I've been busy and missed a couple of post about the weigh in. Today's weigh in marks a negative TWENTY (20) pounds since January 1, 2010. TWENTY! Did I mention TWENTY!?! Thank you.
I ran yesterday for the first time since Austin. I was a little stiff but it worked out eventually. I ran 5K at a pretty slow pace but that's OK. Now, to the gym!
20 pounds. Good morning.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Two months, two half marathons
What the...? With a Chip Time of 3:06:39, six minutes better than last time, I've completed my second half marathon. First off, the weather was so much nicer than it was in Waco last month. It was a little chilly to start with, mid 30's when we were headed to the start, but we hit a high near 70 by mid afternoon.
The biggest difference was the number of participants. Waco was a very small event, nice, but small. There were something like 20,000 people in Austin running either the full or the half. Amy I started out together, somewhere around the 5:00 pace folks, just because that was as high as they went. It was almost 15 minutes from the gun time that we finally crossed the start line,it was just that crowded.
We ran together for nearly the first mile, but I didn't want to hold her back so I told her to go on and settled into my pace. The start line was on Congress at Cesar Chavez. You start out by crossing the Congress Ave bridge and heading up Congress. And it is up. We followed Congress to 360, where we turned and came down 1st. That was my first challenge as 1st is full of little Mexican restaurants and they were all cranking out breakfast. It smelled so good, but I pressed on.
After getting back to Cesar Chavez, we turned left up alongside the lake. As we crossed over the lake again, we passed the 10K mark. I was feeling no pain, sticking with a 1 and 1. Sometimes running 5 or 6 minutes at a time as I felt like it. Rarely walking longer than the minute.
Around the 8 mile mark, we found the first steep hill, it ended up at the original Magnolia Cafe, I wanted to stop again. We continued down along Town Lake until around mile 10 where we turned down 15th and started heading for home. The race split at Mile 11, the marathoners turning off and heading out farther. From here to the end, the terrain became heavily undulated. I experienced lots of ups and downs and got pretty warn out. Then we get to mile 12. I swear that hill looked like a cliff. Straight up! The nice part is there was a ton of spectators really cheering us on and it really was all down hill from there.
As we approached the Capitol, we rejoined the marathon route. They rounded the Capitol on the East side, the half on the West, and it was straight on to finish. As I got down to the flat pavement of Congress again I felt like I had enough to give it a little kick and finish strong. And I did.
The previous race, I couldn't eat anything after the race. After this one, I couldn't get enough. Banana before I got out of the tent, then a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos as I sat on the sidewalk catching my breath.
I hung out for a while waiting for Amy to come in from the full. My phone died so I started walking back up the marathon course. I spotted Amy coming up to the Capitol so I ran with her for a little bit, cheering her on to the finish. That was the only time I really hurt while running. She is much faster than me.
After cleaning up and resting a bit, we headed over to El Arroyo for a celebratory splurge and I enjoyed a Mexican martini. It was strong. I fell asleep about 5:30.
Three days later and I'm getting along pretty good, No pain. I played basketball Monday night, I walked last night and did 30 minutes on the treadmill today. All is well.
And that is how I spent my Valentine's Day with my Valentine.
Next race: Dallas Rock and Roll Half in about a month. It's the weekend we get back from a ski trip.
The biggest difference was the number of participants. Waco was a very small event, nice, but small. There were something like 20,000 people in Austin running either the full or the half. Amy I started out together, somewhere around the 5:00 pace folks, just because that was as high as they went. It was almost 15 minutes from the gun time that we finally crossed the start line,it was just that crowded.
We ran together for nearly the first mile, but I didn't want to hold her back so I told her to go on and settled into my pace. The start line was on Congress at Cesar Chavez. You start out by crossing the Congress Ave bridge and heading up Congress. And it is up. We followed Congress to 360, where we turned and came down 1st. That was my first challenge as 1st is full of little Mexican restaurants and they were all cranking out breakfast. It smelled so good, but I pressed on.
After getting back to Cesar Chavez, we turned left up alongside the lake. As we crossed over the lake again, we passed the 10K mark. I was feeling no pain, sticking with a 1 and 1. Sometimes running 5 or 6 minutes at a time as I felt like it. Rarely walking longer than the minute.
Around the 8 mile mark, we found the first steep hill, it ended up at the original Magnolia Cafe, I wanted to stop again. We continued down along Town Lake until around mile 10 where we turned down 15th and started heading for home. The race split at Mile 11, the marathoners turning off and heading out farther. From here to the end, the terrain became heavily undulated. I experienced lots of ups and downs and got pretty warn out. Then we get to mile 12. I swear that hill looked like a cliff. Straight up! The nice part is there was a ton of spectators really cheering us on and it really was all down hill from there.
As we approached the Capitol, we rejoined the marathon route. They rounded the Capitol on the East side, the half on the West, and it was straight on to finish. As I got down to the flat pavement of Congress again I felt like I had enough to give it a little kick and finish strong. And I did.
The previous race, I couldn't eat anything after the race. After this one, I couldn't get enough. Banana before I got out of the tent, then a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos as I sat on the sidewalk catching my breath.
I hung out for a while waiting for Amy to come in from the full. My phone died so I started walking back up the marathon course. I spotted Amy coming up to the Capitol so I ran with her for a little bit, cheering her on to the finish. That was the only time I really hurt while running. She is much faster than me.
After cleaning up and resting a bit, we headed over to El Arroyo for a celebratory splurge and I enjoyed a Mexican martini. It was strong. I fell asleep about 5:30.
Three days later and I'm getting along pretty good, No pain. I played basketball Monday night, I walked last night and did 30 minutes on the treadmill today. All is well.
And that is how I spent my Valentine's Day with my Valentine.
Next race: Dallas Rock and Roll Half in about a month. It's the weekend we get back from a ski trip.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Friday Weigh in
I'm down another 3 pounds. That's -14.5 since 01.01.2010. WW doesn't like me losing it that fast, I'm just happy it's off.
The knees are bugging me a little bit.
The knees are bugging me a little bit.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
First post-race run
Last night was a busy one but I still found time for a quick two mile jog around the neighborhood after the festivities. Everything is still in working order. I managed to run a little faster last night. I wasn't particularly trying to it just sort of happened.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Chip Time
They just posted the results. My chip time was 3:12:10.4, 222 over all with a pace of 14:40. Not bad for my first run if I do say so myself.
Monday, February 1, 2010
The one after I've run a half marathon
So today I ran the Waco Miracle Match Half Marathon. It was maybe one of the coldest days of the year. It even snowed on us some. But I made it. I am not a runner but I guess could be.
I started out pretty fast and it worried me that maybe I was going too fast. I finished the first 3 miles in about 40 minutes. The 5K's we had run I was doing in 45 to 50 at best. The race took us from the suspension bridge to Baylor campus and we did a little loop around Founders Mall and then back out.
I passed the Start/Finish line at a little shy of six miles I think. I was still going strong. The hills of Cameron Park were still in front of me. There was plenty of water to be had on the course so I rarely used mine, I'm glad I decided to just carry the one bottle. The volunteers were very friendly and had food as well.
Once inside Cameron Park, we turned uphill into the zoo. It was WAY uphill. This was the first time I really felt gassed. It was fun running through the zoo. I wish it had been warmer so that the animals would have been out, but it was a neat diversion.
The next stretch was through Proctor Springs and up into the residential parts of the park. I had never been down a few of these streets and saw some neat houses. It was a bit tough because by this point we were so spread out it was like going through the neighborhood by myself.
We popped back out into the park with a pretty steep downhill followed by an uphill. The full marathon also joined back up here so I was getting passed by some of the faster folks in the full. I can't believe how many times one of these guys passing me gave me a "Way to go" or "Good work" when they were truly doing the work but it was nice and I started trying to give them the "Way to go" before they could from then on out.
The 10 mile mark came after just about the worst uphill on the course but it was mostly downhill and after all I only had a little 5K left. Or so I thought. I looped around up to the Herring bridge for the last straight away and I was doing OK, I was doing OK at the 11 mile checkpoint, but suddenly the mileage started clicking very slowly. I don't know if it was because I could see the finish or what but by 11.7 I texted Amy that I was completely out of gas and was running on fumes. During the walk periods from there in, I kept telling myself that maybe I would walk two and run one but I was afraid if I stopped running I wouldn't start again. So I just kept pushing. When I came around the Suspension Bridge I was running and decided I would just have to run it on out from there in. I'm pretty sure the bridge tripled in length the closer I got to the finish. I could hear Amy hollering to me from across the bridge so I just kept going. I glanced over at he clock and I'm pretty sure it was about 3:15 and some change. I was really looking for 3:45 so I was quite pleased at the outcome of my first half.
I downed a powerade and a frozen snickers then a bottle of chocolate milk. I tried to eat a fajita that they were serving but I felt like I wouldn't be able to keep it down. We were waiting for Kelly to come in and that was the first time I was so cold it hurt. Once she finished we didn't stick around for long.
Today, I'm not doing too bad. It took me a few steps this morning for my ankle to start working but I went to the gym and walked on the treadmill for about 10 minutes before doing my normal workout.
Next up is the Austin Half in two weeks. That was supposed to be my first but you can't ignore your hometown race, can you?
I started out pretty fast and it worried me that maybe I was going too fast. I finished the first 3 miles in about 40 minutes. The 5K's we had run I was doing in 45 to 50 at best. The race took us from the suspension bridge to Baylor campus and we did a little loop around Founders Mall and then back out.
I passed the Start/Finish line at a little shy of six miles I think. I was still going strong. The hills of Cameron Park were still in front of me. There was plenty of water to be had on the course so I rarely used mine, I'm glad I decided to just carry the one bottle. The volunteers were very friendly and had food as well.
Once inside Cameron Park, we turned uphill into the zoo. It was WAY uphill. This was the first time I really felt gassed. It was fun running through the zoo. I wish it had been warmer so that the animals would have been out, but it was a neat diversion.
The next stretch was through Proctor Springs and up into the residential parts of the park. I had never been down a few of these streets and saw some neat houses. It was a bit tough because by this point we were so spread out it was like going through the neighborhood by myself.
We popped back out into the park with a pretty steep downhill followed by an uphill. The full marathon also joined back up here so I was getting passed by some of the faster folks in the full. I can't believe how many times one of these guys passing me gave me a "Way to go" or "Good work" when they were truly doing the work but it was nice and I started trying to give them the "Way to go" before they could from then on out.
The 10 mile mark came after just about the worst uphill on the course but it was mostly downhill and after all I only had a little 5K left. Or so I thought. I looped around up to the Herring bridge for the last straight away and I was doing OK, I was doing OK at the 11 mile checkpoint, but suddenly the mileage started clicking very slowly. I don't know if it was because I could see the finish or what but by 11.7 I texted Amy that I was completely out of gas and was running on fumes. During the walk periods from there in, I kept telling myself that maybe I would walk two and run one but I was afraid if I stopped running I wouldn't start again. So I just kept pushing. When I came around the Suspension Bridge I was running and decided I would just have to run it on out from there in. I'm pretty sure the bridge tripled in length the closer I got to the finish. I could hear Amy hollering to me from across the bridge so I just kept going. I glanced over at he clock and I'm pretty sure it was about 3:15 and some change. I was really looking for 3:45 so I was quite pleased at the outcome of my first half.
I downed a powerade and a frozen snickers then a bottle of chocolate milk. I tried to eat a fajita that they were serving but I felt like I wouldn't be able to keep it down. We were waiting for Kelly to come in and that was the first time I was so cold it hurt. Once she finished we didn't stick around for long.
Today, I'm not doing too bad. It took me a few steps this morning for my ankle to start working but I went to the gym and walked on the treadmill for about 10 minutes before doing my normal workout.
Next up is the Austin Half in two weeks. That was supposed to be my first but you can't ignore your hometown race, can you?
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