I Finished!!!

This past week has been great! I didn’t get a lot of miles in but I did get to run a race and spend lots of time with family and friend. We checked the kids out of school early this past Friday and went on up to Jackson. We went shopping and then went and check into our motel and did a little swimming. While at Target I bought me a new pair of running shorts and a bright yellow running shirt. No I didn’t wear them to the race. You should always wear clothes that are well broken in to race.

We all got to Union University about 7:15 and I started looking for the Start Line. After seeing the half marathoners off, I did ask one of the officials where the start line was and we went on over there. After some last minute stretching, we were finally ready for start time. I lined up near the back and finally we were off. I was off to a good start and about the one mile mark we came upon the water station. I grabbed a cup and drank about half of the Gatorade and I was set. I asked for water the second time around but they didn’t have any so I passed it up.

After making the last right turn to the Finish Line, I knew I had made it. When I got closer I couldn’t believe what I was seeing on the clock. I finished in 33:50! I had never run 3.1 miles in under 34 minutes. I was proud. I had finished my first 5K and couldn’t have been happier. I’m glad I got to share this time with my family and with Rob. I was good having all of them there.

We had a great lunch at Olive Garden too.

Still the scales are being good to me. No loss or gain. I guess that is better than gaining though.

My friend, Amy, completed the marathon up in Jackson this past weekend too. On Sunday, I got up and ran a short 3 miles and she posted on Facebook, “Shouldn’t this be a rest day?” She later told me that she couldn’t have ran 3 feet much less 3 miles. I did tell her that if I had ran as much as she did then I wouldn’t have been able to get out of bed. Amy, you did great!

I would like to take this time to thank Amy, Chris, Joy and Koach for all help and encouragement that you have given me the last six months. I realize that I did all the hard work but their encouragement and inspiration made it so much easier. Thank you all so much!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed this weeks post.

What Was I Thinking

I’m getting this out on time this week because I have the time and will be busy the rest of the week. I had a great week last week but didn’t do much in the beginning. I went to the gym to run on the treadmill on Tuesday but cut it short to 1.3 miles because I just didn’t feel like running. Of course, if I didn’t run every time I didn’t feel like it I would get much running done. I don’t like to get up early in the morning and I really don’t like running in the evening either.

Saturday and Sunday were beautiful days in my part of the country and I took advantage of both days. Since I’m running the Coke 10K on May 7th, I thought I would give the course a test. I drove downtown to pick up a map and after I had warmed up I started running. Even with the map I got lost. One time I took the wrong street but got back on course and another time a didn’t make a turn I should have but back tracked and got back on course. I ended up with 6.3 miles on Saturday.

Since I don’t live far from where the course crosses Main St I decided to just walk from my house to that point and start running from there. I would have plenty of warmup time and could stretch too. I didn’t get lost on the course on Sunday and had a very enjoyable time outside and got in 5.5 miles. I barely made it to band practice. Guess I need to get up a little earlier next time.

If you just want to get a feel for the course you can pickup a map right across the street from KC Espresso. Just start going north on Fillmore and follow the marks on the pavement. It is well marked and does have some hills but it’s a fun course.

As you may recall, last Thursday I had decided to not drink any soda for 90 days. I almost messed that up last night. The place I ate at was something like a Ryan’s, and is owned by the same company, but you have to fix your own drink at the “drink bar”. I went to the bar and fill my glass with ice and diet Coke. Before I even got it to the table I told myself, “You can drink that!” I sat the glass on the table and went back and fixed me a glass of tea. I almost forgot.

As of today, I have logged 170.7 miles this year and a total of 304.4 miles since I first started my journey just over six months ago. According to Runkeeper, my next activity will be my 100th and I am closing in on 45,000 calories burned.

The scales aren’t worth having. I only lost .2 pounds this past week but that give me a total of 40 pounds lost so far. I have already went from a 36 to a 34 size jeans and the 34s are getting loose on me too. Will probably be a little while before I have to get me a pair of 32s though.

I’m really excited about this coming weekend. Not only is my first race going to take place, I am going to get to spend some time with some friends. One that I haven’t seen in a while and she’s coming all the way from Colorado! Can’t wait to see you, Christina! Rob is also coming up from Tupelo. Hopefully we can find a place afterward that will put up with us.

For the record, my time goal for this 5K is 36:30. I will have pictures and video on Facebook and also have some here too. Excited!

Thanks again for stopping and will see you again next week.

Another One Bites the Dust

I can’t believe that the month of March is almost over but it is. I have accomplished so much this month and am looking forward to April. This month I ran a total of 50.7 miles in under 10 hours. In February I ran 50.3 miles and it took me over 25 more minutes to do it. For the year right now I have a total of 158.9 miles. Who would have ever thought that I could do that many miles in three years much less three months.

The scales were not on my side this week because I didn’t lose any weight but I didn’t gain any either. Looks like this is going to be the norm for a while. It’s hard for me not to eat my exercise calories because I get so hungry after an hour long workout. I am still trying to choose healthy foods too.

Yesterday I posted on my Facebook page that I was going to try an eliminate something out of my diet. I had one person to guess that it was going to be pork and another guessed pasta. The truth is that I do like pork but I really don’t eat a lot of it and pasta is hardly ever on my menu unless I go to Olive Garden. The thing that I plan to get rid off is soda. I will be putting a timer here on the blog in the near future to keep track of the number of days that I have been without soda and see how long I can go. My initial goal is going to be 90 days. If I do drink any soda I will reset the timer. I won’t be cutting out coffee or tea but I don’t sweeten them with sugar anyway. I can’t remember the last time that I had a soda with sugar. It has been only diet soda for a while. I will continue to use sugar free creamer in my coffee and Splenda in my tea.

That’s going to do me for this week. Hope you all have a great one!

Feel the Pain

Even though this past week was a slow week, I only got in about 10 miles. The main reason was some pain in my leg. I have been running at the city park for the last couple of weeks and believe that might be where my pain is coming from. It has some sharp turns on the track and I think that when I’m planting my foot that I’m twisting my knee just a little and it is building up over time. So for the foreseeable future I will be running on the treadmill or taking another route.

When I sat down to write this I didn’t really have anything that I wanted to talk about but I guess I do now. As I said above, I was having some pain in my leg and I stopped running that day. I had only ran a mile and a half. I did what I thought would be best. There is a difference between an injury pain and the pain that you feel just because you are working your muscles. What I felt was an injury pain.

I did run a little over six miles total on Saturday and Sunday at the gym and didn’t have that pain that I was feeling at the park. I have already planned me out another route that I can safely run during the day around town and will see how that works out.

I’m still a little nervous about my first 5K that is coming up in less than two weeks. I’m excited at the same time. Going to be fun before, during, and after the race!

Last week I told you that I had not gained or lost any weight. I did something different this past week and that was increase my calories a little and it did the trick. I am down another two pounds for a total of 39.8 pounds! It has taken me over five months but it has been worth it.

Thanks for stopping by this week and I’ll see you again next week.

What Are You Eating?

I may have covered this in a previous post but I’m going to touch on it again. I’ve had a couple of people ask me the last couple of weeks what I was eating. My answer to them is always, “Anything that I want.” The only thing that I have cut entirely out of my diet is beef and that was a personal decision. I didn’t take it out of a diet book.

I do eat anything that I want. I just can’t eat a really big portion of it. I love those chicken wings they have at Wendy’s and will eat them once in a while. The same thing goes for most fast food items but if that is what I want then I just go ahead and eat it.

Some of the other healthy things that I eat are Kashi chewy granola bars, soft-baked cookies, and cereal bars. The cookie and cereal bars are hard to find in my area so I mostly just eat the granola bars for a snack. If it has been a while since I have eaten, I will eat one of them pre-workout and that seems to be enough.

I did set a personal record again this past week. This past Sunday I ran for 1 hour 30 minutes. That is the longest I have even been able to run and will probably be my PR for a while. During that time I ran a total of 7.79 miles which is a distance PR for me. I got up and ate a cup of Special K fruit and yogurt with 3/4 cup of skim milk. That gave me the energy to complete my run that morning. I really thought an hour and a half was a long time but when I hit the one hour mark I knew I was going to make it. I enjoyed my run and am looking forward to doing it again in the near future.

I was a little disappointed with the scales this week because I didn’t gain or lose any weight over the last week. I’m still trying to get down below that 200 pound mark before April 9th. I still have plenty of time and know I can do it.

Thanks for reading this weeks post and if you haven’t read them please go back and start at the beginning. This has been a long journey for me and I’m not quitting now. I’m just going to keep on keeping on.

A Great Buying Experience

This past Saturday we finally got to make a trip to Memphis to visit some of my kin and also to visit one of the running stores there. I chose to go to Fleet Feet Sports instead of Breakaway Running. I really don’t have a reason why but I did enjoy my experience there.

It was kind of busy when we got there and I had to wait a few minutes but after that I got total attention from one of the staff. I think his name was Ben. He first measured my foot and got me a pair of test shoes. I ran on the treadmill for about 30 seconds or so while the camera was rolling. He showed me how my foot was coming down on the ground and also what happens when I carried my body weight over my foot. My right foot was staying inline but my left was turning out just a little. He then went and got me three pairs the try.

The first ones were Brooks. I ran a little in the breezeway and they felt good. Next were the Saucony pair. They felt better than the Brooks. Lastly, I tried a pair of New Balance. I could tell within the first few steps that they weren’t going to work for me. I ended up getting the Saucony and really like them.

I took my new shoes out for a run Sunday evening at the city park and got 3.1 miles in until my feet started to hurt a little so I quit. Monday morning I got up and went to the gym and ran another 3.1 miles on the treadmill and I was really surprised at what a difference a shoe can make. I did run my fastest 5K that morning. I know it wasn’t because my shoes were running faster but because I was running faster. The new shoes are so much lighter than the shoes that I’ve been wearing.

The scales were good to me this week too. I lost another 2.4 pounds which brings my total down to 37.8 pounds in just under five months. I’m not going to reach my goal before April 9th but I will be under 200 pounds by then. My weight loss has slowed a bit but it’s still coming off and that is all that matters. I did increase my calorie intake a little because I didn’t feel like I was getting enough food at the calories Lose It! was budgeting for me. I only increased it about 100-200 calories for a two or three days last week and that must have been enough to get my metabolism jump started again.

That’s going to do me again for this week. I know I’m a day late but I’ve had a busy schedule and even got an extra day off work this past weekend too. Take care and have a great rest of the week.

You Never Know Who You'll Meet

Last Sunday when RunKeeper posted my run from that morning I hinted that I'd be writing about it. That is what I'm doing today and also going to add a little extra to it that I didn't expect at the time that I posted that.

For the record, most of the time I do write my blog post a day or two ahead of time and I may miss some little details that would have otherwise been in the post had a written it when I wanted it posted. That would be good but sometimes I have a busy schedule and have to write when I can. Now that's out of the way.

Last Sunday I got up early like I normally do and headed out. Instead of going to the gym that day, I decided to go to the city park. On the third lap I got back almost to where some people parked and I saw a guy stretching. As I got nearer to that area he shouted, "Man, you are wearing me out just watching you!" I told him that I still had a ways to go and he asked, "How many are you doing?" I said, "An hour twenty-five."

When I got back around I met him just as he started walking. He was about to ask me a question so I stopped. We chatted for a minute or so and as I was going to turn around anyway, I decided to walk with him for a bit.

I found out his name was Will and he had joined Weight Watchers. He had started on his journey to get healthy and lose weight. I encouraged him and told him that he could do it and told him a little of my story and how I was losing my weight. Just as in this blog, I love to share where I was and where I am at right now on my personal journey.

I do know people that if they saw a big person out on the track they would make fun of them. Here is the fact of the matter: You shouldn't make fun of anyone. It doesn't matter how big they are or even how slow they are going. You don't know where they have been or if this is their first day out. We all have to start somewhere.

Another thing that happened this week was that I got to visit with my friend, Rob. We went and had lunch at Cafe 212 in Tupelo and walked around downtown for a little bit to burn a few calories. I also got to meet Carlie for the first time at Cafe 212.

We decided to go and scope out the area around Veteran's Park because we are planning on running a 5K in that area in June. It will be Rob's first official run and hopefully my third.

After we had walked and talked for a while trying to solve the world's problems, it was time for me to go back to my truck. I had to have some work done on it and wanted to make my time productive. I did.

I forgot to tell you about the distance from last Sunday. It was my longest run to date. It was 6.23 miles in 1:18:36. That was slower than normal but I did slow down and walk with Will for about a mile and I'm glad I did.

Thanks for stopping by again for the second time this week and hope to see you again soon.