Well here we are, new month, end of year, let's go out with bang. First off, I plan on doing better with the blog, maybe there is someone who can find some use behind my journey, I know I've benefited from reading other people's blogs.
Since we have a new month, and I am proud of accomplishing my biggest feat of the year, I want to go out with a bang. My goal is to run 200 miles this month. This came about from a new blog that I found, http://jrtrunr.blogspot.com/, my fellow twitter friend Jess. Jess managed to run 300 miles in a month, http://jrtrunr.blogspot.com/2009/09/300-miles-strong.html, 300 miles in a month, yes I repeated that because that's a bunch, think of how far 300 miles is just in your car alone. This equals to 10 miles a day, without any rest days, no slip ups, nothing. A very strict schedule which, having accomplished my feat of the Chicago Marathon, I know takes plenty of dedication. Since I'm not running baller status yet, my goal is going to be 200 miles.
I have slipped up since running my marathon, in the sense that 2 months prior to the marathon, running had become fun, if you will, or just eh another run. Since then, I haven't run consistently and now even come to the point where I'm putting pressure on myself for timing. Yes my times have dropped drastically but losing focus of my main priority long distance.
I want to thank Jess, for telling of your feat, and inspiring this goal and Michelle, another friend from twitter. Michelle is a beast when it comes to running. She goes out on early morning runs, and comes back posting 6+ mile runs with times in the 8 min mile pace. This isn't a grand thing to seasoned runners, but you see Michelle just ran her first marathon in October and ran a 4 hour plus marathon. I ran a 3:49:58 and to see her come back with the those times and distances, means I got really really lucky, she had a bad run and I have lots work on. There's plenty of people who have movtivated me in my running, too many to name, you'll have your day to shine in my blogs, just had to mention Jess and Michelle.
So its on....me, my shoes, iphone, and Shures
"Reach for the stars
And if you don't grab 'em,
At least you'll fall on top of the world
Think about it"
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
10 Days
Distance: 7 Time: 1:00:49 Temperature: 64
10 days and counting until what I have been training for since January 1, 2012. Many thoughts atm but this will be a short post as I need to get to sleep and try something new before the big day. I have found that I am at my best running when I have been active for hours, meaning when I run at 5PM or after. When I run right after waking up, it seems as if all my muscles don't have enough blood flow and make for a rather uneasy run.
These next days will be followed with daily posts until The Day.
10 days and counting until what I have been training for since January 1, 2012. Many thoughts atm but this will be a short post as I need to get to sleep and try something new before the big day. I have found that I am at my best running when I have been active for hours, meaning when I run at 5PM or after. When I run right after waking up, it seems as if all my muscles don't have enough blood flow and make for a rather uneasy run.
These next days will be followed with daily posts until The Day.
Monday, September 17, 2012
20 Miles
Distance 20.03 Time 2:58:38 Pace 8:55 Temperature 68
Well today's orginal blog on music is going to be pushed back until its done and for today we are replacing it with today's accomplishments. With 21 days remaining until D Day, I knew that I had to get in a long run to a) make sure I could last and b) to serve as confidence in my training schedule, which is not the one I had started back on January 1, 2012.
We set out today with the mind set of doing at least 15-18 miles as 16 is my longest on the road distance I have ever done. I don't like to go out saying "hey let me do 22 miles," because the way my mind works, its more less setting myself up for failure. I prefer to set the bar low and then feel out the conditions and make a decision as to how much further to keep going.
The day started out rather bad as I didn't wake up at the crack of dawn and had to put the run off until 5PM at the latest. I believe I have found the perfect formula for food before running which is a big problem for runners. My lunch, which was at 12:30PM consisted of Bacon Double Cheeseburger, Double Cheeseburger, and a Plain Original Chicken Sandwich all three from Burger King. For most people, I'm sure that eating this much food from a fast food restaurant would not sit well, especially before setting out to go run. For some reason, my body reacts totally different to food from just Burger King, even though I only had 4 hours for the food to digest. It seems that it serves as just energy for me. Right before setting out, I drank a 16 oz bottle of water flavored with Crystal Light Peach Iced Tea, and a couple sips of water.
Its weird as I was under the impression that your supposed to stretch before any type of activity especially something as long distance running, but new studies and advice from runners, in my running club have led me to not stretching at all with exception of shins and shoulders. After a couple minutes of taking in the nice weather and scenery outside the apartment I set about my run, which was going to consist of many circles and up and downs on the streets near my apartment.
At about mile 3-5 we started to get this slight left leg falling asleep problem that I noticed on my last run of 13 miles last week. Rather weird if you think about it, constantly moving your leg/foot and it falling asleep, weird. This was overcome about mile 6/7, thank goodness.
I don't know what it is about running long distances more less or just the sense of accomplishment of a barrier one personally didn't think was achievable but it seems that emotions run high. While listening to music there are certain songs that give you that extra jolt of energy. In today's run it was Mana-Manda Una Senal and the other song sticking out more than the other 46 was Havana Brown Feat. Pitbull-We Run The Night. With the former song I remember finding myself running past one of the restaurants, with a patio along Colley Ave, and singing aloud without a care in the world. The latter just has a beat that gave me a jolt of energy finding myself running at what I believe was a 7:00 minute mile pace. At about mile 18 it just hit me and we had a slight buildup of tears. It seems like you get overtaken with emotion from accomplishing something that you personally did with no help from others and that no one can take away. I always wondered why athletes cried and thought to myself, man I'd be super happy not crying, but now I can relate.
What does it feel like when you finish? Well thank god it wasn't as bad as when I used to run long distances on a treadmill. On a treadmill, I would feel like my legs where going to fall off. On this run the only pain was in my upper calves which after mild stretching was fixed. The only downside is what I believe is hypothermia. Your body temperature just drops and your body turns cold. Even taking a shower in hotter than normal water even feels cold. Its cool to wonder about comic movies and these characters having superpowers some which of course would never exist in real life, but while running or after, my body develops this heightened sense of senses. Directly after running I can drink something and with water, for example, I can taste the minerals more than normal, and with other liquids the flavors just jump out making some drinks that I normally drink undrinkable or better yet I can notice flavors advertised but not normally noticeable. I lose a sense of hearing but this is due to the Shures blasting music in my ears for 3 hours, which I'm sure isn't healthy but oh well. Hopefully the only other problem that normally accompany my long runs will not happen tonight which is my inability of sleep? I guess we shall see tomorrow.
Well today's orginal blog on music is going to be pushed back until its done and for today we are replacing it with today's accomplishments. With 21 days remaining until D Day, I knew that I had to get in a long run to a) make sure I could last and b) to serve as confidence in my training schedule, which is not the one I had started back on January 1, 2012.
We set out today with the mind set of doing at least 15-18 miles as 16 is my longest on the road distance I have ever done. I don't like to go out saying "hey let me do 22 miles," because the way my mind works, its more less setting myself up for failure. I prefer to set the bar low and then feel out the conditions and make a decision as to how much further to keep going.
The day started out rather bad as I didn't wake up at the crack of dawn and had to put the run off until 5PM at the latest. I believe I have found the perfect formula for food before running which is a big problem for runners. My lunch, which was at 12:30PM consisted of Bacon Double Cheeseburger, Double Cheeseburger, and a Plain Original Chicken Sandwich all three from Burger King. For most people, I'm sure that eating this much food from a fast food restaurant would not sit well, especially before setting out to go run. For some reason, my body reacts totally different to food from just Burger King, even though I only had 4 hours for the food to digest. It seems that it serves as just energy for me. Right before setting out, I drank a 16 oz bottle of water flavored with Crystal Light Peach Iced Tea, and a couple sips of water.
Its weird as I was under the impression that your supposed to stretch before any type of activity especially something as long distance running, but new studies and advice from runners, in my running club have led me to not stretching at all with exception of shins and shoulders. After a couple minutes of taking in the nice weather and scenery outside the apartment I set about my run, which was going to consist of many circles and up and downs on the streets near my apartment.
At about mile 3-5 we started to get this slight left leg falling asleep problem that I noticed on my last run of 13 miles last week. Rather weird if you think about it, constantly moving your leg/foot and it falling asleep, weird. This was overcome about mile 6/7, thank goodness.
I don't know what it is about running long distances more less or just the sense of accomplishment of a barrier one personally didn't think was achievable but it seems that emotions run high. While listening to music there are certain songs that give you that extra jolt of energy. In today's run it was Mana-Manda Una Senal and the other song sticking out more than the other 46 was Havana Brown Feat. Pitbull-We Run The Night. With the former song I remember finding myself running past one of the restaurants, with a patio along Colley Ave, and singing aloud without a care in the world. The latter just has a beat that gave me a jolt of energy finding myself running at what I believe was a 7:00 minute mile pace. At about mile 18 it just hit me and we had a slight buildup of tears. It seems like you get overtaken with emotion from accomplishing something that you personally did with no help from others and that no one can take away. I always wondered why athletes cried and thought to myself, man I'd be super happy not crying, but now I can relate.
What does it feel like when you finish? Well thank god it wasn't as bad as when I used to run long distances on a treadmill. On a treadmill, I would feel like my legs where going to fall off. On this run the only pain was in my upper calves which after mild stretching was fixed. The only downside is what I believe is hypothermia. Your body temperature just drops and your body turns cold. Even taking a shower in hotter than normal water even feels cold. Its cool to wonder about comic movies and these characters having superpowers some which of course would never exist in real life, but while running or after, my body develops this heightened sense of senses. Directly after running I can drink something and with water, for example, I can taste the minerals more than normal, and with other liquids the flavors just jump out making some drinks that I normally drink undrinkable or better yet I can notice flavors advertised but not normally noticeable. I lose a sense of hearing but this is due to the Shures blasting music in my ears for 3 hours, which I'm sure isn't healthy but oh well. Hopefully the only other problem that normally accompany my long runs will not happen tonight which is my inability of sleep? I guess we shall see tomorrow.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Bad Morning Turning To Great Run
So my day didn't start off as planned. It started by me sleeping past my alarms for my running club meetup at 6:00 AM but still managed to turn it into a real positive run afterall.
I woke up at 5:30 as normal but hit the 5:45 snooze button and didn't wake up till 6:16. I laid in bed for couple mins in disgust before throwing covers off and going about my run on my own.
I set out at 6:45 ish and started right outside of my apartment. I knew that I wanted go get in 7 miles but didnt want to keep looking at gps, as it dismotivates me so I kept count of songs played. I figured 2 songs for every mile with adding another 5 songs to make up for short songs. The run was going great, everything from temperature, 64 degrees, to no stretching, Ill explain that part another day, to the actual run itself. Right when was thinking of checking time I looked at the gps and figured I had another 2 to 2.5 miles until my 7 mile mark and to my suprise I had already passed it. If only I could explain the joy running through my mind. Since I was feeling so good, I kept going and put in 9.36.
I don't know how much my experiment of pasta for lunch worked and not eating anything after 3 PM, but it leaves something to try again manana due to todays success. We shall see???
I woke up at 5:30 as normal but hit the 5:45 snooze button and didn't wake up till 6:16. I laid in bed for couple mins in disgust before throwing covers off and going about my run on my own.
I set out at 6:45 ish and started right outside of my apartment. I knew that I wanted go get in 7 miles but didnt want to keep looking at gps, as it dismotivates me so I kept count of songs played. I figured 2 songs for every mile with adding another 5 songs to make up for short songs. The run was going great, everything from temperature, 64 degrees, to no stretching, Ill explain that part another day, to the actual run itself. Right when was thinking of checking time I looked at the gps and figured I had another 2 to 2.5 miles until my 7 mile mark and to my suprise I had already passed it. If only I could explain the joy running through my mind. Since I was feeling so good, I kept going and put in 9.36.
I don't know how much my experiment of pasta for lunch worked and not eating anything after 3 PM, but it leaves something to try again manana due to todays success. We shall see???
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
25 Days
So it has finally hit me that getting up at 5:30 AM sucks bad. I mean, who really wants to get up anytime before 9 AM? My main motivation in getting up is knowing that after October 7, I will be sleeping in till at least 9 for a couple weeks.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
13 Miles In Ghent
Well I've been away for awhile from blogging, busy with the move to Norfolk and getting into the rythmn of things.
Its crunch time now for the Chicago Marathon and today called for a long run, managed to put in 13, 2 shy of what I ideally wanted but it will do. For todays run, I ran around Ghent and pretty much just went up and down side streets and in circles. Its pretty fun with only downside being the up and down sidewalk ramps, too much stress on knees from changing elevations if you will.
The overall status at this point is very promising being the ankle is fine, the lower body is fine, and upper body with exception of shoulders being okay. My mentallity on long runs is a bit bothersome with things going through my mind but something that I can manage or will have to. I keep telling myself to just go along with it. At the present time another concern is my time, or pace being too fast.
When I started running last year I started running on a treadmill and I never imagined that whatever pace I programmed my body to would be what would actually happen on pavement. My pace on the treadmill was 8 and 1/2 minute miles which equates to 7 miles per hour. This is the pace that I am running on pavement and in my opinion it is too fast. There are miles that I am putting in at upper 7's lower 8's. I would love to be running a constant 9:30 pace that would put me right at 4 hours and hopefully prevent me from spending all of my energy too soon. Maybe it can be something to work on in the coming weeks.
This week we will continue my unorthodox plan of 7 miles a day and then my long run on Sunday. Till tomorrow.
Its crunch time now for the Chicago Marathon and today called for a long run, managed to put in 13, 2 shy of what I ideally wanted but it will do. For todays run, I ran around Ghent and pretty much just went up and down side streets and in circles. Its pretty fun with only downside being the up and down sidewalk ramps, too much stress on knees from changing elevations if you will.
The overall status at this point is very promising being the ankle is fine, the lower body is fine, and upper body with exception of shoulders being okay. My mentallity on long runs is a bit bothersome with things going through my mind but something that I can manage or will have to. I keep telling myself to just go along with it. At the present time another concern is my time, or pace being too fast.
When I started running last year I started running on a treadmill and I never imagined that whatever pace I programmed my body to would be what would actually happen on pavement. My pace on the treadmill was 8 and 1/2 minute miles which equates to 7 miles per hour. This is the pace that I am running on pavement and in my opinion it is too fast. There are miles that I am putting in at upper 7's lower 8's. I would love to be running a constant 9:30 pace that would put me right at 4 hours and hopefully prevent me from spending all of my energy too soon. Maybe it can be something to work on in the coming weeks.
This week we will continue my unorthodox plan of 7 miles a day and then my long run on Sunday. Till tomorrow.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Hotel
Well not a running update, but news about the marathon. I was able to score a hotel, relatively close to Grant Park which is the start of the marathon.
I was actually worried due to the fact that every hotel within Chicago city limits is booked. The closet thing I found were hotels near the airports, O'hare and Midway, which would have sucked given that they both take about 40 mins to get into town.
My stay came from cancellations through the actual Bank Of America Chicago Marathon site, putting me up at Hotel 71. I had originally planned for 4 nights of complete relaxation leading up to marathon, but I booked three as it was kinda pricey and 4 days being alot of time to be alone and staying in a hotel.
All that needs to be booked now is my plane ticket. This to has also changed from original plan, which was to drive there, to have transportation. Upon finding that parking at the hotel was $50 a day, the decision was easy to make.
38 days until the big day....
I was actually worried due to the fact that every hotel within Chicago city limits is booked. The closet thing I found were hotels near the airports, O'hare and Midway, which would have sucked given that they both take about 40 mins to get into town.
My stay came from cancellations through the actual Bank Of America Chicago Marathon site, putting me up at Hotel 71. I had originally planned for 4 nights of complete relaxation leading up to marathon, but I booked three as it was kinda pricey and 4 days being alot of time to be alone and staying in a hotel.
All that needs to be booked now is my plane ticket. This to has also changed from original plan, which was to drive there, to have transportation. Upon finding that parking at the hotel was $50 a day, the decision was easy to make.
38 days until the big day....
Monday, August 27, 2012
Monday
So what does one think about whilst running? Many things actually, but the funny thing is that after a couple of steps your mind wonders off to another idea, thought, or problem. Kinda like looking at clouds, you stare and your mind creates an image and then wonders off slightly and when it comes back your image has morphed into something else. You would think that it would serve as a purpose to meditate or problem solve while I'm sure for some, it does not for me.
Todays run went fairly well, considering I failed to go run the past three days in the morning. My only cualm is running too fast, for me, at about 8 minutes per mile. My concern is that I want to finish the race without stopping and do not want to run out of energy. I plan on one more long run, hopefully 18 here in another week and use that as measuring stick. Till manana.
Todays run went fairly well, considering I failed to go run the past three days in the morning. My only cualm is running too fast, for me, at about 8 minutes per mile. My concern is that I want to finish the race without stopping and do not want to run out of energy. I plan on one more long run, hopefully 18 here in another week and use that as measuring stick. Till manana.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Saturday Mid Day Run
So I failed to wake up this morning and yesterday as well, so to "make up" we did a speed run for 3 miles. Finishing run temperature was 86 with heat index of 93. We finished the run with time of 22:48, give or take 20 seconds because my finger accidentally hit stop after a mile.
No pain was felt and ankle feels fine, hopefully it will heal by Monday's run. I am going to start a new thing with refueling besides what I have been doing of flavored water. Going to try sports drinks, mainly powerade. My research is telling me that I should be drinking those before hydration sets in to give me energy when needed, not when it runs out.
When I ran my 26 last year, I drank a big bottle of Smartwater during my run, only drinking about a cup after every 7 miles, and felt great in regards to hydration. My only concern with sports drinks is that they tend to make me more thirsty. We shall see...
No pain was felt and ankle feels fine, hopefully it will heal by Monday's run. I am going to start a new thing with refueling besides what I have been doing of flavored water. Going to try sports drinks, mainly powerade. My research is telling me that I should be drinking those before hydration sets in to give me energy when needed, not when it runs out.
When I ran my 26 last year, I drank a big bottle of Smartwater during my run, only drinking about a cup after every 7 miles, and felt great in regards to hydration. My only concern with sports drinks is that they tend to make me more thirsty. We shall see...
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Morning Chill
So nice running weather for a change, a start temperature of 64 and a finishing temperature of 65. Weird how all summer long I've wished for cold temperatures and I finally get them and I notice the chill.
The run went really well with no discomfort and only displeasure being my running app not starting with my run. I believe I would have come in at right under an?hour for 7.24 miles based on my starting time of 6:50 AM and finishing time of 7:50 AM.
Kinda cool sitting here on my bench and seeing steam coming off my body, kinda like the football players during a cold game. I wonder where all this sweat is coming from? I mean, I've neve been one to sweat much, even during wrestling in high school, or even last year when I ran my 26 at the gym. It's kinda gross, I even wrung a shirt out once with sweat, prob half a cups worth. Sucks because I have to being an extra shirt on my runs to change into for my commute home.
So till tommorrow.
The run went really well with no discomfort and only displeasure being my running app not starting with my run. I believe I would have come in at right under an?hour for 7.24 miles based on my starting time of 6:50 AM and finishing time of 7:50 AM.
Kinda cool sitting here on my bench and seeing steam coming off my body, kinda like the football players during a cold game. I wonder where all this sweat is coming from? I mean, I've neve been one to sweat much, even during wrestling in high school, or even last year when I ran my 26 at the gym. It's kinda gross, I even wrung a shirt out once with sweat, prob half a cups worth. Sucks because I have to being an extra shirt on my runs to change into for my commute home.
So till tommorrow.
Monday, August 20, 2012
August 20, 2012
Another good day on the trail, especially after the weather cast was calling for rain showers. No major pains to report, actually ankle feels significantely better, as do shoulders.
Its about a month and a half left until the marathon and I can't say I'm more excited about it. I need to start finalizing my playlist for the one I have now is too short, I believe comin in at 1:45. I have found that pop, fap, and heavy metal provide the best motivation and others tend to slow me down mentally. Nothing like Pitbull and Metallica blasting through the Shures.
My equipment needs replacing soon also as I have had my running shoes for about 3 months and put some nice road on them. Will def be getting the same pair Nike Free Run 3, in neon blue of course. Till manana.
Its about a month and a half left until the marathon and I can't say I'm more excited about it. I need to start finalizing my playlist for the one I have now is too short, I believe comin in at 1:45. I have found that pop, fap, and heavy metal provide the best motivation and others tend to slow me down mentally. Nothing like Pitbull and Metallica blasting through the Shures.
My equipment needs replacing soon also as I have had my running shoes for about 3 months and put some nice road on them. Will def be getting the same pair Nike Free Run 3, in neon blue of course. Till manana.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Sense Of Accomplishment
Well today was quite a success in so many ways. After really not wanting to get out if bed, I managed to get out and about rather late, 6:30 AM. Today seemed like a day in which I just wanted to get the run over with but turned put to be a hassle free, almost painfree run. I don't know if it was the running club that was also running out today, and me wanting to compete or whatever, but it was great. Maybe the temperature??? I wish every run from here on out was the same.
Sleep, I do know that my body does not do well with excess sleep, which by my body standards is more than 4/5 hours. For some reason I feel super tired if I sleep more than 5 hours, which is totally against everything you've been told about in regards to getting 8 hous of sleep a night. Maybe I have found the keys to my success.
Food, well yesterday what we had to eat was 1 grilled chicken quesaadilla with rice for lunch and 1 grilled steak quesadilla with rice for dinner. I have found that dairy does not sit well with my body after let's say 5 PM. I guess it needs more time to digest and well we don't want accidents during a race.
Sleep, I do know that my body does not do well with excess sleep, which by my body standards is more than 4/5 hours. For some reason I feel super tired if I sleep more than 5 hours, which is totally against everything you've been told about in regards to getting 8 hous of sleep a night. Maybe I have found the keys to my success.
Food, well yesterday what we had to eat was 1 grilled chicken quesaadilla with rice for lunch and 1 grilled steak quesadilla with rice for dinner. I have found that dairy does not sit well with my body after let's say 5 PM. I guess it needs more time to digest and well we don't want accidents during a race.
Friday, August 17, 2012
Rain Day
Well weather didn't permit me to run this AM, as it was not just raining but lightening, so I guess well have to run manana then skip a day.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Morning Hell
Wow, so even getting out of bed today was a stretch. This going to bed at 1 AM isn't going to cut it. Today called for 7 miles and with a finishing temperature of 77 degrees, the run went fairly well. Pretty cool how the mind works, in respect to zoning out parts of which you don't want to consciously think about, subconsciously. My inside ankle and shins started hurting pretty early on but around mile 4/5 I had pretty much forgot about them even being there. Lets see what tomorrow brings with my 7 manana.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Blogs
Well this kinda bites, I just found out that all my blogs which I thought had been saved to my phone, were never saved or deleted. Only thing to do know is to keep posting from here out. Some of those blogs talked about my music selection, equipment, and of course how I actually felt on those days with distances and times posted. Oh well. I have decided to get off the marathon schedule and do what worked for me last time around when I ran my 26.2. Last year I did something which I found out was very unconventional but for some reason worked, which was running 7 miles every day without a day off. Now I plan on tweaking this a bit by running the same schedule of Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday's. My version is going to be 7 miles on those days with my long day, Sunday, me running 13 miles. Part of my decision was based on the fact that some of the Olympic marathon runners have opted not to run in the Chicago Marathon, I guess they didn't want to lose to me, lol. Their reasons came down to it being to short of a period of time to be in optimal performance to let the body heal in time. They are professionals and run about twice as fast as myself, so I'm sure they know what they are doing. My decision is based on my internal motivation which has helped me run, meaning when I ran my first 26.2, I had no formal training, it was on a treadmill and I managed to finish without stopping, except for my 60 sec restroom break, which I will provide details for in a later post. I just want to finish, and the keys to me finishing my run in Chicago, is music, proper stretching, and people cheering on the 45,000 plus running in the race. Adios punks, till tom.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
August 14, 2014
Just finished 3 miles after not having have run for a week. Felt minor right side craps, upper right arm pain, and right foot inside ankle pain. With less than 53 days until, my only concern is the ankle pain. Plan is to buy some new running shows to see if that fixes it, maybe ones I have now are worn down. Plan is also to get on eating schedule to ensure healthy body instead of shit I'm doing now of eating minor portions of crap and only once a day.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Death
With 56 days until the Chicago Marathon, for some strange reason, the possibility of death from running in the marathon has come into my mind. Its weird as to why anyone would want to think of that possibility happening but as a realistic person, knowing that, it does exist. I don't consider myself the most fit or well trained but do believe I have trained enough to finish the race. Even last August when I ran my 26.2, on the treadmill at Wyatt's gym, I remember thinking the night before what if this happens, but I managed to push the idea aside and finish what I had set out to do. I was reading news article about a 30 year old Claire Squires, from England who passed at the 25 mile mark of the London Marathon this year. Her cause of death has been ruled due to irregular heartbeat, something preexisting. I myself have never gone to a doctor for anything outside of a grade school required medical, so how am I to know of any preexisting heart conditions. I have ran in some pretty serious heat and managed to do fine, I believe only once did it become excess where I was seeing stars, or bright flashes. Hopefully the temperatures that day will be in the upper 50's with highs in the mid 60's around finish time. I don't know if this alone could prevent death but it sure would help with heart failure due to it being overworked or cooked. So it raises the question? How would I want to be remembered, what thoughts would I want people to have or what things for them to say about me? I guess you can't control what they say or believe as long as they know that any wrong doing on my behalf was unintentional. Hell I know I deserve everything that has ever happened to me but believe me when I say it that everynight I go to sleep thanking the man upstairs for having another day to live and giving me the chance to be a better person the next day. I guess I really wouldn't anyone to cry for me, or even know if anyone would shed a tear for me but rather think of the fun times, the stupid moments, the intelligent conversations, and ways I tried to help or did.
Monday, May 14, 2012
14 Miles
Well today was Mother's day and lets just say we got it handed to us at work, very badly. After going through such day at work, I really didn't want to do my run but I did. I had prepared throughout the day by eating tilapia, rice and a Dr Pepper for lunch and 12 shrimp with small portion of rice for dinner at 4 PM. I came home, showered and managed to get to the gym by 11:10PM. After 13 minutes of stretching I set out for the 14 miles. With new running shoes in tow, I was very pleased with the run. Normally at mile 2/3 my shins are hurting, but not today. My only discomfort was in my shoulder region of my arms at about mile 5-8 and again starting at mile 11. Maybe next time I will stretch my arms more. I managed to weigh myself commando style and the scale said I was at 159.4. Not bad but 21 lbs off of where I hope to be at come race day. Quite tired as opposed to my last runs of 12 or greater, hopefully my runners high doesn't kick in so I can get a good rest.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Wednesday May 2
First early morning run in over 5 weeks and it feels great. After a very stiff stretch session, the run went without a hitch. Drank 2 16 oz cups of my mojito water. Just when the run was getting boring, and irritated by the guy who gets on the eliptical behind my hampsterwheel, Metallica-Whiskey In A Jar came on, nothing like a jolt of adrenaline from wanting to be in a room with women, lines of coke and bottles of Jack Daniels on the trashy motel room floor. Mind you, I've never done cocaine and hate Jack Daniels, idk kinda be awesome to be a rockstar??? Till tom.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Blog Test
So this is my test of writing a blog for my journey towards running and finishing the Chicago Marathon. This is somethig that started, subconsciously, on April 8th, 2012. I have/had been training for the Chicago Marathon since January 1, 2012, but with the restaurant opening, my training efforts have been put on pause. My thought process is that by writing a journal, accessable for the world to see, there are more eyes on me to finish. This had to start today, as its 167 days away, and I can't afford to waste any more days towards training. Today was a 3 mile run on my hampsterwheel, at 11:30 pm, as mother nature, and my bad sleeping habits, have got the best of me and kept me from a morning run. Times aren't of importance for me but keeping track of how my body is responding to different things, from foods, to liquids, sleep patterns, emotional thoughts, to hopefully having worry free painless runs. Today there was expected pain in my shins, from lower knee to top of foot, nothing I couldn't run through but definately issues needed to be addressed in near future. Lets see what the road ahead treats me like.
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