Recent Runs

Well, it has been a while since I posted anything and my wife has been saying stuff to me about posting.  So, here it goes.  Running has been good recently.  I did take an almost two week break when I went to Israel and then the Thanksgiving weekend after that.  It hurt me some, my first three runs afterwards weren't real great.  But, the 3rd of December I ran a race in Columbia, Mo and got a PR.  I ran a 22.07 and was pumped.  My splits were around 7.08 but I could have done a little better.  I learned a  lesson about really paying attention to the course design.  I was in my last mile and was getting tired and I thought our end was coming at a certain point, but it didn't.  This really messed with my head.  There was some let down with not knowing how much farther we had and starting to get tired.  I think I could have run about 30 seconds faster.  But, I didn't and I got what I got.  I talked with Coach Mitchell and we are shooting for a 21.30 this next race.  I am running a race December 31st in Columbia with my wife!  My amazing, wonderful wife started running last week, it almost killed her, and we are planning on running together in the race.  One last thing.  With cold weather coming on me running in shorts has gotten me called crazy.  I ran past a girl, about ten years old, and she looked at me, looked at my shorts and then gave me a face like, "you're crazy."  Funny.

This is the picture of us after our first race.  We ran pretty decently and were all well pleased with our run.  I am on the far left, Thomas is in the middle, and Dan, the amazing worship leader at our church, is on the right.  I ran a 24:29, Thomas had a 25:13, and Dan had a 25:18.  It was a good start to our later runs.  There is another race in October that they are going to run at, but I can't run again until November 5th.  That race will be in Hannibal and I'm looking forward to hopefully cutting off at least a minute.  My goal is to get under 20 minutes, which is doable and is already affecting my attitude towards our workouts.  Until next time, enjoy life and love your family.

Good training day

I haven't posted in a long time and though it would be good to give myself an update on my progress. Monday I had a hard run for about 21 minutes. I actually think that I ran a little too hard as my legs were pretty sore forth next couple of days. On Tuesday I swam for about seven minutes and really was trying to learn how to breath proPerly in the water. I was suppose to bike also but nightly events prevented that. I took Wednesday off and tonight I resumed my training. I swam for nine minutes tonight and then went on a 22 minute bike ride. I pushed it pretty hard on my bike ride andfelt it a lot more to ight Jan I normally do. The main difference was my pushin it on the hills. Usually I go to a lower gear but tonight I kept my gears higher and got a good burn on my legs. Hopefully the coarse will be flat and I don't have to deal with as bi of hills as I do here. Until next time, enjoy all hat God has given us to enjoy.

Triathlon Training Day Three: swimming

Today I swam for the first time.  I had to swim in our lake due to not having anywhere else.  It wasn't too bad except for the odd smell every once in a while.  I started swimming and was going at a good pace and got a good distance and then yelled back at my timer (I don't have a waterproof watch yet so I had a kid on the shore time me) and he said I had been swimming for 1:39 and my resolve was destroyed.  Mentally this is when I was done swimming, but unfortunately I was about 100 yards out there and still had to come back.  I started to swim back but it felt like there was a current that made it more difficult for me to swim back than it was to go out.  The swim back was tough and I was very glad to be back on shore.  It definitely was more than I thought it would be.

I learned two major lessons today.  The first is that I need to learn how to swim better.  I have always thought of myself as a pretty descent swimmer, but I have never had to swim long distances.  I know I move my head too much and need to learn how to breath better.  Definitely this is my weakest link right now.  Also, I did learn that if it was a straight 250 yard then I would do better than I thought.  I think if I learn to swim then watch out.

One last thing.  As I was coming out of the water I just about vomited.  Apparently I swallowed some water and when I was coming out of the water I got a scent of the water (it smells like goose poop) and started gagging.  When I got home I got in the shower and got a whiff of the smell again and started gagging and trying to throw up.  My stomach feels kind of weird, and I don't think it is just mental, and I have this feeling in the back of my throat like I still want to throw up.  I hope that I don't get sick.  Well, what a first day of swimming!

Here's what happened: part two

Okay, so I had to take a week off due to some nasty shin splints last week.  During this time I rode a bike a few days and got a brilliant idea (I guess that depends on who you talk to).  My idea is a triathlon!  My wife thinks I'm crazy and the guys I'm running with said good for you.  So, I started training for this on Monday.  I found a very good beginner triathlon coming up on September 10th in Iowa.  I will swim 250 yards, bike 6 miles, and run 1.3 miles.  This is what is called a mini-sprint triathlon.  In lam-en's terms it means the shortest triathlon you will ever see.  I am trying to find a place to swim in right now.  There is a pool around here but it is kind of short and we have a lake but it is nasty and I want that to be my last option.

So, if you see me please encourage me.  My wife said she will come and watch me finish.  I tried to get her to run and she almost said yes, but then backed out on me and wimped out.  Don't worry dear, I still love you greatly.  I actually am very excited about this and really want to start swimming.  I think I am at a point where the running isn't an issue, but figuring out how to competitively swim and bike is an issue.  I have a month to figure this out and am trying very hard.  My thought is that this might start an addiction that will be good for me and keep me in shape and skinny for the rest of my life.  We shall see.

Day Eleven; I doned it

Tonight I finally ran the full 5.2 miles!  I am pretty excited about this little fact.  There were at least four serious times where I wanted to quit and throw up but really kept pushing myself and just wouldn't stop.  With about two miles left is when the real desire to stop running started to hit me.  My legs wanted to slow the pace down and I was laboring to keep my pace.  But, I wouldn't let my self slow down.  I think I just realized that my body can do more than my mind wants to.  I think tonight was a big hurdle I went over.

Now, instead of wondering if I can do it I know I can.  The main things now will be to continue to cut down time and get my lungs and legs in better shape.  One thing that did almost burst my bubble was the ending.  At the very beginning I had to stop and it took about three minutes but we started running again.  Apparently, Thomas had kept the watch going during this time.  So, when we finished he said that I had made it in 58.47.  At this I was real discouraged because I pushed myself hard and was for sure that I would get around a 55.  The other night when we ran and I stopped and walked for a few minutes I ran a 58, so this was a killer.  Then he said, "wait a minute I forgot to stop it when we had to stop at the beginning."  So, my time was really a 55 and his was a 52.  Look out Thomas I'm catching you!  The other night I was off by five minutes, tonight I was off by three.

Day Ten: War Zone

Tonight Thomas and I ran the 5.2 miles again.  Tonight was much better than Tuesday night.  During the day I drank enough water to make a fish drown and this helped me out a lot.  It wasn't any cooler tonight than Tuesday so there wasn't much relief there.  I kept up with Thomas for about half of the run and then he left me.  The only time I walked was shortly after he left me.  We were on one of the hills and I had to stop.  I couldn't catch my breath enough to really run effectively so I stopped and walked about 100 yards in order to catch my breath.  After this I continued to run and did not stop for the remainder of the run.

The real issue tonight was the war that I got into.  I had more horse flies and bugs attack me while I was running than I have had in all of my previous runs combined.  I think it was the devil.  It had to be.  They kept landing on my head, one bit me on my left shoulder, and I think one bit my back because it kept feeling funny the entire run.  I was swinging at them like a mad man, trying to get them off of me and out of my face.  I'm sure if you would have seen me it would have been a sight.  Here is a guy running about as fast as someone can walk swatting at the air.  My form was shot.  I took the form of a dying person more so than a runner.  It was ugly.

During this final half of the run my pace was extremely slow.  I bet a good walker could have beat me.  But, I kept on a trucking.  A funny thing did happen.  I finally got back to the blacktop and there was someone else out exercising.  This person was going the opposite way right when I got to the blacktop and I ended up getting about fifty yards ahead of them.  At this point I kind of caught my breath, with only a mile left, and started to pick up my pace and felt better.  But, I kept looking back and I wasn't pulling away from this person.  I really thought that it was going to be a race to the finish line, but I edged the person out.  Really though, it was a woman that was walking and I don't think it was very fair.

My final time was 58 minutes and change and Thomas' was 53 minutes and change.  Watch out Kenyans here we come.

Day Nine, Hot Night!

Tonight was hot!  We had talked about doing a very hilly run of a little over 5 miles.  Thomas was reluctant but I kept pressuring him so he decided to give him.  About half way into it the sun got to me.  This overwhelming heat came over me and I had to stop and walk or something nasty would have happened.  I know that I did not drink enough water today and my body wasn't in a proper place to put it through the abuse I did tonight.  But, I pressed on and worked hard.

So, we walked for about a hundred yards and than began running again.  Thomas quickly took off and left me in the dust but I kept trucking along.  Like I said the course was very hilly, BIG HILLS, so it was pretty taxing on our bodies.  One nice thing was that it was on gravel.  Now, if you have run on gravel this usually isn't a nice thing, but tonight was so hot that it was nice not to run on the blacktop. 

I made it the remainder of the run until I had about a half mile left.  At this point we had to get back on blacktop and the heat took it out of me.  I got the same feeling I had earlier and I stopped and walked about 100 yards again.  I ran another little bit and then had to stop and walk.  My body was done.  I wasn't out of breath, which is a good thing, but my body was spent.  I finished up the run walking and met Thomas at my house.  He said he walked a little when he got to the blacktop again due to the heat but had enough in him to finish the run.  If I would have been able to finish the run I would have been about five minutes behind him.  Again, this is encouraging to me because that is the same time as when we ran four miles the other week.  I'm getting in shape!  When I got home and after about twenty minutes of calming down I got ready and took a shower.  When I took my clothes off I rung them out in the sink and it looked like I had been swimming in my clothes.  My shorts got rung out!  I had a white shirt on and it was completely see through.  There was not one dry spot on it and it was all sweat.  Nasty!!

Day Eight

Well, we took a couple of very needed days off this weekend and my legs rejoiced in it.  Tonight we ran 2 miles and we got it in 17 minutes and it felt great.  The pace was quicker and over all it felt really good.  We are going to change up our routine per suggestion of our running chief Paul.  Starting this week we will run Monday-Tuesday, Thursday-Saturday.  We are going to take Wednesday and Sunday off for rest.  It is called the"Holy Days" schedule.

I got some new shoes on Saturday and I took a picture of my old ones and then a picture of my new ones.  As you can tell it was time for some new ones.  Does anyone really care about that?  Probably not but this is my blog and I can write what I want to.  I'm pumped about my new shoes and so you are.  It just takes me telling you for you to know that you are excited about my new shoes.
My old ones hurt my feet.  I have had them for about a year and they needed to be changed out.  So, I went and tried on a bunch and settled on a pair of Asics 1150.  They felt real comfortable in the store and then tonight when we ran they felt even better.  My feet didn't hurt at all after the run.  They helped support my feet.  I do not have an arch and need shoes that give good support and these did the job.  Hopefully they last a long time and I get plenty of use out of them.

Day Seven

This is a picture of me after the abuse that Thomas puts me through on a nightly basis.  I don't think you can notice but my shirt is completely soaked.  I doubt anybody really cared to know that but just in case you did.  It is disgusting.

I have to make a correction to last night.  Last night we ran our run in 26 not 23 minutes.  I guess I got a little excited and made a mistake.

Tonight we ran for time again and ran for a total of 35 minutes.  Our total distance was only three miles but we took it slow on purpose.  We originally were going to run 4.5 miles but our legs were dead and we were pretty tired so we decided to run only three miles.  It actually was a very nice run.  My legs still hurt and my fingers still tingled, though not as bad and they didn't cramp up.  About half way through I got into a rhythm and my legs didn't hurt as bad.  Also, at the end of our run I wasn't trying to stay alive.  I actually got to finish tonight with my head held high and being able to talk.  Of course, this was due to running so slow but it honestly was nice.  Really, every night I have pushed myself real hard and tonight was nice to actually have a pleasant run.

I was actually thinking about that very thing today.  I was wondering if there would ever be a point where I could go on a long run and it not completely kill me.  Well, tonight happened that way and I am grateful for that.  I'm sure our next run will kill me but for right now I enjoyed having a relaxing run.

Day Six

Tonight we had one guy have to do more important things and another young man join us.  Paul was going to run with us tonight but his kid of vomiting and his wife is not doing real great either.  So, he chose the better thing and took care of his family.  He really is an awesome man.

But, we did add one more to our experiment.  His name is Sam and he just graduated from our high school this past year.  So, he is in much better shape and is a lot younger so he did much better.  He is eighteen which puts him eleven years younger than me and twenty one years younger than Thomas.  We ran our run of three miles and with him pushing us and causing us to run faster then what we would have without him our time improved.  Sam finished about a minute or so ahead of us.  Thomas ran it in 23.17 and I ran a 23.47.  This is one and half minute faster for Thomas and a whole two minutes faster for me then what we ran last Thursday.  This is real exciting because our goal time for our 5k in September is 20 and we are still two months away and are only about four minutes off.  A 5k is about 3.12 miles and we only ran three miles so you have to add some time.

So, a good run tonight and we are looking forward to tomorrow.  We are planning on running 4.5 miles tomorrow and we schemed a little to try and do it with less hills than last night.

Day Five: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

This was day five of our running expedition and we decided to go the extra mile tonight.  So, we ran 4.2 miles and we finished!  This was the good of the night.  We ran the whole thing and did not walk.

The bad was that I almost died at about three miles.  We were beginning to run up a hill that lasts about one half a mile and sucked the life out of me.  I don't think I recovered from the hill for the remainder of the run.  Anyways, at the three mile mark I told Thomas that he had to go on without me and to just trust that I would make it.  Well, being the good friend that he is he left me and he finished about five minutes ahead of me.  At the point of my dying we were going a pretty good pace for us.  I would say that we were at about an eight minute mile and that is pretty good considering our conditioning level and the hills that we had ran.

Now the ugly.  This consisted of my final mile.  Ugly suits it so well.  I was trying not to die and vomit all at the same time.  Everything inside of me wanted to stop running at certain points. My eyes would look up and I would see a point on the road and say, "At that point I can justify walking and get away with it."  But, I just couldn't quit.  I kept running and would not stop even though I desperately wanted to.  With about a half mile to go my jaw was beginning to lock up from being tired and my hands were tingling and started cramping up.  This is not so much of an issue as the jaw locking.  I think on every run since I started this my fingers have tingles and cramped up.  I think it is due to me pushing myself past my comfort level and really getting in shape.  I have heard that you don't really start conditioning until your body is ready to quit.  When you get to this point and keep going is when you gain ground.  So, I guess my ugly really is beauty hidden.  It just needs to blossom.

Day four

Tonight was a good run.  Thomas and I had a friend named Mauricio come and run with us.  It really was quite funny.  He doesn't hardly run and we had him run about two miles with us.  At the halfway point his legs starting cramping up and he was just about done.  Our pace was very slow so we turned into a run for time and not distance or pace.  When we started back after half way he got a look of pain on his face that was funny.  This poor guy looked like someone had shot him.  I must admit that I laughed out loud and thought it was funny.  The good thing is that he finished the run and said that he will run with us come Wednesday.

After he stopped Thomas and I continued to run the remainder of our run.  We finished with about 3 1/2 miles under our belt and it took us forever.  We didn't time it but we think it was around forty five minutes.  Really the slower pace killed my legs just as much as a quick pace would have.  So, it was a good run to get a lot of time in and we accomplished that.

I can't wait until Wednesday when Paul gets out there and I can see where the big dog is running at.  I have pictured in my mind him blowing us out of the water and waiting at the end as we struggle to keep up with his pace.  Or, he will be right along with us because he is out of shape as well.

Last night I was thinking that if we keep increasing out distance then we will have to start running earlier and earlier to fit our runs in before it gets dark.  We will see how far this thing takes us.  Thomas was talking about running a half-marathon and that would take some serious training.  Maybe next year huh?

Day Three

Ouch!!  That really is how I started and finished off my run today.  Thomas and I ran tonight and my legs hurt.  We got ambitious tonight and decided to run three miles.  Actually, starting off we didn't know how long it was we just had an idea that it would be about three miles.  We started off together and when we reached half way I was rethinking our distance.  My legs began to hurt some more and I started tiring down.  I stayed with Thomas until about half way.  At that point I was fighting to finish.

Being the good friend that he is Thomas took off and left me in the dust.  My fingers started to tingle and cramp up some due to me fighting to continue.  At the end there is a little hill which tried to kill me and then I hit the home stretch and got my wind back and picked up my pace to a respectable pace.  When I finished Thomas had been there for a bout a minute.

We then walked to his house and got in his Explorer to go and measure the course.  We measured it and technically it was 2.99 miles but we are calling it three.  When he dropped me off I limped to my front door due to my thighs hurting so bad.  I guess that is the price you pay for greatness.
His time was 27.57, which is a minute off of his 5k that he ran on Monday.  My time was 28.45 which I am happy with considering I haven't ran in about a year.  I will take the next three days off due to going on a trip.  I will talk again on Monday.  Not like anyone cares but just in case I thought I would let you know.

Day Two

Tonight Thomas and I ran with his boy for about two miles.  It was a good run with conversation and just a delightful time.  His son ran about 1 1/2 miles with us before walking some and then running again.  At the end we picked up our pace significantly for the last quarter mile which left my hands tingling and very wore out.  I came home and my wife says I stink and my daughter won't give me a hug because I am sweaty.

The nice thing is that for the first time in a long time I am enjoying running and getting in shape.  I look forward to some longer runs which is something I have never said.  Maybe because I have a goal in mind, or maybe because I have some good friends that I am doing this with.

Also, Paul and I talked and we discussed the importance of having a runner's pow wow and we decided to run together once a week.  Of course, he is hardly here so right after we suggested this I got out my calender, which he hates because I make him commit to something right there, and we set a date for next week and then two weeks after that.  He squirmed a little but I had him trapped so he couldn't say no.

I think we are going to invite some more people in this experiment.  If you read and want to join or know someone, come on down you're the next contestant on the price is right.

Here's what happened

This past March me and friend named Paul Mitchell had a great idea of hosting a 5k race.  He so brightly suggested that we have it on July 4th when the church celebrates Open House.  Well, if you don't know anything about hosting a 5k run it takes a lot.  Average time to set one up is a year and we had four months!  When push came to shove we did it and it turned out fairly well with only a few fixes for next year.

My friend Thomas decides to begin running and he got in shape and decides to run in the race (this wasn't his original motive but more of a result of turning things around).  He did fine for where he is at and is really excited about this.  So, he asks me if I will run a race with him in September if he can find one.  I said yes and we began looking and found a race in Hannibal on September 24th called the Mississippi River Run and we are going to run in it.  My friend Paul is a very accomplished runner who has gotten older and a little slower and likes to run shorter distances.  Well, I challenged him to get in shape and run with us and he is going to do it.

I have two real motives for this.  The first is my friend asked me and the second is to get in shape for my wife.  I'm not overweight but my family is short and stocky which tends to produce larger bodies come later years.  So, I don't want to get old and be like that and have my kids look at me and wonder what happened.  Also, God once told me that He will not have a fat glutton for a minister.  I'm kind of dense so God has to talk to me like that at times.  Anyways, here we go.

Tonight was my first run of about 3/4 a mile and my lungs felt it pretty bad and my legs were done at the end of it.  I think I could have pushed it a little farther but we are in this for the long haul so I will live to run again.

Thomas, thank you.