Not so good weekend

I have to admit, not all is rosy. I had a bad couple of days over the weekend. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday included trips to McDonald's, grilled cheese sandwiches, Halloween candy, chips and cheese...that's about it. Oh, and I totally skipped my workout Saturday. Oh, the shame!!! And something VERY WIERD happened with my weight. My weight went up over 7 pounds in just a couple days. That's crazy!!! If that were 7 pounds of fat, that means I would have taken in 25,000 calories more than I burned over two days. I may have binged a bit but there's no way I steered that far off course. So, what's the deal?

I'm just about 100% sure that the deal is the high, high sodium content in fast food. I just bloated me up like a balloon. I think most of the gain can be attributed to the water retention and just all that food sitting in my stomach trying to digest. I got right back on track Monday morning and in just a 24 hour period, I've lost 4 of the 7 pounds I had gained. I drank a lot of water yesterday and did some exercise. I ate a normal, good diet the whole day and hope to have that other 3 off soon so I can get back to business.

The important thing is to stay positive. It's been the pattern for me to look at a small failure and just say, "Screw it!" and go off on a major prolonged binge. I'm breaking that pattern and getting right back up on that horse. Besides, this is going to be a fun week. I may be posting BIG numbers, like Biggest Loser numbers, with 4 pounds lost already.

This morning

Alarm rings at 4 am. Snooze x 1. Coffee was on the timer and ready when I got up. I actually planned ahead and ironed my clothes and packed my bag the night before. All I had to do was get some Body Glide onto a couple of hot spots, get dressed and I was ready. After a yummy bowl of GoLean, I was off.

I arrived at Memorial Park to an absolutely B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L fall morning. After some moseying around and some stretching, I took off for my 2 mile trot. "What's this? No aches? No soreness/stiffness? No twinges or tweaks that I just have to work out over the first half mile until they go away?" I felt great right from the start. I kept my effort very easy early on as I didn't want to fall into the "horse out of the barn" trap. Anyway, the run was great!!! I felt strong. I felt like my feet were under my legs and my legs were under ME and everything was just clicking instead of just leaning forward and letting inertia pull the rest of me along.

I finished the last mile a good 30 seconds faster than the first. When I was done I just laid down on the bench and relaxed. It was one of those mornings where the steam just sort of rises off your body into the fog. It was nice. This morning, I didn't run because it was a chore or because it was something I've been working on. I just enjoyed it and had a blast!!!

My pace

I've seen pace recorded, of course, as minutes/mile. Then there's the popular miles/hour. Some have even gone so far as to "describe" their pace instead of actual time and distance. For example, "an easy pace" or "5K pace". While running last night, I was trying to think of the best way to describe my pace. I came up with "just fast enough where I don't crush every bone/joint in my body". I know with my weight that I am putting an extraordinary amount of pressure on my knees, ankles, and hips and the faster I run, the more time I spend "off the ground" between strides, the harder I land, and the more pressure I put on my bones and joints. This REQUIRES a new, heavy runner like myself to be patient, not think about my pace in the past or what pace others are running, but to run within and for myself. My main goal now is losing the weight, not PR'ing for 5K or 10K or whatever. Staying healthy and getting smaller!!!

I had my visit with Catherine the Great this morning. Upon reviewing my logs, I got away from the basics a little this past week. I skipped breakfast several times and skipped a few afternoon snacks. Big NO NO's!!! I also had two so-so bad meals this past week. Nothing horrible but definite deviations from the norm. Anyway, a big part of all this for me is to maintain consistent, good habits not just some of the time but all of the time and that means eating breakfast and eating snacks between meals. I still managed to drop a pound this week which puts me down 20.5 pounds in about 6 weeks.

Oh, and Tiggs, I'll definitely be seeing you at all the warmup races next fall. And guaranteed, you'll be seeing a lot less of me. :)

Wish I was there!

Good luck to all of you running the Houston Half and congratulations ahead of time to the Houston Striders. I know it's going to be a FABULOUS event!!! I've got prior commitments this weekend so no volunteering this year. This is the first year after 3 in a row that I was not able to volunteer for the race. Bummer!!!

I did 3.5 this morning at Memorial Park. It felt good and I ran easy and strong. I probably could/should have done 4 but I opted for 3.5 with the last .5 about 1 minute faster than my average pace. It feels good to finish strong. I ran over an hour. It was an absolutely beautiful morning and I know it's going to be beautiful for the race tomorrow. That's makes me happy.

This weekend with the Houston Half going on, I've been reflecting a lot about this past year. Tomorrow's race marks my exit from runnning and the start of a downward spiral and return to obesity and unhealthy living. It's crazy that that came after the greatest race of my life. I remember Steeeve commenting how that race should really motivate me to an awesome marathon in January. Man, I'd like to have that moment back. I'd like to redeem that time, buy it back somehow. But that's obviously not possible. All I can do is remember all that I gave up and let it motivate me to never ever let that happen again. Nothing is worth your health and happiness. No job, no amount of money, no project.

Day off

I took the day off today get a little break and to get ready for DS's big homecoming game tonight. It cracks me up. He's going to a new school that has only 9th and 10th grade. Who's coming home!?!? I don't understand how they are having a homecoming but nevertheless, they are doing the whole thing. All the hoopla. Mums, bands, homecoming dance, the whole 9 yards. And DS was even nominated for homecoming king or prince or something. Anyway, I have to parade out there with him and DW at halftime. Should be interesting.

The day off afforded me little excuse to get out for an early morning run so that's what I did. Memorial Park was beautiful this morning. Kind of quiet by the time I got there. I did my 2 miles, tried some core exercises, realized I have no core, and left. It was a nice leisurely morning and I enjoyed every minute.

Now, let's hope it doesn't rain while I'm parading around with the next homecoming king and his mom.

Ramping up and thinning down

I made it over to Memorial Park yesterday after work for a 2 mile run and it was just a beautiful night. I slogged through the first mile and a half at just about slower than a snail's pace. By 1.5, I started to feel it in my knees and ankles. Not a bad feeling. I just felt stiff and achy. I relaxed a little and picked up the pace to just a little faster than a snail's pace and it felt great. I got the heart rate up into the red zone for the last .25 and really tried to relax and feel what it used to be like to RUN. It felt great. All that achyness went away and I remembered for a few minutes what it was like to MOVE and exercise. It was nice.

I am constantly evaluating how I feel after these runs. I made a pretty decent leap from runs of ~.5 to 1.5 miles up to a long run this last Saturday of 3 miles and runs during the week of 2. I'm doing fine with the added miles but I think I'm going to have to make the days in between (my easy days) VERY easy. I may cut back to just a walk on those days. But we'll see. Stay flexible and listen to your body. That's the ticket.

I'm glad I decided to extend these workouts. I need to be doing something longer than 5 or 10 minutes a day. Being on my feet doing exercise for 30+ minutes at a time is going to help me reach my weight loss goals quicker. Speaking of which, the pounds continue to melt away. I weighed in at 331.2 this morning. That's right at 20 pounds lost in about 5 and a half weeks. I know the plateau is coming soon but I'm enjoying this while I can. And I know when the plateau comes, Catherine the Great is going to have a plan.

Hey, thanks Steve for the fresh supplies last night. And no, we're not dealing drugs at Memorial park. Steve had some freebie med supplies for me. Good to see you Steve. It's been too long. I need every kick in the arse I can get so bring it on.

He-Could-Go-All-The-Way

3 MILES!!!

Whew!!!

I just got back from the park where I ran 2 miles tonight. Don't worry about the pace. Just 3 words. THAT FELT GREAT!!!

End of post.

15 in a month

I've had some significant success since Repentance Day and have lost 15 pounds in about a month. I couldn't be happier with the progress so far.

I had my visit with Catherine the Great this morning and it's confirmed. I'm on a roll. The weight is melting away despite a short "lapse" the first week of October. This lapse included a trip to KFC on October 1 and then my trip to Kansas City for a conference 5-8 October. Cat is so positive, she said, "Well at least when you had the fried chicken, you didn't get home and eat supper...AGAIN!!!" I cracked up when she said that 'cause she knows the old me all too well. As far as the trip to Kansas City, I did fail to log my intake and I did eat whatever I wanted to in the evening but for the most part I was good. I did all my workouts through the week and ate what was provided for lunch. Breakfast could have been much worse. They had an awesome buffet in the hotel. Lucky it was $20 bucks or I would have done it every morning. I just did the breakfast buffet 1 morning and I had them make me an egg white omelette. Anyway, I ate a moderate lunch served at the conference and then ate out in the evening. I did eat what I wanted for dinner and enjoyed dining out. When I got back, though, the damage was minimal with no weight gain. I got right back on and have been good since then.

I am going to make one change this week. I'm "jumping ahead" with my running program. It's one thing to run excruciatingly slow but to also run excruciatingly SHORT is wearing on my patience. I'm going to stay slow and keep the very easy pace but I'm going to be upping my mileage a bit. I'm feeling good and I've done this before. I know how to avoid injury and I know when to back off and how to train heavy. I just want to start going to the park again and driving in for .5 mile runs or getting up early and driving in to do a 1 mile walk...It's just not worth it. So, I'm going to up the ante a little and get back into a more aggressive running routine. The nice thing is that I've gotten used to doing something 6 days a week and I'm going to keep that going. Even if my easy days are VERY easy, I'm sticking to the 6 days. The basic plan is to be up to 17-19 mpw by early January. I'll be very happy starting off the year there.

Lesson learned

I ran 1.5 miles continuous yesterday and am feeling good. It's been a while since I blogged but not to worry. I'm still on the wagon. I'm down 14 lbs in 4 weeks and have stayed on my running program religiously.

I had some good news this week. I got a promotion and a BIG raise. I'm talking 10K/year. WOW!!! In this economy, that's good news. I've very happy that all the hard work and sacrifice this past year has paid off.

Still, I've been thinking. If on October 29th of last year, the day after my 13 minute half marathon PR, someone would have come up to me and said, "Vic, I'll give you a choice. Either you can continue your healthy lifestyle, take an hour or more off of your marathon PR, continue to lose weight, run and race through the spring and summer, and get within reach of your ultimate weight loss goals, have time to train, and all the time you want to spend with your family. Or, you can have $10,000." I can tell you right now what I'd choose. I can't recall anything in my life that I regret until now but given the choice again, I'd choose the healthy lifestyle over the money, hands down. And I'll have to live with this regret for a long time. All I can do now is draw on that experience and never, ever let ambition or work take precedence over my family and my health. Lesson learned, the hard way!!!

Traffic problem

Each week, I'm faced with a traffic problem and the solution has me sitting her in the parking lot of a convenience store at Memorial and Post Oak. Here's the dilemma. My appointment with Cathereine each week is at 7 am. Now, with no traffic it's about a 25 minute drive from my house. But with traffic, it can take over an hour, even up to an hour and a half. Traffic on 290 starts to build up around 5:50-6 so if I wait until 6 to leave, I won't make it by 7. So, I left before traffic started building up, around 5:20 and sure enough, it only took me 30 minutes to get into town.

So, now I have an hour to burn. Maybe I should go to McDonalds. LOL!!! Just kidding. I took a drive around Memorial Park. I haven't been there in the morning before dark since the storm. Man, the Southwest corner of the park is DARK. Kind of scary. But the lights are on around the rest of the park and the runners were out. After that, I'm like...What now? So, I'm sitting here in the parking lot of the convenience store blogging. Luckily, I'm on call so I have the Sprint card. Here's my view:

Well, now my battery is running down so I guess I'll just listen to some talk.

Edited: I just got done with weigh-in and have lost another 4 pounds. Down to 341. I commented that my daily calories were LOOOOOOW!!! but I feel fine. Just great. Catherine said it's probably because I'm eating GOOD food that I feel satiated. For now, she wants me, of course, to just keep doing what I'm doing.

No need to fret!!!

Not to worry, Tiggs, I may not have blogged in a few days but I haven't reverted in the least bit back to the unhealthy lifestyle. If fact, I've been doing GREAT!!! Sticking to it. Staying motivated. Eating right. Logging my food. Sticking with my running program. Being patient.

Speaking of patience, I think I'm losing it. I know this is normal and is something everyone trying to turn themselves around deals with. I'm ok with the gradual weight loss. That's not a problem and in fact, I'm a little ahead of where I expected to be. My big thing right now is the weather is so beautiful and I've been feeling really frisky. I'd love, TODAY, to just go to Terry Hershey Park and run 10 miles. Or just to run for a good hour. Or just run one loop around Memorial Park. I really, really miss being able to do that and I'm tempted to go to my running program and start deleting (rows) weeks to accelerate this thing. But I know patience will pay off in the long run. No pun intended!!! So, yesterday, I did my 0.75 mile long run. Yes, you read it right. 0.75 miles.

I finished the week with 4.5 total miles, up a half mile from last week. I see <Catherine on Tuesday which is weigh-in day. I haven't a clue where I stand. I took that sorry scale back to Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I'm going to get a real scale. Maybe on the internet or some medical supply store. Needless to say, the suspense is killing me not having a scale to weight on every morning. I have to trust that I'm going to post some good numbers, hopefully 1-3 pounds. If I don't, there's seriously something wrong. I've averaged ~1550 calories per day this week. Carb/protein/fat percentage was 48/30/22, just perfectly on target. :) So, I'm expecting good results Tuesday.

Weigh-in

Today was my weigh-in day. I've switched it up from weighing in on Saturday morning to weighing in when with Catherine either on Tuesday or Wednesday when I have my appointment. All my appointments are early in the morning, before work so it's just perfect. Plus, she has an awesome scale. My freakin' scale at home is so incosistent. I just bought it, too. Every time I get on it, it's something different. Like this morning, I stepped on it and it said 348. I got off, let it reset itself, got back on and it said 343. I got off again and back on and it said 347. Then 346, then 346, then 346. I figured I was honed in on 346 so I got in the shower. I got out and it said 347. Well, which is it? It's very frustrating. I really need to get a real scale. A balance if you will. Maybe something like this.

They're dang expensive, though. But I guess it could be the last scale I ever buy, right. Wish I knew where to get a good deal on one. Maybe online or something.

Anyway, back to the weigh-in. I'm down to 345.0 lbs. That's about 6 lbs lost in a week and a half. That's a good start.

I'll tell you what, the last week was a complete success. And Catherine was able to look on CalorieKing.com and see the whole picture. It is really and AWESOME website. And there are a bunch of great charts and reports you can run to get any number of stats on just about anything. Carbs/fat/protein, sodium, fiber, sodium, everything. And she sees everything I eat each day. We get to talk about the good days and the bad (there weren't any bad this last week). Anyway, the 30 minutes I get with Catherine is jam-packed with information and counsel on just about everything nutrition.

One of the questions Catherine asked me was "What do you think made the difference this week since you had such a good week?" I said, "YOU!!! I mean knowing you're there and seeing what I eat, knowing I have an advocate and a plan." Plus, just the fact that I'm dropping a couple hundred dollars a month for a dietitian is motivation to stay on the plan.

Another thing I've done is I've let just about everyone know that I'm on a diet. That I'm seeing a dietitian and I'm turning over a new leaf. Everyone at work knows. I've even got a partner now at work who was very happy that I decided to do Subway everyday for lunch and he's joining me, no matter what everyone else is doing. Plus, I've gotten some great encouragement from friends through the blog and that's been fun. So, blogging again has been fun and has helped.

I just need to continue to put the pieces back together.

Run for your life!!!

I've gotta post my Sunday afternoon lunch experience yesterday.

The whole fam was over after church for homemade everything. Mac and cheese (mmmmm!), pork chops (not trimmed), green bean casserole (fat, fat, fat), ceasar salad (from a bag, like 20 g fat/ serving), and peach cobbler with ice cream. Did I mention the rolls with REAL butter?

Anyway, I was so uptight and in such a strange mood. Part of me was mad at the fam putting me in a situation like that. Part of me felt bad because that's the way my family eats. And part of me was just SCARED because I know I can't resist. Plus, to make matters worst, I made the mistake of skipping breakfast so I was real hungry.

Well, when I got home, I just went to the fridge, go out some grilled salmon and a sweet potato, made me a spiniach salad and just ate...like in front of everybody...while everyone else was waiting for lunch to be ready, I just sat down and ate. It was rude but ya know...

Then, when I was done, I was seriously craving MORE. And not more of my stuff, more of THEIR stuff. So, even though we had company and even though it was family, I just go my keys, told everyone it was good to see them, and I left. I went and got a coffee at starbucks (black) and just drove around. I visited an exercise equipment store I've been wanting to check out on 290 and 1960. I've got my eye on a beautiful treadmill there. Then I just drove around Cypress. By the time I got back, not only was lunch done but everyone was gone. I felt bad about that but good about not CRASHING. DW was good. When I came in, she DUMPED the peach cobbler down the drain. A waste? Yes. But it was a good thing.

Long run and 1.4 lbs lost

What a beautiful morning for some exercise and HOLY COW, there were a ton of people at Memorial Park, as many as I've EVER seen there. I debated whether or not to drive into town for such a short run but hey, I've got nothing better to do. And adding on a trip to Whole Foods made it worthwhile.

Today is my long run day. Week 1 of my schedule has me doing 0.5 miles for my long run. Man, I'm anything but proud for admitting that. But I AM CONVINCED by coach Bill that this gradual base building period is what someone in my situation needs. Here are the first 13 weeks of the program.

So, if you look at the big picture (which I'm not supposed to do), I'm up to 13 mpw in just 13 short weeks. The program's heavy on avoiding injury, strictly base building, and getting my bones, tendons, cartilage used to taking a pounding again. After this 13 weeks, I'll still have 4 weeks left to do a little sharpening and possibly do the EP 5K on January 18. That's my plan to get back into this running thing. My 5K should suck enough on the 18th to motivate me into the spring to keep kicking a** and taking names on the weight loss.

Easy day

Today was an easy day on the schedule with 1 mile walk at no target pace. I had doubts as to whether or not easy workouts like "walk 1 mile at no target pace" and "run .25 miles at 18:30" would make any difference at all as far as weight loss goes. But Catherine said that was not the case and that these workouts DO make a difference. And, of course, as I build up the mileage over the weeks as the pounds melt away, I'm going to see a noticeable difference in my running as well as how I feel.

Nutrition was good today. I made one big mistake. I forgot to eat my mid-afternoon snack. I drove out of the garage with major hunger pangs. I just needed to make it home and of course I did. Bummed out at what was in the fridge though. I scrounged and found a chicken breast and put together a salad. I did my walk and am feeling satisfied. I think I'm a little low on the daily intake. Yes, I just checked and my net calories in today was 1398. Gotta watch that. I don't want to eat too few calories.

The Cat-inator

Last night around 6:45, I e-mailed Catherine Kruppa. The e-mail went something like this:

subject: Vic's in trouble
Catherine,
I NEED HELP!!! I mean counseling, meal plans, strategies, hypnosis, whatever!!! How much and how soon?

Wouldn't you know, not 15 minutes later, Catherine e-mailed me and TOLD me to be in her office this morning at 7:30. I didn't blink.

When I sat down, Catherine cut right to the chase. Just just asked me what was going on. When I told her I had reverted back to all my old habits she simply asked, "Why?" For some reason, that was a really tough question. I talked about the project and about how to the same extent the healthy lifestyle had become the norm back in 2006-2007, now the opposite has become the norm. I told her how I had basically stopped running after the Half last October and had let my support system go and stopped being involved in the running community. We talked a little about my current habits but she and I both know what those are.

Then, we got down to it. The plan. Here's how we're going to turn this around.

1) Catherine said, "Vic, I have another client just like you. If she's not exercising, she's not eating right. Vic, we've gotta get you running again, period." Catherine knows that my running is so intertwined with my weight loss and healthy eating that the answer to my will power problems and my motivation is to get back to running. I told her about Bill's program and she agreed completely that that was PERFECT for me in my situation.

2) Now the meal plan. Breakfast if fine. Then, we talked about what I've been eating for lunch. I told her about all the great fast food restaurants we go to and about the CRAP I eat in when we eat in the cafeteria. Catherine said, "Vic, you've gotta become Jared again." So, it's back to 12" turkey subs at Subway for lunch and a bag of baked chips.

3)#1 thing - NO FAST FOOD on the way home from work. Or any time for that matter. I must have an afternoon snack and/or an apple on the way home.

4) I'm logging all my food on calorieking.com. Catherine has my username and password and she will log in and monitor my nutrition.

5) I will meet with her once a week and once a week, she will e-mail me. I'm "contracted" to provide feedback to her on her comments on the e-mail. So, basically, we have to communicate and I must be accountable.

6) The kitchen's closed after supper!!! Only water.

What else? I think that's it. Pretty simple. Oh, one more thing...She does NOT want me thinking about the BIG PICTURE!!! In other words, no thinking about how I'm going to lose 150 lbs. or how I'm going to run a 5 hour marathon or how I'm going to get my family to eat right, etc. I'm just supposed to think about today and intermediate, short-term goals.

Well, that's it. It's like...Duh!!! But this will be good to hold me accountable. And spending the money makes me want to not waste my investment. Again, I'm not making any claims of being "back". I'm just going to let the results speak for themselves.

Hope everyone is ok

It's good to continue to hear reports that people are recovering from the storm. I'm so sorry for those who have lost so much and for those without power and water. I won't elaborate because so many are suffering but I'll just report that we had no damage to our house and were only without electricity for a couple of days. Thank God we were spared.

Also, let me just say THANK YOU to the tireless (not literally speaking) first responders, utility workers, garbage collectors, grocers, healthcare providers, and government officials for your relentless effort to get us back to functional and back to normal. I know I don't reach many here on the blog and I doubt this will make a difference but I'll just mention this. I-45 into Galveston is currently in GRIDLOCK!!! All residents and visitors trying to get into Galveston are being turned away at this time. It's so bad that repair vehicles, food, water, medical supplies, and other emergency vehicles can't even get through to get into Galveston. Please, please, please do not try to go to Galveston.

Moving on...

Here's the report on where I am health wise. I was on a roll back in July but fell off again, for whatever reason(s). WAY off!!! I've gained 15 pounds since the middle of July and have become so sedentary, I'm starting to have difficulty with just everyday tasks. I'm only 20 pounds away from my all-time, life-time highest weight of 370 pounds. If I had one, single ounce of dignity or pride in myself, I'd never post this on the blog but hey, I guess that's just where I'm at right now. I don't care anymore. In some sort of perverted, upside-down, backwards way, I've let this blog become a crutch. I've let it become all about me!!! Now, that sounds kind of strange I know. Especially since this blog is about me. :) LOL!!! What I mean is somewhere along the way, instead of using this blog to chronicle my activities and my successes in hopes that it might reach out and inspire others, it's turned into this thing where I just want people to tell me it's ok. It's ok that I'm struggling. It's ok that I've "started over" umpteen million times. It's ok to just do what I can. Poor, poor, pitiful me.

So, I'm faced with a couple of options. 1) Abandon the blog because it's too embarrassing what it has become, or 2) Give it another chance. Make it something better. I think like so many other things in my life, just saying "I choose 2)" doesn't make it so. I've just got to do it. The same way saying "I'm back!!!" doesn't make it so. I've got to prove it. I think announcements like "I'm back!!!" and "I'm going to live healthy and eat right" or "I'm going to make this blog something better" are better made retrospectively than presumptively. So, rather than making some big announcement or claim, I'm just going to state how the last few days have gone.

I started a new running plan this week. It's a customized plan from RRCA-certified coach Humble Runner Bill. It's a perfect, insightful plan for me. It's completely customized for my situation...fat, sedentary, new runner. I think it's going to work nicely with my weight loss goals. The core goal of the program is what every beginner runner should be concentrating on, base building. And not just aerobic base building but more importantly, especially for someone who is heavy, musculo-skeletal base building. I've got to build up my bones, ligaments, tendons, and cartilage to stay injury-free.

So, I started this week with hard/easy/hard on Mon/Tues/Wed. Here's the hard - .25 miles at 18:30 pace. Yes, that's hard to swallow!!! But it's the right thing to do. Easy days are 1 mile walk at no target pace. This is going to be a long, gradual build up to get my running even close to where I want it to be and it's going to take patience. But Bill's got me believing this is the best way for a new runner to start. And yes, I may be an experienced runner but I'm an experienced, new runner. LOL!!! That makes NO sense.

Regarding nutrition, I'm still struggling. I don't have a plan right now besides just trying to make better choices. This is a good thing but my choices need to be made WAAAAAY before it's time to eat. Sounds a lot like having a plan!!! The weird thing is that I've done this before and I have some knowledge about healthy nutrition but when push comes to shove, I just don't make the right choices. Maybe for a while, I need someone else to make the choices for me. I'm talking a professional dietician. I'm talking The Cat-inator. Can I afford it? Well, can I really afford NOT to get her help. I think no. I'll have to see how this works out.

Later.

Marathon "finishers"

Guess I wouldn't be a "valid" Houston running blog if I didn't post some comment about the Marathon's recent decision to not let anyone start early in order to finish by the time limit.

Let me start by saying I totally agree that NO registrant should be allowed on the course before the official start of the race (7 am). Furthermore, the Houston Marathon brought this upon themselves in my opinion by having "official" rules and "unofficial" rules. The Houston Marathon is the one who unofficially allowed a 5 am start for walkers. I don't recall whether or not it was acutally published on the website but everyone knows that there was a 5 am start and that if you started at 5 am, you were supposed to turn your bib around so the number doesn't show, you were supposed to not cross the mats, you were supposed to stay completely to the right, you were supposed to yield at water stations to runners, etc. I mean, heck, USA Fit made a business out of training walkers to walk this course in 7, 8 hours, all with the knowledge and sanction of the HM.

Most of what I've read on the blogs and on the boards, I agree with. And I think any reasonable person would agree with the decision to not allow registrants on the course before the race. And I think most agree that it was wrong for the HM to drop this policy change (yes, it may be unofficial policy but this is a policy change) on folks AFTER they have already registered and/or paid money for training programs, etc.

But here's where I disagree with some. Maybe disagree is too strong a word. Here's where I look at things a little differently than some. There are a lot of bloggers, commenters, and forumites out there who get their undies in a wad over whether or not someone who finishes 26.2 miles in 6:00:01 should get a medal or not or if they should get a finisher's shirt or not, or if they should even be allowed to cross under that sacred time clock and run through the chute and acutally enter the GRB. Are any of these things really what define a marathon? Do we really train for months and months, even more than a year, just for a pretty ribbon and our name on a web site? I finished my first marathon, the Houston Marathon in more than 6 and a half hours. I didn't care if I got a medal or not. I didn't care if I finished the race under the time clock or in the parking lot where my car was. I set a goal. I worked my ass off (literally) and I did what I set out to do. I did with my body what my mind thought was impossible. I made some great friends. I showed my kids (and myself) that with hard work, consistency, and determination you can do anything. I lost a bunch of weight. I got healthy in the process. I felt strong and great. Do we really want to make such a big issue about who gets a medal or not? Does it really matter? I say no.

So, I don't care if the HM stands out there till dark handing out medals to stragglers. They can just send it in the mail to every registrant for all I care. That's not why I would run a marathon. By the way, I did get a medal for my 6:48:30 finish and I did get a finisher's shirt thanks to the graciousness of the HM volunteers and staff who let me in as well as Matt, who just about beat the door down to get them to let me in. But when I recount my "glorious" day, I don't remember much about the medal and the shirt. I remember the sense of accomplishment. I remember resisting that irresistible desire to quit. I remember Rose leapfrogging all the way up Allen Parkway, running with me a little bit, then running back to her car only to meet me a little further up the course and then back to her car, all the way into downtown. I remember my friends and my family who were waiting for me at the finish. I remember SteveB meeting me a mile out on Rusk and running in with me...IN HIS SANDALS!!! I remember the training, the incredible encouragement I got from so many friends. I remember Steeeve, my coach, who encouraged me, challenged me, and never gave up on me. I remember it all and it's made a profound difference in how I view life and challenges. I'm grateful for the medal but really, that's not why I did it.

One more aside, Yes, it took me 6 hours and 48 minutes to finish but I did not know that going in. I honestly estimated that I could finish in just a little over 6 hours, maybe 6:03 to 6:10 at the latest. If I had known it was going to take me almost 7 hours, knowing there was a 6 hour time limit, I would not have attempted the race. I understood from the get go not to expect support and to not expect a medal or any swag and certainly not an official time posted on the website if I was going to be over 6 hours. I figured they would give us the extra chip time to get across but after that, I expected that the official 6 hour time limit would be strictly honored. So, I do have a problem with walkers/waddlers who KNOW for a fact that they can't finish in 6 hours. It's not safe. I know I'll never forget my first marathon but I'll tell you right now, I'll never finish one like that again. I'll know before I start that I'm going to finish in the time limit or I won't try.

That's my .02 cents.

Now the work begins

I spent some time and energy last week while on vacation thinking about and practicing the healthy lifestyle and had some success. This week has been all about how to incorporate that into my "normal", non-vacation life. Challenges this week included an office party on Monday at Bakers Street Pub featuring 3 solid hours of sliders, buffalo wings, artichoke dip, chicken fingers, etc. Looking out the window of the Pub, it seemed like just yesterday I was limping into the restaraunt after running the 30K. That was a fun day!!! Matt, Bessie, June, Steeeve, Barb, Jim, Matt's mom, SteveB. I remember it vividly...

Back to this week's challenges. So, one of the biggest challenges almost a month now into the healthy lifestyle is the retarded, perverted, idiotic thought process that says, "You've done good for a couple weeks now. You deserve a reward." A REWARD?!?! As in JUNK FOOD?!?!? That's so retarded. How is it a reward to partake of something that has haunted my life for so long? How is it rewarding to digress, regress? I'm trying to PRO-gress!!! So, I think I'm going to "reward" my success with a visit to the Farmer's Market tomorrow morning after my run. I think I'll reward myself with some of those big beautiful strawberries they sell out in front of the market, fresh-from-the-farm. And maybe I'll treat myself to some of that beautiful salmon that is always on display at Whole Foods but always too expensive to buy. Maybe I'll find a new recipe and spend the afternoon tomorrow cooking a fresh, healthy supper for my family. Maybe I'll get the kids to help. Maybe I'll treat myself to some new artwork for my office. Like this:

I've got to re-think this whole "reward" thing. I need to undo my perverted way of thinking. So, that's what I'm going to do.

I kind of got off track with my workouts this week. Running Saturday AND Sunday was not in the plan and I needed a rest on Monday, my regular running day. Tuesday is a regular day off but I probably should have run. I didn't. So, Wednesday, I was intent on getting a good run in. I dodged the storms Wednesday afternoon and did a WHOLE LOOP at Mem Park. Yes, the whole loop. Only walk breaks were for water. Oh, and the last .4 miles. :D I did 30 minutes of walking last night so no running Thursday. I don't want to run today because I'm running in the morning. So, this week is turning out to be just 2 days of running, Wednesday and Saturday. I think it's critical for me to just make a schedule and stick to it. No extra running no skipping workouts. Or maybe I just ought to run every day if I feel like it and quit worrying about recovery. Recovery, schmecovery! MUST - LOSE - WEIGHT!!!

I'm looking forward to a great weekend. Should be hot so be careful out there.