My Journey....Revisited (comments welcome)

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just registered for 3 more races. River Zombie Run 5k obstacle race on 10/26, YMCA Chili Run 15k on 11/9 and I'm attempting to do a 10k and 5k back-to-back on 12/7. The distance for that last race isn't the concern. It's the fact that I'll be attempting to PR both the 10k and 5k and there is a 30-45 minute gap between the 2 races so I'll have to keep my legs loose and somehow try to stay fresh enough for the 5k to PR.

Honestly, I'm not as concerned with the 5k PR as I am the 10k one. I'd still like to medal in both races.

 

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Had a nice 4 miler this morning before work at a 8:30 per mile pace. I'm really loving these cooler temps!

 

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I've been sticking to my running program for the most part. I've been traveling a ton so my days may be different, but I'm still getting the miles in. I was in New Orleans this weekend on business and I was worried both about where I could run and the food since that's honestly the one thing I like about New Orleans (Sorry to all my Cajun friends), but both worked out good. Because of my hectic work schedule, I was only able to really eat 2 meals a day and one of those was more of a snack than a meal. I had some healthier options while still getting New Orleans style food.

Yesterday morning, I went out for my run somewhat blindly since I didn't know where I was going to run, but I decided on running Riverfront Park along the Mississippi River. I knew it was only about 3 miles out and back from my hotel so I planned to do that route 2-3 times. As I attempted to get to the Riverfront, I quickly found most of it closed off due to the construction on Riverfront Mall so I just hugged the sidewalk heading down Convention Center Blvd. towards Canal. I figured I'd at least run down Canal to the French Quarter and back since I somewhat know my way around there.

As I turned a blind corner near the Hilton, I saw a 5k group from the Convention I was attending and decided to just fall in with them. I wouldn't partake of any of their water/sport drinks or finish the race with the group, but at least I'd take advantage of the closed off streets. I'm glad I did because the race went through some beautiful neighborhoods of the French Quarter and along the Mississippi River. It was a great route and running with the pack made me challenge myself a little more than I probably would have running solo.

I jumped out of the group about 1/10th of a mile from the finish line and ran back towards my hotel. I only did a 10k yesterday, but really enjoyed it. Despite business trips to El Paso and New Orleans last week, I still had a great week of running and eating. I was rewarded this morning by my lowest weigh-in to date. I am now proudly down to 190.8lbs.!

I've got my first race since the Spring this weekend and it's my first obstacle race ever. I'm looking forward to it and hopefully next week I'll get below the 190 mark!

 

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Still logging the miles in preparation for the fall race season and my next half (WDW in January) and full (Albany Marathon in March). Had a nice 4 miler yesterday with DW and a nice 5 miler solo this morning. I get a few days off before running the Zombie 5k obstacle race Saturday afternoon and then 13 miles Sunday morning before church.

 

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This weekend was a blur....I had to work Saturday morning but then dashed home to change and pick up my packet for that afternoon's River Zombie 5k obstacle race. It was my first obstacle race and then was also so much more challenging than any other 5k I'd ever done because there were zombies all over the course that would try to grab each of the 2 flags you were wearing on a belt. Through the first 3/4 mile or so, I was in second place until I realized I could not maintain that pace throughout the race, nor could I accelerate past the zombies when they came after me so I slowed up. I realized that too late as I was already quite winded by this point. The race ended up being run a little, run as hard as you can when you come up to an area with zombies and then walk a little. The obstacles weren't difficult, but they were enough to challenge you from keeping any kind of reasonable pace.

I was more tired after that race than any other race I've run this year (including possibly the WDW full!) Yesterday morning, I got up to go out for a long run before church. I ended up running a nice pace even though I took it really easy the first 4 or 5 miles. I ended up running my 13 miler at an average pace of exactly 8:30.

All in all, it was a great running weekend. I'm tired today from it, but it was a good weekend.

 

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After a solid week of running (still have my 14 miler for Saturday), I broke 100 miles for the month of October. I'm still well on pace to my goal of 1000 miles for 2013. This was my most mileage for a month this year beating my previous 2 best months by 10 miles. This was also my fastest month of the year which is almost as encouraging as the mileage. I'm excited about where my running is now and definitely excited about my weight and fitness level.

 

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Had a great 14 mile run this morning. Ran a negative split and ran it in 1:58 (8:27mm pace). Felt really good and think I could have easily done another mile or two, possibly more. Haven't felt that good in a few weeks at least not over that long of a distance. Last time I did a 14 mile run, I think I was about 10 minutes slower so it was a huge improvement. Looking forward to two days off running though and definitely looking forward to that extra hour of sleep tonight!

 

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I missed a 4 miler this week but I'm not sweating it. It's my first run I've missed in a while and I will most likely miss one again next week due to my work travel schedule.

I've got a race tomorrow. I'm running in the YMCA Chili RUn 15k in my hometown (Albany, GA). My goal for the race is to finish in 1 hour 15 minutes, place in the top 3 of my age group, and place in the top 25 overall.

I'm ready for the race though. It's a beautiful area that we're running in and I've run a little through the neighborhoods so I'm familiar with it, but not so familiar with it that I'll be bored. Lots to see.

 

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My race Saturday was awesome! I started off the first mile a little fast, but nothing unmanageable. I ran the first mile in just under 8 minutes. I slowed down the next 6 miles and maintained my overall pace at just a tad over 8mm. Once I hit the 7 mile marker, I knew I was feeling good so I pushed it a little harder. I ran the last 2 miles in under 7:30mm and the final 0.3 miles at a 6:45 pace. I finished 3rd in my age group in 1:14.02 for an overall pace of 7:58mm for a 9.3 (15k) race. I also finished 17th overall in the race.

I couldn't be happier with the results! I gained so much confidence from this race!

 

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I had a good week last week. I did miss one of my runs as expected due to some major travel in a short period of time last week, but my 15 mile run Saturday was an indication it probably wasn't the worst thing to have missed two of my 4 milers in 2 weeks. My legs were heavy during my 15 mile run, but my overall pace was solid. I ran it in an 8:30mm pace and was happy to complete the run like I did.

This morning was my official weigh-in and I had dropped another 2lbs. That officially puts me over 70lbs. total lost and officially under 190lbs! I'm now at 188.6 and I was just over 259 when I started this journey. Like the old Virginia Slims slogan says, "you've come a long way baby". lol.

 

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Today's run was really good. With my back to back races coming up in 2 weeks, I decided to test my race day plan by running a 10k at about 15 seconds per mile less than race pace and then walking 1 mile followed by running 1.8 miles followed by walking 0.2 miles and then running a hard 5k at about 15 seconds below race pace. I nailed everything and only missed my 5k PR by 8 seconds! That was after running 9 miles before it! I have a feeling more PR's this race season are in my future! lol.

 

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I haven't updated in some time due to a crazy past few weeks. Running has been going well, but a gained back a few pounds between Thanksgiving and visiting with my wife's family late last week. Her grandfather passed away unexpectedly so we had to cancel our race that was this past Saturday. It was disappointing, other than the obvious loss, since I was going to attempt to PR both a 10k and 5k in the same day (back-to-back races). Instead I did a 12 mile run at one of my fave running places, Crowfield Plantation in Goose Creek, SC (suburb of Charleston).

I'm current sitting at 924 miles for the year. I should hit my 1000 mile goal for 2013 with a little to spare. Even more importantly, I was able to get my weight down quite a bit from what it was January and that was after I had already lost a ton of weight and kept most of it off for a few years.

In reflection, it's been a good year and God has certainly blessed me and my family. I'm looking forward to finishing out my training for my next full marathon, shattering my PR for a full in March, running the WDW half in 2014, completing my Coast 2 Coast in August 2014, and having an amazing year again next year!

 

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Quick update to share a milestone. I went out today for my training run of 13 miles. I had planned to just run it and feel good doing it. I ran the first few miles at around a 8:45 pace. Nice and easy pace like I planned. I noticed the pace start to pick up pretty good as the miles tacked on, which is not anything new for my running lately. Near the end of the run, I could tell I was potentially on pace for a half marathon PR. I did end up PR'ing for a half. I did the 13.1 in 1:50.04. I felt good post run and was really happy with the results to say the least.

 

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super quick update this morning. After my 15 miler this past Saturday, I currently sit at 999 miles for 2013. I will achieve my goal of 1000 miles in 2013 tomorrow during my scheduled 4 mile run. On a negative note, I've gained a few pounds over the holidays. I'm getting back on my diet plan firmly today though. I want to drop those few pounds before the WDW half and I'd like to get down to 185 or below by my next full marathon on March 1.

 

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I officially broke 1000 miles ran for 2013 this morning! I finished the year down about 30lbs. than I started the year and ran 1003 miles this year. I'm still debating my goal for next year, and I'm leaning towards 1200 miles. I'm not looking to lose much more weight, but I definitely want to maintain and tone things up a little bit. All in all, this has been an outstanding year. I'm so blessed and thankful for everything this year has been and what next year will be. Talk to you all next year (I'm not even sure who, if anyone, reads this anymore).

 

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Back from marathon weekend and completed the Donald Half. It was a PR for me even with 4 picture stops and one porta-potty stop! lol. I had a great time at the race and the weekend as a whole. My watch time was 1:50.40 which was off a little from the chip time, but close enough.

I'm back at it this week getting ready for my next full marathon which is now less than 7 weeks away.

 

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I officially registered for the Albany Marathon that's in 6 weeks. I've been training for it, but just haven't registered yet. I'm hesitantly looking forward to this weekend. I have a 17 mile training run Saturday morning. A few hours after that, I have to drive 7 hours to a work convention in Naples, FL. Then Sunday morning, I'm running in a charity 5k. I plan to take the 5k easy since it's the day after a long run and it's a charity run anyway, but my darn competitive streak may pop up and change that plan a little. We'll see.

 

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It was a good weekend of running. I was a little nervous how it would all work out since I had to log a 17 mile run (my longest in over a year) and then drive 7 hours to south Florida for a convention and then run a charity 5k the next morning.

I had a good run with the 17 miler. I made a point of not going out too fast and not "kicking it" too soon since I'd been pushing hard through the last 5-6 miles of a long run lately, but my longest runs lately were around 13-15 miles, not 17. I felt fantastic after the run.

The drive down to South Florida was good and no troubles. A little stiff when I stopped for a bathroom break as I'd been sitting for 4+ hours at that point, but all was good.

I woke up Sunday morning a little anxious about the charity race. It wasn't a highly organized run. No bibs, no chip timers, no clocks even and limited course markers, but it was just a fun run anyway. I was at the front of the pack for the majority of the race and ended up tying for 1st with a colleague who qualified for Boston this year.

The funniest thing was the course ended up being 3.72 miles rather than 3.1 like a 5k is. It was still a good time and I ran it at a 7:45 pace so no effects from the previous day's long run.

This morning I weighed in and I had dropped another 3 pounds so I'm almost back down to my lowest weight that I was just before Christmas holidays.

 

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It's been about a week since my last update so I guess I'm due for one. Had a good 18 mile run this past Saturday. I was slated to run 19, but a little tightness in my calf caused to be to play it safe since I was only 5 weeks out from the marathon and cut it short by a mile. I definitely could have done the extra mile though. Felt good and was right on training pace of under 8:40per mile.

This week so far, I've completed 5 and 8 mile runs, but today I had to do that 8 miler on the treadmill. If you read my journal, you know how much I looooove the treadmill (sarcasm alert). Living in south Georgia we don't get much ice and snow and last night's winter storm caused everything to be iced up good so I didn't chance it by running on the ice myself or with passing cars (that's what I was most afraid of). I did get the run in though so I was happy with that.

Tomorrow it's another 5 miles and this weekend is a lower mileage long run of only 12 miles before next weekend's big-bad boy of 20 miles.

 

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I feel this journal slipping away. I enjoy updating it, but it seems like I'm talking to myself. lol.

I nailed my 20 miler this past Saturday. I'm now less than 3 weeks away from my second full marathon. This time around, I'm far more confident and feel great after each run. Things are quite different this time around and I couldn't be happier.

My weight has leveled off too. I seem to have dropped the majority of the few holiday pounds I had put back on and I'm happy to say I've been under 200lbs. for a few months now. I've gotten back down to the sub 190 range again and would love to be in the 185-189 range before my full marathon. I know a few pounds won't make or break me for the race, but it sure would make me feel better.

I'll keep popping in here every few days to update. If anyone reads this, please say hi so I don't go stir crazy talking to myself.