Greg's Running Blog

As you can tell I have been extremely meticulous and detail oriented with my fat loss progress so far. I keep track of calories in vs. calories out, weight, waist, body fat % and several other variables. If you thought I’d be doing anything different with my running training you’d be mistaken.

I keep a detailed record of all my runs with distance, time, speed, heart rate, calories burned and whatever other information I can get my hands on. The only way to improve is via a feedback loop. I do something and I have to see what the result is. Did it make me improve? Am I getting better? If not, why not? If not, how can I change my training to get better? So I do a lot of post run data logging and analysis to see where I stand.

I have been running for over a month now, but if you take my one week of non-running due to injury out of the equation it’s only been four weeks of active running that I have done. I have logged a bit over 100 miles so far which is not a whole lot. It certainly does not make me a champion or an elite racer. But it is enough for me to be able to gauge improvement.

Today I ran a 6 mile run. I didn’t run it fast, the goal of the run was to stay well within my aerobic zone and exercise my cardiovascular system. This meant a run where my heart rate would not go above 155 bmp but it should not drop below 140 bpm either. Interestingly my problem never seems to be the lower limit it’s always the upper limit that I have a tough time with. I constantly have to watch myself not to run faster than planned. I have averaged 153 bpm for my heart rate for the run and only spent 4 minutes above my target and 1 minute below it so over 90% of my run was within my target zone. The run took me 57:10 which means my pace average was 9:22 minutes/mile. It is nothing stellar and it is certainly not an amazing feat in itself. But when you put it in perspective by comparing it to a run from a month ago the difference is quite amazing.

On 1/23/10 I ran a 6.3 mile long run. The distance was very similar to today’s run and my average heart rate for that run was 152 bpm, essentially identical to the run I did today. This means I have performed both runs with the same effort. But my average pace was nowhere near 9:22 min/mile. It was 10:01! I have shaved off close to 40 seconds from my mile pace in one month! So how hard was it for me to run a 9:22 pace a month ago? Funny you should ask. I actually ran a 5.1 mile run on 1/16/10 that just happened to average 9:22 minutes/mile pace. But my heart rate average was a whopping 164 bpm for that run! So I have shaved off over 10 bmp from my heart rate to run the same pace. That is a huge improvement!

I’m sure this pace of improvement will not sustain in the long run but seeing such a drastic improvement in my running definitely surprises me. When I ran my first 5K race three weeks ago and managed to finish it in 24:04 I wasn’t sure what I should be able to run at my 10K race next weekend. But in light of what I know now I’m pretty confident that I will be able to run a solid race and my target is to get under 50 minutes. I’m secretly hoping for 48:00 or under but I’ll stick to 50 minutes as my goal for now. That is unless I manage to collect another injury between now and then. I did get a small blister on my left foot today but I think it will heal up in no time, it’s a deep one and very tiny so it should not affect me within a day or two.

I get asked quite often how I stay motivated in my transformation. And my answer is always that it’s my ever changing goals that keep me going.

When I set out to transform my body from fat to fit I knew it was going to be a long journey and I knew it would take a substantial amount of time and effort. I also knew that the only way I could stay on track is if I kept myself motivated. But staying motivated with long term goals is very difficult. It is heavily embedded in our genes to concentrate on short term benefits vs. long term goals. This is all part of our fight or flight mentality that has kept us alive this long. It’s also the same motive that makes us impatient and demand instant gratification. I will spend an extra $20 just to have something shipped overnight so I could have it tomorrow. I mean who can wait three days for ground shipping?

And this impatience is also what hinders many when it comes to fat loss and body transformation. This impatience is what keeps the weight loss industry going. This instant gratification is what keeps the miracle pill and weight loss supplement manufacturers in business. But I have to tell you there is no shortcut. There is no quick and easy fix. You have to just settle in for the long haul. But how can you keep going for the long run without the instant gratification? It’s easy! Set instant gratification goals!

My ultimate long term goal is a sub 3 hour marathon and qualification and running the Boston marathon. This is my long term goal. But at 237 lbs with almost 40% body fat this goal seems rather lofty and so far fetched that it’d be impossible to even comprehend the amount of work and time required to achieve this goal. So I had to set up plenty of other goals in the meantime.

My next long term goal is to get to 160 lbs (73 kg) at under 10% body fat. Again, this goal is not as far fetched as the Boston marathon and it is attainable well under a year for me. This goal I was proudly advertising at work and I told about it to everyone I knew. This generates pressure on me as I don’t want to be the person who makes an ass out of their mouth. This sort of peer pressure and accountability keeps me going towards this long term goal. Plus it’s a lot easier for non-runners to understand what it takes to lose close to 80 lbs vs. what it takes to run a sub 3 hour marathon. Although most people are heavily disillusioned about what it takes to lose 80 lbs.

The next trick in my bag is the Internet. With the Internet it is very easy to find people that have similar goals as yours and it’s always more fun to do things in teams or with others. So I have joined several message boards, transformation.com, bodybuilding.com, johnstonefitness.com and started actively participating. I have also signed up with numerous challenges with other people like me who have similar goals as me. They might not want to run a 3 hour marathon but they all want to transform their bodies.

I purposefully didn’t link to transformation.com as I no longer visit that site. While it is probably good for some people I found it too warm and cozy over there. I mean I like support and enthusiasm and a good pat on the back but over there it was just a bit too spiritual and phony for my rational engineering mind. Bodybuilding.com is a different story. Those guys and girls are hard core and into heavy lifting and body building. They think bigger is better. But the weight loss forum has a lot of good information and a lot of helpful folks that will give you honest advice with your diet and exercise regime. I personally have different ultimate goals as most of the people there, I do not want to be a muscle head but there are lots of challenges that you can partake in some even come with prize money.

Johnstonefitness.com is ran by a single guy, John Stone who transformed his body from fat to fit and he has been at it for 7 years. His progress is phenomenal and he is a true inspiration to anyone. His transformation and process is very methodical, just like mine, so I really felt inspired by it. His forum is great and while not as active as some other ones I do visit it every now and again. He also has monthly challenges where you can keep track of your progress and adds another way of public accountability.

I also challenge my co-workers into weight loss challenges. And while these challenges don’t come with a prize money, only bragging rights, they’re a great way to get your daily dose of motivation. And I never pick an easy target. When I weighed 226 lbs I challenged a co-worker to get to 200. He is over 6 feet tall and he was only 216 lbs at the time. He had a good solid advantage over me. Guess who won? Christmas did him in. He was down to 206 at one point but could not get under it. I’m down to 187 now while he’s back at 218. I wish he could have kept with me but there is only so much I can do to keep him motivated.

I have also challenged another co-worker just after new year, once I was under 200. He weighed 192 and I was at 196. Our target is first to hit 180. He’s down to 186 and I’m 187 now. I’m inching up on him slowly but surely. He’s a lot tougher competition than my first challenger, this guy actually plays 9 hours of racquetball every week in multiple leagues and he actually tracks his calorie intake on fitday.com. He’s a lot more serious than my other competitor. But I still have faith in myself and I think I will meet my goal of 180 before he will.

I also have a longer bet going with a third co-worker. He’s one of the people who constantly yo-yo with their weight. He has reached as low as 179 and as high as 200+. Currently he is sitting on 192 but it’s due to the Superbowl (major Saints fan!) and Mardi Gras that he just came back from. He was ahead of me at the beginning but now he’s behind and I think it will stay that way. He is on the P90X program and he is pretty into it. But if you blow your whole month on two weekends you’re in serious trouble if you’re trying to match up with me. I’m ruthless! His only hope is to get back on the P90X hard core and keep at it. I really hope that he’ll stay motivated enough to keep going. He’s not only doing the exercises, luckily he’s concentrating on his diet too. Hopefully he’ll get down to his target weight of 175. As for the challenge, it’s very simple with him. I simply said that I would weigh less than him by July. So this is a longer term challenge that will keep me motivated. I just hope he keeps up the challenge so it stays fun. There is no fun in a race when you lap the guy.

Since I got below 190 lbs my goal has shifted from fat loss to endurance running. I’m concentrating more on running now and less on my weight loss. The above challenges will keep me going on the weight loss but my goal is to increase my VO2Max and running speed. And weight loss is a great way to do that. So fat loss is more of a necessary side effect of my real goal at this point.

I also have much shorter goals in my mind. Namely I set out every morning not to eat over 1,800 calories. This is a goal that is very easily kept for me at this point. I also set out to run and do strength training appropriately every week. I also strive to have my actual weight never go over my rolling average trend line. If it did it would mean I’m heading in the wrong direction. I just can’t let that happen. So far I have been successful. Unlike most people who dread the scale I can’t wait to get on it every morning and see how much I have lost. Because as long as I keep all my other goals I know that there is no way the scale is going to move upwards. Ever.

One last thing that I always try to remember is that sometimes it’s OK to cheat. It’s also OK to take a break. But it cannot be a permanent vacation from your progress. You have to chalk it up as a wasted day or week and keep on going. It’s not about the cheating it’s about getting right back on track. I have had days when I just couldn’t get out of a terrible meal and my daily diet was shot. I just wrote it off as a bad day and I knew that the only damage it did was lengthen my transformation by another day. Certainly not the end of the world. Last week I was injured and I could not run. I could have just thrown in the towel and decided never to run again, instead I got back out there as soon as I felt it was OK for my foot to run on. I’m running better than before and I feel great about it. Sure, it would have been nice to get in those two extra tempo runs and interval training sessions but I will still be able to run my race without them. I will still compete and finish 10K in a week.

So what motivates you? How do you stay on track?

As i have been writing all week last week I was pretty bummed out and miserable due to the injury of my right foot that I have suffered thanks to the injury on my left knee and the overcompensation that came with it. The pain was so bad in my foot by last Monday after my run that I was severely limping and I could barely make it home. I vowed not to run and rest it for a week. And to be honest I couldn’t have ran even if I wanted to as the pain while got better every day it was not back to the point where I would have felt comfortable running with it.

This morning I felt the foot was getting even better and I should b able to run. Running is very addictive. I felt very deprived all week last week. So I packed clothes for a lunchtime run. I packed clothes for outside running in the 40 degree (5C) weather as well as a T-shirt for running on the treadmill or to work out in the gym if I decided not to run. I figured I would play it by ear. As the morning progressed I still wasn’t sure if I should run and I have rated my foot at about 85%. 85% might not sound all that good but it is certainly a lot better than 20% which is what I would have rated it last Monday night.

By lunch time I decided that it was time to give running a shot. I knew that I was going to take it easy and I was not going to do anything stupid. I also decided that if the pain would get worse I’d stop immediately. Since it is hard to stop and get in your car immediately when you run mostly out and back runs on a trail, today I have decided to stick with a track. So I drove to a park that has a 1/3 mile track so the worst I’d have to do is walk 1/6th mile after I’d call it quits. Luckily I didn’t have to call it quits.

I took it very easy and ran at the first 2 miles at 11 minute a mile pace. Then I tried a bit of a tempo run just to see how it feels and I picked up the pace all the way to 6:30 at one point but the whole tempo ran only lasted 0.1 miles and I was back to over 10 minute miles afterward. All in all I ran 3 miles today at an average pace of 10:42 which is a recovery pace for me at this time.

Once I got back to the office I could feel tenderness in the tendon but I still would have rated it at 85%. I have also decided that I would take another day off tomorrow just to give it more time to heal. But right now as I’m typing up this blog post the foot feels fine. I’d rate it 95% easily. So if it stays this way by the morning I’ll be running again tomorrow. We shall see! I’ crossing my fingers and holding my breath, I’m so ready for another 3 miler tomorrow! My 10k race is less than 2 weeks away so I’ll just stay with easy runs and taper. Do you think I’m doing the right thing?

As I have written in my previous post I’ve been having problems with pain in my left foot due to compensating for pain in my knee. The pain has gotten so bad in my foot that I haven’t done any cardio for the past two days. Instead I’m sporting a sandal at work just to make it easier on my foot. Last night the pain was just as bad as the day before. This morning the pain was even worse. But tonight I think I am finally feeling improvement and I hope it will heal up soon and I’ll be back to running in no time. It’s a true bummer that I have managed to injure myself this bad this early but as long as I recover in a week I’ll be OK. I think if my foot does not hurt tomorrow night I’ll hop on the elliptical or go for a bike ride. But I have decided that I will do absolutely no running until next Monday at least. I want this sucker to heal up good before I stress it.

I had a pretty good upper body workout Tuesday at the gym. I figured if I can’t work out my wheels at least keep the top in shape. It’s only been two days and I’m already missing the running. Grr, I’m so stupid! Note to self: next time something hurts a little, take care of it then don’t let other body parts getting hurt too.

Today’s training called for a 5.5 mile run at easy pace. And today’s weather called for rain. Lots of it. In the morning I have packed enough gear so I could run either out on the trail or in the gym on a treadmill if the weather turned really nasty. By the time I got to work we had no electricity in the office the storm took the power line down. No electricity means no treadmill either. So mentally I prepared myself for a rainy run in the 40 degree (4 Celsius) weather. But then we got the power back on and I could have used the treadmill.

But I decided to run in the rain. My knee pain has improved and I thought my knee was getting really good. But now my right foot hurts pretty bad from the bad gait that I have been utilizing due to the knee pain. It seems like one injury is causing another. But I went and ran anyway. When I go to work I usually run on a trail. The trail is 2 miles long from the trail head then it follows on as a bike path next to a road. As long as I was running 4 or less miles my run was all on the trail. Now that I’m running longer I have to go out on the road which means camber and it means more beating for my foot and knees. But today I actually wanted to run out on the road as the trail was flooded in several places and my shoes got really wet. Where the standing water was ankle deep I tried to navigate through the rough grass only to scratch my legs up pretty good. The run was cold and wet at the beginning then the rain subdued towards the second half. I ran at a steady pace around 10:20 min/mile. With the changed gait due to the limp my cadence has been staying pretty high, I have averaged 86 again just as on Saturday’s long run.

But sadly the run took its toll on me. Even though I felt good towards the end and I felt the pain was gone it was only temporary. As soon as I got back to the office my foot pain became pretty unbearable. I now have a severe limp and I feel like I can barely walk. If I sit and don’t put weight on it for a while it gets better but as soon as I start walking on it the pain comes back within 50 yards of walking. When the pain gets bad enough it gets better if I walk on the front of my foot and not let the heel touch the ground. The pain is also lessened if I walk bare foot. All in all it’s pretty bad. I think it’s a case of tendonitis of the peroneus longus tendon. Sounds like I’ll be taking a break from running for the next couple of days to give these tendons some time to heal.

Saturdays are my long run days as I’m preparing for my 10K in 3 weeks. Today’s long run called for 6 miles. I have been running the same area and same loop for some time but today I have decided to try something different. I wanted to see some different scenery and I went a different route. My usual route is mostly flat with only 160 ft of elevation in 6 miles. But today’s route was a different story. I felt like I was on a roller coaster the whole way.

I knew when I started running it that it would be more hilly than my usual run. I used to be a volunteer firefighter in my community and I used to roam the neighborhoods with lights and sirens on big red trucks so I am pretty familiar with my town and its terrain. But let me tell you, driving around with 4,000 gallons of water and a large diesel engine is vastly different than running on feet tackling the same hills.

My left knee has been hurting a bit since my 5K race and it hasn’t improved too much. I can still run and the pain actually got a lot better towards the end than at the beginning. I think my ligaments just have to build up strength is all. My run started out on the usual path then I took a turn and made a huge loop. That huge loops tarts with a massive descent which converts into a just as big ascent. Then there are several smaller bumps in the road. I was originally planning on doing an in and out route but at the 3 mile mark I decided to keep going on a loop as I was hoping that the main road would be flatter than the neighborhood street that I just used for the first half. Well it was indeed better but not by much. The second 3 miles had 50 ft less ascent than the first 3 miles which I guess means it was indeed less hilly. I guess Texas isn’t as flat as they make it out to be.

I managed to maintain a 10:31 min/mile pace for the run even with the hills where I went as slow as 20:00 min/mile. This was a long run that is supposed to be easy and not at race pace. Overall it was a good run with a total ascent of 361 ft.

Today’s post has nothing to do with weight loss, cardio exercising or strength training. I just wanted to say that as of today I am a proud American citizen. I have been living in the US for the past 13 years and I finally became a US citizen. The process was fairly easy; once you live long enough in the US as a permanent resident (green card holder) you are eligible for naturalization and becoming a citizen. All you have to do is prove good moral character and a dedication to the state and fork over $700 for the application fee. And after 4 short months of waiting you get to take the citizenship test.

The test is very simple and very easy. They verify that you are indeed who you say you are, they ask you to verify every statement you have provided on your application such as you are not a member of the communist party and you’re not running a prostitution ring. Then there is a civics test on which they ask you to answer 6 out of 10 questions correctly regarding the history and political system of the United States from a pool of 100 questions. Once you pass that they check that you can read and write English. I think my 5 year old son could pass that part of the test. I had to read “What do we pay to the government?” and I had to write “We pay taxes”. That was it.

After this super hard interview and civics test all you have to do is partake in the Naturalization Ceremony which includes taking the Oath Of Allegiance, sing the Star Spangled Banner and say the Pledge Of Allegiance. Then wait for them to hand you your official naturalization certificate that states that you are a citizen of the United States of America.

Today I did all  this and I am proud to report I am finally a United States citizen.

Since I spent most of my day at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services building in Irving, TX I didn’t have time to do my tempo run until late tonight. I went and ran 45 minutes 20 of which was a good tempo run at an average pace of 8:49 min/mile. I don’t mind running in the dark but I hate dogs barking at me as I pass their fence. It was a pretty good run and I felt good afterward. There is something wrong with my left knee though, I think it’ s a Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) sprain as I have all the symptoms for it which includes pain on the inner side of my knee. I think mine’s not even a first degree sprain as it does not hurt when I get up from a chair which is one of the symptoms of a first degree sprain. It is mildly tender to touch and it is mildly tender when running or walking.

This particular knee I have always had problems with, ever since I was involved in a motorcycle accident when I was 16. My leg got caught between my motorcycle and the trunk of a car. I think I have probably suffered a second degree sprain then and it’s acting up now that I have started putting more pressure on it. I think it just needs to adapt and get stronger to sustain my running. Last week the outside of my knee hurt which is an indication of hamstring tendinitis but that has passed since then.

I have signed up for a 10K for the end of February as my first race. And since I’m not big on doing things in a half ass fashion and I’m an all or nothing kind of guy I started a training program for the race 3 weeks ago. This training plan calls for all kinds of running speeds and distances throughout the training period and this past weekend it called for a 5K race. I could have just ran around the block at race speeds but where is the fun in that? So my co-worker told me about a race that was coming up this past Saturday. We both contemplated going and in the end he chickened out but I went.

Why did he chicken out? I think it had a lot to do with the weather. Here in Texas weather can be very fickle. We had temperatures in the 70s (22+ Celsius) two weeks ago but the weekend forecast was 24 degrees (-4C) with a windchill factor of 16F (-9C). And sure enough they were right. The weather was brutally cold on Saturday morning. I’m not a morning person so getting out of the warm bed and drive to the race at the crack of dawn in freezing temperatures was a double whammy. But I did it with excitement and great anticipation.

I have not ran in a race environment for almost 20 years. You see, I used to be a long distance runner in junior high and I was pretty good at it to boot. I liked it a lot and I loved the races. But I got burned out and the only thing remained was my appetite which made me gain weight at an incredible pace. Fast forward 20 years and you get to my October 2009 state which is overweight and unfit but someone who deep down thinks he can run. Unlike other obese people who probably never ran a mile in their life I was actually a pretty damn good long distance runner with national titles, I’m not from the US originally, in my age group at the time.

So when I showed up at the race at the wee hours of 7:30AM I wasn’t sure if I could really do it. I mean I knew that I could run 5K, it’s 3.1 miles which has been the shortest running distance in my training schedule for the past three weeks but I didn’t know just how well I could run. Based on my previous training runs I figured I should be able to run it around 25 minutes. I didn’t know what 25 minutes would get me in terms of placement as I wasn’t really familiar with big running events like these and the quality and pace of the average runner.

As I looked around I saw all kinds of folks there. Men and women, young ones and old ones, fit ones and fat ones. People in shorts in the freezing cold and others wearing several layers and ski masks just to keep warm. It was quite an interesting sight to witness all these different people with different abilities getting ready to undertake the same race.

There were two race distances, the 5K which I ran and a half marathon as a preparation race for the upcoming Cowtown Marathon where I’ll be running my 10K. Due to the weather a lot of folks who originally were going to run the half marathon have switched over to the 5K race. I have seen bib numbers as high as 700 but all in all there were only 461 finishers, 244 in the 5K the rest in the half marathon. The whole race was pretty laid back and small scale which was probably a good thing for me as the first race.

Since I started moving up to the start line pretty early I got a good solid starting position but I realized that while I was going to run with all the other people I really was only racing myself and the time so the starting position didn’t really matter. Unlike 20 years ago when everything was timed from gun time now everyone runs their own race with a transponder chip on their shoes that measures chip time. At the beginning the crowd was pretty heavy and it took a good quarter mile before people started separating out enough and settling in their paces. To meet my target of 25 minutes I needed an 8 minute per mile pace (5:00/km). After the first quarter mile I was up to a 6:50 pace and felt great. As soon as my heart rate picked up to match the pace I knew that I had to scale it back as I would have been unable to sustain that pace for the entire race. So I slowed down a bit and settled into a 7:35-7:40 pace and kept at it. Things were going great and just as I was passing the 1 mile marker I was seeing the leader already running back. I did the math in my head and I figured there is no way he’s already at the 2.1 mile mark running twice as fast as I. And I was right. I didn’t know ahead of time but the course, while it was an out and back, it was really more like a fork. You ran up one leg of the fork then the other and back to the start. So the leader wasn’t really that far ahead he just came back from the left leg of the fork at this point and soon after I was at the tip of the fork too.

As soon as I turned around I got hit smack in the face by some super cold wind which was blowing like there was no tomorrow. It definitely slowed me down and my pace started to fade while my heart rate kept on climbing. My pace dropped down to the 7:50-8:10 range and I figured as long as I keep it close to the 8 minute mark I should be able to finish under 25 minutes thanks to the extra time I picked up earlier. As I was getting closer and closer to the end there were a couple of people passing me. But as they were passing me I felt that their pace, cadence and composure is in a lot worse shape than mine and I thought they were struggling more than me. I felt like I still got the efficiency I once had and I still had the mechanics of running down pat. I felt great. As I was getting closer to the end my heart rate kept on climbing ever higher to places I didn’t think it could climb. So I took back a notch from my pace and slowed to 8:30 pace by the last 200 yards. I knew I ran faster than 25 minutes but I didn’t know how much faster until I ran through the finish line and saw that I finished the race in 24:04. That is almost a minute better than I thought I was going to run. I was very happy with my result. I finished 35th overall out of the 244 finishers which made me feel great. First place? 17:41 by an 18 year old guy. What impressed me more though was the second place finish of 18:28 by a 34 year old man. I hope to be that guy one day. As for the winner’s time I could have ran circles around him when I was 13, I ran 5K under 16 minutes back then. But that was a different time….

All in all I had a great time and it has given me even more encouragement to look forward my 10K race at the end of February.

Today the weather wasn’t cooperating too well. It was supposed to get up in the mid 6os (18 C) but it never did. And it was also supposed to have stopped raining in the afternoon. Well neither of these things happened. I kept on waiting for the temperature rise and the the rain to stop but by the time it was time for me to run, which is when my kids go down for their afternoon nap, it was still raining and temperature was around 56 (13C). My wife called me crazy to go out and run in that weather and she already warned me that she would not be taking care of me if I caught a cold.

I went for the run anyway as I just had to. Today’s plan for the day was a 6 mile endurance run which meant keeping my heart rate in the aerobic zone and concentrate on slow and steady to build up my endurance. So I did and ran 6 miles. I actually ran 6.1 miles since I missed a turn and had to go back a bit. The rain subdued as the run progressed and I definitely didn’t feel cold after the first mile not even in shorts. It’s amazing how much heat your body will generate once you get going. Sure my hands got a bit cold towards the end but I definitely didn’t get frostbite or a caught a cold.

The run was pretty uneventful, I kept a good steady pace for the most part and I actually got ab it faster towards the end. Had you asked me 3 months ago if I was going to run 6 miles straight with no stopping I would have told you no way. But here I am, running and feeling great about it. My left knee was hurting a bit afterward but it is certainly not unbearable pain and it will pass soon. My left knee was smashed between a car and a motorcycle when I was 16 and probably got something tore up back then which makes it a bit more sensitive than the right.

The only disappointing part is that unlike some lucky people I get to run in Texan suburban flat lands with nothing pretty in sight.

I have signed up for a running race. It’s not too long and I’ll probably take it easy but it’s a race nevertheless. The Cowtown Marathon “The Shack 10K” event. The event has 5K (3.1 miles), 10K (6.2 miles), half marathon (13.1 miles), full marathon (26.2 miles) and ultra marathon (50K, 31 miles) distances. They also have a “Big Person” class for men over 200 lbs and women over 160 lbs. It’s a shame that I can no longer compete in the “Big Person” class being under 200 lbs and all . It actually made me feel pretty good that even in racing terms I’m no longer considered a “Big Person”. I chose the 10K as 5K just seemed to be too short of a distance given that I can run it any day of the week and the half marathon just seemed a bit too ambitious at this point into my training.

I have 37 days to get in tip-top shape by then. Since my running has been going pretty good I have decided that it was time to take it to a next level. I’m a goal oriented person and I perform a lot better if I have set goals with set plans in motion instead of just winging it. I thought 5 weeks should be enough to get me in shape to finish the race. I have a target time in my head but I’m not going to commit to it publicly until it gets closer to the race and I get a better feel for my stamina and endurance. I have not ran 10K in a long long time. I did run 5 miles straight with no stopping last weekend and a 10K is only 1.2 miles more and I have certainly felt that I had it in me to continue. I have some more lofty goals in sight for the long term but this 10K will suffice on such a short notice.

A co-worker of mine has signed up for the half marathon. He has ran two marathons before but this time he didn’t really feel like committing to the longer distance. I think he’s not taking it all that seriously he’ll run a good bit between now and then but not with a serious plan in mind. I’m pretty excited about the race I really hope it will go well.