What a way to end the year

What a great way to end this year. My running life started out really slow in 2011. Had a new baby, and moved into a new house all within about 2 weeks of Christmas last year. Needles to say I didn’t do much running for a couple of months. Today I got my last run in of the year, and what a difference a year makes. I ran a 5k around the neighborhood and did it in 28:37 that is a full minute plus faster than I have ever run that distance, and it felt amazing. So looking back on the year I never have sat down and said I want to accomplish certain things, but I defiantly had a goal for 2011. I wanted to complete 26.2 miles. I did it! I got my Marathon in November (Yes I think Marathon should be capitalized), and accomplished something that for 30 years of my life I never would have dreamed of starting, and really couldn't understand why anybody else would. Well since that’s the only real goal I had for 2011 (it was a huge one) I’d say I did alright. As for 2012? I think I will for the first time in my life sit down and write out some goals for the New Year. Thank you God for this change in my life, I owe it all to You, and You get all the glory. 

Yes I'm proud of that accomplishment in 2011.

Trucking adventure, and mindless calories

WOW what a crazy couple of days. Wednesday an opportunity presented itself for me to go down to the valley and drive a truck in the oil fields. I had been wanting to jump in an 18 wheeler again, and since I had no commitments around the house it seemed like an ideal time to go. Being back in that cab was awesome, I love jamin those gears, and rollin those wheels. I was like a kid at space camp. However it was so tempting to fall back in old patterns. When I was an over the road driver I made HORRIBLE decisions. I never walked out of a truck stop without a mug full of soda, and something full of calories to snack on while running down the road. I’m proud to say I was able to replace the soda with coffee, and water, and didn’t pick up any snacks. It was not easy but I did it. Often times we don’t realize how much we associate activities with food with. Ever go to the movies and mindlessly snack on popcorn and jr mints? Or perhaps go to a sporting event and order nachos just because you’re there. Most of us mindlessly put food in our mouths just because we are doing an activity that we have ingrained in our minds that the two go together, much the way a person will go to a bar and smoke while drinking, but never touch cigarettes any other time. I want to encourage you to notice those bites of food that go with activities, and retrain yourself to do activities, and enjoy them without the added calories.

This was really cool to walk around and watch these guys work. It was nothing like the tv show  Black Gold btw.

the best present a runner has ever received

Had a wonderful Christmas, I got some pretty cool gifts this year including some under counter lights for my kitchen, and a All-Clad fry pan. You would think nothing could top a new All-Clad fry pan, except maybe a new pair of running shoes, but I got something so much better this year. My wife kept telling me she had this gift for me that was gonna WOW! Me. I don’t wow very easily, but she just knew she was going to do it, and all she had to do was sit down at the computer for a little bit and write something. ??? What was she planning? Well I didn't peek, and let me tell you she WOWED me. I want to share with everybody the best Christmas present that’s ever been under my tree. This is the exact letter she gave me, but without the cool border she had around it;

Running Commitment

I Corinthians 7:4, “The wife doesn’t have authority over her own body, but the husband does.  Likewise the husband doesn’t have authority over his own body, but the wife does.”CEB

This Bible verse has been on my heart for some time and, recently, I have thought intently on its meaning.  I am taking it to a new personal level and have made this Running Commitment as my Christmas gift to you.

 I promise to devote an entire year to running, (or at least attempting to run, until I CAN), beginning today, December 25, 2011.  With your guidance, schedule planning, and training, I promise to follow without complaint (well, maybe a little) and to set personal, reasonable goals that I can achieve.  I promise to try until I can, and also to devote some time to run TOGETHER with you.  I promise to sign up for walk/runs and try to enjoy myself.  I promise to run for fun! I promise to run for serious! I promise to just run for whatever!

I am ready to change for the better.  I am ready to transform my body.  I am ready to metamorphosize my life! (Yes, I made up that word………..)

Wow! 2012 is going to be a challenge!

I love you!  Merry Christmas!

Your loving and committed wife,

Amy

How awesome is that? I am so excited. I have wanted so much for my wife to share this thing that has come into my life and changed me so much, and now she is ready to join me. I love it, and I love you. I know you think it's crazy, but we will cross the line of the SARNR 1/2 marathon this coming year hand in hand. I don't care how long it takes we will do it every step together. I love you. Thank you for the best present ever. 

13.1 is half of nothing

As I take a minute to cool down   warm up regulate my body temperature just thought I would take a moment to write some thoughts. Yesterday as I often do I got to visit with a new runner. Through the course of the conversation she told me she has a goal of doing a half marathon, which I find seems to be a very common goal amongst new runners, but then she was telling me a story of a friend of hers that had run one this year. During her recanting of the story she told me how this woman had been a runner for a very long time, but never any long distances like a half. At this point in my mind I had to remind myself just how far 13.1 miles is, and what an accomplishment it is. I have never looked down on the half, I just simply have become so accustomed to longer distances that it has dropped from my mind how nearly impossible that distance seemed to me at one time. The same goes for a 10k. I remember when I first started running a friend was training for a 10k and I thought how grueling the training was for it. Now my daily everyday runs are close to that mark. I hope someday to look back at a full marathon with the same perspective if I ever get the time to train for ultras. If you’re pushing for a half I want you to remember 13.1 is half of nothing. That is a very respectable accomplishment, and my hats off to anyone who trains for and completes it. 

running on an injury

I hit a really cool milestone this morning. Runkeeper; running companion tells me that in the last approximately year and a half I have burned 300,000 calories tracking my activities. I’m also on the verge of hitting another milestone with them, but I’ll hold off on that one. This is not really what on my heart right now. I got done with my run this morning, and as I was cooling off in the driveway doing some light stretching and walking I checked twitter on my phone like I typically do. I saw a post about a blog that interested me, so decided to read it real quick. I was horrified by what I read, and here is my response. I hope you read it, and I really hope you will take the advice. I want you to know this is out of love, otherwise I would not tell you the truth.

        Prior to my marathon last month I was going twitter crazy with all the people that were coming to town for the race. I even went to a meet up with some runners and bloggers that I’d never meet. One blogger particular was actually two people, friends going on a journey that included 12 races in a year culminating in a full marathon in December. This is the link to the post that I read this morning.  stubborn runner               

Let me just say running with pain is NOT!!!! Ok. Pain is your body’s way of telling you something is wrong. I have known way to many people who have allowed a minor irritation to turn in to a minor pain, then into a big pain, then have had to not do anything for months, and even years. You start your blog off by rationalizing that you’re probably not alone in running through pain. Your right, you’re not, couches are full of people that used to be runners because they ignored their bodies to the point they had to stop running, and once they overcame there injury never started again. I have a friend this year that decided to ignore his body, ran through the pain then ended up sitting on the couch for 6 months. He missed a Tri that he really wanted to do, but luckily he didn’t require a longer stint on the couch. He’s back out there, and recovery has been slow but he got LUCKY. I personally very rarely have any discomfort when I run. During the longest runs leading up to the marathon I would have soreness, but never pain. Running shouldn’t be something you grit your teeth and brave through. It should be pleasurable. You should get enjoyment after a run, not wonder if you’re gonna be able to walk straight the rest of the day. I personally want to be running marathons long into my 70’s and beyond. This is not a short term accomplishment for me. I hope you feel the same way. I look forward to reading about more races you’ve done, and even more meetups in the future. But if you’re not able to get out there and run again because you let your ego get in the way of your common since then you’re running career is going to be short lived, and probably almost over. We only have one body, and if we want to get the most out of it, we must take care of it. Thinking of having kids some day? Want to be able to run and play with them? Think about what you could be doing to your body today that might jeopardize that in the future. Running is a great for our bodies, but you have trained really hard this year, and run a lot of miles. It’s time to sit back and evaluate if you really want to run yourself into the ground, is getting that race bling really worth it? Or could it wait for next year? 

roller coaster run

When I pulled back up to the house after taking my daughter to school this morning the weather was so nasty, but I decided to go ahead and get ready for a run. I knew I needed one. The opportunity presented itself. I knew I needed to take advantage of it. But I wasn’t going to like it! The temperature was in the mid 40’s and raining. I don’t mind one element, but when you start throwing multiple elements together at me, I’m just not a fan. Well as I was getting ready to head out the door I read a tweet from Hal Higdon “@higdonmarathon: It is the start of another week, and it is raining. And I must go out in the rain and get wet. Because runners do that.” This just made my morning. Not sure if it was knowing that I wasn’t the only person in the world crazy enough to go running in the rain this morning. Or if it was just the reaffirmation that yea I’m a runner. I think it was probably the second thing. Stepped outside and yup it was still raining, so I tucked runkeeper inside my shorts and I took off. The first .25 mile was wonderful; I left the house like a bullet out of a gun. That probably wasn’t the smartest thing I did all morning, but I did it. Shortly after that my shins started feeling extremely tight. After my first mile I had to stop, and stretch, and just let my shins cool down. The next 2 miles were about the same. Run a little, stretch a little. I was trying to figure out what was going on. Was it the weather? I had run in this before. Was it lack of warming up? I walked my daughter into school, just as I did all the time to get the blood moving. What could it be? I am going to chalk it up to sprinting hills during my run Friday night for lack of a better explanation. Luckily after about 35 minutes I was finally able to settle into a good run, and was able to enjoy the beautiful weather ;)  It feels good to be a runner. I just know all the people passing me on their way to work thought, "man I wish that was me out there running this morning". Well that's what they were saying in my mind. 

Christmas light run

Well here we are again. The magical time of the year that is Christmas. Of course it’s a busy season, and for my family throw in a couple birthdays, and a wife that has an irregular schedule, and a weather pattern that’s not always conducive to getting outside and running. I don’t always get the miles in that I would like. I have to be flexible in the times that I get to go out and run, and last night was one of those times. I didn’t get out the door till almost 10, and it turned out to be a wonderful time to run. Now my body was tired from the day, and it was a little windy, so I didn’t set any records. However what awaited me was spectacular. As I was getting ready to leave it dawned on me that everybody’s Christmas lights would be on. So I adjusted my normal route to make sure that I would go by all the streets that have homes on them in our neighborhood. Now I enjoy looking at Christmas lights, but getting to actually run past them, rather than driving was amazing. I want to recommend even if you’re not a night runner to schedule at least one night run in the next couple of weeks. If you don’t live in a neighborhood full of Christmas lights or perhaps your community is small take a drive to a larger, more widely lit neighborhood, and enjoy. You won’t be disappointed. I’d be open to taking you through my hood if your close by.  

limits in life

The past week I’ve been working on this

Doing that is something I never would have been able to do a few years ago. Sure I could have put the lights down low, anywhere that I could reach while standing on the ground. However there is no way I would have been able to climb up a ladder, got on my roof as a 450lb man. For starters my access point was too small for me to have even fit through, let alone trying to find a ladder that would have not buckled under the extreme load that I would have but it under. I’m not really sure why I let myself live a life, were doing something so simple as hanging Christmas lights was so far out of my reach of things I could physically do. Is there something in your life that you are being held back from? Don’t allow your life to be controlled by something you can change.