Why I Run
“Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.”
- 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Once again, its been another long time between posts, but that doesn't mean I've been idle! In fact, its been just the opposite. Since the last post, we've shored up our summer vacation plans (an all-inclusive resort in Cancun with the kids and our best friends) that we'll be taking in July. We've got our other good friends coming up from Atlanta for Memorial Day weekend. Sophie, the puppy, is now nearly 6 months old and passed her first round of puppy training. Round two starts tonight.
And as for my running? Well, I've crossed over 102 miles for the month of April. I've been running every day at lunch, sometimes again in the evening and longer runs on the weekend (this past weekend was 7 miles). This Friday night I have a 5k and I'll run another one on Memorial Day. I've got the Columbus Marathon picture hanging on my office window to remind me to forge ahead towards beating my pathetic time from last year. Oh, yeah, and I'm down 10 lbs so far. I'd like to lose another 20 before the marathon (bringing me down into the 150 lb range, which I feel I need to be at to be a more competitive runner). I'll try to get the chance to put my last running specs in the blog.
Thanks to my good friend Kathy for emailing me and wondering why I haven't updated this thing! We all need a kick in the pants sometimes (some of us more than others!)
Here are some pictures of Sophie:
Sorry...
It's been another month and I haven't contributed much to the blog (in fact, none at all). I've also not officially run, at least outside in a month. Part of the reason has been the addition of our puppy, Sophie. I haven't quite figured out how to sneak out of the house in the morning without waking her, which in turn wakes everyone else. Tomorrow I'm going to try it anyway. Worse comes to worse, I'll start taking her with me!
The good thing is that I've been working out at lunch time, so I have done some running/elliptical/bikes there, as well as lifting. Unfortunately, the lack of outside distance is not helping me to keep my weight down as I've jumped to my highest in years!
But we'll see what this week brings.
Once again, I'm lax in my postings! Man, it's been busy! New puppy, up and down weather, work, etc. My running has suffered due to the puppy (I don't want to get up early and wake her up and get her on that 5 am schedule!). However, I have been working out everyday at work (lifting and cardio) and I think I can tell a slight change. I'm trying to rotate the runs to the evening so at least I continue to run...that also gives Wendy the extra push to walk on the treadmill if I'm out running.
But the puppy is doing well. Ornery like most 7 week olds. Still trying to get the potty training done. But at least we have no issues in getting her to sleep at night!
I'm heading to Dallas this week for national meetings, which always poses issues when it comes to eating correctly and trying to maintain some type of exercise routine. So we'll see what those 4 days next week brings.
Well, Friday night we picked up our new (and first) puppy, a 6 week old puppy named Sophie. I grew up with dogs and have been longing for one for a long time. After our move and one of our beloved cats passed away, it seemed like a good time. We chose a Golden Retriever because of their reputation as great family dogs, easy to train, and intelligent. That, and neighbor's on both sides of us have them, and our friends here in town now have 2. Wendy originally wanted a small dog, but we could never agree on a breed. She kept coming back to a Golden, so we decided to just take the leap. I may be a proud parent, but you can't tell me she's not cute. Take a look:
Wow. Hard to believe that I've not posted in over a month! Guess that shows how busy I've been. I'll try to be better about it in the future, but for now I'll give a recap as to how 2007 ended for me and my family.
As my previous post noted, we started and completed tiling the master bath (my finger is healed, thank-you). My sister-in-law came in from Atlanta for a full week, which is always nice (if only because she'll watch horror movies with me). Alexander,Beth and I did take in 'I Am Legend' with Will Smith and was pleasantly surprised. Got to attend the annual Christmas Eve party that my mom's side of the family has been doing for 40 years or so. Since we've lived several states away for the past 11 years or so, I never got to attend many of them. But its a special time for me as I grew up going every year to my great-grandma's house. My parents now host it, at least as long as my my great-grandma is still alive (yes, you heard me. 97 or 98 and still kicking!). Wendy and I hosted dinner for my parents, my brother, his girlfriend and their son and, of course, Beth. It was a great time and though Beth is their daughter-in-law's sister, they have a special place reserved for her in their hearts. Spent New Year's Eve with our best friends and just plain enjoyed ourselves without having to do any long distance driving for once!
And now, here we are, Friday, January 18, 2008.
Today is special, because today is the day we pick up our new (and first) golden retriever puppy, Sophie. We pick her up tonight, so I'll check in tomorrow with some updates!
Well, over the weekend Wendy and I spent a full 2 days tiling the master bathroom. Besides what seemed like to me a non-square room and the issues that raises, it all went rather smoothly. Especially for us home repair challenged-types. Until.....of course, the end. All I had left was to cut a 1 inch strip of carpet to bridge the gap between the bathroom marble threshold and the closet carpet (we moved the threshold forward an inch and so a bare wood floor was left). So I went down to the basement to find the remnant carpet and a razor I could cut it with. You can see where this is going, can't you? After finding the carpet, and the razor, I decided I probably could use a new SHARP razor to make things easier. I laid the carpet on the workbench and proceeded to change out the razor. Put the razor down, grabbed the decent-sized carpet piece, grabbed the razor, carpet hits razor, razor cuts into the top of the index finger between the middle and top knuckles.
You know fingers, like heads, bleed a lot?
It was pretty deep, so I decided to have the urgent care take a look and yep! Stitches needed. How cool, my first stitches since I was five! The Doctor was really nice and we had a good conversation. Of course, he did see fit to stick the lidocaine needle in and around my wound at least 10 times. All in all it was a neat thing to see. The real cool thing is that he said in 7 days I can take the stitches out if I'd like! Isn't that every boy's dream?
Anyway, so I'll tackle the carpet again today!
Also, got a 4 mile run in.
My good friend, Ted, and I are going to do our own biggest loser contest come the 1st of the year!
This morning I went out for a 4 mile run and completed with no issues or pains, and even at a 8:34 pace (though I was pretty winded after). I'm starting to wonder if some of the pain issues might be that '2nd' pair of shoes. These are my old shoes that 416 miles on them. Today I used my 'new' ones - the ones I bought just before and used during the marathon - and everything seemed good. Though my previous old shoes hard nearly 500 miles on them and I didn't have any issues. I'll run in the new ones for the next few days and see what happens. All I can say is that is sure makes me happy to be able to go out in run without pains. But, in any case, I think I'll cross my fingers!
Its snowing again! So in three days we've had 2 significant snows...welcome to the north! That's 2 more snows than the entire 4 years we spent in Atlanta. The boys are pumped! Now only if they'd delay or cancel school, it would make their day. Oh...and if there was snow on Christmas too!
A new lady that started at my company is a former Sports Physical Therapist. Awesome! So as I was helping her get her computer up and running I asked her about my knee/calf issues, as well as my still sprained fingers (from the end of October flag football game). She felt around my knee and calf, asked me if this or that hurt, etc. She said there was some minor swelling the knee in tendon area, which kind of backs up my initial prognosis about the tendinitis thing. She told me to take a course of ibuprofen to reduce the swelling and to take it regularly for a week. That's how it works as an inflammatory, she said. Its not like a headache where you take aspirin or Tylenol and its gone. Ibuprofen needs to build up in your system to reduce the inflammation. I started taking it that afternoon. I can still try and run as long as I stop as soon as the pain hits. I did a semi-hard 2.50 miles on the treadmill this morning and it seemed fine. She said I can continue on the treadmill as that will provide less stress on the body since its softer than the street, but I'll do both.
On the depressing side! I'm at my heaviest weight since I had initially lost the 60 lbs 3-4 years ago. It's a mental, spiritual and physical drain. The thing is, I'm not sure why. I guess my work day snacking is more than I realize, plus I'm awful on the weekends. Combine that with not being able to run heavily and I'm a disaster! That's got to change. To be a 38 year old competitive runner, my weight really needs to be around 145-150. I weighed in at 184 this morning!
Ok, so this morning, I woke up to my first real snow in over 4 years! Having grown up in Ohio, its something I enjoy! The kids will be pumped, however Wendy...well, let's just say if it was sunny and 80, she would be happy. For those that don't know, we left the Ohio area about 8 or 9 years ago and moved to Maryland, where we still got snow. But the last 4 years were spent in Atlanta, GA. No snow there! Of course they did cancel school at the first thought of snow (no kidding!). They once cancelled school on a Sunday night because they was a chance there might be some ice. Monday comes and guess what? Yep, no ice. Kids get a nice day off!
So, it snowed and I probably smartly decided to hit the treadmill. I got in 30 minutes with no real issues with my knee/calf. Either there is still some soreness there, or I'm just overly sensitive. I did go for 3 miles or so. I've been reading around and it may be possible that I have Popliteal tendinitis? Which, apparently, tends to be the tendon in the calf/back of knee area. Supposedly weak hamstrings are part of it. So I found some exercises to try and strengthen the hamstrings. The funny part is, I just wonder how I can run for a long time, complete a marathon, run some more, then all of a sudden it pops up? Go figure!
Meanwhile....let it snow...let it snow...let it snow!
Well, this morning was (is) the morning I decided to take a trial run and see how the heeling process is going. I ran about 2.5 miles at a rather slow pace (which drove me nuts!), but it was something I needed to do to evaluate the knee/calf problems I started having. Of course wouldn't you know....it was 32, raining/sleeting/snowing! But hey, that's December in Ohio. It actually wasn't too bad. I do have some black tights I bought this summer after learning we were moving back here. I love them. I had gloves, hat, sweatshirt and felt warm enough. I did pass a guy (and remember this is 5 am) who was actually running in shorts...and they call me crazy!
Anyway, the run was OK. Felt very good in the beginning, but towards the end I still felt (possibly) a little in the calf, but I think it really must have been something around the knee, which may or may not be affiliated with the calf. So, I'll try a small run again tomorrow, most likely 2.5 miles again and see how it goes.
So, in summation, physically, the run was OK. But for mental health, it was awesome!
