Cruising Along

Well after a couple of weeks of not sleeping and eating very well I'm down to my goal weight and am cruising along in my training. My knee is holding out after my longest run of this training course and the only nagging pain is a potential case of Planters Fasciitis in my left foot, and a right hip that aches once in a while.

My friends at Runner's Lounge are excited to be on the verge of opening the doors to their new website and I'm wishing them all the best. Go Amy and Tom! We're all pulling for you.

Until next time...keep on moving!

First Official Training Week Highlights

Over the last 48 days I have really enjoyed running and getting my body used to doing more than pushing a stroller and climbing a flight of stairs or two. My 890 plan is at day 728, leaving just 162 days until I lace up the shoes for an early morning 26.2 mile run.

This morning I ran 5.2 miles, a route that I've made myself very familiar with over the last couple of years, but this morning was different. Recently I bought a new pair of running shoes, putting my Brook's Beasts aside for this Asics model saved me 5 oz per shoe and they feel great. Today on my run I felt stronger than ever, my stride was easy and the hills that I used to dread I climbed with much more ease.

All this had my mind turning toward my race and as I ran I began visualizing the course, the finish line and anticipating the sense of accomplishment I'm sure I'll have. When my wife ran the Rock 'n' Roll 10 years ago I was there to cheer her on at a couple points and the finish line. For my race I hope to have her and our two children there to root for me.

Up until earlier this week I have usually shied away from running with others out of fear of being so slow that I'd hold them back...but I discovered the perfect compromise. As we were visiting the kid's grandmother in Moline, IL I went for a run through the John Deere headquarters property (which I highly recommend, very beautiful, nice hills, two deer watched me as I circled the lake).

As I got back to the house I found the route wasn't as long as I was shooting for so I headed out again but this time the kids wanted to run with me...my 7 and 4 year olds. By this time in my run I was going slow enough for them to keep up with me for a bit.

My daughter ran .6 miles in flip flops and my 4 year old son ran .3 miles. They both commented that they could walk almost as fast as I was running (told you I was slow, but I wasn't going that slow, honestly). Anyway, bottom line was that this little part of my run was the best part of the whole thing. Running with them gave me energy and it was fun to see them enjoying running too. I'm going to try to have them go with me for short sections when ever I can.


Running Shoes by RLivsey at Flickr
Deere Aerial Shot borrowed from the John Deere Website

Music to My Ears

Yesterday morning as I headed out the door for a Saturday run I had my iPod in hand and was searching for some music to jump start my heart and run. As I scrolled I hit my patriotic play list by accident but it wound up being an awesome choice.

God Bless America, The Star Spangled Banner, The Stars and Stripes Forever, My Country! 'Tis of Thee, are all awesome songs that evoke my pride in this great country of ours. I don't know about you but I'm the kind of guy that gets chocked up singing the national anthem and these songs really do get me moving.

So while I was hoping to find something out of a Rocky movie I found these songs, and I know next time I get out and run with the iPod I'll do it again.

Later that day I was driving to Kansas City for a quick visit and a strong sense of patriotism struck me once again as I kept seeing all the bumper stickers and ribbon magnets with slogans like "God Bless America", or "Support Our Troops".

Those three hours were really a great opportunity for me to reflect on how blessed I am, my family is, how blessed we all are to be citizens of the greatest country on earth and it made me mad as hell to think of those who would seek to harm us from abroad and from within.

Anyway, next time I'm out for a run not only will I be pulling up the patriotic tunes on the iPod but I'll be looking for flags, bumper stickers, men and women in uniform to thank and I'll be counting my blessings all over again.

Flag at Flickr by Yakk0odotorg
Ribbon at Flickr by Jason Eppink

One Mile at a Time

It feels so great to be running again, I can hardly believe that I stayed away so long.

A little over a year a go I was celebrating achieving my goal of dropping from 197 to 175 lbs through exercise and watching what I eat (not a diet by any means), I ran the largest 20k race in the US (finishing third to last in my age group), and I was feeling great.

Since then I’ve been using every excuse I could come up with to not stay on that horse:

* I was injured (true but not for a whole year)

* I had too much work to do (ditto)

* the demands of a family keep me from fitting it in (how is it that my wife can get up at 5am every day to fit her work outs in then?)

* blah, blah, blah. (Maybe you’ve been there)

Well since I’ve laced the running shoes back up three weeks ago I’ve:

* been feeling great

* got my energy back

* reduced my stress

* gotten some of the best sleep I’ve ever had

* been able to focus better at home and work

* had one person tell me I looked like I am losing weight

* rediscovered that “I’m a Runner” again

I’ll be updating my miles walked, ran and biked on the left side of my blog under “890 Progress”. I’m nearing 1,000 miles (the equivalent of driving from Des Moines to Washington, D.C.). I’m planning on participating in two races in the coming months so I’ll be posting on my training progress as well, with the big race being on my 40th birthday, Super Bowl Sunday 2008 in Huntington Beach, California.

Finally I want to give a special word of thanks to my friends Amy and Tom at Runners’ Lounge for encouraging me daily and being the voice of the running community.

I'm going to take it one mile at a time, enjoy every one of them and visualize myself crossing the finish line strong.

Man Running on Flickr by Sansartore

Finisher on Flickr by Sosidesc

Mommy is smarter than Daddy!

Recently my seven year daughter old made a bold statement about her intelligence which, in the end, left me feeling all the "dumber" and motivated to run at the same time. Her simple claim was that she was smarter than her four year old brother because she “can read and he can’t”.

Here’s how the conversation went, and how it went down hill for me:

Mom speaking to Daughter: “Honey you can read because you’re older, not because you’re smarter.”
Dad speaking to Daughter: “If you follow that logic honey you’d have to conclude that your mom is smarter than I am”. I said with a grin of disagreement.
Daughter: “She is smarter than you dad because she works out, and that’s smart, and you don’t, and that’s not smart.”
Son: “Yeah dad.”
Dad: “Ouch.”

From there I spent 10 minutes trying to come up with some way these two smartallecs would have to agree that their dad was smarter than their mom. Years in school? No, I lose by 2. Degrees earned? No, I lose by one, plus she's a lawyer. Languages spoken? No, but in my own defense Pig Latin shouldn't really count.

With the respect of my dear children fading I gave up and said "Well I can still run faster, and lift more" to which she said "Yeah but she can run further". I still lost.

All joking aside the kids should be very proud of their mother. She is the smartest person I know, and we're all smarter because she's part of the family. I hope they both end up with her brains and her work ethic...but I'm here to tell you that I'm closing the "intelligence gap" every time I go for a run or a walk or get on the bike.

If you're struggling with a lack of motivation when it comes to getting out and moving your body just remember that "exercising is smart, and not exercising isn't."

My Recent Journey

It was about two years ago that I was complaining to my wife about how I had no energy and how this and that was aching, and in a way that only she can, she looked at me and said "Don't you think you should be in the best shape of your life when you turn 40 years old?

She was right, and that night laying in bed a hatched a plan. An 890 day plan that would end with me running my first marathon on my 40th birthday....SuperBowl Sunday 2008. Being fairly sedentary at that point I started slow. I walked and cut out a few foods without really dieting. Then one day I decided to just run a block to see how I'd feel and to my surprise I felt great.

Long story short I set a few goals and tracked everything I ate, every mile I walked, ran or biked, every sit up and push up I did. It worked great, sort of. I ran a couple of organized races and lost 22 lbs overall, and got my body pretty close to high school shape.

Looking back I didn't set the right goals though because once I hit my weight goal and ran a few races I started losing interest. It's been a number of months that I've been off my 890 day plan and shamefully I have to admit that I've put all the weight back on and my pants are tighter than ever.

I've learned that for me to sustain long term success the goal can't be a number (goal weight or miles run, or goal pace - those are great milestones and reasons to celebrate but not much more), it has to be a direction. I've been back on my 890 plan for a week now, and I'm starting over again slowly. The test of my success this time isn't going to be if I finish a marathon (http://www.runsurfcity.com/site3.aspx) on February 3, 2008, it will be the next week when I'm sore and feeling proud and not so motivated to run in Iowa winter weather.

I know I'm not alone on this journey (I do have friends supporting me http://blog.runnerslounge.com/ ) and I'm hoping that by stepping out into the bloggesphere I'll meet others I can encourage. If you're training for your first marathon please write and let me know how you're doing, I'd love to visit your blog and share in your journey as well.