8-31-13 Swallowing of Blackberry Gel

Total Miles for the Week: 14.15 of 16

So today was different, I didn't have any apprehension about running 6 miles until about 10 minutes before i started today. I am happy to say I did more running (slower than I would have liked, but I did run) than I did walking. The first 2 miles were hell. I worked my way up hill and started at too fast of a pace to finish it in a good amount of time. I stretched in the shower before I left to run, hoping that would be enough. I need to get out my sports massage and stretching books from massage school and redesign my stretching so it works better for what I'm doing. Today was the first time my IT band started to hurt some, I'll need to address that too.

So I posted I would be trying gel for the first time today as I ran. I didn't expect what hit my mouth as I was squeezing it in. I laughed after I had it. If you have never had gel (quick caffeine and carbs as you run, in a handy pouch). I took it when I reached the three mile mark. It's texture was like gel toothpaste, thick and smooth. Part of me wanted to chew it, another part wanted to spit it out, but the part that won just swallowed it and quickly drank some water afterward. It worked surprisingly well. But I believe that my attitude change after mile two helped it greatly.

Starting at mile 2.1 I started to have an attitude shift from hating life to wanting to push further. At the 1.5 mile mark I had justified to myself that I would go to the gym and run three more miles and finish my run that way. I would have regretted it if I did end up doing that. But I did turn and started running toward my car again, but by the time mile two was coming around I decided to run a mile and a half past my car and complete my 6 miles for the day. When I ran past where my car was, that was a great feeling. The side of my mind that wants to succeed was taking over. My last three miles I did a slow run almost the entire time (taking two 2 min breaks). I finished my run in 1:33. My last 2 miles were in 43 min compare to my first three which were 50. So it took 2 miles to have fun with running today, but I am looking forward to my new schedule next week for running.

Next Races:

3.1 for Don 5k: September 21

       I will be running the 3.1 in the morning and 7 more miles after the race. My goal is to beat my last time.

Provo Halloween Half Marathon: October 26

       Hopefully I will be sprorting a Batman technical shirt to run in (sans cape and cowl) this will act as my            long run for the day. Then my wife and I will do something for our anniversary. My goal is to finish.

Thankful 13 5k: November 28

       This is a maybe. It depends on what Silvia and I do for turkey day. My goal is to PR and have fun.

Tri-State Marathon: December 7th

       Just over 3 months away. My goal is to finish it.

Until Monday!

-Riley

8-30-13 Training Intensity

I ran this morning, it was a nice run. I used the suggested outline for running in Runner's World magazine. Since I'm a runner now, I read things like Runner's World, it only makes sense. It was a section on doing the long run. Today was a short run, but I used a principle in the section to do the run. The principle was to run 10 minutes, then walk 2. I modified to to fit the troubles I have been having and turned it into run 1 mile, walk 2 minutes. So I was able to do that twice, then finish with a 5 minute cool down. Today was the first run this week I actually had fun running. It was on a treadmill but that doesn't matter it was fun. Tomorrow morning I will be going up the canyon and run home. I will aim to do what I did today, run 1 mile walk two minutes. With the run a mile and walk 2 minutes I also decreased my pace to just around 13 minutes. I was never winded, and when ever my legs started to bother me I used a phrase from my training book, but it doesn't matter. So my ankle started bothering me, but saying it doesn't matter took my focus away from it and onto something better, the run. My calves started to burn, again it didn't matter... and back to the run. I got light headed and stopped for a moment, I was able to recover raster, because it didn't matter.

About training intensity, my understanding is that you don't want to increase too fast. Injuries are more prone to happen. It cost me going through a couple of different medical tests because I thought I was ready for more than I could handle. I am now able to run a sub 12 minute mile and need to do that more often, and I think that Wednesdays will be the day to that (I am not focusing on increasing my speed by leaps and bounds, just to work on my mile speed). I have a 3.5 as my intensity today, just because I know I could have repeated at least 1 more mile.

Here's the changes I am making to work out plan including my classes at school.

Monday: Racquetball at 11, Short Run #1 (end of day)

Tuesday: Mid Length Run in the Morning followed by swimming

Wednesday: Racquetball at 11, 1 mile sprint end of day

Thursday: Short Run in the Morning followed by swimming 

Friday: Off Day

Saturday: Long Run

Sunday: Teach the 8-11 year old kids at church (hard mental work out had to make note of it)

I hope my ramblings make sense, and you get as much from what I am writing as I get from training.

Until Next Time...

-Riley

8-28-13 School and running

Last night I wake up around 3 am and couldn't fall back to sleep for nearly 2 hours. Then adding school into the running mix has been exhausting this week. I am going to go out right now and run and it looks like to the gym I go. I will add an incline to my run in hopes to better prepare for that. It is 4 miles and will be about 45-55 minutes to get it knocked out for the day. Then home to shower and back to school for my afternoon class, then I will take my sketchbook and do about 20 thumbnails for my assignment in narrative illustration, then have some fun for the evening playing games (since I don't have the homework load this first week of school).

So I was able to make it two miles before I was struggling to keep up with the treadmill. I may have my wife drop me off up the in the canyon tomorrow morning and turn my Thursday into a 4 mile  morning. That would work really well. Today I am leaving it where it is and moving forward to tomorrow. I believe that's the right thing to do in this instance. I may even make tomorrow into my long run, and do a 4 miler on Saturday.

I guess we'll see how it goes.

Until Next time...
Riley

8-26-13 Running outside...

Today was a short run that turned long. I neglected to stretch before hand and my body didn't like what I was doing because of that. So my run today should have taken me around 40 minutes to finish, if I were on a treadmill. It's funny how much I dislike the treadmill is now becoming how I miss it because it is easier than running up inclines and on uneven ground.

I started out my run today at a slow pace to warm up a little, and then went up to my gym running speed (somehow forgetting that the first half of my outdoor runs are all up hill). My calves started to feel like they were on fire, so I made if a half mile. Not having a moving belt under my feet makes it a little harder to keep running, because if I slow down to a walk, I don't have to adjust the speed, or run the risk of doing something silly like falling off the treadmill.

Today before my run and after my days of classes (first day of school for the fall semester at UVU) I went to the Runner's Corner (running store I always talk about) and was able to ask some questions I've had about prepping for a marathon. I was given some solid advice. The first was a check to make sure I was wearing the right clothes, and how much that makes a difference (that wasn't my question but we talked about it before talking about compression socks). So I gave in and got a pair of Zoot compression socks after talking to the employee about them. She uses them herself and said that they helped increase blood flow to the legs... and some other stuff too. I tried them today, but without proper stretching I couldn't tell you if they helped or not. I will try again on Saturday with them. We talked about hydration, and came to the conclusion I need something more with me because of how much I sweat. I am training with a bulky camelpak right now and would like something a little lighter, and they had some options for me which will work well. Then rollers to stretch out IT band and other areas. The last subject was on nutrition, use of Gels. She encouraged me to start using them on my long runs periodically so I could get use to them. Because on long runs you need to replace energy being burned, so gels help with that. I forgot to mention I went in to get longer shoe laces for my running shoes. They didn't have any that would work.

Until Next Time... (insert old batman TV show ending quote here)

-Riley

8-25-13 Changes on the blog

I modified a couple of things on my blog here.

1. Background image is the Provo River Parkway Trail. I do my run uphill then down hill back to the parking lot at the mouth of the canyon. It's where I am doing my outdoor runs as well as where the Provo Halloween Half Marathon is going to be. I took the photo this evening, it's of the bend on the path that I stopped at just before my 2.5 mile turn around point that I was aiming at getting to before a walking and water break.
2. I changed the name of my blog to be something more personal and reflect what this blog really is.
3. I added a countdown clock which is kinda fun and keeps things in perspective.

I hope you like it as much as I do

8-24-13 Five mile run in the canyon

Initially my run today was going to a drop off at a park 5 miles away and run home (almost all down hill). But I woke up a half hour too late to do that. So I drove up to the popular entrance to the running/biking paved trail in Provo Canyon. I averaged a really slow mile and would like to say it was because I was going up hill, but that's not a solid reason. I stopped to walk too many times. But because of today I have decided to run outside (only on the treadmill when the weather is too severe to run outside or I am feeling especially lazy). The reason for the change to out door running is because I am running a marathon outdoors, I am running a half marathon outdoors, and I am running 2 or more 5k's outdoors. So why use the treadmill as a crutch. It will be a little of a learning curve to run outside, but I believe I can do it. Also the weather is cooling down so those 100 degree days won't be happening.

With doing 5 miles today I was full of doubt for the first 2 miles. Then I just swallowed my insecurity and started to run (at a slow pace up hill) and went until I was just around the bend from the 2.5 mile mark. I was feeling a little dejected at that point but was intent on doing better going back. I did do better and used landmarks like to did the minute earlier this week, and focused on making it to a land mark, running to that bench, or until I pass this couple up here, or until I reach the street sign. It worked really well.

On a side note, runners are some of the nicest people as you run by them. I started to smile more as I ran because of how polite everyone was, waving hello, and saying good morning. They all had smiles on their faces (probably not but it seems that way looking back). So to everyone who is running after I post this, I challenge you to say something like, hello, good morning, good afternoon, or good evening to the next people you pass while running.

Until next time...

Riley

8-22-13 What matches black running shorts...

Today was a hard run. I have found if I run hard on Wednesday that my Thursday is a bit tougher. But I did something I have never done before which is kinda cool. I increased speed on my third mile (by a second) compared to my second mile.

Mile 1- 12:39

Mile 2- 13:45

Mile 3- 13:44

I am still having a hard time with the internal dialogue when running the first 20 minutes, but I found a trick that helped on the last 6 minutes. Take it one minute at a time. I was at 30 min of running and decided to do a 2 minute run 1 minute walk to finish off my last mile. I got to 31 minutes and said to myself, "It's only a minute more, why don't you push it to 35 minutes. I then repeated the process until 37 minutes, took a 1 minute break and then pumped up the speed to 6 mph. After running with the smaller stride of me going 4.9 mph, the longer strides were a welcome change.

With these blog posts they are serving as an accountability journal. I also look forward to see how far I will go and how far I've come. If you are starting a journey like the one I'm on (but maybe a little more sane with a Couch to 5k program or a 1 year marathon prep program) I would like to make a few suggestions.

•  Once you have even an inkling to do it, sign up for something and tell every living soul what you're doing. In massage school we called it Talking Your Vision. I believe the more people you are accountable to the more you will aim to succeed. I tell everyone I am running a marathon, I believe even my pharmacist may know.

•  Make sure you have the right gear. I am an avid shopper of the clearance section at just about every store I go to. My New Balance super dry running shorts are a $40-$50 pair of shorts and I picked them up for $20, I picked up two of my running shirts at Costco for $16, my fancy Asics running socks were in the clearance bin at the running store, my black running hat, and Rebok running shorts were on sale for 40% off. Right now is a great time to get running cloths (at least for me) because all of the summer stuff is going on clearance. The most important thing is that I am comfortable throughout my run.

• Use reference material to train with. The Non-Runners Marathon Trainer is only one of the running books I am using. I pick up Runnersworld magaine, I am reading Born to Run. This is a hard one for me, but I talk to people who do run. That's where going to the local running store helps. They usually have running meet up groups, who tend to be ok if you bail on the run after you hit your miles for the day.

•  The last suggestion is a reminder, starting running (or any fitness routine) isn't about winning the big race, but about learning who you are and how much you can bring to the table in your own life. Today I really didn't want to run, my legs ache, and calves are tight... but I got up and did it. Something I didn't have in me 6 months ago. I am able to push myself more than before, and I feel better for it.

On a completely different note, I have been thinking of the gear I run in lately and I like that I get free shirts when I run a race. So what goes with my black running shorts? My fancy socks, my fancy running shoes (I'm going to let them have a couple of days off after my Saturday run and use my older shoes), my technical shirts, my Walmart compression shorts, and my black hat. I would like to try our compression things like socks or the sleeves, but I found a pair of the sleeves in what would be my size and I couldn't fit my huge hands into the little holes. The compression socks are appealing to me because of the soreness I get in my calves after a run, if that could help decrease it that would be wonderful.

Until Next Time...

Riley

As of 1 minute ago I am signed up for the Provo Halloween Half Marathon.

8-21-13 4 miles

Today was the first day I asked myself, "What the hell am I doing?" Then I kept running.

I am very tired right now. I made it through my first 4 miler. I found that my legs got a little wobbly about 3.5 miles into it. During the entire run my legs only got really tired that once, I found that the lack of mental discipline in running had a big impact on how long I can run. I did an indoor run today because I didn't make it out this morning, and it was around 80 degrees when I made it out to run.

My mile times were:
1 - 13:00
2 - 13:54
3 - 13:30
4 - 14:30ish
5 min cool down

I will admit I am not looking forward to my Saturday run at this point in time, but I need to correct that thought process. The chapter my training guide is about thought. It's really a good book. I have it on my iPad as well as a hard copy and for anyone who is starting running and wants a good beginning training guide this book seems solid (The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer).

Here's the quote that served as my mantra today as I ran:

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.” 

                                                                                                                                                            ― Henry Ford

Until next time...

-Riley

8-19-13 The Start of Real Training

Today I barely made three miles. I shouldn't have taken Saturday off from running. I would have felt so much better if I hadn't.

I did my three miles for my first official short run. It was frustrating. Have you ever started running and all the sudden you have to use the restroom, and it takes up every thought and you are unable to go full out? Well that was my run today. Next time I will just take a few minutes and use the restroom, and get back to running. I look back and shake my head wondering what I was thinking as I was on the treadmill, and it's obvious I wasn't , but I am working at it.

Last week I was in Missouri and had two lackluster runs and one awesome run. Saturday I justified my way out of running because I was on my feet for three days. I really regret that I didn't give it my all.

This week here's my run schedule.

Today: 3 Miles
Wednesday: 4 Miles Outside
Thursday: 3 Miles Treadmill
Saturday: 5 Miles Outside

Next week I start school again and will begin cross training with swimming twice a week, and play racquetball two days a week. I hope that increasing physical activity will increase lung strength as well as heart strength.

Well I think that's all for today. Until next time...

8-14-13 Running at sea level

8-12-13

Goal: 3

Actual: 1.33

RPE: 2.5

I cut my run short to get ready for my flight, make breakfast, and do the dishes before I left.

Today:

Goal: 3

Actual: 3+

RPE: 4

Today was a good run. I set three new PR's (the joys of running at 4500 ft lower elevation than usual). My new mile PR: 11:55

2 mile PR: 24:15

3 mile PR: 36:50

I ran for 26 minutes uninterrupted (accept for the time I accidentally hit stop), then a 4 min. quick walk, followed by 6 min. running. I did it at the YMCA and feel really good about my run.

Tomorrow may be a shorter run again because I am waking up at 4 am to drive to Gen Com in Indianapolis from St. Louis.

Well until next time...

8-11-13 My poor legs

Today is unusual for me. I am sitting here in bed typing up a post on my iPad instead of my trusty laptop. I am doing that for two reasons. First I am avoiding getting ready for the day, which would mean walking around the house, and more painfully walking down the stairs. My wife is getting things organized for her church calling downstairs and by me being up here it means it's less likely I will be asked to cover for someone who isn't there... but chances are I will cover for someone. The main reason I am typing in bed is because my legs are really bothering me. I even got a massage last night and it still feels like there are hot irons in my calves. I really wish I had some bio-freeze. It just smells like healing.

I will put on this lotion called deep blue that my wife gets and call it good as I get in the shower and make my way down stairs to do the dishes, and make a checklist to make sure everything is packed for heading to St. Louis Monday then to Indianapolis later next week for GenCon (aka Gaming Nerds Paradise).I will type up another post over my 4 hours of flying.

Until Then...

8-10-13 An hour later and I'm still sweating, I think I broke my internal thermostat

Some things you may not know about me that may help you to get to know me more.

1. I go by my middle name, Riley not my first name James
2. I like gadgets
3. I like to create art, stories, games, or even lunch (but I will let someone else make that for me today)
4. My wife and I will have been married 8 years come the end of October
5. I am a full time student (studying Illustrations, it's what I want to do when I grow up in conjuctions with making table top games)
6. I love Indian food
7. My wife and I have no kids at this point in time
8. I like to ride my bike with its monsterous 29" wheels
9. I am new to running
1. I will be completing a marathon December 7th!
2. I will be completing a half marathon October 26th!
3. I will be finishing my second 5k September 2nd!

Today I did my second run outside. The temperature my phone said was 64°f, I swear if started that but reached well above that. Today was a slower paced run than the past two runs, and that's ok because I am understanding how to pace myself a little more. I started to run too hard at one point and started to have a really hard time breathing (this was after the halfway point). I believe it was because I was on the down hill, and started running a a faster pace than I could handle. The course I am running is uphill to about half way, then down hill the rest. Route Mapper for the iPad is an awesome app. I would suggest taking a look at it, it gives me so much information on where I will be running.

I have found having an object to run to is so much nicer than have a digital display marking your distance. In Utah we have out streets mapped out in a grid system, if you grow up with it, it's easy to understand. If you don't grow up with it, it's a little confusing at first. Each bock is roughly 1/8th a mile, so 4 blocks is about a half a mile. So as I was doing my initial warm up walk for a block, I then started to run. I am still not quite adjusted to outside running and it feels like I have taken two steps back in regards to progression when I do it, but I will improve! I decided my runs would be 4 blocks, walk for 2 blocks. I could have done better than that now that I look at the numbers, and review how I was feeling at each interval of a mile. I did exert a lot of energy and understand how temperatures can be a little deceiving when running and why the 50°ish temperature is a great on to run in. I also found I needed to hydrate better before running. It helps with the energy. That sticky pasty mouth sucks!

In case you were wondering I am stil liking this running thing and will just keep getting better at it.

Monday my post may be delayed until being posted until the evening because I am flying out to St. Louis to spend some time with my family there.

Until next time, have a good day!

8-8-13 It was short and sweat... I mean sweet

This morning I had my treadmill test. I thought they would attach a tube to monitor my breathing as well when I got on their Treadmill of DEATH! I didn't even make it 9 minutes, I did almost 8 minutes before I wasn't able to breath. The treadmill was really cool and designed to push the heart of the person walking on it. My blood pressure got to 200/40 right before they stopped it (it returned to normal fairly quickly. From what it sounded like my heart was ok, but I will know more tomorrow. This still doesn't solve why my breathing is so bad, unless he sees something that is causing it in my test results.

So after the Treadmill of Death I wanted to feel better about my abilities when it comes to running. So I went to the gym and got on the nice treadmill of happy no incline land and started with a brisk walk that turne into my Clydesdale trot.

Mile 1: 12.53

Mile 2: 12.39

Mile 3: 14.28 (Half a mile walk half a mile run)

I ran 2 miles non stop again, which helped to redeem my walk on the treadmill of death. I did 8 minute half mile walking and then back to running for 7 minutes (accidentally hitting the stop button with about a minute left before I hit 3 miles). I quickly smashed buttons until I was going again at the same pace I started. I finished with a Of Monsters and Men song playing. Running today was good today, I'm glad I made out. It gives me hope for Saturdays run. Saturday I will control my outdoor pace to be able to run longer and hit the 1.5 mile mark without stopping. Thanks to my mapping software I will be able to know if I did it.

Thanks for reading.

8-7-13 Outdoor Running...

So today was my first outside run. I didn't like it too much, but I will be doing more so I had better start liking it and quick. It's about 5 hours after my run and I am still feeling it. My legs are a little wobbly and I'm a bit jittery, which I think is due to a new supplement I tried (that had a lot of caffeine apparently).

Here's why I didn't like the run outside, I can go faster on a treadmill. That's the whole reason, it's kinda lame. When I went out to run it was mid 70's, cloud cover and windy. So the conditions were nice. The first mile and a half was all into the wind. The last part every time the wind picked up the little voice inside my head kept saying, "The wind is here to help you, start running again." I gave into the little runner in my head a couple of times between my little rewards of walking after I accomplished a distance goal running. I also started using a little mantra, "Come on Slim Jim, you can do this!" My first name is James I go by my middle name, and someone I really look up to started calling me Slim Jim when I was in my early 20's and lost a lot of weight. So the mantra is nostalgic for me, and brought a smile to my face as I ran.

Today I got my birthday present from my wife, it's a New Balance GPS marathon trainer watch (GPS watch with heart rate monitor). So I was able to gauge my distance better than my iPad app. After the run it told me my average split time (14:17), average heart rate (I didn't have the heart rate monitor on correctly), and average speed (4.2 mph). As I get used to running outside more I believe it will become easier for me to tell how I am doing without the watch telling me.

Looking at that picture I realize how bad my fuel into my body today was for my run. I really wish I would have had some more fruit and veggies. I am ashamed to admit I had 4 hot dogs for lunch... yeah that was a really bad idea and I regretted it as soon as I started running. An to the left you see my route that I ran today and that I will run again on Saturday and Monday.

No onto some more serious information. Tomorrow morning I have a stress test to make sure my heart is healthy, and hopefully dtermine why I am struggling breathing. Today I really struggled breathing, and if I can get that issue resolved I believe I can go longer with less of an issue. So after I do my stress test at 8:00 am tomorrow (going to sleep in 10 minutes), shower, and go to my last day of class I an on hitting the gym for an indoor run and then getting another post up with the results of the test as well as any wisdom gained on this journey through running.

I will post again in at least 12 hours. Until then.

8-5-13 2 Days Later, and a lot of Thinking (and a lot of grapes)

 Mastering the selfie (picture of me while hoding my camera in front of me) is something I am learning to do as I this blog. Today was a day that will go down in history of my selfies, I caught myself unaware. Just look at the expression on that face, it looks like I am going to chase away a member of the Paparazzi.

Onto better things. I finished my run about an hour ago, it was a hard run, but I feel better because of it. I did 15 minutes of non stop running took an eight minute fast walking break (Run was at an average of 4.7ish mph, walk was at 3.7) then picked up and rand again for just over five minutes, walked another five then ran the remainder. It wsn't my best running day, but that's ok. I will be trying a couple of new things this week. The first is running outside for 3 miles. I have an awesome app on my iPad that lets me make running routs along trails and roads. So I have planned out a 3 mile loop that is quiet in the morning. I will need to run in the morning because the heat of the days here in Utah can get higher than someone should run in in the afternoon (unless you like running in the heat). The other thing I am going to try on Thursday is doing a miracle mile (check out http://www.jeffgalloway.com/ if you don't know who he is. If I do one of these for my short run every other week I can get an idea of what my pace will be, and if I will be able to finish in the 6 hours that we're given to run the race. If I keep monitoring my running with the miracle mile and start integrating his techniques, I think I will be able to prepare myself better for my Marathon.

After I posted about my 5k, I read the comment left and decided to run more races before the big on. So here are the two additional races I will be doing in September and October. I wanted to do one in November as well but couldn't find one that worked with my schedule, but I'll keep looking.
Riley's 2013 Races
Funky 5k
Provo Halloween Half Marathon

I found a half marathon (Thankful 13) on November 22, and I think that would be doable with my big race 2 weeks later. I have until October at the latest to decide. It could be fun to run on Thanksgiving day then have some good food and a good nap. I would have to swap a 16 mile day with an 18 mile day, or just run from my inlays to the race, and from the race to my in-laws, that would finish off my miles for that day. If we go to St. Louis to see my family it will be a different story and a nice long run at sea level.

I think I have rambled on long enough. Until Wednesday, just imagine seeing that finish line and the joy that's there as you sprint to it, and all your aches and pains go away.

8-3-13 My First Ever Race and the Lessons Learned

My First 5k

Me pre-race (the sun glasses block the anxiety)

Packet  Contents (Minus the window
scraper I left in my car)

So I showed up this morning at 7:30 to get ready for the race. The anxiety of all the people started to hit me first as I thought to myself, what the hell am I doing here I'm not a runner... So I freaked out as I did less than sufficient stretching and looked around. The only people I recognized were the employees from the running store I go to. So skip forward 20 minutes and here I am getting pictures taken by my wife and making my way to the starting line after 10k runners start. There are around 150ish people (maybe less), a surprising amount of pregnant women pushing strollers, and kids running with mom or dad. The gun fires and we all take off (me at methodical trot, or at least I think I was going at the right pace, I had no clue. So I continued that way for around 3/4 a mile, and started wheezing, which leads me to my first lesson learned on my first race since... elementary I think. I was a thrower in high school so all the running I did was a quarter mile warm up.

5k Lesson 1:
     Running outside is different than a treadmill!
Running outside was a lot harder than in the gym. Here's my support for this statement, I am able to run 2 miles (as of my last post) in the temperature controlled environment and on a flat surface. The road is sloped, so all the mid foot striking, even gate went to crap as I ran on the road for the first time. My right foot landed on the lateral arch then the rest of my foot hit the ground. So extra impact at an angle I didn't expect. After a mile my ankle didn't want to like me any more. I bet if I would have stretched more it would have helped.

5k Lesson 2:
     Walking is ok and Running works too
When I slowed down, I saw a lot of other people start slowing down as well. Some looked like this wasn't the first 5k they had ever done, and other like they just wanted to walk. I walked alone for more than half the race, usually on the sidewalk that was level. But when I ran it helped to have little goals along the way, like I just need to make it to that knocked over cone, or where the type of cone changes. When I go to my second to last corner I wanted to run the rest of the way, it didn't happen. I was running with too small of strides and it was bothering my ankle.

5k Lesson 3:
     What Matters Most is Finishing
When I turned the last corner and started the last quarter mile the feeling I had was amazing. I want that feeling more. Nothing else mattered to me but making it to the inflatable blue finish line. I was almost in tears as I crossed it because it was such an accomplishment. At that moment I crossed the finish line, the only thing that mattered was that I finished.

I want to run another 5k or 10k before I really get into my long runs. It was a good experience. I need to stretch more before hand and practice running outside more. I think I will change that this coming week with my runs, and start working outside more. I realize having a watch with GPS is a great tool in regards to keeping the pace you are comfortable with. I believe I started too fast, and that took some of the wind out of my sails. Running to the finish line was amazing, you forget everything that's wrong at that point in time and pray your MP3 player will have the right tempo of music playing.

I have been thinking about my posts and want to make them a little more positive for myself. I think that will assist with getting rid of the stinkin thinkin that I start doing periodically. I'm a lot happier since I have started running and want to keep that feeling going for as long as I can.

Goals for next week
• Run outside for 2 of my runs (Wednesday and Saturday)
• Stretch longer before the run
• Get a massage

8-1-13 Now I'm Ready for a Nap

So what do I say today... Ok here goes.

 My run today I did two miles in 25 min 40 sec. So my First mile was 0:12:55, my second was 0:12:45, my third was 0:14:15. I was stoke, I finished my first two miles with a couple of 30 sec. pauses because my lungs were fighting me. When I got to around 20 minutes and stepped off to catch my breath, it was so hard to start running again, but I got back and kept going. I feel like I am ready enough for running in a 5k Saturday.

Here's a funny story that concluded all of 5 seconds ago. Earlier this week I decided I needed to find my Polar heart rate monitor. So I tore apart our second bedroom (which has all of my art supplies). The rom was taken apart. I searched through any drawer it might be in, any bookshelf, and nook, andy cranny, and everywhere else. Then today as I am sitting in my comfy chair I stretched to reach for my glasses which should have been behind me. I thought I would find what I was looking for (I wasn't looking and didn't think anything of it). I felt a rubberry bracelet and pulled it up, and behold my polar watch!

Talking about watches, I have been looking at a lot of watches. I have decided if I am still running after my marathon (which I hope to be), I will invest in a GPS watch. Does anyone out there in internet land have any suggestions.

Until next time (after my 5k Saturday).