in bed. I start out my run and I'm feeling good. The pace was good, my breathing was steady and my muscles were cooperating. This is where the first part of this entry comes into play. The day before this run and the day of I had consumed many cubes of watermelon. Though I realize my bowels might have issues with it eventually, at the moment everything seemed fine. At a mile and a half I began to feel the affects. My first thought was to push through it and it seemed to work for about a half of mile, but at mile 2 it was clear that unless I found a restroom and FAST I was going to be in trouble. It didn't help Looking back I should have stopped at a store and used their facilities, but in my mind I thought I was too sweaty for such a public display of bodily functions. So I decided to walk home (another mile and a half). At certain points I started feeling good again so I began to jog, but after a minute of that I had to stop and walk as it seemed the bouncing motion of jogging only aggrivated my condition. So I walked on. Eventually, I walked through a park as a short cut to my house when I realized the park had open restrooms. Even though, I was only 2 minutes away from home, my body said, "You are NOT going to make it home!" Thankfully the door was unlocked.

Though this experience could have ended very badly, it did teach me a VERY important lesson. When training for a half marathon, just say NO to watermelon. Gotta run.

Stay Focused

It has been an interesting few weeks. I intended this blog to keep track of my progress from the start of my training to the half marathon, but over the past few weeks it has been more and more difficult not only to keep on track with my schedule (which I haven't done), but also to keep up with this blog. I have been running during the week, but have not got back to running 12 miles on Saturday. I missed this last week because of the 4th and having friends in town, then the week before it was way too hot to go further than 5 miles. The week before that ... seems like something similar happened, but I don't remember now because I didn't make an entry in this blog. Something happened today as I went out to run that caused me to realize that I need to stay focused on my goal of training to run a half marathon. I was running on a sidewalk next to a main road in my town and I kept checking behind me when I would cross and intersection to make sure the cards behind me weren't turning. Well, during one intersection I turned my head to check the traffic and I lingered a little too long. As I started to turn my head back to the front, my foot caught the edge of some uneven pavement and I began to fall face first onto the asphalt. I did some spectacular acrobatics to stay on my feet and I'm pretty sure I looked ridiculous, but I was able to keep from skinning my legs, arms and face by staying upright. Since there was loads of traffic I wiped my head as if to say, that was a close one. Apparently a car agreed and honked their horn. Out of pride I didn't turn around to acknowledge the horn honking, but just kept running.

So as fun as that event was I thought about this as I continued in my run. You have to stay focused out while you are running or you could fall flat on your face or be run over by a car. Also, this applies to my goals of running as well. I have been letting other things distract me from my goal of running a half marathon so I haven't been as dedicated to my running. With renewed vigor I'll be sticking to my schedule and preparing my body for running in a half marathon in August.

If I may also say this translates into life. Whatever your goal is, you need to keep your focus and not let anything keep you from achieving your goals.

Keeping on, Keeping on

As I mentioned before this week was crazy. I ran 4-5 miles on Tuesday morning, but I skipped my Thursday morning run because Wednesday night I played Ultimate Frisbee and I did some running there. That and I've had a busy week at work and I didn't want to get to work late. Then I was planning on running Saturday morning as usual for my step back week (I was planning on running 8 miles or so), but my poor wife has been sick for 2 weeks and had to get up with the kids everyday as I had to be to work early. So, I didn't run in the morning. Then I didn't run in the afternoon either because of said illness and I didn't want to be too far out of reach. Then I couldn't run in the evening because I had to prepare a talk for church so I didn't make it out at all yesterday (Yikes). However, since it was a step back week, I hope that it won't effect my future runs. I might try to squeeze in an extra short run this week to get my body back on track. Now that the craziness is over (hopefully) I'll be sure not to miss as many days of training. So, I'm keeping on, keeping on, I just need to keep on track a little better. That's it for me, and I really gotta run (especially this week).

Sorely Mistaken

I know I'm a little late posting this, but its been a very crazy week (I'll write a new post later to explain)

Well, I had a number of 1sts this week running. Besides the big goal of the week was to gut out 11 miles I experienced other not so exciting, but somewhat painful things this week (mostly it was Saturday, but I'll get to that momentarily). Running 10 miles was tough the week before, so I was a little nervous about adding another mile so soon. However, like always, the first few miles were good. I had a good pace and all the muscles were feeling fine. Before I get into the big run on Saturday I will briefly describe my shorter runs. It is difficult to run longer than 6 miles in the morning before work and still get there on time. I guess that's something I'll have to figure out real soon when my weekday miles get up in the 8-9 miles at a time. Back to Saturday. It was a cloudy, drizzily afternoon. No down pour, but lightly raining off and on the entire run. So this marks the first time I ran in rain. Not too bad, but then again, it wasn't constant and it wasn't very heavy. Another first was around mile 8 I ran by the house to grab a drink to keep myself hydrated and Deb and the girls (save the youngest) was outside and they cheered me on. Other than my 10k they haven't cheered me on before in my training runs, so that was a fun little bonus. Of course the biggest first was that this was the first time I ran 11 miles. As I found out later I had actually run 11.41 miles. Once again the last 3 miles were extremely difficult. I was having difficulty picking my feet up off the ground, but I kept my feet and legs moving. I wasn't as tired as I felt after this run as I did the week I ran 10, but I still was tired. Still I felt great that I was able to run 11 miles.

Lastly, I had a first this run as to pain. After 7 miles I was really noticing a pain that was a stinging feeling and very unconfortable. This wasn't a pain of muscle, tendon or bone, but ... a pain in the skin. I don't know if it was the rain or me dumping water over my head, but my wet shirt I think caused my nipples to become very chaffed and sore. It a new experience for me and I'm sure I looked funny as I ran I periodically pulled my shirt away from my body to minimize the friction my shirt was causing. I was warned that this might happen so now I'm going to have to find some remedy to prevent this from happening again. For all those who have not had issues with this, be grateful. VERY grateful.

So a run full of firsts and I hope that the firsts continue as I reach my goal of 13.1. Gotta run.

Great Expectations

The big goal last Saturday was to run 10 miles to prepare for a half marathon in June. I was pretty pumped about getting out there and getting back on track after a few weeks of only 6 mile runs. I have done a better job of running on 2 other times during the week, so I was expecting a little more effort on my part for the 10 miles, but I was feeling good about the run. I should have been a little more concerned with the heat as it was in the upper 80s when I ventured out for the run in 1pm. I was feeling real good for the first 2 miles and I even left myself a water bottle on my front steps so I would have some fluid to replenish myself at mile 3. Then things got real tough. Miles 4-5 were pretty difficult. I felt drained of energy and I was having a difficult time even picking my feet up off the ground. My muscles and breathing were fine, but I felt zapped. I barely made it back home at 6.5 miles and I knew I couldn't achieve my goal of running 10 miles. I wasn't feeling too pleased with myself at not being able to run more than 7 miles. I just figured I've have to keep plugging away and hope my endurance would catch up.

This past week I did my two 6 to 7 mile runs and I realized I should probably run in the morning to avoid the incredible heat we have received. I think it has helped. So, I ventured out this morning with the same goal of running 10 miles. There was a big difference running this morning in the cooler weather than last week. I was feeling good again between miles 1-3. I hit a little bit of a wall on mile 4, but with some determination I pushed through it and was feeling good for miles 5-6. Then the real wall hit at mile 7. I still had 3 miles left and I felt like I was shuffling along like those old mall walkers. Actually they were jogging faster that I was for miles 8-9. However, at least I was able keep running and I didn't stop to walk. Then came mile 9. 1 mile to go and I was feeling it. My legs ached and my feet were burning. I had .5 of a mile to go and I didn't know I would make it without stopping, but I'd gone this far and I wasn't going stop now. I pushed and pushed and the end was in sight as I got to the end of my street. I could hear the cheers as I was yards away. YES! I had finished and ran all 10 miles. I have never been so exhausted, but the wonderful sense of accomplishment is overpowering my weariness. I looked up my route on http://www.usatf.org/routes/map/ and as it turns out I actually ran 10.32 miles today. Its a great feeling overcoming ones self-doubts and accomplishing a personal best of running 10.32 miles in 1 hour and 40 minutes. The next step is to keep up this pace and increase the miles each week and not take too many weekends off.

That's it for now, gotta run.

Keeping on Track ... Sort of

After a fun 10K run I was feeling good and on track with my schedule to run in a half marathon in June.  Then life got in the way. I ran the next Monday, but missed my Thursday run.  I took that weekend off with Mother's Day as I treated my wife to a Saturday and part of Sunday Mother's Day extravaganza. I hope she enjoyed it. So I ran again the following Monday and it was tough taking a week off. My breathing was a little more labored and my muscles didn't like being used again after a week off.  However, I got through it. The past 2 Monday's I ran 6 miles each as I won't run the longer distances (8+ miles) until Saturdays. So I missed last Thursday again for some strange reason I really can't remember now and then on Saturday I couldn't make it out because of a Sister's weekend my sweetie went on and I was a little (very little) under the weather. So that brings us to this week.  Monday I started running on the treadmill with renewed vigor and determination to get myself back on track. I ran 2.5 miles on the treadmill until my wife got home who told me I should go outside (wasn't that sweet?) and outside I ran another 3.25 miles and I did it in 22-25 minutes. So this Saturday I plan to run the longest I ever have run before which is 10 miles (or more). I hope my legs can keep up as I've taken a longer break than I should have. I'll have to fill you in on how that went next week. Thanks for the well wishes and I gotta run.

First 10K Run

Well, the day of my first race has come and gone. I was a little nervous as I hadn't run a competitive race since I was 13 and in 8th grade middle school. I don't remember what the race was, but it was probably only for 3 miles and it is a good guess that I came in between 20th and 30th. Since the race is close to where I live I decided to drive down last Monday and run the coarse to see what it was like. There are no hills in my town where I train, but there are hills on this coarse. So running the trail before hand boosted my confidence in the fact that I could run it even with the hills. So, my buddy, Eric, and I (after registering and stretching) were ready race. This was the first time we ran together and I think our paces are about the same so neither one of us has to worry about keeping up with the other. 

Here we are taking off from the starting line.

It was a gorgeous day in the mid 60s and a nice breeze at our backs for the first mile. The second mile brought the largest hill of the day, but after ascending its heights, it was nice to get it out of the way early. The third mile was gradually decending down from the massive hill we accended in mile 2. Mile 4 was flat with a stronger breeze in our faces. Mile 5 had 2 more hills one right after the other, which were difficult to traverse, but once on top it was downhill all the way. Then mile 6 brought the strongest wind yet seemingly trying to blow us backwards as we approached the finish line. With a quarter of a mile to go we really started pumping to pass a few folks a head of us. They had been a head of us the whole race and we really wanted to pass them up. Granted they were a bunch of ladies, but dang it we passed them! Then with the last bit of endurance we had, we raced to the finish to the loud cheers of our families beckoning us on. 

Here we are coming to the finish.

My time was 56:39 which averaged a 9:07 per mile. The best I'd run 6.2 miles ever. I was the 22nd man to finish, 47th overall and 5th in my age group of 30-34. While I am happy with the run, I feel the need to explain all the facts. There were 30 men who ran the race (I was 22nd), a total of 82 racers (I was 47th) and there were only 5 men in my age group (and I was 5th, you do the math). So a little disappointing to know all those facts, but this is still the best I've run thus far and I'm very pleased with my training after 2 months of dedication. 

Here I am all sweaty after the race.

(Notice me representing TN!)

Two good looking racers after the 10K.

 

My wonderful family supporting my mid-life crisis, which is running 10Ks and half marathons.

The Runners! Eric (left), Erica (a friend from church who whooped up on us by a blistering 7 minutes) and me.

My next race will be in June and will be the half marathon. Lots of training to do til then, but I'm feeling really good about it and look forward to running in my first half marathon. I'll keep you updated on my progress and other fun stories. Until then, gotta run.