the half

13.1 miles. my own half marathon.

i set my alarm clock for 7:30, and it performed its duty well as i flailed and swatted at it so that it wouldn't wake up everyone else in the house. the weather called for a rain today, but probably not until later. as i lay in bed, i listened closely for any rain-type sounds but was pleased to hear none. i put on my running clothes and bodyglide and went downstairs to have a little something to eat. i turned the tv to the weather channel and was delighted to see that not only was it was already 49 degrees, but judging by the radar, i shouldn't be seeing any rain for quite a while. cool.

i drove out and dropped water at the 4-mile, 7-mile, and 10-mile points of the course, just as i had planned when creating the route. i'm going to carry GU and a couple of salt tablets with me. it was overcast with a slight southerly breeze, aka: a beautiful day to run. i returned home, finished up my toast with peanut butter, drank some water, and put my shoes on.

on virtually all of training runs, i made a conscious effort not to push it too hard. i didn't want to burn out and have it become a chore. but today would be different. i was planning on pushing it as much as i could today. i want to see exactly what the final result of these last six weeks or so of consistent running would bring.

i toed my homemade starting line and pushed the start button on my watch as the imaginary gun went off in my head and i began my journey. the first 8 miles or so is a course that i've run many times in my life so obviously i'm very familiar with it. miles 9 and 10 include a very long hill that i've never run before, and the last two miles are those same neverending rollers from last week's run. the second half of the course is definitely tougher than the first. i knew i'd need to finish the first half in 55 - 57 minutes to have a chance at 2 hours. i started out and tried to run just a little faster than i usually do. i've been running for so long at my "comfortable" pace of 9:15 - 10:00 per mile that i had a hard time judging what my pace was for the first mile. i hit it in 7:56. i knew there was no way that i could maintain that, so i consciously slowed down. mile 2 was about 8:45. that's more like it. i needed to maintain a 9:10 pace to finish under the mystical goal of a 2 hours, so averaging 8:30 - 9:00 miles was good for now. since the second half of the course is more harder than the first, putting some time in the bank now was necessary. i hit the 4-mile water stop feeling good. i only walked a few steps as i didn't want to choke on the salt pill. i was trying not to waste time at the stops. during last week's 12-miler, we probably wasted 4-5 minutes dillying around. mile 6 presents the steepest climb of the day, and i felt good going up it. i hit the halfway point at 57 minutes. good. i'm right where i want to be. but just as i was congratulating myself for a great first half, i started to feel a blister develop on the arch of my right foot. that's just what i need... i haven't had a problem with blisters up until now. so why now?? with over 6 miles to go? sheesh. oh well, i'll have plenty of time to heal.

the water stop at mile 7 came just in time. i was starting to feel thirsty, which again, i normally don't do. obviously, i was pushing my body harder than it was used to and it was telling me so. i was running hard enough - just up to the point where it started to feel like i was really working. and my body was responding wonderfully. my form felt good. my legs felt like they were bouncing, with my joints, tendons, ligaments and whatever other thingamadoobers all happily playing along.

i entered unknown territory as i started the long climb up US40 to thorpe road. it started out pretty steep, and it was long, but it wasn't as tedious as last week's long climb up the other side of this hill on US40. at the corner of thorpe road and US40 i had my 10-mile water point. i looked at my watch, and it read 1:25, so i knew i was close, and i couldn't afford to walk at all here. i reached down and grabbed the water bottle i had left earlier without really breaking stride at all. i carried it with me for almost a half mile as i drank down all eight ounces. i hit the 11-mile mark at about 1:35 and felt pretty good about the time, but knew it was 2 miles of neverending constant rolling hills home. this stretch seems to take forever and i started to worry that i wouldn't make it. i really pushed it hard over those hills and my blistered foot began to hurt in earnest. finally the hills gave up and i turned the corner into my neighborhood with 1:55 on the watch. with only a few hundred yards to go, i finally felt sure that i had done it. i slowed down a little to enjoy the last segment of this journey. i threw my arms up as i crossed in front of my driveway at 1:57:55. i don't know if any of my neighbors saw me or not, but hey, they think i'm nuts anyway so who cares.

it's 12 hours since i finished, and aside from that huge blister on my right arch, i'm no worse for wear. my knees hurt for a short while afterwards, but that went away quickly. obviously i have some leg soreness, but nothing that i wasn't expecting.

it's really amazing how quickly the body can respond if it is properly treated and trained. a scant six weeks ago i was almost 25 pounds heavier and could barely run three miles in 35 minutes. i trained hard, but more importantly i trained consistently. i ran 5 days a week EVERY week. i increased mileage every week. (i know you're supposed to take a "recovery" week every 4 weeks or so, but since i knew from the beginning that this would be only a short term project, i skipped that.) i kept a journal of my eating habits. anyone who wants to lose weight needs to do this. holyhamsandwiches, does this tell a story. i logged everything i stuffed into my mouth for six weeks, and doing that really makes you think about all those forgotten calories that are consumed every day. what an eye opener.

all in all, i'm totally thrilled with today's performance. my body responded beautifully to the challenge i gave it. i can't wait until i'm recovered and can start running again.

good job, me! heh.

running log - 1/26/06

3.2 miles with darrin

after not feeling quite right during yesterday's run, i knew that i needed to take this one very easy. and we did. we averaged just a hair under 10 minutes per mile during our 9 lap, 3.2 mile stroll. it was cold again, but clear. i had on my hat, gloves, and sweats, and after we were done, i had frost built up on my hat from where i was sweating. i was surprised that happened, because i didn't realize that i was actually sweating.

saturday is the big 13.1. the culmination of 6 weeks' training before my surgery, which will leave me unable to do much of anything for a while. how long i don't know.

darrin won't be able to join me tomorrow. he just has too many other commitments. i'm planning on starting around 9:00, and hopefully i'll be done by 11. i've set 2 hours as my goal for this. i've tried not to focus on time during my training runs so far. i'm treating this as a race, though, and i'll push it to hit my target if i have to. there's nothing to lose, since it'll be my last run for a while anyway.

running log - 1/25/06

4 miles with darrin

i'm considering this week to be somewhat of a taper, so last nite, which is normally a medium distance run, was cut to only four miles. it was a little cool and i ran in long pants for the first time since before christmas. darrin and i did our standard out and back into illinois to the railroad tracks. the pace was decent and we finished in 35:42/8:56.

for some reason, i still didn't feel great. i don't know that i'd call it struggling, but i definitely didn't feel as strong as i had been feeling the last week or so. i'll have to take it easy on tomorrow's run. speaking of tomorrow, it will be the last run before my little half marathon on saturday. in one sense, it's kind of exciting, but in another, i also know that it spells the end of my training for a while. it's going to be so depressing to be unable to run. i still worry about how bad my fitness will be when i'm finally able to run again. i guess there's just some things that are out of my control. dwelling on it won't help. ..sigh..

running log - 1/24/06

3.2 miles

the original plan was to run yesterday then take today off, but i still felt some soreness so i took yesterday off instead. darrin is running the indy mini again this year and his training group met today, so i ran alone. and that was fine - i normally don't mind running alone. there was no moon visible even though it was clear out, which meant that it was very dark outside so i stayed in the neighborhood for nine laps. but holyhurricanes, batman, was it windy. mr. weatherguy said we had gusts in excess of 45 mph. this felt great on the easterly portion of my circle, but going west wasn't quite as fun. anyway, i did 3.2 miles in 28:28/8:54. my legs still felt a little heavy, but other than that it was pretty uneventful. there were 3.2 miles to do, so i did them.

when i was getting dressed to go run, i pulled a pair of compression shorts off of the shower door. by the way, is it just me or does everyone seem to use anything they can find in the house as some sort of makeshift drying rack for running clothes that you've sweated and stinked up beyond all recognition? anyway, i put the shorts on, and even i couldn't take it. they just smelled too bad. normally this only bothers me if i'm running with someone. i mean, if you're going to run in a group, please de-stink, but alone - hey, you do what you gotta do. but these were just too much for me. i had to change. i mentioned this to my wife, who was predictably grossed out, but it got me thinking. how come there is no quantifiable identifier for stink? how loud is something? decibels. how bright is something? lumens. how heavy is something? pounds/kg. how stinky is something? no. i got nothin'. hmmm. well hey, at least this gave me something to think about during my run...

speaking of running alone, i might have to do the half on saturday that way. darrin's wife has some stuff planned for them, and his daughter has a basketball game, so he might not be joinin' me. while it would be nice to have some company on such a long run, it won't be so bad if he can't make it. i'll do it either way. i've got the course lined out. it's not as hilly as the 12-miler last week, but it's certainly not flat either. there are nasty climbs at the 6 mile and 9 mile points, along with 2 miles of constant rollers at the end. i'd love to come in under 2 hours, but we'll just have to see. the weatherguy says it might rain, which would really suck. cross those fingers and sacrifice those chickens!

running log - 1/22/06

3.2 miles with darrin

this was a little "recovery" run just to see how my legs would respond. and they were... a little tired. a little heavy. not too much, but just enough to let me know that not everything was perfect. we certainly didn't push it. our pace was a nice comfortable jog and that's all.

as i sit here now, an hour or after the run, i can feel more soreness than normal. just maybe, the legs weren't quite ready to come back so soon. oh well. i'm gonna go relax now. until tomorrow, anyway...

running log - 1/21/06

12 miles with darrin

12 hilly miles. REALLY hilly miles. i was really looking forward to this run, especially since it almost didn't happen. the weather was nice - sunny and around 37 degrees with just a little breeze. considering it's mid-january, we certainly can't complain.

the first 3.5 miles or so are just teasers. they start out flat, then down, up, and down a long hill. at about the 4-mile mark sits the steepest hill of the course. i've ridden my bike on it many times, but until today had never ran it. well i'll tell ya - it is steep. and pretty darn long too. i shortened my stride and got up it very well. a combination of rolling hills and longer hills are the norm until the 7-mile mark. about 6 miles in my legs started to feel heavy. i was concerned for a little while, but the feeling went away after a mile or so. maybe the GU that i took at our water stop at mile 4 finally kicked in. mile 7 brings us to the second water stop. we made it here in about 1:05. i was feeling very good at this point, knowing that we were more than halfway done. a 1-1/4 mile long hill west on US40 was next up. obviously i have driven this countless times, but again, this was the first time i'd ran it. and holybarnyardanimals, did this thing seem to never end. darrin started walking about 2/3 of the way up. afterwards, he told me he started to feel a little dizzy, so he thought it best to recover for a little while. i pulled away from him at this point, as i was still feeling ok. FINALLY, the turn to thorpe road came, and the road flattened out and actually went downhill for just a moment. this was plenty for me to recharge the legs. the two mile stretch of road that takes up back to our neighborhood resembles a rollercoaster. it is just constant up and down. none of them are all that long, but you are literally going up or down the entire time, and it starts to wear on you after a while. the turn into the neighborhood was a welcome sight, knowing there was only 300 yards or so to the end of my driveway, which signalled the end of the run. i crossed the line at 1:53:48. a 9:24 pace for just over 12 miles of constant hills?! awesome. honestly, i was sure this would take 2:00-2:15. i am beyond ecstatic with my time. i felt in control the whole time. darrin finished about 1:30 behind me, so he recovered nicely. he said he could have used another water stop. oh well. next time.

aside from some mild protesting from my legs, i feel great afterwards. the post-run whirlpool, which i was planning on taking, was eliminated because justin had a basketball game i needed to get to. the shower still felt good. as long as i'm still feeling good, i'll do 3 miles or so tomorrow just to see how the legs respond. it's about 11:00pm now, and there is a dull ache in my legs, but nothing unusual or serious. more than ever, now i'm looking forward to that 13.1 next weekend.

12 tomorrow

we worked it out. between 11:00 and 2:00 darrin and i will fit in 12 very hilly miles. after the first mile, the course is rarely, if ever flat. i don't know if there is another 100 yard stretch of flat ground the rest of the way. there are some significant hills, particularly between miles 3 and 7. i've never run this course before, so at least i'll have something new to look at. yes, it will be grueling. yes, it will be difficult. but i feel ready. i might not finish with the fastest time ever, but i'll finish.

the nice thing is since we're not starting until 11, i'll actually be able to sleep in a little. hopefully that will get me refreshed for the run. getting enough rest has been a challenge for me. i usually run weekday nites, then do some homework, so getting a couple of extra hours of sleep tomorrow morning is something i desperately need.

ok. well, i'm going to stare at the tv for a while now. then i'll dream about abusing my legs tomorrow. yeah.

running log - 1/19/06

4 miles with darrin

darrin and i ran the same route tonite as we did yesterday. the weather was unreal. mid 50s and breezy. i purposely ran slower tonite, the main reason being that i didn't want to beat yesterday's time. i do not want to feel pressured to run faster and faster every time i go out. when that happens, running suddenly seems like work. so slow down. no pressure.

slow down we did. we finished in 36:11/9:03, which is still a good time. well for me at least. other "real runners" may feel like this is terribly slow, but oh well. i put "real runners" in parentheses because i don't yet feel like i fit in to that category. i'm still just starting out, and though i did alot of this a few years ago, it feels all new to me again. i don't know exactly when if ever i will feel acceptance into the "i'm a runner" club, but it hasn't happened yet. i realize i'm probably not the slowest runner out there, but there is more to the club than that.

longevity.

accomplishment.

from a runner's perspective, i have done neither. i am working on that, but it is a deliberate and consistent process that takes time and dedication. i've done well this past month, but a month does not make a runner. my upcoming surgery-imposed exile will stall my quest to runnerdom, but won't extinguish it.

i'll get there though. save me a seat.

running log - 1/18/06

4 miles with darrin

twas another clear, cool and breezy nite here. we just got done. i took a nice hot shower and am sitting here sipping some water with a blanket draped over my shoulders. i took yesterday off as promised and i felt much better today. i had a nice easy bounce in my stride and enjoyed the run tonite. since it was a clear nite and the moon provided some light, we did an out and back instead of just laps in the neighborhood. as a result of that i didn't look at my watch the entire way, since there are no street lights there and i am simply not coordinated enough to push the light button on my watch and try to read the display while still running. so when we crossed in front of my house at the end of the run i was pleasantly rewarded with a 34:34 as the time. that's 8:39 per mile. heh. i knew we were setting a pretty good pace, but it didn't get uncomfortable. we're planning on another 4 tomorrow.

the bad news is that since both of us have very busy weekends coming up, we may not have time to get in the 12 mile run. we might slice it to something like 7 miles. we could do the 12 if we got up really early saturday morning, but i was hoping not to run too early so that it might warm up a little. oh well, we'll see.

anyway, that's enough for now. me tired. nitey nite!

running log - 1/16/06

3.2 miles

i know. i said i wasn't going to run today. but i had a notion that i might when i went outside as i left for work and it was like 60 degrees. the weather channel told me this evening was going to be nice and toasty, but tomorrow is supposed to be cold and nasty. so i couldn't resist. i ventured out alone about 10:30 in the 55 degree night and did 9 laps in 29:21/9:10. i really didn't feel good though. my legs felt so heavy, especially in the last mile. usually i speed up towards the end but i just didn't have it in me. oh well. i guess i really do need to take a rest day.

i've pretty much decided that i'm going to do a 12-mile run on saturday as opposed to taking it easy with something shorter. with as little time as i have until i'm unable to run for a while, i don't see the point in slowing down now. so i'll press on, but i'm not sure to what end. i have no idea what 4-6 weeks of non-running will do to me, but hopefully i'll be able to regain my lost fitness quickly. but until then, i'll push on. and push hard.

running log - 1/15/06

3.3 miles with darrin

darrin and i ran a little 3.3 mile out and back tonite and i'm happy to report no residual soreness from yesterday's 10 miles. it was clear and crisp, with temps in the mid 30s and bright moonlight. the first mile was worse than normal for some reason, but after that it was smooth sailing. i negative split the distance by about 1 minute and finished in 30:22/9:12. my plan is to take monday off, then do 3 or 4 on tuesday. i haven't decided how far to do on saturday, but after originally leaning toward backing off a little, i'm now thinking about doing 12. i think this would be a good prep for the 13.1 the following saturday.

running log - 1/14/06

10 miles with darrin and donnie

my slight nervousness concerning this run was not being helped as i lay in bed friday nite listening to the rain/snow mixture pour down and the wind blasting against the side of the house. i was relieved to awake to bright sunshine and 32 degrees. the northwesterly wind had calmed down a little, but was still blowing 15-20mph with gusts to 30mph according to the weather channel.

another friend of ours, donnie, was to join us today for part of our run. he is a much more accomplished runner than either darrin or i, but he said he wanted to get in a slow 6 miles or so as a precursor to the 13 he would run the next day. our 10-minute pace would suffice him nicely. after some bran flakes and a piece of toast with peanut butter, i went to darrin's house a few minutes after nine. after waiting 20 minutes or so for him to get ready, we left, picked up donnie, and dropped some water at the 4-mile and 7-mile points of our course. we drove back to darrin's house and took off. the first three miles were pretty much directly into the wind. thank goodness i had on a hat and gloves, but my face was still pretty numb. i felt fine during these flat miles and we covered them in about a 9:30 pace. mile 4 has a gradual uphill, then a steep downhill which leads to our first water stop where i also had a GU and a thermotab. i felt great during the next couple of miles, which took us back to state line road, where donnie turned north to go back home, and darrin and i turned south to finish our route. i hadn't run with donnie before and it was nice having a third person in the group. as a plus, he wasn't overly chatty. i'm not an especially social runner. i don't really talk all that much, but a comment here and there is fun. both donnie and darrin seem to feel the same way. heh.

the beginning of mile seven has the first of the two big climbs of the day. ok, shorten stride, breathe normally. i went up it and felt good. darrin opened up 10 yards or so on me by the top of the hill, but made that back up in the next half mile or so. at the seven mile mark we had our second stop for water, another GU and a thermotab. we were off after a quick break. when i resumed running i felt a little soreness in my right hamstring, but this quickly went away. mile 8 takes us behind an I-70 weigh station on a wonderful newly paved flat road. mile 9 has a rolling hill and i was beginning to tire at this point. nothing serious, but my quads were starting to complain. mile 10 has the second big climb of the day, and of course by this time we were headed back into the wind. i shortened my stride again, and got up it fairly well. i was tired by the time i reached the top and was glad i only had a couple hundred yards left. darrin opened up a gap on me again here and ended up beating me by about 30 seconds.

my final time for 10.3 miles was 1:43:55. that's a 10:07 pace. this includes the 4 minutes or so that we spent at the two water stops. those were the only times i stopped or walked. my times for runs are always the total time it takes to complete the distance - breaks, potty stops, whatever, included. my legs felt great the rest of the day and that thingy on the bottom of my foot didn't bother me at all. overall, i'm happy with the effort.

running log - 1/12/06

ok, some adminstrative business: i'm getting tired of thinking up titles for these endless running log entries. so for now on, entries that mainly deal with a completed run will just be called running log - date. there, that was easy.

ok. now onto whatever it was that i was supposed to be talking about...

last nite, darrin and i both agreed that we should really take it easy on our run. and we did. we ran 9 circuits in the 'hood for 3.2 miles in 29:32/9:14. i felt some dull soreness in my legs, especially towards the end of the run. maybe the 5+ from wednesday was still lingering in my muscles. it's weird because i haven't felt any soreness at all since the very beginning a few weeks ago. maybe the increase in distances and intensity is taking a toll. anyway, i'm glad we didn't push it, and we're taking today off in preparation for the 10-miler tomorrow. as a side note, it was about 11PM when we ran last nite and it was 55 degrees! and with a slight drizzle, it felt awesome.

i seemed to have developed some kind of painful growth on the bottom of my left foot, between the metatarsal head of my big toe and the arch. it's kind of like a callus, but this is painful when pushed on. for some reason, it doesn't seem that bad when i run, but i can still feel it. i'm worried that it'll start gnawing on me at mile 2 of tomorrow's run. i'll have to research this.

i'm excited, but still a little nervous about tomorrow's 10-mile run. leg soreness, painful shit developing on my feet, and those little pesky "doubt" gnomes running around in my brain are all trying to derail me. but i must remain strong. anyway, we're dropping water and gu just before the 4-mile mark and then between the 7 and 8-mile point. i'm also going to be including some thermotabs. one of the the hard parts about this course is that aside from the last 200 yards or so, the last mile is all uphill. that'll be a nice test on tired legs.

i'm going to eat somewhat normally today to increase my energy supply for tomorrow. maybe that will also help get rid of the leg soreness that i was feeling last nite. have a great weekend everyone!

short term plans

it occurred to me today that there's only 19 days left until the surgery. while simply the thought of having surgery at all is freaking me out enough, the other thought is that of losing all of this recently gained fitness. it'll surely be a month or so until i can resume running, and by that time i could be back at square one. well, realistically i was at square zero, so i guess even square one is an improvement. but seriously, it has been bothering me that all this working out might be for nothing. but then again, i am enjoying it. i've found that passion for running and a healthy lifestyle again. i just need to make sure i keep it up through my layoff and not gain any weight back. anyway, those thougts have been festering inside my mind for a while, so i thought i'd let them out.

i've come up with some short term plans leading up to my month long sentence of inactivity. first of all, let me show you this cool little route tracker i've been using, courtesy of the USATF website. it's pretty cool, and the distances seem to be very accurate. anyway, darrin and i are going to do a 10-miler on saturday. i'm really looking forward to it. this will be the farthest i've run since IMFL in 2003. next week, i'm thinking of cutting back a little, then on the 28th, which will be my last run before d-day, i'm going to do a half marathon. well it's not actually a race, but i'm going to do a 13.1 mile route. just to prove to myself that i can. darrin hasn't actually committed to doing it with me yet, but he will. or i'll have to kill him. or at least call him a big pussy. either one. anyway, i thought this would be a neat way to end the first phase of my getting back into fitness and racing.

last nite, darrin and i did 5.4 miles in bright moonlight. it was crystal clear out, and it must have been a full moon. we did a 3.3 mile loop, then ran 6 laps in the 'hood to finish the distance in 49:18, or 9:08/mile. while i did feel like i was working the whole way, my breathing was never labored. i still felt like i had a good reserve if it was needed. tonite we'll do 3 or 4, then take friday off in preparation for a big day on saturday. happy running!

progress

lately on my weeknight runs, the distance i run has largely been affected by how i'm feeling. there have been a few times recently where i've been feeling good and extended my planned 3 miles into 4 or even 5 miles. since i put 12.5 miles on my weary legs over the last two days, i started out last nite planning just a little, slow 3 miler. darrin, whose nether regions were apparently feeling better (but i wouldn't ask to borrow his bodyglide if i were you...) went with me, and as we were finishing the first mile i was thinking that i just couldn't get in a rhythm. i seemed to be struggling a little. oh well, i figured, i hadn't really had a "bad" run yet, so i'll fight through this one if i have to. then, as we passed the mile marker, i noticed that we ran it in 8:50. okay, that would explain the struggling.

i told darrin that we should just go for it and make this into a 3.2 mile time trial. so we did. during mile 2 i sped up slightly and my legs responded well. my breathing was still under control. mile 3 started well, but by the halfway point my legs started feel heavy. the last third i just let it all hang out, and finished strong but spent. our final time for the 3.2 was 27:47, for a pace of 8:41/mile. my previous best for this distance was exactly one week ago when i ran hard and finished in 29:17. not three weeks ago i ran this exact same course and made my legs sore by running 35:10!

i love progress.

weekend running

my,my, what beautiful weather we've been having lately. certainly un-januarylike, and i certainly appreciate it. as a sign of appreciation to mother nature, darrin and i took off on an 8.2 mile run saturday morning. a fairly flat course the goes out crews road, crosses into illinios, does a loop that links back to state line road, then back to crews road, and home. there's a nice downhill at mile 3, and then an uphill, downhill, and uphill again at miles 6-7. the last uphill is the most difficult. it was sunny and 35 degrees as we started out, which is wonderful for january. the first couple of miles were ok. we had driven out and dropped water bottles at mile 4, so we took a minute walk break there. i felt stronger and stronger after that. i cruised up the hills at miles 6 and 7 and came home strong in a total time of 1:19:09, or 9:43/mile. i'm very happy with this, as not only do i consider it a good time for me right now, but i felt like i could have run another 8.2 if i really had to. plus, i beat darrin by 20 seconds. he had to take a walk break in the last mile because he wasn't feeling well. i remember last year when i wasn't training consistently at all, darrin was beating me by a minute or two on 3-mile runs. i think i've reeled him in now. cool! i did feel tired most of the day, but i didn't have any leg soreness at all.
on sunday nite, i called darrin about 9:00 to see if he wanted to get in an easy 3. he declined, because apparently his bodyglide failed him during saturday's run in regions of his body i'd rather never think about. so i ran alone in the amazing 52 degree weather. i felt really good again and tacked on an extra 3 laps, and ended up running 12 laps in the neighborhood for a total of 4.3 miles in 40:10/9:20.
i decided to let myself eat normally over the weekend. now i didn't go crazy, but i didn't track what i ate, and i know i went over the 1,000 - 1,500 calories that i've been restricting myself to lately. it felt good to eat. i'd been craving normal meals for a while and it was good to let go. and, i didn't gain any weight either. i guess the 12.5 miles of weekend running helped with that.
all in all, i had a good weekend running-wise. i feel very good about my progress so far and i can't wait until next weekend so i can tack on a few extra miles and really push myself. i hope everyone else had a great weekend as well.

done deal

finally. all the tests and retests are completed and passed. january 31st it is. i'll be less one kidney and my sister can finally be on the path to get her life back. the hospital was happy with my blood pressure readings, so they gave me the confirmation of the january 31st date. whew. i'm glad all that's over with. but now that the date is actually set, it's becoming real. i've never had any surgeries or any serious medical condition, so i'm a little nervous to be honest. i'm sure i'll start really freaking out about it in these coming weeks before the procedure.

anyway, onto other things, i ran a nice 5.2 miles last nite. the original plan was to get in 4 with darrin. well he abandoned me after 2 miles to go watch a movie with his wife. geez, how lame is that? well after he took off, i was feeling great. i stayed in the neighborhood since it was after 10:00 by this time, but even the endless redundant circles (look kids, big ben, parliament! - European Vacation, remember?) could not slow me down. i decided to tack on an extra mile just for the hell of it and finished the 5.2 total in 48:22, for a 9:18/mile pace. i was thrilled at the pace time especially considering i still felt great at the end. i didn't feel like i was pushing it at all. i could have gone longer if i wanted. i'll do an easy 3 tonite, and i can't wait for the long (8+) run tomorrow.

have a great weekend everyone!

i guess i'll just have vanilla

i just started up classes again after a two week christmas hiatus. web development is the new adversary. i've worked in networking for 8+ years, taught numerous computer courses, and have a little blog going, so this should be no problem, right? yah! whatever. see, as the blandness of my blog reveals, i have no graphic design ability whatsoever. but this is almost irrelevant, as i have virtually no creative instincts either. i was finishing my weekly assignments last nite.

read chapter 3? check.
do silly postings that we have to do in the class forum? check.
load photoshop elements 4.0? check.
create sample drawing? felt my way around somewhat like a clumsy teenager removing his girlfriend's bra for the first time - but, check.
create a header for a website that we will be creating over the 5 weeks of the class? - hmm. this requires creativity AND some technical knowlege of photoshop. not a good combination for me. grr. in the end, i came up with something that will pacify my instructor for the week. it's horrible. it'll definitely need to evolve as the class goes on. check. kinda. sorta. for now.

as i was doing these assignments i kept thinking of all of you guys and how creative and talented you are at doing this type of thing. i envy you! i wish i could come up with something to offer you guys in return for some tips and tricks for this stuff. but i've come to the realization that i really don't have any talents that i could offer as exchange. i mean, "writing up documentation detailing our plans to reconfigure our servers so that the Sarbanes Oxley auditors are satisfied" doesn't sound like anything any of you need. neither does "how about if i entertain your kids by juggling a soccer ball on my head 100 times." see what i mean? no useful talents. DANG! i guess i'll just have to hack my way through this class. sheesh.

as a result of this lack of creative energy, i was doing the assignments until past midnight, so i did not run last nite. that's ok. a day off won't hurt. i'm going to do 4 tonite, 3 tomorrow, and then 8 or so on saturday. bring it on.

i think i've been uncoordinated

getting medical test results is always harder than it should be. by the time the lab here finally managed to successfully fax the results to the transplant hospital yesterday, sandy, the transplant coordinator had gone home, so i didn't find out anything. i called her this morning and whaddya know - blood glucose levels NORMAL! ha! then sandy hit me with:

"but the doctor wants to see a 3-day log of blood pressure readings before we can go on."

excuse me? are you kidding? blood pressure readings? i suppose this isn't something you could have told me about 2 months ago when i had the initial tests??!! keep in mind that i haven't heard anything from the transplant team since i was there in late october. they just told me at the time that i'd need to have my glucose level retested before the procedure, which we had penciled in for january 24th. i reminded sandy of this date. sandy then produced another blow:

"oh, we won't be able to do it then. the 31st is still open, though."

tell me you're kidding. TELL me you're kidding.

"so, sandy, exactly when the FUCK were you planning on telling me this information??!!"

well maybe i didn't say "fuck", but i think i got my point across. i mean, she's the freakin' coordinator! communication is her JOB. yet i can never get any information out of her. it's a good thing i hadn't gotten my airline tickets yet. anyway, i am going to keep a log of blood pressure readings until friday (which my wife will perform), fax that to her, then, gee maybe we can actually have a concrete date for this. i'm hoping for january 31st.
needless to say, i wasn't real happy with sandy this morning. i could rant on and on about it, but i don't think that would do any real good. on to other things, i ran alone last nite, as darrin wimped out, muttering something about having a presentation to do for work. here's the results:

3.2m@30:21/9:29
another mindless 9 laps. not as fast as yesterday, but it was a pretty comfortable pace. the weather was still pretty nice too. i'm hoping that all the really cold weather happens in february when i can't run anyway due to the recovery!

catching up

well, well, the new year is upon us. first of all i want to wish everyone a happy new year! since i don't normally get on the internet at home (thanks to that dreadful thing called dial-up) and i haven't been at work since december 23rd, i haven't updated lately. i have been keeping a log, however. i've been running consistently and even managed to keep my food intake in check.
the family and i had a great christmas and new year's. my kids are, of course spoiled, so they got all kinds of goodies. one of things i was looking forward to was the MP3 players that andrew and nathan got. they're from Dell, and about the size of a pack of gum. not only do the boys love them, but now i have something to use when i run alone! heh, it was like buying a present for myself! too cool. i had never, ever used any kind of music when i ran. i've only used it once, but it was pretty neat listening to Green Day, Train, and some others while running. the good thing is that my kids like alot of the same music that i do, so i don't have to skip past too many songs i don't like.

surgery update: the kidney transplant is scheduled for january 24th. as you may recall, my blood glucose level was high when i was initially tested, and i needed to retest. well, i retested yesterday. i'm going to call the hospital in florida later this morning to get the results. keep your fingers crossed! this is the last hurdle we need to get over before the transplant date is set in stone. here's what i don't get, though. i did the 3-hour glucose stress test yesterday at a local hospital. they get the results immediately, but they couldn't give them to me! huh?! they said they had to get the requesting doctor's permission before they could release the results. i understand the concept of data security and even the idea that they are not qualified to give me a diagnosis on the data. but all i wanted was the raw data. at this point in the process, i know what the raw number mean! anyway, i'll call in a couple of hours and find out for sure. when i tested originally, my fasting blood sugar reading was 109. the transplant team needs this number under 100. i have one of those "Accuchek" home testing kits for diabetics, and it gave me a reading of 85 just before i left for the hospital. i managed to get the lab staff to tell me that my fasting blood sugar level was "normal", but they wouldn't give me a number nor would they tell me anything about the results of any of the "stress" samples that were taken after i drank the sugar juice.

i really only started my new weight loss/fitness regimen on december 20th. don't ask me why. i really don't know. anyway, since then i have lost 10 pounds, and judging by my runs, gained quite a bit of fitness. i feel so much better, even after only a couple of weeks. i'm posting my run workouts below just for my information. you can read it if you want to be even more bored than you already are...

12/21/05
3.2 miles, 34:34 total time, 10:48 pace
9 laps around my pancake-flat neighborhood. first run in a while. not pushing it.

12/22/05
3.2m@35:10/10:59
another 9 laps. legs were a little sore from yesterday, hence the even slower time...

12/23/05
3.2m@34:48/10:53
9 laps again. legs still sore.

12/24/05
6.4m@1:09:05/10:48
did 18 laps. yes, this is wayyy too many times around a circle! weather was great. took a couple of walking breaks. actually felt quite good. the leg soreness is almost gone. finished at just about exactly midnight. hello, santa!

12/25/05
4.0m@42:17/10:34
did a little out and back into illinois. weather was unbelievable for this time of year. i felt very good even after the longer run yesterday.

weekly totals for 12/19 - 12/25: 20 miles. total time: 215:54. average pace: 10:48/mile.

12/28/05
3.2m@32:15/10:05
9 laps again. i ran with darrin for the first time in a while. he hasn't really been training either.

12/29/05
3.2m@30:35/9:33
9 laps. darrin and i did a much quicker pace today, and i still felt very good. developed a blister on my right foot. i hate that!

1/1/06
6.7m@1:07:56/10:08
another beautiful day. cloudy and about 50 degrees! darrin and i did the standard State Line Road loop with a little extension that takes us over a little bridge that crosses Interstate 70. this course has 3 fairly significant hills. we took a couple of 30-second walk breaks, but we ran all the hills. i felt great. i haven't felt this comfortable running in over 2 years. 10:08 pace time for this course at this stage in my fitness is wonderful.

weekly totals for 12/20 - 1/1: 13.1 miles (i took 2 days off for blisters to heal). total time: 130:46. average pace: 9:59.

1/2/06
3.2m@29:17/9:09
9 laps in the neighborhood with ridiculously warm weather (but i'm not complainin'!!) darrin was pushing the pace, and originally i wasn't going to speed up, but i was feeling good, and so what the heck. did the last mile in about 8:40. sweet!

i've always been a competitive person, and i think in some ways that's sabotaged me in my efforts over the last year. i'm finally learning that it's ok not to go all out in every workout. that it's ok to walk for a little while on a longer run. before my 6-miler on christmas eve, i had never walked during a training run before. it's amazing how 30 seconds of walking can make the next 10 minutes of running that much more enjoyable. and that's what i'm trying to do: keep it enjoyable. don't push it so hard that it becomes work. that's what i have done in the past. push, push, push, and suddenly you don't want to go out and run anymore because of the pressure to do better than last nite's run. if i don't feel too good during my run tonite, i'll slow down. in fact, i don't plan on matching the 9:09 pace i did last nite. and that's fine with me.

anyway, here's hoping that everyone had a great holiday season, and looking forward to an even better 2006.