I made it...

21.26 miles that is in 3:41:40, it took me 3 tries but I did it today.

I won't say it was easy, in fact I pushed through more pain than I ever thought I would. I also never would have made it without the support of my lovely Wife. She gets up early on her day off and drives out and meets me at the 13 mile mark and takes all my pods and refills them with water and Gatorade for me. I am only able to carry 46 ozs of fluid so if she didn't do this for me there is no way I could go that far. And then to top it off when I get home she is making me a nice breakfast and boy am I hungry. My HRM says that I burned over 4600 calories for that run... wow.

I was good through mile 18 at that point I told my body "Just a little more than a 5k to go." At 18.5 miles my body said "hey this is where you got to last week, we could stop and walk a little" My reply was "Yeah thats what you told me last week and you lied you wouldn't start running again.

At mile 19 my body said " hey look 19 miles done you could stop here thats farther than last week" my reply " Ummmmm yeah we are doing 21. 19.75 miles my body said "oh come on look you have done 19.75 miles thats a lot" My reply was "yeah and so a mile and a half is just a little drop in the bucket.

At mile 20 my body really protested "look you just made to the farthest point you could please, please stop here." at that point I took my headphones out and said "shut the heck up you are going the full distance and that is all there is to it"

Fortunately my body listened to me or I quit listening, when I came around that last corner and saw the end of the last block I sped up. I don't think it was a big speed burst but it was more speed. When I got to the end I hurt but you know what not anymore than on any of my other long runs and as I write this the soreness is slowly fading but the knowledge that I did it is still with me.

It was important for me to make this distance today not because it was my third try but because last year this very weekend. The last one in Sep Dennis and I had a goal to run to Sutter and back on the bike path 9.2 miles. When we set that goal we were only running 3.5 miles at a time so it was ambitious but we made it. I wanted today the anniversary of that date to be the day I did the 21.26 and it was.

So, So, Soooooooooooo Close

Went out for my 21 mile run this morning. Felt really good, for the first hour I listened to a sermon by my old pastors son David Myatt. It was a really good message and kept my attention the whole time. After that it was music as usual. DW met me at about the 11 mile mark and refilled my water pods that were empty and then headed down to the 13 mile mark to wait there and refill my Gatorade pods.

At just before 17 miles I started to hurt bad, tried to push on and decided to allow myself a 5 minute walk. Did some stretches walked 5 minutes and off again but the pain just came back after about another mile. Did a couple more walk then runs and finally called it. Called DW and she came and picked me up. I am glad I did not continue to try to push. I was really sore but was able to stretch it out without too much pain.

Final total was 18.5 miles again my farthest run on my own and considering I have not been getting in as many miles during the week that I need that is not bad. Next week it will be farther even yet.

My HRM said I burned 4226 calories HOLY CRAP thats a lot. Spark People Said it was like 3100 I figure the real number is somewhere in between.

When I got home DW made me some awesome biscuits and gravy had a 1300 calorie breakfast that was needed.

Now out to the fruit stand for some yummy peaches

Yoga X

Well week 4 is done, finished with Yoga X today. I really looked forward to it for the first time. I guess I am finally getting used to it. I still can't hold some of the options as long as they can but I push and push and I know I will get there sooner or later.

Sunday I officially start the Phase 2 of the Classic routines should be fun. I know P90X and fun in the same sentence what can I say I must be ill.

21 mile run scheduled for tomorrow and the way I feel this week I am making it!!!

Have a great weekend

Week 4 Day 2 And Some Rain

OK so woke up this morning a 3:30 to go run, well when I let the dogs out I noticed it was just pouring rain. Run didn't happen except for the mad dash to my truck to roll up the windows...oops... let the dogs back in and went back to bed. I sure hope Denny didn't show up to run cause I was sleeping.

To bad the rain was here I was looking forward to running this morning, tomorrow is another day.

Core Synergistics today felt really good recovery week is great. Tomorrow is Kempo X Just bring it

Recovery Week

Alright started recovery week today and officially switched to the classic program from the lean program. Today was Yoga X and I think that is just what my body needed. I just finished and showered and man do I feel good. I like the way my body feels after the yoga but I sure dread that workout and I don't know why... but it is what it is.

Talked to Denny at church today, he is the young man that ran with me last monday. He didn't run any other day last week cause he had to work 12 hour shifts and besides he said I worked him so hard monday it was thursday before he felt normal again. Nice to know I can do that to a 20 year old...lol. Anyway he is going to run with me in the morning and at least one more day this week, I think it is good he is taking it slow. Who knows next year at the San Francisco Marathon it could be 3 of us Me, Dennis and Denny.

Well I hope your weekend was a good one and that the coming week doesn't beat you down.

Remeber just "Bring It!"

Almost

Set out to do 21 miles this morning and didn't make it. I fact 10 miles was as far as I got. I think a lot of things factored in, bonking this week being one and then me pushing the leg and back workout really hard. DW asked why I pushed so hard on my leg workout and my response was "cause I'm a guy" geesh she couldn't figure that out...lol...

I was very disapointed at first but then had a nice talk with myself and said "self just relax next week will be better no more bonking and you will make it just fine" I felt better after the self talk.

It was a good thing that DW was meeting me at about the 13 mile mark to refill my waters so that I didn't have to stash a cooler and could keep running while she refilled them for me. Since she hadn't passed me yet I just turned down the road I knew she was coming on and sure enough after about 5 minutes there was my ride home. At least I didn't have to walk like 4 miles.

Next week will be BETTER!!!!!

BONKED....

Yup thats what happened Tuesday morning on my run...BONKED... bigtime. I felt like I was running through wet concrete it happened at about the 2.5 mile mark and never got better. I really thought I was going to have to stop and walk and that was only on a 4 mile run!

I hink what happened was the limiting carbs. I did P90X last year while running but I was not logging anywhere near the miles/week that I am now, I think I simply depleted all my stores. I also think I wasn't eating enough calories for the ammount of exercise I was doing. So long story short I am eating my carbs. I know that P90X's diet guide has a formula but it is set up for those just doing P90X, I am traing for a marathon on top of P90X I should have seen this coming. Oh well I missed my workouts Tue and Wed, didn't run after Tue. I did legs, back and ab ripper x yesterday and felt great. Did Kempo X today feel great, so I guess the carbs were the problem.

Will be doing 21 miles tomorrow... Holy Crap!!!!! I can't hardly believe I will only need 5.2 more miles for the marathon.

Good news on Dennis' knee, I was talking to a longtime runner today and he said it really sounded like I.T. Band syndrome. Well I looked it up on cool running and sure enough all the symptoms listed are exactly what he is experiencing. So I printed the article for him and he is going to take it to the Doctors appt with him Tues.

Basically I.T. Band syndrome is caused by over training without enough stretching. Point 1 I had told him he was pushing hills way to much and to hard. Point 2 I told him to stretch more. I guess it just comes with age... wisdom that is. Its not that I have been running that much longer but I have taken the time to read all I could get my hands on about what I was getting myself into and how to prevent injury while doing it. I am 21 years older than Dennis and have had enough injuries along the way that I don't really want to have anymore at this juncture of my life.

AHHHHHHHHHH youth we knew everything back then.

Have a great weekend

New Direction

So Denny showed up at 5 this morning and we headed out for our run. I will have to say he did pretty good for his first run he made it almost 1.5 miles and then walked for a while and headed back and met me at the end, he did run about another mile after his walk. He is going to come over tomorrow morning but I bet he's real sore.

Dennis did try to run yesterday and still had that knee pain, so he is going to wait until he sees the doctor before he tries again. He did tell me he would ride his bike along with me on my long runs to keep me company, now that is pretty cool.

Did plyometrics today, it was suppose to be cardio x but that workout just wasn't enough for me, I am going to switch over to the classic from the lean program for phase 2 & 3. I did get my cardio up really good with plyo today and burned almost 1000 calories according to my HRM.

Hope your long weekend was good

Week 3 Already!?

Wow week 3 day 1 of P90X done today Core Synergistics. Hard for me to believe that it going by this fast. I am going to do another round in Jan but I am going to try to do it with a group of people from church so I think I am going to modify the lean and classic together cause I don't want to repeat the lean but don't want them to fail the classic either.

I might have someone to run with in the mornings during the week on my short runs. There is a young man at church that is going to run with me tomorrow, he wants to be a police officer and says he can't enter the academy all flabby... I agree with him but starting out at 4 miles may be a little ambitious for him although he did say he would walk if he needed to and my 4 mile route is a loop so I could pick him up on the way back. We shall see if he sticks with it.

Dennis was going to try a short run today I will see him tomorrow, I hope it worked for him but I did tell him he still needs to have a doctor look at that knee just to make sure its not tweeked.

Week2, 15 Miles And A Movie

Finished week 2 of P90X yesterday with Kempo X. I was kind of surprised it was the first time I had been able to do that workout with my heart rate monitor on. I pushed myself hard and kept up with them the whole time and could only get my HR to 143 at peak. Even when Tony said his was 164, I guess it has to do with my distance running. Good workout though and did burn a good ammount of calories.

I needed to carb load a little last night for my run today so I decided tha chinese sounded really good. Chow mein has a good ammount of carbs so off we go to a place I used to eat quite often... I don't know if they changed owners or what but the food was horrible. DW says it is probably cause we don't eat like that anymore... I just think that places food sucks now personally.

15.25 miles done this morning all by my lonesome. This was the longest run I have ever done on my own. It was kind of weird but not as bad as I had anticipated, like I have said before I know running is 90% mental and when you get over that mental hump you gots it beat. I am feeling it now and know I just have to get the miles in during the week to build the endurance back up. Next Saturday is going to be 21 miles that will be my longest run alone or otherwise, so it should be interesting to see how it goes.

OK so the title said something about a movie. I have wanted to see August Rush for quite sometime now and have just never gotten it. Shame on me, that movie was awesome, if you like music and haven't seen it you need to. It started a little slow but the wait was worth it. That movie will make you want to play or write a song. 5 stars. 2 thumbs up fantabulous and all those great accolades. I think I am going to buy it. I would like to have the soundtrack for my mp3 player while I am running, I could use it for inspiration while running.

Have a great and safe long weekend

Week 2 Day 5 and other things

Legs, Back and AB Ripper X today. I will say that I am getting farther already with the AB Ripper workout only on week 2 and can do far more than week one. Nice to see it come back so fast.

I have run 4 miles yesterday and this morning and will run 4 in the morning again tomorrow. It feels good to get back in routine, I really need to get the miles logged if I am going to do this marathon. I plan on doing 15 miles on Sat it will be kinda weird cause that is the longest I have ever run by myself.

Next week I plan on 4 miles every morning and then 21 on Sat, I might be pushing a little but I was looking at my spreadsheet and it has been 6 weeks since we did our last 20 mile run and as fast as time is going December will be here before I know it.

I really hope I can keep myself pushed for the long run, I have a goal set and was thinking about it the other day, when I first started running I was the only one pushing me. I was pushing me towards a goal and I made it. Granted that goal was only 3 miles but I went from nothing to that. I think I just need to push back the I hope I can make it thoughts and focus on the I know I can make it, I don't have to have someone there with me, although that is nice I can and will do this.

That last part was for me :) have a great day

Now Things Are Interesting

We tried to run after work today but after only about a 1/4 mile Dennis' knee started giving him pain again.... so we had to stop. He is going to have one of the physical therapists look at it at work tomorrow but I have a feeling he is gonna be on the shelf for a while. This leaves me to go the marathon training on my own. I think I am up for that and we shall see, it will be a little weird as we have trained as a team for a long time now but I really want to do this.

Having decided that I registered for the Cowtown Core Logic half marathon on Oct. 4th it is one we were planning to do and I figured if I registered today I would have to keep pushing through. Afterall there is a no refund policy.

I feel really bad for Dennis he has worked hard and this is eating at him but at the same time I don't want to see him hurt himself, he is only 26 and will bounce back from this and if he misses the marathon there is always the San Francisco marathon next July and we are doing that one. I want my picture of running across the Golden Gate Bridge.

As for P90X I got up at 4 am and did Arm and shoulders with AB Ripper X this morning. I am going to have to switch back to P90X in the afternoon and running in the morning. I always preffered running in the early morning only did the afternoons so I could run with Dennis.

Week 2 day 1&2

Got up at 4 AM and did coresynergistics this morning and it felt good. Now I remember why I liked working out in the morning and I think I will cont to do my workouts at the butt crack of dawn.

Did Cardio X when I got home from work so I am caught up and right back on track. I really did not want to be off this early in the program.

Now about those carbs, I really didn't realise how much I liked them until I limit myself on them. My wife says I am almost as grouchy as when I quit smoking... BUT WHAT THE HECK DOES SHE KNOW :-P... I was saving them until my evening meal but today I had them at lunch and I will see how that goes.

Tomorrow Dennis is going to try to run again, I really hope his knee is better so that he can get back on track with our marathon traing we really need to get our miles in.

Well that about sums it up for the day hope you had a good one

P90 What????

So Kempo X on Friday was delayed due to I needed to take care of some stuff after work and take my wife to Chico and since we were there dinner was a good thing to have. Well by the time I got home all full and stuff it just wasn't happening and I said tomorrow. Dennis came over Friday night and we played Halo until 2:30 AM... man we shredded some covenant and flood... this lead to me sleeping in on Sat and I decided to make whole wheat pancakes. After eating I was so tired all I could do was lay on the couch. I did finally decide I at least needed to run and went to check the weather 103!!!!!!!!! holy crap I ain't running in that.

Back to the couch.

Did get a nice 8.5 mile run in today it was a little warm but a lot less then yesterday and there was some breeze so that helped. I am going to do Coresynergistics in the morning before work and cardio X after work tomorrow and will be right back on track.

This low carb thing is still killing me but I am doing fairly well with it.

Have a great day

Week 1 Day 5

Legs and Back, AB Ripper X the legs portion went really well for me with all my running I was able to push it real hard. I had forgotten how many lunges and squats you do in that workout, I know this is going to improve my times. Back and AB Ripper well they are just hard.

As for our run today Dennis tried but we only went about 1.5 miles and his knee started hurting again, he went home to ice it and we will see how far we can go on Saturday.

Tomorrow is Kempo X another workout that I like a lot.

The one serving of carbs a day thing is going pretty good. Like I said before I just have carbs one meal don't really measure them but it is still a lot less carbs than my norm.

Peace out

Week 1 Day 4

Well got Yoga X done and it was just as hard as I remembered it but I will say I liked it better this time around and besides even if I don't like it I know that it is a good thing for me to do. I still can't believe that you can work up that much of a sweat and hardly move.

Tomorrow is legs and back and AB Ripper X again, kinda looking forward to that.

I have decided that Fridays will be my weight day and so this Friday when I weigh I will update my ticker. I know that I have gained since the last time that I did but I am also hoping that by Friday I will at least be really close to whats there already. For those of you reading on blogspot I am talking about my Spark People weight ticker.

I would like to thank all my Spark Friends for the support, it is nice to know that people actually read these blogs.

Oh yeah tomorrow is also supposed to be a 6 mile hill run after work I will have to see how Dennis feels but if he can't run I will run before the P90X workout.

Have a great day

Week 1 Day 3

So today was one of my favotie workouts in all of P90X. Shoulders and Arms cause if your shoulders and arms don't look good well you just kinda look like a stick and then finished it off with AB Ripper X can you say owwwww.

The real reason this workout is my fave is because before I started my first round last year I had some real issues with my left shoulder to the point that I thought it might need surgery. Range of motion was off and if I pushed it to far back really sharp pains. I noticed by the end of the second month that the pain and Range of motion was better and now there is no pain and no range of motion limitations and it is all because of this program and its shoulder work. So there you go thats why its me favorite.

Now tomorrow is my least favorite Yoga. I know its good for me and all but I just don't like it I will do it cause its part of the program but I would never go outta my why to find a yoga group.

Week 1 Day 2

Well after a very short run today... Dennis' knee was giving him trouble and no sense making small pains worse... I came home and got right into day 2 Cardio X.

The workout was not quite what I had expected it was a combo of yoga, kempo, plyo and some things off other videos but it was a good workout. It was kind of nice to already know the moves but I was kind of hoping for something new.

The hardest part of phase 1 for me last time around was the one serving of carbs a day and I think it is gonna be the hard part again. Had my carbs at lunch and boy did I want some more at dinner ah well it is only 4 weeks then my level goes up woo hoo

Week 1 day 1

Ok so I told myself that I was going to do another round of P90X after vacation was over. Well got home last weekend and said ok get through this week and start. Decided that Sunday would be day 1 because if you have been following my progress you will know that Saturdays are reserved for long runs on mine and Dennis' quest for the marathon in Dec. Anyways to make a long story longer after I got home from church today ate a big lunch so couldn't start then cause was just to full, so after watching 3 hours of the 100 best songs of the 80's on VH1 classic I knew if I didn't get my butt off the couch it was gonna stay there.

I decided to do the lean program this time cause I really don't want to bulk up and I don't want to interfere with my running at all in fact I told Dennis if this started hurting my runs I would hold off until after the marathon. So today was core synergistics to start now I didn't do core synergistics the last time until week 3 cause I did the classic routine and by the time I did it I was getting pretty good at the P90X thing. So I get all my stuff together and start the DVD, warm up was no problem but 20 minutes in and I was beat, I truly forgot how hard P90X was I did finish... well all except the 5 minute bonus.. and am ready for a 6 mile run tomorrow after work and then week 1 day 2 cardio X. I am excited about the cardio cause I never had to do it the last time around we did the plyo workout instead.

I really think though after todays workout I am going to see a huge benefit from this program in my running and I think after a few weeks my min/mile will start to come down. Until tomorrow have a great day

The Great Race

Participated in my first triathlon today. It was a 5.82 mile run, 12.5 mile bike ride and a 6.35 mile kayak. I did the run my Cousin Paul did the bike and his GF Tiffany did the kayak

Thats us before the race. I actually made the run in 53:18 which is right on the time I wanted. When I broke down the split I did about a 9:30 mile for the first 3 and an 8:30 mile for the last 2.82, the thing is I felt like I could have pushed a lot harder when I got done. When I crossed the 5 mile mark I really picked up the pace and was planning on a full out sprint for the last quarter mile but before I knew it I was at the transition point, oh well next year I know where that run ends. I really feel that the 2 mile run I did 1 hour prior to the race just to warm up real good and then stretched for like 15 minutes after the short run was the key. I never once felt any tightness or soreness at all once the race started soooooo I guess I will have to remember that little trick for short races. It should be noted that Tiffany wasn't even sure she wanted to do this but when she shredded the kayak portion in a great big heavy tandem kayak she is already fired up for next year and said she wants a smaller sleeker kayak so she can shave off some of that time. The girl kicked butt finishing in under and hour that means she was cruising down that river. Here is the link for their page the results should be up sometime next week we did the coed division and our team name was The Little Engines That Could.

The Little Man With A Big Heart

The other morning I woke up thinking about my time with the carnival, Thats right for those of you who don't know I traveled with the carnival for 2 years back in the mid 80's.

Anyway I got to wondering what had happened to the people who I worked for. So I did what any sensible person would do I started googling.

You really should be careful when you are looking into the past cause the more I looked around and the more I found the more I wanted. Long story short I ran acroos the thing I didn't really want to see

Jerry Lee Bohlander, 65, of Gibsonton, Fla., and formerly of Milton, Ind., died on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2008, at Tampa General Hospital. He was born on Oct. 4, 1942, in Batesville, Ind., to Harold and Jeannette Rodgers Bohlander.

Yup my favorite boss ever the little man with the big heart Big Hearted Jerry Bohlander. I was shocked and saddened when I read this and memories came flooding back.

I first met Jerry in 1985 as I was drifting around the country using only my charm and my thumb (hitch hiking) and I saw these carnival trucks at a truck stop. Me "you guys need help" Terry (Jerry's son) "yes we do" Me "OK I need a job" and that started a 2 year friendship.

It turned out that Jerry was rebuilding his route and was just moving all the rides to Washington DC and winging it from there, so we got the rides up there and then set up camp at a local campground with Terry's fithwheel and Jerry's motorhome. Here is where the Big heart comes in. Jerry didn't know me from Adam yet I stayed in his motorhome, we would get up in the morning watch Phil Donahue and drink coffee and just talk for a while before getting started on the day. Even though we wern't working at the time and no money was coming in Jerry made sure we were fed and when the work was dry for 2 weeks he took us to another carnival in the area and got us work in the games so we could make some cash.

When we were in Key West and would go out and enjoy the night life I could count on a knock on my trailer door the next morning and Jerry's smiling face standing there with a glass of ice water for me "come on time to work, those rides won't paint themselves" even though he had been out with us all night he would be the first one up.

So it is with a sad heart and a tear in my eye as I say Good bye Boss I know you are missed, even though I only knew you for a short while you had a greater impact on my life than you will ever know.

What Happened...

To the sun that is. I decided to go on a short 4 mile run when I got home today just to try to loosen up a bit after saturdays half. Although the clouds had been black and the wind was blowing the rain had not started so I was safe right?

Well I was as far from home as I could be on my route when it started raining, yup 2 miles out no stopping now. I guess that was just natures way of making sure I got my whole run in.

It really wasn't that bad the wind was worse than the rain cause my legs are tired today and running into a head wind well you might as well be running uphill. I guess its good for me but dang it what happened to all that sunshine we just had. I know in about 2 months I'll be complaining its to hot but could we just have some nice 75-80 degree weather for about a month solid, that would be really nice.

Second Time Around

So out the door at 5:30 A.M.... yes you heard that or maybe it should be read that right. Picked Dennis up by 6 and head to Sac for the parkway half marathon http://www.parkwayhalf.com/ . So it was a little rainy and were in the heck was all that sun we had lately?.

When we got close to the park it was obvious we were going to have to park on a side street and walk a little. I could not belive how many people were there. The mood was light and festive, I felt a lot looser than I did at the Bidwell Classic and thought "this is gonna be fun"

The run was scheduled to start at 8:15 and was only about 5 minutes late starting. It took a couple miles for things to start spreading out, it amazes me at how many people will start towards the front of the pack, even when they have signs saying 6 min/mile 7 min/mile and so on. I guess some people just think they are going to be faster at a race. It is kind of satisfying to pass those guys as they are walking next to the path sucking air cause they didn't pace themselves.

The course was really nice with some gentle rolling hills (did I mention I train in flat farmland) good thing Dennis and I are working on some hill training just not enough to make a difference yet. I was bound and determined to keep a steady even pace and not try to push the uphill portions and it worked. I am not going to say it was easy but I pushed, pushed and then pushed some more and when I passed that 13 mile marker and knew I had 1/10th of a mile to go I spent every last bit of energy I had and even passed a few more people before the finish line. I think one of the coolest things they did was call out your name as you finished it really added a nice touch to hear that over the speakers

So I just looked up the results this morning and I finished 835 out of 1837 overall so that means more finished behind me than in front of me which was a goal I had for this race and finished 54 out of 84 in my division ( men 45-49) so a little work needed there my official time was 2:09:30:7

Longest Yet...

Run that is. We did 14.14 miles this morning, that is a full mile longer than our longest run. Time wasn't bad at all 2:17:40, half of the run was into a stiff wind but most of that was the first half so not really that bad, in fact we talked about it and that is probably some really good training conditions cause when the wind isn't there our time should be better. Overall it was a great run and both of us felt like we could have made the 15 miles, which is the next step in 2 weeks. So full marathon watch out we are coming for you.

Done

So we headed out this morning abot 7:15 got up to Chico and the atmosphere was just really cool everyone was excited and talking about the day. We got checked in and just kinda walked around and soaked up the great vibes. We watched the start of the 5K and also saw the first guy finish in 15:51 now thats a smokin time. He was 2 minutes ahead of 2nd place.

We were in the second starting wave of the HM so we watched the first wave take off and my excitement kept building. Now our estimated finish time was supposed to put us at the front of the second wave, but neither Dennis or I wanted to be the pace setters so we went all the way to the back of the pack. When that starts horn went off we started moving, my excitement built and when we got to the start line and could take off in true Greg fashion I went just a little to fast. I did manage to reign myself in after about a 1/4 mile and we took about a 9:15 pace. Got to the first aid station and the guy had a nice cup of water in his hand and I kind of threw it at my mouth figuring I would catch some and cool off with some...guess what it was lemon flavored energy drink DOH!! Just a little stickier I kept on going and learned a valuable lesson when approaching the aid station ask "who has water?" problem solved.

This half marathon was setup as 2 6.5 mile loops and then the 0.1 finish trail. The first loop went really good and we started the second loop. At about mile 8 Dennis was starting to put some distance between himself and me (I had told him earlier to run his race) and I was starting to slow. By mile 10 I could no longer see Dennins and my pace had slowed quite a bit. Between mile 11 and 12 was bad I actually stopped and walked 3 times for 30 seconds each. This is not normal for me I have never stopped to walk and when I stopped the third time I gave myself a good talking to and said "You are not going to stop again, you will be running at the end of this race . Now get your butt in gear and go boy!" so I did cause myself sounded kinda ticked off and I didn't want that guy mad at me. I also took off my headphones when I restarted running just to focus a little more.

When I came to the point that I knew I had about 1/2 mile left I started pushing a little harder and when I turned the corner and had that last tenth of a mile I put it all out on the line. Dennis had already finished and was waiting about 100 feet from the finish clapping and hollering encouragement and then it was done. When I crossed the line and went to the little stations they had set up to cut off your timing chip, well when I went to put my foot on the stool I almost fell over. Just a little dizzy, kinda cool actually. My gun time was 2 hour 14 minutes my time on my heart rate monitor was 2:08:48 I don't have my chip time yet. Dennis and I talked and he finished about 6 minutes ahead of me. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what had slowed me so much, well the course had some incline, not hills just long steady inclines and that is not something I am used to. So hill training is in my future cause that will not happen again. As for Dennis finishing so far ahead...he is 21 years younger than me we will just chalk it up to youthful exuberance.

All in all it was great day and I am so happy. I did say no more running in those shoes and we went to Big 5 I rewarded myself with 2 new pair of running shoes and a new compression shirt. I think the next big run is May 3rd Avenue of the Giants. Its on the NorCal coast through the Giant Redwoods.

Beautiful Morning

I woke up this morning and just like it said on weather.com it was sunny and nice. Got in a really good 10 mile run 1:37:38 not a bad time. Signed up for the half marathon last saturday so it is official I will be running it on March 7th. Dennis won't be running with me he has been sick and hasn't run in over 2 weeks now so he begged off, which I can totally understand. So it will just be me and several hundred others, I still have my music and after his mornings run I know without a doubt I can keep myself motivated throughout the run.


Have a great week

12 Days Later

After 12 days I finally got to run again. I didn't run the first part of last week because we had a trip planned to pismo beach and riding a 400 pound quad on the sand dunes is a really good workout and I was taking the week off and going to do a 5 mile run last sat in pismo. But the weather didn't cooperate and not only did we only get one day on the dunes but we had to come home early and in the process I got sick. Yesterday I finally felt better and almost went out to run then but decided to wait one more day. It felt so good to get out there and feel the pavement under my feet the sweat flowing and the heart rate climbing. I did 4 miles in 38:10:09 not bad considering the circumstances average HR was 171 which is kinda high I usually stay about 155-157 peak was 190 WOW still recovered fast though. My body really feels better after the run I was really sore in my hips and back from lying around for days and after about 1 mile things started to loosen up. I guess lying around really is bad for you... lol.
Have a great week.

Pismo Got Rained Out

Went to sunny Pismo Beach on Thursday. Was going to ride the dunes for 3 days. When we got there we set up camp and headed for the beach it was a little windy but otherwise sunny and nice. 4 hours of ripping up the dunes and just having fun then back to camp. Dennis and I had a great dinner and just hung out slept really well after all that riding. Got up the next morning and made breakfast and while we were eating the rain started and man did it come down. The next thing we know we have a lake forming around our table...hmm thats not good. So we start making a trench cause we are smarter than this water we can beat it after all we are men. Well we lost that battle, then we looked in the tent...oh crap its leaking!!! I guess we shouldn't have been laughung at those other people with the same tent who tarped theirs earlier. So now we are out there tarping the tent, have I mentioned it is still pouring rain? Get the tent tarped and look at lake will-be-gone (thats what we named it) and it has gotten bigger, look inside the tent and water is coming up through the bottom...oops. So now we have the bright idea to move the tent and we do. Long story short we finally gave up as the weather report said rain all week and packed up and headed home. Did I mention that its a 6 1/2 hour drive? Now on the way home I am not feeling to good and by the time we got home unloaded Dennis' stuff and I got home and unloaded mine it was quite obvious that I had caught the crud my wife had, yay. That was the cherry on top of the weekend. Here it is monday and I am finally feeling better. The upside is at least we got one good day of riding in.

Pic Of The Day 7

YAY HE THREW MY BABY!!!!!!!!!

Thats right I finally threw the baby

This has been afun challenge I might even throw up a pic or two from time to time.

Pic Of The Day 6

Happiness Is...

"HEY THROW MY BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Pic Of The Day 5

TGIF AND I GET TO RIDE TODAY
OK Then throw my rope

Pic Of The Day 4

Plese, oh please throw my baby
What do you think, should I throw the baby????

Pic of The Day 3

HAPPY HUMP DAY halfway through the week
Please throw my baby

Pic Of The Day 2

You want me to do what????????

Daily Pic

Do I really have to go to work??

And Cole's pic of the day. "Are you going to throw my baby for me???"

13 Mile Run

Did another 13 mile run today and we finished in 2:02:51 thats a full 5:30 faster than we did back in November. Thats an average of 9:22 per mile not bad for a couple of guys who have been running for less than a year now. I know without a doubt that if we keep this up we will finish the Bidwell classic half marathon in less the 2 hours. We run that on March 7 so plenty of time to knock off the last couple of minutes. All this just one week after my 47th birthday and have I mentioned that the guy I run with is only 26. It is good for me cause when I am starting to fade he is young and like the energizer bunny and seems to pull me along, but I did manage to kick it in high gear for our final push and make h8im whine just a little today. My heart rate monitor says I burned 2887 calories with just the run and Spark Peoples cardio tracker says it was just over 2000, I think I trust the heart rate monitor as it is actually keeping track all the time. My average HR today was 165 I was in my zone 1:59 peak HR was 181 I have my zone set 150-185 and that seems to work really well for me. We are going to push it next Sat also but the following will only be 5 miles cause we are going to be in Pismo Beach riding the dunes on our quads for 3 days, that should be enough cardio for anyone.

Have a great week

Fooling Ourselves

I got this nifty new scale this weekend. It will tell me my BMI, Body fat % store my goal weight and tell me how far away from it I am (as if I couldn't do the math) and yes I did put in a goal. So I decided to try something I weighed this morning before work and when I got home I weighed just before going out to run. Interestingly enough with all the water I had drank and breakfast and lunch I was only 0.2# heavier when I got home. Went on a 4 mile run and weighed my self just before getting in the shower and was 3.6# lighter WOOHOO I should record it!

"EH HUM did you just sweat all that weight off running?"

who said that?
*head swivels eyes looking around*

stupid conscience, yeah I know I just sweated it off and as soon as I drink some more water it will be back. But couldn't you just let me fool myself for a little while.

In other news I didn't quite make the 25 miles last week but did do 22. I was so sore by Saturday that I decided a couple days off running were in order. It paid off todays run was really good and this weeks goal is 26 miles.

They Fit!?!?!?!

I bought a new pair of pants on Saturday and when I took them off the rack I grabbed a pair of 34's. I really didn't think they would fit comfortably but decided to at least try them on anyway. Not only did they fit comfortably but they felt good and they look good too (at least DW says so) To think that when I started this weight loss journey I was wearing 38's and they were getting so tight I was looking at going to 40's. I haven't been really happy with the way I've been going the last couple of months but this has definitely given me a really good boost that I think I needed.

Did a 10 mile run on Sat with Dennis and man was it cold outside and the wind was really blowing to top things off. The last couple of miles was into the wind and that made things kind of interesting, good thing we both bought running jackets cause we would never have made it without them.

Lutefisk yuck. What's that well picture clear jello with a really strong nasty fish smell with a taste to match and you have a close idea. My wife's family is Norwegian and lutefisk is something they eat (now I know why the vikings were so mean. They were hungry) anyway Saturday was the annual lutefisk dinner with her familt. Now I love her family I just can not for the life of me figure out why perfectly intelligent people would eat icky fish is beyond me

Hope everyone has a great week

Inspirations

You just never know where inspiration is going to come from. I had it all set in my mind to run after work today. When we got off work we needed to go to the store, I can't believe how many people were in walmart today uGHHHHH. By the time we got checked out (we have the habit of finding the slowest frickin checkers in the world) and got home all I wanted to do was sit on my butt. So thats what I was going to do until I logged onto spark people and read this in a posting.

I am your constant companion.
I am your greatest asset or heaviest burden.
I will push you up to success or down to disappointment.
I am at your command.
Half the things you do might just as well be turned over to me,
For I can do them quickly, correctly, and profitably.
I am easily managed, just be firm with me.
Those who are great, I have made great.
Those who are failures, I have made failures.
I am not a machine, though I work with the precision
of a machine and the intelligence of a person.
You can run me for profit, or you can run me for ruin.
Show me how you want it done. Educate me.
Train me. Lead me. Reward me.
And I will then...do it automatically.
I am your servant.
Who am I?
I am a habit.

Now how could I read that and not do something about it? I closed my browser got off my kiester and changed into my running clothes, got my trusty mp3 player and decided to run around the street in front of the high school were I began this running journey 11 months ago. And since I was running there I decided to time a 5k so I put on the 30 minute run podcast for the c35k program and off I went. Pushed my self pretty hard and ended up finishing in 25:55 I have only run 1 5k faster and that was in 25:45 with Dennis there to help push me (we always run faster times together)

You just never know when or what is going to inspire you so keep your eyes open cause it might pass you by if you don't.