Got up again! 3 miles done, running in a winter wonderland!

This post is a repost from my WordPress Blog

  So, I got myself out of bed this morning - much to the unhappiness of a previously content purring kitty. After yesterday's experience I made sure I had everything laid out for nice and easy access in the morning. It definitely made the process of getting ready easier. It also helped to make up for extra time spent making that kitty so content!

So, got the music going, clothes on, and tossed on the Vibram Five Fingers - opened the door to a sea of white. It seems we got some snow last night! (I like snow.) This made me a bit apprehensive - as I have been wondering how my VFFs would hold up in the fluffy white stuff. Yet - at the same time, it was exciting! I get to leave TOE FOOT PRINTS!!!! (Sometimes we runners are a simple folk...)

I got up! I GOT UP!!!!!!

This post is a repost from my Wordpress Blog.

So, I have spoken often of how I run at night. I enjoy running at night. But, it has the downer of being FAR to easy to derail with anything from being stuck late at work, having to pick up some groceries or a child that got ill. All of these things can make it so I can't run until 8 or 9. I don't like running THAT late as it means I am not sleeping until after midnight.

I have had this idea of getting up and running at 5:30ish in the morning. I know it has alot of advantages. None of the things I mentioned can derail a morning workout - as they are afternoon items. I know that if I run in the morning, I am likely to be more productive quickly - as my coffee becomes a luxury, not an item I need to get moving. It also means that the world is quiet, there is less traffic - which means I am less likely to spend time stopped on corners.

It also means that my favorite part of the day is cut short, or non-existent. I love laying in bed before I have to get up. There are no responsibilities and no one bothering me. I am as snug as a bug in a rug and often have a kitty laying next to me with a purr filled with contentment..

This morning I made the Zoey-kitty unhappy and got out of bed at 5:30. I swear whatever powers that be were trying to make me get back in bed. I went to grab my compression shirt/pants and they weren't there. Found another set. Went to grab my sweat shirt- it wasn't there. Found another one. Went to grab my jacket....you guessed it. Found it - my wife had washed it (she is so awesome.). I found my spare set of gloves (my normal ones fell out of the coat in the wash.). Finally at 6, I was actually ready to go!

I headed out with my new Angry Birds hat to do five miles. Boy my legs didn't want to go! They strongly to running twelve hours earlier then normal running time. They succeeded in catching up with today's plan fairly quickly. Overall the run wasn't too bad and was done at an acceptable pace considering the schedule change.

Here is to hoping I can keep it up!

The Belt on the Dreadmill goes round and round...

This post is a repost from my Wordpress Blog.

So last night my wife headed out to girl scouts with Elspeth while Bryce and I stayed home. He wasn't feeling very well (like clutching a bucket sort of not feeling well.) With that being the case, it was time to dust off the frenemy of mine - the DREADMILL!!!! (boooooo hisssss!)

I hadn't used it in a while, so I was pleased to hear it wind up when I plugged it in and inserted the little red thing. You know the one that is supposed to be plugged in, and the other goes attached to you in some way? So that if you fall it shuts off? Well, we just leave ours dangling. I'm not sure if anyone actually "wears" that thing. I don't. But anyway, I turned it on and headed out at 7 mph. Well, I can't really say "headed out." I suppose I started up like a hamster on its wheel. at the 1 mile marker, I knocked it up to 9 mph for half a lap (200 meters), and then back down to 7 mph. I repeated this at the 2 mile marker.

At the 3 mile marker? I shut it off. I couldn't take it anymore. I felt like I hadn't done enough though, so I did a 1 mile walk at 3 mph, with an incline of 10. It's the maximum that I can set it to. Why was walking less boring? Because I can read while I do it.

So at least a work out got done, even if I did have to use the dreadmill.

The Stick saved my legs.

This post is a repost from my Wordpress Blog.

Ok, so my posts here are a very accurate representation of my exercising. No post = No exercising. I will admit that sometimes there is a delay in getting that post up, but if you look at my daily mile account and compare it to here, it is rare that they don't match.

That means I have not been running much in the last couple of weeks. I am having a huge problem with motivation. It is way to easy to have things come up - and let them knock out my exercising. It can be anything from kid's events (understandable, but I am almost always capable of planning around it), to lack of sleep (I need to suck it up, buttercup) to a new video game (talk about a lame, lame excuse.)

I want to be in shape. I want to be running regularly. But all to often its difficult. I somehow don't doubt that this reflects most people's attitudes toward exercise. They want the results, but are having problems putting the work in - for whatever reason.

Well, last night (40 degrees again!) I headed out the door, and decided to do "the loop." - this loop goes down to the South Washington St. Walking Bridge downtown, over to the south side, up to old vestal road, back across the river to the Johnson City Traffic Circle - and on home. All in all, Cardio trainer lists it as 7.25 miles. This has been a very consistent measurement, so I believe it. Well, taking time off and going to six miles did concern me but I just ran at the speed I felt like running while jamming to I Heart Radio. (I love that app.)

It felt good, and my splits were better than I might have thought they would be. I averaged just around a 9 minute mile the whole way.

Mile 1: 8:36
Mile 2: 9:31 <-- 2 major traffic lights.
Mile 3: 8:30
Mile 4: 9:00
Mile 5: 8:47
Mile 6: 9:14
Mile 7: 9:12

I'm pretty pleased with that. If I maintain a 9 minute mile for the Boilermaker It would have me crossing at 1:23:53 - 6 minutes faster than last year. I am hoping by then - I will be down to an 8 minute mile (1:15)

As for the title.. I used my "The Stick" very well after my run. Today? My legs are tired - but NOT sore. I would have expected to be near agony when I woke up this morning. Sometimes its nice to be wrong!

I run.. Because I want to run.

This post is a repost from my Wordpress Blog.

Headed out last night after work. I realized it had been a while since I ran without headphones at all (plus my bluetooth headphones weren't charged,) so I decided a nice run listening to the world around me was in order!

As I wasn't paying attention, I was waaaaay overdressed. I thought it was in the thirties, not the forties out. Luckily an unzipped jacket lets a lot of heat out, but I still stunk to high-heaven when I was done. Strangely my wife didnt' want to hug me when I got home... But I am getting ahead of myself.

Today's run - are the sort that make this true

I decided a nice 5-miler was an order, at no specific pace what so ever. My standard five mile route takes me along my wife's path for her drive home. I won't lie, I have used that to my advantage and hopped a ride at some points. Last night was the sort of run that if she HAD come along I would have just waved hello and kept going. It all felt that good, and I enjoyed every step. About a mile and a half into it, I ran by a runner going the same way I was. Then I ran by them again about 1/2 mile from my house on the way home. He was friendly both times! Runners are some of the coolest people, lets be honest here. I have had bikers swear at me, I have had motorcyclists swear at me.. I have had drivers swear at me.. I've had runners say "Hi!"

Dailymile had the route at 4.95, Cardio Trainer had it at 4.76 miles. Either way, I did it in 43 minutes even.
Cardiotrainer's mileage breakdown:

Mile 1: 9:02
Mile 2: 9:16
Mile 3: 8:55
Mile 4: 9:18.

Not exactly on pace for my dream 3:30 marathon, but still - quite pleased as I enjoyed it! I couldn't find where my stick was - so I am sore today. Man I love that thing.

If you don't make it important, you will just make an excuse.

This is a repost from my Wordpress Blog.



So, The last several days have not been my most productive. I took saturday off - planned - as I had decided to run on friday and my legs were going to need the break.

Sunday rolled around - and it was a "lazy around the house with family" day. Then come monday morning I had planned to get up and run at 5am, but I didn't manage to fall asleep until around 1 am (went to bed at 9pm). Monday evening I went shopping for groceries. Tuesday, I went to run in the afternoon - and EVERY single bit of running clothing I owned was dirty. Not just dirty, but sitting in a pile of dirty laundry since the previous week dirty.

In other words, I was able to find some excuse to not run Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Time to remember what is important.

Why run in the cold? Because the Zombie apocolypse may not come in summer!

This is a repost from my Wordpress Blog.

I couldn't even find a picture of a Zombie in snow!

Have you ever noticed that all of the zombie movies take place when it is warm out? Well, I think this is NOT indicative of the true threats we face from the Zombie Apocalypse and is filmed this way purely so that we can see the cute actors/actresses in scanty summer clothes. And while I may be okay with watching that on TV, I do believe that our mass media is getting us ill prepared for potential disaster! It is COLD out there for half of the year, and yet we are only prepared for the WARM Zombie apocalypse.

Even those runners that stick to an exercise program throughout the winter by going to a gym and running on a treadmill - are they really prepared? Does that elliptical help? Well, let me remind you about my blog post of several days ago - my ability to run was severely hampered by not being used to the cold. My lungs hurt and I had to stop and catch my breath. Now do you THINK the zombies are going to give you a "time-out?" I THINK NOT!!!

HOLY FRICKIN COLD BATMAN!

This is a repost from my Wordpress Blog.
So, I got home from work yesterday and after checking on the baby status (still no baby from my brother's family) I headed out to run. I knew it was cold - So I put on my compression shirt and pants (that sounds much more manly than "running tights"), lined running pants, work out jacket, shell and the infamous Perry the Platypus hat. I opened the door and started to set up my phone and..

HOLY CRIKEY ITS COLD!!!!!!!!!!

It was 12 degrees degrees out when I left for my run. For my Celsius-smart friends that is -11.1111111111111111 according to Google. No matter how you look at it, after running in 50 degree weather on friday it was REALLY REALLY COLD!!!!!!

New Years Day Run - 50 degrees?

This is a repost from My Wordpress Blog.

New Years Day.. What a better way to start off the New Year than with a run? With this in mind, I checked the temperature and dressed appropriately.

Shorts, T-shirt and a light jacket I shouldn't have brought. On New Years Day. In New York. Seriously. If this is global warming, I may be in favor of it!!

I asked my son if he wanted to join me, but he felt he had earned a day of rest - after the previous day's run. I decided on a nice 4 miler, running up Denton. Denton is the hill that my old Cross Country coach used to have us do repeats of for our LONG hill sprints. Needless to say, that was my SLOW mile - but I did run the whole way up. I do have to admit however, I MIGHT have taken a small recovery walk after reaching the top. I really enjoyed it - and was tempted to turn my planned 4 mile run into a 7 mile run, but my catch phrase for 2012 is DON'T OVER DO IT!!! So I didn't, despite my soul yelling at me to keep running!

Bryce's Race Recap - YMCA Resolution Run

This is a repost from my Wordpress Blog

My first race with my dad felt like I was running a marathon! Except it was only a 5k! After the race my legs hurt like crazy and I felt like I was going to fall down. Also Junior, My dad's friend pointed out that we beat a bunch of people.

I thought that the leaders were going pretty fast and although they couldn't go any faster than the lead bike.



After the race I had a hot chocolate and a water bottle. The hot chocolate was very yummy, and the water bottle cooled me down.

I liked running the race with my dad, overall it was very fun!

YMCA Resolution Run 2011 in Otsiningo Park

This is a repost from My Wordpress Blog


Yesterday was the annual YMCA resolution run in Otsiningo Park. This is the first time I have run this race as an adult, but I loved it back in high school. Maybe my memory is off - but I remember it as being on New Years day, not New Years eve day. I have to be honest however, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference to me these days, since my New Years eve is much calmer than it used to be!

This run is always a very relaxed one. No bib numbers or chip timing, just a timing clock to let you know what you finished in - as long as you remember to look up and check! It has runners, walkers and folks doing the run/walk thing. No one is out to break a record, and the smiling laughing and joviality is contagious. I think Bryce was a little nervous going into it - but he had done the distance before. We decided to start with the walk/run rotation to see if that would help him avoid that seemingly inevitable side cramp. Then, after they said to start - he changed his mind and decided we should just run!