My journey.....so far

[dragitoff]

I'm happy to report that I had a great run Saturday! My brother and I met as planned for our long runs. His previous long distance had been 10 miles, and mine was 16. The golf course we ran was the first 5 miles and we both ran most of it on the grass since the course wasn't open yet and it would save some wear and tear on our knees.

We left the golf course right after the first group was allowed to tee off and headed 4.5 miles down the road to a local college. We hit their trail which was really nice and alot longer than I expected. It was part crushed gravel and part dirt. Once we finished that, we were at 11. My brother said he was feeling great and wanted to keep going to at least a half marathon.

We left the college and headed further down the road to a major street in our town. My brother said he'd turn around if needed and just wait for me at the college so he could drive me back to my car which was now about 10 miles away. He wanted to try to do the 17 miles with me though.

We were on a good pace through the first 15 miles, but kind of hit a wall the last mile and a half, but still pushed through. Gladly, we finished the 17 mile run and other than being a bit sore, we both felt great.

He decided on this run that he wanted to run the Disney full marathon with me next January! He loved the walk/run method I use for my longer runs. He's a much faster runner than I am, but usually only runs 6-8 miles 4 times a week. The walk/run method allowed him to stretch out his distance without dangerously pushing his body.

 

[Terapin]

Sounds great!

What intervals do you do for your longer runs?

 

[dragitoff]

I run 4 minutes and walk 1 minute. I was doing a 9:1 ratio for the half, but changed it to 4:1 for the full marathon. My half pace was 9 mm and my full target pace is 10mm. I'm usually ahead of that 10mm pace though.

 

[dragitoff]

So, we had a good end to the week running wise. Thursday, DW and I did 4 miles. Then on Saturday, we did 5 miles. We were going to run with our kids Sunday, but they were swimming and enjoying themselves with their cousin so we decided to go for a run by ourselves. We ending up running a new long distance for DW! We ran 5.63 miles! I was so proud of her. She's a little sore this morning from logging so many miles for her in just 4 days. We're going to run a 4 miler this afternoon and take off tomorrow. My goal for the week is to log at least 12 miles during the week (4 miles x 3 days) and then an 18 miler Saturday with my brother as we continue training for our first full marathon.

We also decided on a half. He's never run any race longer than a 5k and only did that once. For corral placement at WDW Marathon, he has to complete a 10k or half and turn in that time. We're going to run the Area 13.1 race in Roswell, GA. It's a funny play on the Roswell thing. It's a nightime race where contestants wear glow bracelets/necklaces and attempt to "escape an alien invasion". Medals are alien heads and the shirts are black with neon green alien heads. Really cool concept. That's in mid-August. It's a good thing we're full marathon training during the middle of the summer! lol.

 

[Happy Duck]

Thanks for the encouragement on my own start to my blog. I'm inspired by how involved your family has gotten into running. I'm trying to do the same for my family!

 

[dragitoff]

No problem! This is so much about accountability for me. Even though people don't comment as much as they used to, it's still my feeling that people are reading and my hope is that I can somehow encourage others to take that first step and then the next and so on and so on.

As a youth pastor, I did a message a few months ago called the Marathon of Life. I explained to the students that anyone can do a marathon. Most people would have to walk the majority or all of it, but eventually you'd cross the finish line. We can make the decision to sacrifice, train, and push hard and finish the marathon in a way that we'd be proud of. It does take work and sacrifice though. You can't just go out there and do it without it.

The same is true for our fitness journey. We have to be willing to put forth the effort, but little milestones along the way will encourage us and hopefully pull us through those tough stretches. Best of luck to you!

 

[Terapin]

I'm still reading and following!

 

[dragitoff]

I'm still reading and following!

Yes, I know and thank you!

 

[disappearing otter]

I registered this week for the 2013 WDW Marathon! I'm excited and have to get cracking on my training hard again. I know it's a long time away, but I want to build up my endurance to handle the distance and then start honing in on a goal time. I'm currently running it at a pace of about 4:20. I'd love to shave that down to closer to 4:00 before January. First things first though. I've got to get myself conditioned to run the full 26.2 at whatever pace!

Congratulations on registering -- and for this inspiring thread! As a long-time lurker, it was months before I even registered myself for the site, so know that a lot of people read this who don't comment.

 

[dragitoff]

Congratulations on registering -- and for this inspiring thread! As a long-time lurker, it was months before I even registered myself for the site, so know that a lot of people read this who don't comment.

Thank you for the comment! When I decided I wanted to run longer distances than a 5k, I set my long term goal for my first marathon to be the 2013 WDW marathon. I ran my first half a few months ago and I'll be running another in August. I'm a pretty fierce competitor so I will be working hard to finish in a time that is the best I can do.

 

[dragitoff]

It's been a crazy week at work this week. I've been coming in really, really early and we've had something every night this week so DW and I finally got to make a go of it last night for a 4.5 mile run. Unfortunately she could not catch her breath. We don't know if it was the extreme heat or the high humidity or the fact that we hadn't run since Sunday, but she struggled. It was good to get a run in though. I'm taking today off from running to rest up for tomorrow's attempt at 18 miles. Have a great weekend everyone!

 

[dragitoff]

Saturday's run was tough. Honestly, it was the worst run I've had in a really long time. It was extremely hot and the route my brother and I had prepared was alot more hilly than either of us expected and there was a crazy amount of traffic. I hit the wall about 13 miles into our run and was completely out of gas after 15 miles. I did finish 17.5 (new long distance for me), but my time was quite a bit slower than anticipated and I was so exhausted at the end that I didn't even want to push it for that extra 1/2 mile. I was just glad to have made it back to his house where my car was.

On a positive note, I didn't have any cramping issues during or after my run. By late that afternoon, I actually felt good. Very little soreness. We swam alot the next day and DW and I did a 4 mile run yesterday.

 

[disappearing otter]

Great job on getting through your tough run! I once plotted a 14-mile run without looking at the elevation... the first 8 miles were great, but my DH was cursing my name by mile 10. Oops!

 

[dragitoff]

After some tough runs, busy weeks at work, and a little knee pain, I took last week off only running on Monday. DW and I decided we couldn't continue running in the afternoons after work regardless of how nice that extra hour of sleep was in the morning.

Yesterday, we started off with a nice 5k run and then moved back to our regular 4 mile morning run. Both runs were great and this morning's 4 miler was the 3rd best time DW had recorded so far. I was really proud of her. Her last miles yesterday and today were her best of the run so she's not starting off too fast and then dying out as she had been. I think that's a huge turning point for her.

Our goal is to get 4 runs in this week and then I'm going for 19 miles this weekend. It'll be tough because we'll be at the beach for DD10's birthday (she'll be 11 next week). I've picked a route, but I have to check to see if there are sidewalks. I don't think there is for much of it, but I'm going to at least get a nice 5-10 mile run in regardless. There are plenty of trails that are short, but I can do some loops and save the 19 miler for next weekend when I'm back in more familiar surroundings.

 

[dragitoff]

I had a good run yesterday morning. I didn't go 19 miles, but did make it 14.12 miles. I was at the beach with my family and was running on the travel day (and in my family, I'm always the driver. lol) so I didn't want to completely kill myself, especially since we were spending most of the day at the pool and beach before heading home. I left our condo and ran to the turn around point (8.5 miles). I was getting a little tired at that point, but still felt good. Despite leaving at 5:45am local time for my run, I was soaked through after just a few miles. It was extremely humid out. My W.I.S.H. bondiband got wrang out after 6 miles and it looked like I had been swimming in it! I could have filled a shot glass! (Gross).

I called my wife after 12 miles and asked her to come pick me up. I guess knowing that she was coming to get me gave me a second wind and I felt bad for calling her, especially by the time she got to me, I was over 14 miles. Either way, I felt good, had no pains, and no cramping and was able to swim for a few hours after the run and then drive home. All in all, I was pleased with the results.

 

[dragitoff]

I haven't been updating alot, but I thought I'd give a quick update on how things are progressing for me. DW and I are trying to drop 10-20lbs. I've maintained pretty good for the past year plus, but I'd still like to get under 200lbs. for good! At my lowest point, I got down to 206. I'm currently around 210 so it shouldn't be too hard to get under 200, although I haven't been under 200 since my freshmen year of college.

We're more conscious of what we eat and trying to be extremely consistent in our running (and other exercise) routines. I have to for my marathon training. I think some of my recent struggles on my longer runs are due to inconsistent shorter runs during the week.

We will be doing 3 runs during the week of 4 miles and then a longer run on the weekend. I will continue my training of 5-6 miles on "off-weekends" and adding 1 mile to my long run on "on weekends". These weekend, I'm going for 20 miles. I haven't quite made it 18 or 19 yet; although I did attempt them. To date, my longest run has been 17.5 miles. I planned a route that would give me 3 loops of 6.6 miles so worst-case scenario, I'm not way off from my car if I have trouble. Of course, that can also be a bad thing, but I've got to just push through mentally.

DW and I had a great run Saturday morning. I was so proud of her. She struggles to maintain a 10mm pace, but she ran 5 miles in 50:23. She actually walked 3 minutes of the last mile to catch her breath and closed out the last 1/2 mile at a 7mm pace! She sure surprised me!

This morning, we had a nice 4 mile run. While the pace wasn't quite as fast as Saturday (although very, very close), we looked at her recent runs, and this morning was certainly one of her stronger runs in the past few weeks.

We'll be off from running tomorrow and then will do our 4 mile runs on Wednesday and Friday. M,W,F, I also do 100 pushups. On Tuesday and Thursdays, I'll be doing at least 300 or 400 crunches in an attempt to tone up my midsection.

I also play full-court basketball for about 90 minutes every other Monday night.

I just added up my annual mileage. I've already logged 400 miles this year, but I've got a long way to go until I hit my goal for this year. I knew I'd be logging some extra mileage later in the year due to the stretched out endurance and marathon training, but I'm still a ways off.

On a personal note, I've got a class reunion this Saturday. My 16th. Who has a 16 year reunion? Anyways, it's good that I've gotten myself into much better shape than I was at my 10 year reunion. I'm still about 25 pounds heavier than I was when I graduated, but I feel so much better about myself.

 

[Terapin]

Just popping in to say hello - sounds like things are going well. Good luck at your reunion!

 

[dragitoff]

Thanks for the check-in. I got a nice 3 miler in this morning. Tomorrow morning, I'm gunning for my longest run to date. I'm attempting a 20 mile run tomorrow. I've got a class reunion tomorrow so I've got to get up extra early to get this run in before that.

Wish me luck!!!!