FYI #2

If you don’t check my Events page on a regular basis, you may have missed that I signed up for the Firecracker 5K on Saturday July 3, 2010. The sole purpose of this run will be to break 30 minutes at the 5K distance. I have never done this before and never even made the attempt, but I know I have the speed to do it.

The plan is to show up early, push through the crowd to get in front of the walkers, and then have at it! I’ll try to get near someone else who is planning to run a sub 30 and see if we can pace each other if practical. Failure is not an option on this one. I will be putting it all on the line to get it done.

RC Cola and Moon Pie 10 Miler

Well, it’s another race in the books, the RC Cola and Moon Pie Festival 10 Mile Race (that’s a long name!). The day started out with me rolling out a little later than I wanted as per usual. I still got there in plenty of time and totally passed up the $5 parking next to downtown Bell Buckle to park free a half mile a way. I walked down to the finish line to pick up my bib number and timing chip and I also got a t-shirt. I thought about skipping the t-shirt and the walk to take it back to my car, but it had an RC Cola and a Moon Pie dancing on the front. How can I pass that up?

When I got back to the car, I noticed that my draw string was not tied on my shorts. I chose to do nothing and just left it until I got to the start line. Once I arrived I spot an old buddy from my home town and we chatted right up to race time. The gun sounded (or rather someone said ready, set, go, I can’t remember really) and most everyone took off. I just stood around and waited for the fast runners to push on through and took up my spot in the back. Then disaster struck! I had forgotten to tie my draw string and my shorts started inching down (weighed down as the were by 3 GU packs). I thought about leaving them for a few seconds, but decided to try tying them while running. It was touch and go there for a few seconds, but finally, success!

With that drama out of the way, we started up the first of many, MANY hills. I knew about the killer one at mile 4.5, but that’s not the only one on the course, just the biggest. I got to the first mile marker ahead of my goal pace, so I banked a little there. The same at the second mile marker which was just some guy with a stop watch and a big 2 painted on the road. I popped a GU as I ran past and picked up some water even though I wasn’t thirsty yet.

The race director decided to mess with everyone’s heads at mile 3 and put up the mile 2 marker there. I was still banking time at this point, but the killer hill was still to come. There were a couple of hills in the second and third mile that were pretty big and I thought maybe those might the big one, but they weren’t. The big one really is at about mile 4.5 or so.

I finally got to the big hill and it is BIG. It is less than a quarter mile long, but it is extremely steep and I decided to use those banked minutes and I walked it. Pretty much everyone in my immediate area walked it except one girl who ran the exact same pace through mile 7, even up the big hill. At the top there was a small water stop, but I missed it and decided to keep on keeping on.

For the next couple of miles I paced a couple of girls in green shirts who were sisters apparently. This is what I gathered from the conversation around me anyway. I don’t do any talking during these races as I am trying my best to keep breathing at a regular pace and not pass out. I had popped another GU at mile 4 and still held one in reserve at mile 6. There I opted for water and Gatorade and skipped the GU since I couldn’t really tell that I was getting any benefit from the ones I’d already used.

Around mile seven I started walking periodically because the heat was starting to build. Some clouds had gathered at the start of the race, but the heat had soon burned them off and now it was burning into me. I did interval running through miles 7 and 8 and into 9, walking up the hills and through the water stations. And thank goodness for the unannounced water stop at mile 9 where 6th Congressional District candidate Brett Carter had set up with some ice cold water and some friendly volunteers. If I lived in the 6th, he’d have my vote!

After finishing my mile 9 water and walking to the top of a small hill, I started my run for the finish. It was slow and plodding and people were passing me left and right, but I was running. I managed to keep it going until the finish line came into sight and I decided that I’d sprint in like a champ. I passed back several of the people who had just passed me and almost ran past the chip collection station. I turned around and let them cut my chip off while I stood there in a daze. Then I took my bottle of water and headed for the car (which was a half mile away instead of right across the street. Damn my cheap ass!).

After arriving at my car I decided I’d skip the buffet and call it a day. I stripped down to my underoos, toweled off, put on a dry shirt, and drove to the house.

I came in with a time of 1:56:55 which missed my goal of 1:52:00, but I was happy to be under 2 hours and I still managed to shave nearly a full minute off my half marathon pace. Overall this was a fun and well organized race that I’ll probably be running again next year. Come and join me then!

From 46 to 36

One of the things you don’t tend to think about when you lose a lot of weight is your clothes, at least starting out. The first thing you notice is that sweatpants and other elastic waste band type clothes start to get a bit loose. Then you need to start wearing belts all the time and then you start having to make new holes in the belts because you just can’t get it tight enough anymore. Your shirts fit fine at first, but soon you start to look like you are wearing a dress or drapes and the neck holes start to creep towards your shoulders.

My biggest clothing revelation came this past weekend when I went to buy some new shorts. All of my shorts and pants are at least 44 inches in the waist, with most being 46, and a few pairs that are 48 inches. The 48s are from the time when I was at my fattest and couldn’t fit into the 46s. All of my clothes are just getting too big, so I took a trip to Old Navy this past weekend to find some cheap clothes to wear.

I started out by trying on some 38 inch shorts and an XL t-shirt. These fit pretty well and I almost made my way to to cash register, but then I decided I’d try a 36 inch waist and a large shirt just to see how it would go. To my amazement, the 36 inch shorts fit perfectly and even though the t-shirt was a bit tight, I decided to go ahead and get it (and several others). I can wear the shirts now, but I figure their tightness will be a little incentive to take off even more weight.

As I was putting my pants back on in the dressing room, I realized that they were 46s, my standard size for the past 10 years. And my new shorts were 36s. That’s 10 inches of difference! I’m pretty amazed every time I think about it.

In other news, I’m still running. I’ve started taking a running class through my local Fleet Feet store called Summer Speed Sessions. We are learning how to work out on a track and how to improve our speed for short distance races. Our first week we learned how to warm up and then run a time trial mile. I did mine at a 9:16 pace. Over the course of the summer we will do various interval training workouts based on that pace, either slightly higher, or slightly lower. After our training session this week, I was pretty much tapped out, but it felt good to get out there and give it my all. Training continues through August.

Also, my next big race is Saturday morning. It’s the RC Cola and Moon Pie Festival 10 miler in Bell Buckle, TN. My official goal time is 1:52:00, but with the heat (oppressive) and terrain (hilly), I’ll be happy with anything under 2 hours. Come on out and cheer me on or race if you dare!

A quick update

Yes, I’m still alive and running. I’ve had quite a case of “Not Wanting to Update This Blog” here lately. The past month has been pretty eventful here in the Nashville area with the floods and in my personal life too. I’ll get back to posting on a more regular basis in a couple of weeks. In the meantime I’ve updated the Photos page with some pictures I took of myself today. Check out my progress!

Country Music Half Marathon 2010

Well, this was my goal race. I finished it and I wasn’t swept away by a tornado, so I suppose that’s a big win for me. But things didn’t go as well as I would have hoped.

The day started out ominously. There was red all over the radar and tornados and large hail in the forcast. I actually wasn’t very worried about the weather for two reasons: 1) The TV stations here ALWAYS overhype any weather system that comes into Nashville. “Will it rain frogs tomorrow? Find out at 10 o’clock!” 2) I was going to do this thing no matter what the weather was like.

I left a little later than I had wanted to and on the drive into town there was some nasty lightening off to the west. As I approached the downtown area, traffic began to back up and I soon feared that I’d miss the start of the race. After remembering that over half of the participants would be from out of town, I decided to take my chances on the side streets. I got off the interstate and within 5 minutes I was parking, so that went better than expected. I walked over to the stadium and got on a bus to take the trip to the starting line.

When I got to the start, most of the runners were already there. The rain clouds were still a ways off, but it looked like they were going to miss us, so I went ahead and changed into my running clothes and checked my gear bag. I wandered around for a bit and noted the long lines for the porta potties. No use even trying that, so I started looking for my corral. A few people I knew were there and we chatted for a minute before I moved off to look for other people I might know (no luck). Then they sang the national anthem and started the race 15 minutes early. Since I was in corral 23, it was still quite a while before I made it up to the start line, almost 30 minutes if I recall correctly.

The people I had been chatting with at the start were trying for a 2:30:00 finish time, so I hung with them for a little while and then dropped back and kept them in sight. Since I hadn’t had a chance to warm up, I was a bit stiff for the first two miles and had some side stitch pain. The pain went away after a while though and the hills didn’t seem to be bothering me too much, so I kept a pretty good pace through the first 6 miles. After that the weaving back and forth to avoid walkers and the hills started to take their toll.

At about mile 8 I took my first walking break. I knew that I didn’t really have much left at that point, but I soldiered on. By mile 9 I was really feeling it and by the 15K marker all of my goals went out the window and my one goal was to just finish. At mile 10 people were handing out beer to the runners and just the thought of it made me want to throw up. I was doing quite a bit of walking at this point. At mile 11 they were handing out GU packets and I took one, but pocketed it instead of using it. I took a drink of Cytomax and poured a couple of cups of water over my head and started running again. Somewhere around mile 11.5 an old high school buddy saw me and shouted my name. Luckily I was running at this point and I got an extra burst of speed until about mile 12 where I walked some more. As I neared the finish, more people lined the roads and most were shouting, “This is the last hill, you’re almost there.” I still had a mile to go though. I walked a good portion of that last mile. I was completely out of energy at this point and even the walking was difficult. As I came around the next to last corner I decided to run it out as fast as I could (which was not very). I sucked it up and crossed the finish line in 2:45:50 which was only 50 seconds away from my goal time.

As I crossed the finish I slowed down to a small walk. I was taking the smallest steps I could and very nearly collapsed as my body rebelled against the pounding I had given it. A girl at the aid tent asked if I needed assistance and I said no. I took a bottle of water and poured it over my head as I wound my way through a maze of aid stations and swag tents. I took a bottle of Cytomax and sipped on it a few times. I really wanted to just get out of there! A group of people were handing out finisher medals and I took mine and put it around my neck. It was so heavy I nearly fell over forwards. Finally, after many twists and turns and pushing and shoving I came out of the finishing area and went in search of my gear bag. I was in a lot of pain at this point and was still just taking those baby steps.

I got my bag and went and sat on a planter for a minute or two while it started raining. I decided it was time to go and began the hardest part of the day yet, walking back to the car. I baby stepped it from the stadium, across the street, and into the parking lot where cars where already lined up trying to leave. The rain was really pouring down at this point and I must have been a pitiful sight. A woman in one of the cars applauded for me in a knowing kind of way and I gave her a painful smile. As I reached my car I nearly collapsed again, but caught myself on the car. I finally got the door open and fell into the car. I just laid there for a while with the door open until I could get enough energy to shut it, then I laid there some more just trying to get my bearings. I realized fairly quickly that I was going to have to wait a while to leave because my parking lot was closed due to the race still going on. I lay there in my seat listening to opera and the rain and dining on my GU packet and Cytomax. After two hours the lot finally opened and I was free to go.

If I had to do it over again, I would not have picked this half marathon to be my first. It was very hilly and very crowded. But when I started this whole adventure, I didn’t know a thing about running or what races would be like. I don’t regret doing it at all and I’m even happy with my results. This is the 3rd race I’ve done and the first I’ve actually missed my goal time. It leaves me wanting more and wanting to go back out there and do it again and push even harder next time. Next time I will do better!

Dairy Dash 10K

Things went pretty well at the Dairy Dash 10K this weekend. I met my two main goals of a sub 70 minute time and I also ran the whole distance. I also had two secret stretch goals. The first was to finish in 66 minutes or less. I missed that one by 8 seconds, mostly due to not really paying attention to my time and having to do a lot of weaving during the first half of the race. The second was to not finish last in my age group and I met that goal due to the two guys my age nice enough to finish behind me.

The day was pretty interesting. First, there was a lot of traffic and there were a few minutes sitting in my car where I thought I might miss the race. Traffic eased up soon enough though and I got there in plenty of time. I immediately went and got my timing chip and went back to my car to put it on and take off my pants. I went back to the starting line and kind of wandered around. After a few minutes of standing in the back, I noticed that without any announcement or gun, people had started running. I started pacing back and forth to get warmed up and figured I would hang back and let the crowd thin out. BIG MISTAKE! I finally got started after 5 minutes of waiting and immediately realized I was in trouble.

This race was a combo 5K/10K and everyone started together. I had hung so far back that I was starting with the people pushing strollers. I spent the first mile weaving back and forth across two lanes of slow walkers, little kids, hula hoopers, and groups of 5 and 6 people walking abreast. Back and forth I ran, occasionally jumping up on the curb or down in the gutter to get around the slower people. I sped up when I could and slowed down when I had to. I pulled in behind a couple pushing a stroller and let them plow the way for me for a little while even though they were going a little slower than I would have liked.

Fortunately I had passed most of the the slower people by the time we got to the greenway trail which was much narrower, but there were still some stragglers in the way. Again I did the weaving and speeding up and slowing down routine. Again I let a stroller pusher do some crowd control ahead of me (she was a fast one though and I didn’t want to run her pace for long). Finally I saw the 5K route split off in the distance and was relieved that I’d finally be able to settle down and run my race.

Just after the split, things got a little better. I had room to run at my own pace and I wasn’t feeling too bad. As I passed through a small tunnel I heard a metal noise. It was a very distinctive noise which sounded not completely unlike a car key clanging on asphalt. OH NO! I looked down at my trusty shoe wallet, but I couldn’t tell without stopping if the zipper was open or not. I decided that it was a lost cause if the key had really fallen out and I just kept on running (after the race I found that the key had not fallen out, but the zipper WAS down with the key still inside!). About a mile later we came to the water stop and I grabbed a cup of water and sipped it like afternoon tea. It’s hard to be dainty when you are running. I also came up on an old man running intervals and his run interval was about my pace so I hung with him for a little while until he started walking again.

At mile 6 my legs started feeling a bit gimpy, but I kept on going. I ran with a woman for a while who was either singing to herself or talking to herself. I couldn’t decide. Just after passing the self talker I posed for the camera lady, showing her my guns. When I get a copy of that I’ll post it!

When I got to what I thought might be the home stretch I really turned it up and started trying to pass as many people as I could before the finish. As I was passing a woman she said that she didn’t think this race was ever going to end and asked where the finish line was. About that time it came into sight and I said, “There it is!” Even though she didn’t see it, she still kicked it into another gear and kept trudging along. As I neared the end a random person that I suspect was someone from the Nashville Striders message board hollered out my name and I just waved because I was into my breathing every two steps routine. I passed a couple of old men right at the end for my final triumph and immediately went in search of the ice cream I’d heard so much about.

Overall it was a good day and a good race. I learned a few things about racing in a crowd that should help me in the CMM half which is just a couple of weeks away. I also feel more confident about doing well at the CMM half and might actually try for 2:30:00 after all. We’ll see!

WWC challenge results

And now for the results. I did pretty good, but did not reach 100% of my goals.

  1. Run at least two miles after getting off work Friday morning at a 10:55 or better pace. – I did this, but just barely. I ran 3.02 miles in 32:58 for a pace of exactly 10:55.
  2. No alcohol, beer, or fast food from from Friday through Sunday. – I’m calling this one half busted. I didn’t drink any beer or alcohol, but I did get a pizza delivered and ate at a chinese buffet. The spirit of this one was to make good eating choices and I didn’t do that.
  3. Map out a safe route and run from my apartment in Hermitage to my best friend’s apartment in Nashville (this should be almost exactly 13.1 miles) on Saturday. – Unfortunately it came a big thunderstorm Saturday morning and I felt it was unsafe to run in it. I also felt it was unsafe to run my route I’d picked out later in the day, so I ran 13.31 on the greenway instead. Since my main goal was to run at least 13.1 miles, I’m calling this one completed.
  4. Man up and run 4 miles on Sunday. – I almost talked myself out of this one, but managed to pull it off anyway. I was in some serious pain after my run Saturday and Sunday morning as well, but by the afternoon I felt like I could do it. I had a few problems, but still did an 11:06 pace which is pretty good for me.

Three out of four ain’t bad, but you can see where my problems are. I’ve slipped back into some old eating habits and that is pretty disappointing. My biggest problem is that I haven’t been to the grocery lately and I’ve run out of the quick and healthy snacks I was eating. I gotta get back into that or I’ll be in packing the pounds back on no matter how much I run.

Weekend Warriors Challenge

After getting my butt kicked today on my first 80 degree day run, I thought I’d give a bit of an update.

First, I totally went out and did the butt kicking on Sunday, running 8 miles and doing 10K of it in less than my goal time of 1:10:00. I’m not sure exactly what my time was, but I know that I did 6.25 miles in 1:09:00ish time, so it was maybe in the 1:08:00 range. This was a big win after my little disaster on Saturday.

I’ve had some pretty typical runs since then until today. It was over 80° when I started running today and it really sapped my energy starting at about mile 2.5 (of a 5 mile run). I ended up walking the last mile just so I wouldn’t keel over and die of heat exhaustion on the greenway. I’m thinking I need to start running in the early morning again to avoid the heat of the day and cut down on my sun exposure.

I’ve also decided to participate in the Weekend Warriors Challenge. So to that end I am setting up a few “specific and measurable” goals for this weekend.

  1. Run at least two miles after getting off work Friday morning at a 10:55 or better pace.
  2. No alcohol, beer, or fast food from from Friday through Sunday.
  3. Map out a safe route and run from my apartment in Hermitage to my best friend’s apartment in Nashville (this should be almost exactly 13.1 miles) on Saturday.
  4. Man up and run 4 miles on Sunday.

Some pretty good goals, huh? A tip of the hat to Scott at MinusFiveTimesTen for pointing me to the challenge. I’ll post my results on Monday.

Clinically insane

I’ve heard that the definition of insane is repeating the same actions over and over again and expecting a different result each time. If that is the case then I must be insane.

I bonked again today, and for good reason. I decided to do my 8 mile run without having eaten in 14 hours and without having had anything to drink except half a bottle of water. I’ve tried this sort of foolishness before and had similar results.

Today’s running started out pretty well. I had just run my first 10 minute mile the day before and felt good about how my pace was progressing. The plan for today was to run the first 6.2 miles at a 11:15ish pace as a test for the Dairy Dash 10K on April 10. I’d then slow up or walk the last 1.8 miles to get the milage in. I was pretty confident I wouldn’t have any problems, but that turned out not to be the case.

I did the first mile okay at about a 10:30 pace, but I was already breathing pretty hard. I figured I could slow up a bit since I was well ahead of my planned pace. I slowed a bit, but not too much, but my breathing was getting harder and harder, I felt really bad, and my ears were ringing. By the end of mile two I knew I was in trouble. I pushed on anyway, maintaining about an 11:00 pace and thought about walking at about mile 2.75 to catch my breath, but continued to push on. The third mile was pretty miserable on the whole and the fourth mile was just terrible. When I got to mile 4 I decided to walk for two minutes because I could do that and still be ahead of pace. I was still breathing hard after two minutes, so I just kept walking. At mile 4.32 I had caught my breath and tried running again, but I felt really light headed and started walking again after only about 50 feet. At mile 4.75 I still felt completely spent and decided to call it quits, stopping my watch at that point. I knew my running was through for the day.

But things didn’t end there. I was still 2 miles from my car at this point, so began the long walk of shame. I was basically give out and I didn’t even know if I could make it back to my car without stopping to rest. I shuffled along at a fairly slow casual walk, but after about a mile I started to feel like I could walk faster, so I did. It’s pretty embarrassing to have to walk past all the runners and “Sunday Walkers” on the greenway in my full running attire (which included 2 watches, MP3 player safety pinned to my shorts, tech shirt, expensive running shoes and socks, and my surplus Marine Corps hat from the 80s). I’m pretty sure everyone out there knew I was out there to run and that I had failed miserably. The uninitiated were looking at me like I was over dressed for a casual walk, and the runners were avoiding eye contact (they knew). Like I said, embarrassing. I got back to my car and immediately set out to get the one thing that would make me feel better, a Chicago Style Gyro, side of rice, and iced tea.

One of the tough things about what I’m doing is that I’m trying to lose weight and train to run at the same time. And since I’ve been on a weight loss plateau for the past couple of weeks, I really wanted to get back to losing weight this week by really watching what I eat and trying to take in much less than I was using during the day. If I were just sitting around watching television, that would be fine, but I’m also running 30 miles a week now and I didn’t take that into consideration today. It’s something I’ve already messed up before and I feel stupid for doing it again just a few weeks later.

Where do I go from here? I keep at it. Weather permitting I plan to attempt the 6.2 miles again tomorrow and possibly the full 8 miles if I’m feeling up to it. I’ll make sure I’ve eaten and hydrated this time before trying anything stupid.

I’m on a plateau

Well, the good news is that my weight is at 227.2 lbs which is a loss of 35.8 lbs since my January 1st weight of 263.0 lbs. The bad news is that it is also the same weight I posted two weeks ago. I’m officially on a weight loss plateau. I’ve never really had to deal with this situation before and I’m not quite sure how to handle it, although I do have a few ideas.

First, I’ve engaged in some moderate to heavy drinking the past couple of weekends and I think this has been the main contributing factor to my inability to lose weight. So I’m thinking that this weekend I will not have anything to drink (and good thing since I’m also broke!) and will limit my alcohol intake in the future as well. I might also try doing more hard liquor shots and less beer drinking if I should partake.

I’ve also not been watching my caloric intake as closely the past couple of weeks. I’ve been doing a lot of guesstimating about how much I’m eating and not really paying attention. I’m pretty sure my portion and meal sizes have crept up as a result. I’ve also done a lot of “justified” eating, i.e. eating more because I’m burning more calories by running.

In addition to not binge drinking on the weekend, I’ll also be watching what I eat more carefully and changing my eating patterns. I’ll be eating more for my first meal and less at each subsequent meal and I’ll try not to eat anything within 2 hours of bedtime. Hopefully I’ll have some sort of weight loss to report next week.

Site note: I am no longer putting updates on my runs in my posts. Instead there is a link in the sidebar called My Running Stats. You can click it to see the latest. I’ve also put the link on the Progress page.