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.