The Dreaded Mile.

So I am doing the Couch to 5k plan with my daughter. I did this before alone but I never totally finished it the program.

We just finished week 5 this morning. :)

When we started the program, I think it was about 90 on day one, with about 80% humidity. We also ran in a field that is across the street from my house instead of on the road. Today was only 60 and there was a nice cool breeze. It was absolutely incredible.

Now, I live 5 miles from anything. I mean if you Google map me there is nothing around except for farms. I love it out here, but the roads are narrow country roads and some of the cars tend to not pay attention. My thought was run the field, but it's a training ring for horses so the ground is really rutted from them.

We have been going out to a track as well that is near us ( nothing is near us but it's as near as you can get ). I like running a track sometimes, but it can get boring. The roads however, well they are awesome, but really hilly. But to be honest I think when I am at the track I miss the hills more than anything. To give you and idea of how cool it is to run here, the other night I was running out the road alone ( my daughter had a prior commitment ) and while I was running I looked over and there were deer running in the field next to me. I was really peaceful to see that.

But that isn't what this post is about. This post is about the MILE. I have read that once you run a mile it's easier. There is a barrier that you break through, perhaps more mental than physical, but it's there. I run slow, I am getting faster, but I am running slow so no more shin splints.. no more injuries at all. I just want to run, time is nothing to me right now. But I run like a turtle, but I am running!!!

So today, we had to run for 20 minutes straight. Normally, I would go to the track the first time for this distance, but today, I just didn't want to. I don't know why, I wanted the hills. So we started from our front door up the hill with our 5 min warm up walk and then when we hit the flat part of our route we were still walking. The program never told me to run.. I looked and when I locked the phone I also paused the program. We walked most of the flat part where we could have been running. :/ So we resumed it and kept moving forward, (the route we chose to do today was a little over 3 miles we figured we could walk the end of it so we didn't' have to do an out and back ) we started running on the longest hill, it's not that steep, just very long. Now we have run this before, but not with 20 mins of running, usually 5 minutes then we walk. We ran up it and kept going... out and out. My calves were telling me, HEY DUMMY we could have done the track today. But I didn't, I chose the hills.

The top of that hill is a little downgrade, my daughter was cheering the downhill and I was snickering cause I knew what was next.. A huge fairly steep hill, (she didn't know it was coming :) ). We didn't give up, mostly i didn't give up, she made it look easy, and in the end we did the 20 mins with NO stopping NO walking and although it was slow 14min/per mile. We did it!!

The mile has been conquered again... the barrier has been shattered!!! It's so good to be running again :) Bring on the Marathon!!! ok yeah 5k :)

Wow 3 Years!!!!

I can't believe it has been 3 years since I posted on here. :(

I am sorry I have been away. Life had been getting the better of me and well, I got lazy.....

So lazy that I stopped running, I gained weight...

I was pushing back into the 270s again, and I was not proud of it. My body decided that it needed me to start paying attention to it again and kicked me by destroying my Gall Bladder. I had to have it removed and while I was in there, in recovery, waiting to go home one of my doctors came in and told me, you know you are going down the same path I was on. High Blood Pressure, gall bladder failed, next your are going to start getting chest pains. Then you'll have a stroke.

Yeah, it was that bad. I was a mess, but he suggested I read a book called "Eat to Live" by Dr. Joel Fuhrman http://www.drfuhrman.com/. I read it, I loved it, the facts that he provided were enough for me.

So I became a Vegetarian (more Vegan). My primary care physician told me I was nuts. I already knew that though. :)

I started to not only loose weight but I noticed that my clothes were starting to get too big, then they got too big and started falling off. I went from a 42 inch waist to a 33 (at this point) and I am still dropping.

I started to run again...and it was so much easier I guess loosing 51 lbs will have that effect on ya huh?

My resting heart rate is below 60, my max heart rate when I run is only 160 and I mean run hard.

I love running again and my daughter is running with me. We started the couch to 5k plan and we are killing it. Every run gets easier, I don't dread going to the next week. I look forward to the challenge of it.

So I am back, I thought about abandoning this blog, starting over fresh with a new one but this is me, my history!

I'll be here more, it won't all be about running, I'll tell you about food adventures too. :)

It's really good to be back...

My New Running Partner

I found a running partner. Someone I can run with every time I run.

Over the past week, My daughter has expressed interest in running with me. I have been trying to get her to run with me since I started this. But, she really wanted to run this time. So, on Saturday, we headed out to a running store and had her fitted up for shoes. She is very anti-pink which made me laugh because the first pair of shoes they suggested were pink with a flower pattern on them.

We bought her a pair of shoes and some socks at the running store, then we went to Target to get her some running clothes. She bought wicking everything, and I mean everything. Then we headed home, it was late, we all had a long day so we decided that we would start her running on Sunday.

Sunday morning was cold, rainy and downright miserable, so we waited, hoping the rain would stop at least. It finally did around 6 pm so we went out for a run.

I did not want to push her to hard her first day out. So we decided on a mile, trying a 30 second run 30 second walk method. We did really well and had a great time. Tomorrow we are going to try and go to the track at her high school and run there. I also got her excited on trying a 5K. That will be really fun :)

I'm Back

Don't worry, I didn't die. I took some time off to allow my dang shins to heal up properly. 15 weeks, no running. It was tough, I missed it. I groaned at the loss, but now I am running again... did I mention pain free.

I decided to start over from the begining. To take it slow and easy and not push myself to far. So I am doing just that. Slow, easy, every other day. Not pushing it. If I don't feel right I back off and redo the day. If I think there is any chance of injury, I wait.

So far, I haven't missed or had to redo a day yet. There was one bad day, I couldn't make it the last run. I stopped 20 seconds short. But I trucked on the next time out and it felt like I could go on forever. I didn't though. I am still waiting.

Yesterday, was my first day of week 3. 5 mins of warmup followed by 90 seconds running, 90 seconds walking, 3 mins running, 3 mins walking then repeat the 90s and 3's again. It was hot, like 80 and humid so it was tough, but I did it. Then I walked for 10 mins to cool down and relax.

It was a good day, there are a lot of good days ahead.

As for racing, not yet, to much too soon. There are plenty of races in the future and besides I have other things planned as well for the summer. But that my friends is another post.

Till then :)

So....

So I came home Friday to a huge surprise. I have been wanting a dog to run and hike with cause the vast majority of my workouts are just me out there and to be honest, I get bored with it. It's not that I don't want to do it, it's the scenery being the same all the time has gotten old. So I have been looking for a dog, and to my surprise my wife found one, picked her up and had her at the house when I got home. Her name is Lucy and she is a sweetheart. She loves everyone and other than some pulling issues on the leash, she is awesome.

Tonight, her and I are going to go out on a long walk, with a few little jogs mixed in to see how she does. I don't want to push it with her and she is too young yet to go very far running.

As for me, I am sure you all are wondering what is going on. Well, I am still nipping away at this running thing. the time I took off did wonders for my shins and they don't hurt at all anymore. Also I have been doing Pilates at work once a week and those sessions are really strengthing my Core and legs.

I have commited myself to do the Rachel Carson Hike next year. All 35 miles of it. So I have been training for that a lot as well. it's also helped my endurance out a ton. Pushing those hills even walking makes you get stronger I tell ya.

Speaking of hills, well it's getting colder, and I am itching to try the steps again. I set a goal pf 12 times up by the end of winter, that would be one vertical mile up. So keep checking in for my progess on that.

For all of you who's blogs I follow, I am in catch up mode. I am sorry I haven't been there. Life gets in the way of everything. But things are slowing down, it's that time of the year again.

My next 5K I believe will be a turkey trot of some kind. Just not sure which one I am going to do.

Also, I have been doing a lot of reading lately, my last book which I finished yesterday was Into Thin Air, by John Krakauer. Highly suggest reading it, and while you are at it try Into the Wild by John as well. Both are on the tops of my all time best reads.... but that is for another day...

Till then.....

Still Here and A Race Report

Let me open this by saying that I know I haven’t been posting because life has been exceptionally busy these past few months. But I haven’t given up, haven’t quit, I am still going strong (well kinda).

About 8 weeks ago I noticed the pain in my shins was getting to be a bit well um painful so I decided that I would let them rest. Give them the time they needed to heal before I ended up in a cast or something. So I hiked a lot. But no running other than the occasional run to the car when it was raining. No pounding on my legs so to speak. I wasn’t sure I was going to do this Race. I wasn’t ready for it in my mind, I hadn’t been running. But a week before the race I snuck out while my daughter was on her horse at the barn and took a nice little run in the country. Just 2 miles total counting warm up and cool down, nothing all that long. I just wanted to see how my shins where, if there was any pain I committed myself to go see a doctor.

Well there was no pain, other than my lungs screaming I thought you quit doing this! It was wonderful; I was running on country roads through corn fields. So I decided that even though I wasn’t ready for the race I would do it and see what I had lost and start the rebuilding process from there.

I registered and the day after that I got an email that was sent to a running club I joined that they were looking for 15 people to run the race in all Adidas gear, with a foe blindfold on to advertise the Adidas tent at the end of the race. For this I got a shirt shorts and a pair of Adidas running shoes, to keep! Plus they are going to cover my race entry. So I emailed them back and was like HELL YES! Well I really didn’t do it that way, but that was my initial response.

Pittsburgh hosted the G-20 Summit 3 days before the race and on the last day of that I could pick up my race packet. I didn’t let the stinking protesters stop me from getting my race packet. I left work and drove right down on Friday to pick it up. Walked around, talked to a few people I know and then headed out to drive past soldiers and check points to get home. Went for a small run Friday night, to double check my legs and try for distance. I didn’t go to set any records on this run, just wanted to warm up some for the race on Sunday plus I wanted to see how I was going to fair on hills. Still no pain and the hills sucked like always but I got up them with a little walking. On Saturday I had to go get all my new FREE gear, I have to admit I was a little worried about running a race in brand new un tested shoes. But since it’s only 3 miles and I wasn’t going to push it to hard I figured I would be fine. When I got there the girl told me that she didn’t have the blindfolds yet but would send one up with someone else on Sunday morning to the starting point.

Race day:

I woke up at 5:45 am to it pouring down rain, it was cold and miserable. I had to repress the thoughts about backing out down, so I really wouldn’t do it. I had to show up at the starting line 45 mins early to meet the other Adidas runners and get my foe blind fold. When they were all there, none of them had a blind fold for me. So I went without it.

There were over 5,000 people entered in the race and it looked like all of them showed up. I ended up in about the middle of the pack because there were walkers and I didn’t want to have to get around them at the beginning. It still was raining but it slowed to a drizzle and while I was wet, the excitement of the race start kept me warm. I talked to friends and waited for the gun to go off. Once it did, all bets were off, you ran or you got run over till it thinned out a little. When it did I set a nice comfortable pace and just ran. I had forgotten to bring my heart monitor, so I didn’t have a way to watch my HR, which should have bothered me, but I was enjoying the race too much to notice.

At the end of the first mile they had a water station for us. I grabbed a cup and kept going, by this point I was still in the pack but at the back of it, but I was still running, which was my goal. I didn’t care about the time, although I did think about it. The water at the first station almost made me throw up. It was warmish and tasted a like a swimming pool. Tons of chlorine, I tell you. But it did the trick to keep me going, we were about ½ ways up the first and only hill in the race, the rest was all down. Once we started down I had to walk for a min to stretch my leg muscles they weren’t hurting but I was really tight. I ran beside an older gentleman who told me that he runs this race every year for the view. He comes in from Boston to run it. The view of the river and the city is awesome on the roads we were on. Normally, I drive these roads at 50 mph. I suggest to anyone, even walk the 5k if you really want to see Pittsburgh’s beauty.

Coming into downtown was awesome too, to see the buildings and the noise of the crowd at the finish line was echoing up through the city. We ran down through town, turned to outskirt a little of it then right into Point State Park. Coming in with 10,000 or more people cheering you on was great, I sprinted the last 500 yards, I was tired, spent and I really could feel the effects of the weeks I didn’t run pulling on me, but with the crowd there, that many people, I wasn’t going to give up until I hit that damn line.

I crossed it, looked at the time and was like really? I knew I PR’d but I didn’t know by how much. I didn’t have my HR monitor so no timer there and my phones GPS system was too hard to run because I wasn’t allowed to show anything but Adidas stuff. So I went and ate a Banana (god they are still my favorite fruit) drank ice cold water and then had some pasta and ½ of an orange. I still wasn’t sure of my time though, but the rain started to really come down and I had to get a shuttle back to my car. I went home, knowing I did well but not how well.

Finally after I got home, I got my time (40:17) beat my PR by a full minute even with the weeks off. Today I am a little sore, but there is no shin pain to speak of. But it is a good sore, a well fought sore that I will remember for awhile.

Tonight, well I hear the road calling me, saying hey 17 seconds and you would have beat 40 mins. By spring my friend you are going to beat 30.

Major Slacking

Life is really getting busy as of late. I tell ya it's hard enough to find time to do anything outside of work and exercise. I am sorry I haven't been here for so long.

I do have a ton of updates for you all though!

Let me start by saying other than running I have been hiking a lot and riding my bike as well. That being said 2 weeks ago I had a fight with some gravel on the road and well it won. My bike stopped and well to be honest I didn't :P I have a major rip out of my knee and it's all scabby and gross. But it's a battle wound!!!

So for the past 2 weeks I have been babying my knee, well except for last Saturday, I had a 5k planned. On the Thursday before I got out and tried to run but the pain that was shooting up through my leg didn't let me go far. I barley made it a 1/2 mile before I turned around and walked back. I had ice in the car so I iced my knee down and grumbled the whole time. I had this 5k that was planned and paid for, not by me by a friends company and I promised I would be there.

So I intended on running a little of it and walking the rest. But on Saturday morning when I woke up at um 4 am for a 8:30 start. BTW the race was 90 minutes away from my house. We packed up the car and headed out and my knee felt better, not 100% but better none the less. So I said well I won't try for a PR I will just try and see how I do. And if I have to walk most of it so be it.

We got there and I met my friend Betsy and her Hubby and got group photos done of our team. Then we stretched and got to the back of the pack for the start of the race. There was a 10k, 5k run and both in a walk program too. So the walkers waited until all us runners left.
The race started out on a 1/4 mile track then we hit the roads of Somerset PA. For those of you who that don't remember this is where the plane went down on 9-11. After we hit the road the first mile and about a 1/4 was basically flat. It was humid and foggy and I was sweating like a pig but my knee wasn't hurting all that much. More of the scab crunching than anything else. Then I hit the HILL, it was a long one, not very steep but long and drawn out. On this hill I chose my target of who I had to beat. I didn't intend on running most of this so I hadn't picked anyone out. But there was this lady who was pretty far ahead of me and I choose her to pass. She was my target, but after another 1/4 mile I noticed she was pulling away, damn this hill is long. So I forgot about passing her and just ran with some walking of course up the hill. On the hill I heard a huffing and puffing and looked back to see a power walker coming to pass me. Man he was moving for walking. He ended up coming in with 10 min miles. Where was I... well read on :P

At the top of the hill it kinda leveled out and then we hit another little hill. My knee was holding up pretty well and I looked up and still didn't see my target. I kept thinking oh well, I picked someone that was to far ahead to catch. But I kept trucking on. I wasn't walking as much, I am slowly learning pacing. It's very hard to run slow :P

When I started to hear the announcer at the finish line I really felt like I should just keep running harder but I held back because I really wasn't sure how long I had left. I just held my pace and then I saw the fence and the grandstands of the track and knew I was close now. I was really tired and my knee was starting to ache a little and I really wanted water (they didn't have a good water stop on the course) I came through the fence and Betsy was already done and there cheering me on. Just 1/4 mile to go and I looked out and about 1/16 of a mile ahead was my target. I could catch her if I just pick it up a little. So I did, and she did too.... B***h :P I was spent to be honest, even the little I picked it up killed me but I really wanted to pass her. 1/2 way around the track now, she was just ahead but I wasn't gaining I was pacing her. What to do, Oh hell, I went all out at a sprint as fast as I could. I felt great the knee pain melted away, or was hidden by the pain of running this fast. I have been doing speed work but not after 3 miles of hills. She was right there, Right in front of me. I am not sure if she knew I was trying to pass her but I did, I flew by her and across the finish line. 42:31... slow, not a PR but my knee didn't kill me. Then I got my water and I was ready to run more. I was pumped that I passed her.

2 days later Betsy emailed me the link to our photos that we can purchase, and told me something interesting. The start was shotgun, so being at the back of the pack of about 600 people I lost a minute maybe more before I actually hit the starting line. So I more than likely did PR. Just not sure of the time.

This weekend coming up I have an 8 mile hike planned. It is a sweep hike of the Rachel Carson Trail challenge 34 miles. We are sweeping check points 3 -4 then on Sunday I have a 5k trail race. That should be interesting. I'll let you all know if I am still alive after that :)