Post 9/11

Don't really have any earth shattering news about running.  Started doing intervals once a week, but I wanted to talk about something that really bothers me.  

Last night, my family and I went to the local fire department for the towns September 11th commemoration ceremony.  One our neighbors lost his son, who used to be a Wyckoff volunteer firefighter before he joined NYFD.  They had a awesome life size statue / memorial built at the fire house for him a few years ago.  The town also lost 11 residents in World Trade Center, so it's not like the whole town wasn't touched in one way or another.  Anyway, the part that bothers me was the turn out.  It was about 75% fire fighters and only 25% civilians.  The volume of people who turned out for the ceremony was embarrassingly poor.  I was really surprised and kinda mad.  How quickly we forget!  

My wife and I used to goto Ridgewood where they would have a large ceremony in the park at the center of town.  Every year it got a little smaller and smaller, until two years ago, we showed up and there was nothing.  I love how everybody says they'll never forget.

Anyway, we remember and while we personally did not know anybody who past away, we will never forget.  And everyday I remember and pray for my fellow brothers and sisters who serve proudly in the Corps and other branches of the military.  It doesn't matter if we're state side or in the suck, when the wolf calls we answer, that's what we do.  Semper Fi and God Bless America!

Finally some speed! (It's all relative)

Thanks to hurricane/tropical storm Hanna, I got to the gym yesterday.  As usual, I planned on doing an easy 5K.  Normally when I go it's pretty late so there aren't a lot of people there, but today I got there at 3pm.  While it wasn't mobbed, there were a good amount of people there.  Fortunately my favorite treadmill at the very end was available.  Unfortunately there was lovely young lady, two treadmills over who moving at pretty good clip.  I usually don't like to run next to people running fast, I find it screws up both of our paces and it's a little embarrassing.   Anyway, I guess all those miles I've logged are starting to pay off, because I was able to step it up and shaved a minute off of my best 5K time.  

As a side note, there two "old guys" on the other side of her.  They both started out strong, but it was slightly amusing to see the rapid decline as one quickly changed to a very labored jog and the other just decided to walk.  

Nike+ 10K Human Race - The aftermath

Well it's been 5 days since I ran my first 10k. I was a little more worn out and beat up than I expected. I guess I didn't stretch enough afterwards and then I did a boat load of walking at the Renaissance Festival the next day while pushing a double jogger with a 3 and 5 year old. Somehow I ended up with shin splints on Tuesday so I rested an extra day, which didn't help at all.

On Wednesday, I went to the gym and did an easy 5K on the treadmill. The first 3K was horrendous! I thought my calves were going to lockup and I was going to get shot off the back of the treadmill. The last 2K actually felt pretty good and the stretch afterwards helped a bunch.

Thursday I planned on running another easy 5k on the road, but at the last minute I remembered that I got that training mix "My first 10K" from Nike for signing up for the Human Race. Just before I started out, I decided to try it. I probably should have listened to the whole thing before trying it. As it turns out there at two sets of 1 minute intervals, which I have never done before. The funny thing is that they say in the mix, that if you can finish this whole workout without walking you can definitely finish the Human Race. So since I finished it, now I know I have to run the whole thing! The workout wasn't that hard, other than the intervals, so I guess I'll try to work it into my "routine" once a week. The only thing is that 1 minute intervals don't graph well, and as one of my fellow runners said, it's looks like you were running drunk.

While my next goal is still to run the NYC Half-Marathon next year, I don't think I will start training for it until next year. This year I think I will continue running 3-6 miles and hopefully pick up some speed.

I plan on running a 5K in October and hope to post a sub 30 minute time. I know that's not really a stretch, but it's still an improvement over my last 5k race time.

How I got here

I just wanted to provide a little background info as to how I arrived at my present situation.



Last fall I was presented with a life changing challenge. Move up another waist size or lose weight. I was about 30 lbs over weight and had some how moved up to wearing XL dress shirts. All along I kept telling people that if I could just get off my _ss and do any kind of exercise I could get my metabolism going again and get back to my pre-thirties weight.



Up until I was thirty, I was at the 9% body fat range and a whopping 145lbs. Upon turning 30, getting married (all within 2 days) and quitting smoking (almost 6 years ago), I managed to obtain a maximum density of 195. I went from a 28" waist to 34 working on 36 quickly in under 10 years.



So anyway, back to last year. I finally decided that it was time to stop talking and start doing, so I took up running (really jogging). Around the end of September I started running a mile, slowly working up to two and a half miles by the end of November. December was a complete wash and I had to pretty much start over again in January.



Since it was winter and I was already paying the local YMCA a ton of money, I decided to start using the treadmill. I concentrated more on time than distance and pace. By May I was jogging the first 5 minutes, running for 20 and cooling down for another 5.



Then at the end of May, I got the Nike+ system for my 40th Birthday. This was the key turning point for me. Previously, nobody knew (or cared) how far or fast I ran. Now with Nike+ I could see how far and fast I ran and so could other people. That was the kick in the butt I needed. Then I saw the ad for the Human Race and decided that I was going to run it.



Long story short, I picked up my distances and pace and ended up finishing the 10K in 1:01:56. I was really hoping to finish in under an hour, but I'm still happy with the results, because up until today, I have not run 10K since the early 90's. The real reason why I'm happy, is because even though I stepped things up a bit to prepare for this, I really haven't put forth a ton of effort.



So with this in mind, I have decided that I will try to run the NYC Half Marathon next year, which should be some time in July. I guess I'm working on doubling my distance again. I typically run 5K every other night, and the 10K was a first for me. Now I'm looking to double my distance again go for the 13.1 miles.



I hope to use this blog to track my progress as I work my way up towards this new goal. Wish me luck!

By the way, I'm only 15 lbs over weight now and I can still wear my 34" waist pants. I have accepted the fact that will not be 9% or even 18% body fat again (without surgery or getting shipwrecked).