Sunday, January 27, 2013
I Would Run 500 Miles
Bad, bad, bad two weeks.
Week three, I am not making this up, I only ran .8 miles. I did not motivate myself to get out during the week and by the time the weekend came, it was bitter cold. My only run was on Sunday where I ran .4 miles out, was so cold that I turned around and ran the .4 back to my car. The temperature was 6 below zero.
The following week was only slightly better. I still could not get myself out of the house during the week and only ran on Sunday. It was an amazing run, 4.81 at Afton. Lots of walking but it was beautiful and fun.
Statistics:
Week Three Total: .8 miles
Yearly Total: 20.1 miles (-9.51 miles)
Week Four Total: 4.81 miles
Yearly Total: 24.91 miles (-14.31 miles)
Week three, I am not making this up, I only ran .8 miles. I did not motivate myself to get out during the week and by the time the weekend came, it was bitter cold. My only run was on Sunday where I ran .4 miles out, was so cold that I turned around and ran the .4 back to my car. The temperature was 6 below zero.
The following week was only slightly better. I still could not get myself out of the house during the week and only ran on Sunday. It was an amazing run, 4.81 at Afton. Lots of walking but it was beautiful and fun.
Statistics:
Week Three Total: .8 miles
Yearly Total: 20.1 miles (-9.51 miles)
Week Four Total: 4.81 miles
Yearly Total: 24.91 miles (-14.31 miles)
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Week Two, "I will run 500 miles. . ."
Great running week, not only did I get four runs in, but I also had a few mental breakthroughs. First the runs:
Wednesday: I took the night off swimming (a breakthrough in itself) and took Michael to soccer practice at the ALC. After I dropped him off, I ran 3 flat miles. We had a warm up in MN and I was WAY over dressed. I was sluggish and walked a lot but when I was done, I had a chance to watch Michael play soccer. That was great fun. I learned that wearing the correct clothes is paramount.
Friday: I took the night off swimming again (what has gotten into me?) and ran my usual 3.1 mile route. I ran the whole time (awesome for me!) without music and thought about what I was doing and why. I am running to get exercise and feel good not to be fast. I want to be strong not injured. This got me thinking about my running technique. I am not a running coach but my swimming background gives me some hints about how I want to train. I know that with my swimmers I have to keep reminding them to slow down and do things right. I did the same thing while I was running and tried to feel my feel land under me rather that in front of me. I pushed my chest out slightly and tighten my core. This help me greatly and made this one of the best runs of the year so far. I need to keep reminding myself why.
Saturday: I ran the same route (3.2 miles this time) but waited until too late to get started. I did not leave for my run until after 10 PM at night. This made the cold that much colder. I was extremely hungry when I finished. I ate an apple with peanut butter and some corn chips. Not the best snack but I felt I needed some food.
Sunday: After I dropped Anthony off at Afton Alps to teach snowboarding, I stopped by Afton State Park. There was an organized run going on at the time, The Sasquatch Shuffle. Fun to see so many people out running. I ran a short (1.8 mile) loop mostly because of the cold and how the fact that I ran not 10 hours earlier. The conditions were terrible, we had had some unseasonably warm weather which made the trails icy and torturous to run on. I went slowly but kept moving the whole time.
Week Total: 11.1 miles
Yearly Total: 19.3 miles (+.1 over goal!)
Wednesday: I took the night off swimming (a breakthrough in itself) and took Michael to soccer practice at the ALC. After I dropped him off, I ran 3 flat miles. We had a warm up in MN and I was WAY over dressed. I was sluggish and walked a lot but when I was done, I had a chance to watch Michael play soccer. That was great fun. I learned that wearing the correct clothes is paramount.
Friday: I took the night off swimming again (what has gotten into me?) and ran my usual 3.1 mile route. I ran the whole time (awesome for me!) without music and thought about what I was doing and why. I am running to get exercise and feel good not to be fast. I want to be strong not injured. This got me thinking about my running technique. I am not a running coach but my swimming background gives me some hints about how I want to train. I know that with my swimmers I have to keep reminding them to slow down and do things right. I did the same thing while I was running and tried to feel my feel land under me rather that in front of me. I pushed my chest out slightly and tighten my core. This help me greatly and made this one of the best runs of the year so far. I need to keep reminding myself why.
Saturday: I ran the same route (3.2 miles this time) but waited until too late to get started. I did not leave for my run until after 10 PM at night. This made the cold that much colder. I was extremely hungry when I finished. I ate an apple with peanut butter and some corn chips. Not the best snack but I felt I needed some food.
Sunday: After I dropped Anthony off at Afton Alps to teach snowboarding, I stopped by Afton State Park. There was an organized run going on at the time, The Sasquatch Shuffle. Fun to see so many people out running. I ran a short (1.8 mile) loop mostly because of the cold and how the fact that I ran not 10 hours earlier. The conditions were terrible, we had had some unseasonably warm weather which made the trails icy and torturous to run on. I went slowly but kept moving the whole time.
Week Total: 11.1 miles
Yearly Total: 19.3 miles (+.1 over goal!)
Monday, January 07, 2013
Week One Run
Week one done and I am already 1.55 miles down.
I was planning on running on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday last week but I was unmotivated after work to get out. This is something I need to address and overcome as my work schedule won't get any easier anytime soon.
My first run was on Saturday afternoon. I went three miles and felt like crap. Unmotivated, slow, tired.
Sunday was a different story. I dropped Anthony off at Afton (he is working there now) and stopped into the State Park. It was a beautiful day and about 20 minutes into my run, I ran into Jim Stocco, my Night School boss. He is a crazy runner, running races of 100 miles. We ran together for about 40 minutes before I got back to my car. I went over 5 miles and was outside for over an hour.
I am not worried about my pace during the winter. The snow takes speed out of the equation.
My goal this week is to get out two times before the weekend hits!
I was planning on running on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday last week but I was unmotivated after work to get out. This is something I need to address and overcome as my work schedule won't get any easier anytime soon.
My first run was on Saturday afternoon. I went three miles and felt like crap. Unmotivated, slow, tired.
Sunday was a different story. I dropped Anthony off at Afton (he is working there now) and stopped into the State Park. It was a beautiful day and about 20 minutes into my run, I ran into Jim Stocco, my Night School boss. He is a crazy runner, running races of 100 miles. We ran together for about 40 minutes before I got back to my car. I went over 5 miles and was outside for over an hour.
I am not worried about my pace during the winter. The snow takes speed out of the equation.
My goal this week is to get out two times before the weekend hits!
Friday, January 04, 2013
Henderson the Rain King
by Saul Bellows
This novel has so many things that I love. It has a quirky self-absorbed main character,
humor, a twist, and an uplifting message.
Henderson is a man in turmoil. He is tortured by an inter dialog of “I want,
I want, I want!” but he does not know what he wants. His journey to Africa is to find out this
answer.
He meets many important people along the way, his guide
Romilayu, the Arnewi, and finally the King Dahfu. Each experience brings him closer to the
answers he is looking for.
Saul Bellows hit this one out of the park mixing humor and
touching insight. It is a book that is
deeper than what it seems like on the surface.
I was like looking at a photo by Robert Adams that wells up emotion
without the viewer knowing exactly why.
I highly recommend this book!
Wednesday, January 02, 2013
"I Would Walk 500 Miles"
I finished the year walking a total of 3,768,444 steps.
Some facts:
Some facts:
- averaging 10,296 per day
- averaging 5.1 miles per day
- 1884.2 miles walked in 2012 which is the distance from San Antonio to New York City (+ 57 miles to get something to eat!)
