Easy run

Steve and I ran a real easy 5.8 miles yesterday. The legs were a little stiff after the race, but they loosened up nicely by the end of the run. I am planning to run a bit harder this evening.

The professional pictures are up from the race. Click here, and I am considering ordering at least one to commemorate my first half marathon.

This is the race data from my Garmin 305.

Jacksonville Bank Half Marathon

Finally the race day I have trained and waited over 6 months for finally got here. Steve and I were up early at 4:50 to catch a bus from the hotel to the race site. I was able to get on the bus before Steve, but it was the last time I was to be ahead of him until the race was over.

While training for this race I kept improving my times until I was able to run 13.4 miles in just over 2 hour and 8 minutes. I was hoping that I would be able to beat 2 hours in the race, but sometimes things happen and what you hoped for gets dashed on the rocks of life. So after over 1000 miles and 171 hours of training I took off with over 2000 runners at 7am-ish. 13.1 miles and 1 hour, 56 minutes, and 45 seconds later I crossed the finish line. The race was the hardest thing I have ever physically accomplished. My mile times during the last three miles were not great, but they were good enough to meet my goal. I did finish 44th of 104 in my age group, and 376th of 1300 half marathoners. There were over 800 full marathoners and we all started at the same time. Now that I finished what I started last December, am I done? Nope. Even though immediately after the finish I told myself that I would never do that distance again, I am going to register to run a half marathon in Deleon Springs, Florida on January 6, just three weeks from today.

Oh yea, Steve beat me by 1 minute and 36 seconds.

December 1st 10K race

Ran a 10K last Saturday and it took only 50:59, over 5 minutes faster than my first 10K. I found a good training program in the latest issue of Runner's World and I am going to implement it after the Half in January.

I got my Garmin 305 yesterday and I am going to start using it this afternoon. It will be an invaluable tool in my never ending search for fitness and speed.

I promise more updates, more often.

My first ten mile race

I finished in 1:25:08 officially, and kicked my 1:30 goal right in the ass.

Mile Splits according to my watch
1 - 8:17.8
2 - 8:17.4
3 - 8:35
4 - 8:33.8
5 - 8:37.2
6 - 8:41.4
7 - 8:27
8 - 8:33.1
9 - 8:25.6
10 - 8:38.9

AVG 8:31


I started out to quickly, but it did not really hurt me. Once I slowed my pace in mile 3 I ran fairly easy and was actually chatting with another runner. It was a very nice run and I am looking forward to the half next month.
I finished 21st of 26 in age group bag.gif , but 116 of 257 overall. For some reason there were a lot of fast runners in my age group. Steve did beat me by 30 some seconds, but he was ninth in his age group. Those slow old farts.

Also the times are all gun times, Steve and I started about 10 or so seconds from the official start line. So unofficially I beat 1:25.

New personal best in 5K

I ran the Whitecane Awareness 5K in 24:43, my fastest race yet. I also finished 3rd in my age group.


Here is some video of me finishing yesterday.

South Daytona 5K

This morning I finished the South Daytona 5K in 25 minutes. I placed 46th out of 160 overall, and 2nd of 7 in the 40-44 age group. I won the nice award in the picture.

Upcoming South Daytona 5K

Tomoka 4 Miler and Toe

It has been a while since I have updated the blog. I recently ran the Tomoka 4 Miler and I finished in 32:32, placing 31 out of 100. I was very happy with the run.

I ran an easy 5 miles the next day and I felt great, and then the problem happened. I was moving a couch and it slid over my left foot completely ripping off my big toenail. I am such a klutz. Two days later, everything is felling better and I am going to get back into training tomorrow evening.

Here are the results of the Tomoka 4 Miler.

13 mile run and scans of blood work

This morning I successfully ran 13.37 miles for the first time. I did it in three stages just about like I planned. I ran for 50 minutes, walked for two minutes, ran for 50 minutes walked for two minutes, then finished with the last 42 minutes. Totaled 2:22:40 at a pace of 10:40 m/m, which I think is pretty good for the first time at this distance. I was real pleased with the effort as I had been hoping to run the half in December in under 2:30. I guess I need to change my race goal time. I was able to run the final two miles at 10:15 m/m, which was my fastest split time. But I felt like I was barely moving, if I had stopped to walk in the last mile I would never had gotten started running again.

I finished the run 5.5 hours ago, and I really thought I would be more tired right now,. But instead of napping I am feeling more awake and alert than I was yesterday after work.

I hope everyone else is doing well,

Darrin

The pics are of the latest blood work tests I had done. First time in years I went to a doctor and I felt the urge to share the results.

Another 7 miler

I ran 7 miles tonight.

I did learned a couple of valuable lessons though, never run 7 miles less than an hour after eating 3 big plates of salad. I felt like I was going to barf almost the whole run. I also forgot to vaseline the nips, so I had another bloody shirt when I was done.

Despite those two problems I still managed to average under 10 minutes per mile, and finished only 2 and a half minutes slower than last week.

I hope everyone had a great day.
Darrin

11 mile run

Just finished my first 11 mile run. I completed it in 1:57:53 a ta pace of 10:42 m/m. Though to be honest the actual time should be about 3 minutes less at 1:55:53. The Busch race was rained out last night and is being run this morning. My running course takes me right by the speedway and I got stopped for two minutes by race traffic. It was the same place I got stopped in my bike ride on Thursday. I did try to keep moving while at the light and I think that might have hurt me more in the end. I basically bounced for two minutes and in the last mile my hips started bothering me a bit. The next time I get stopped at a light I am just going to stand and wait for it turn.

Overall I feel pretty good, knees and legs are fine. For the first time since I decided to run the half marathon I am positive that I will be able to run the complete distance.

First 10K

OK, I finished my first 10K just over an hour and a half ago. I was very pleased with my run, especially considering that the run was on the sand and it was 80 degrees by start time.

I started out too fast.

Mile 1 - 7:54.9

Got closer to my projected pace during second mile.

Mile 2 - 8:49.2

Right on pace for third mile.

Mile 3 - 9:07.2

Paid for the fast start during the fourth and fifth mile.

Mile 4 - 9:30.4
Mile 5 - 9:42.3

The was no 6 mile marker, lazy race coordinators I guess.

Mile 6 plus last .2

11:19 a 9:25.8 pace

I was very happy that I was able to speed up the last mile and some. By the time I was getting close I was beat. Plus they only had warm water at the end.

My total time was 56:23 @ a 9:05.6 minute per mile pace.
I thought I could run it at a 9 m/m pace so missing it by only 5 seconds per mile is not disappointing at all.

I do know that I finished 6th in my age group, 40-44, but they don't have it online yet as the 5K was yet to be run when we left. Funny thing, if I had been in the 25-29 (I think) I would have finished third. And if I had been on the 30-34 (I think) I would have finished second.

I will post links as soon as they are available.
Overall a good experience.

13 miles

I put in 13.3 good miles this weekend. Every bit of the runs felt great. 10K race next Sunday.

Weight Loss Part 2

Three hundred and eighty pounds, I am glad it wasn’t much more, because the scale had a 400 lb limit. Just the act of saying 380 pounds made me tired. I had tried dieting before and had limited success. At one point in 2003 I was injured at work and when I went to the doctor’s office I weighed in at a tremendous 430 pounds. So over two years I was able to take off about 50 pounds by cutting down a little bit. But exercise never really took off with me. I remember when I bought a new bike; I purchased a cheap one from Wal-Mart because I was not sure how much I was going to use it. That turned out to be a good call financially. The first time I got on it was to ride approximately 150 yards to get the mail from my mailbox. When I got to the box I had to get off the bike, sit down, and rest. It literally exhausted me to a point where I could not walk. I didn’t ride the bike again for almost a year.

As I said, I joined Weight Watcher’s and started to really investigate what their program was all about. A person starts out with so many points of food available on a daily and weekly basis. As they eat certain foods, they use up points, until ideally they have zero points left at the end of the day. As a person loses weight and reaches certain weight goals the daily available points reduce. The points are based on a formula that takes into account a foods total calories, total fat, and total dietary fiber. I started out at 34 points [One point = (calories/50) + (fat grams/12) - (min{r, 4}/5)], Where p is the number of points, c is the number of calories, f is the grams of fat, and r is the grams of dietary fiber (if the dietary fiber is greater than four, use four). As it turns out, 34 is the maximum amount of points available on this system. I would have to lose almost 50 pounds before my daily points went to 33.

I spoke to my friends about the program and they gave me several ideas about what kind of foods to eat. Basically, chicken breasts, turkey breasts, and several different kinds of fish, were best on this program. But the most important part of meal preparation was portion size. I needed to know how much of each, calories, fat, and fiber I bought a small food scale along with the food that I would be eating. For every meal I would need to weigh each food and insert that into the WWO website to get the amount of points for the meal. While this sounds tedious, weighing the food helped prepare me for what was to come better than anything else. The first week I decided to have a little fun with Dawn. I ate a little less for breakfast and lunch so I had over 25 points available for dinner. My wife was working that night so I was able to get just about anything as I would be eating alone. I went to McDonalds and ate a Double Quarter Pounder/ w cheese and a medium fries. I think it totaled out at 20 points. I remember enjoying informing Dawn that I was able to eat McDonalds and still stay on the program. Needless to say she was disgusted. I lost 5 pounds the first week.

9 Miles

Been a bit since I posted. Today has been a great day for me. I ran 9 miles for the for the first time ever today. Plus I did it in just under one hour thirty minutes. Still training for a 13.1 mile half marathon in December. More on the weight loss later.

Weight Loss Part 1

I was having the dream again. You see, for as long as I can remember I have had a recurring dream. I am outside, wearing shorts and a shirt, and I am running. Not only am I running, but I am doing so easily, and really enjoying the view while the scenery flies by. As always I awake to stark reality when I look down at my body and realize that running is in fact a dream. I roll over, see it is only two am and I get up to go to the bathroom. Looking in the mirror I see a man who just turned forty-one and has spent the last twenty of those abusing his body, this man has a huge, fat-layered, hanging over the belt line stomach. There is no way that he would ever be running. I am disgusted with this man in the mirror, how could he have let this happen? What can I do about this man?

Along with everyone else I have spent hundreds of dollars trying to lose weight, and nothing has really worked. Over the last two years I had been able to lose about fifty pounds, but I had not lost any lately. I might even have put a few pounds back on. I do know that this night when I had the dream I was morbidly obese, and realistically had only about another decade of life ahead of me. This was the day I turned forty-one, Dec 5 2005.

My mother and her husband John came down to visit us for Christmas 2005, and we had a good time. But that Christmas is very important in my life as that was the day I found out that my very good friends, Dawn and Steve, were losing weight with Weight Watcher’s Online. At the time Steve had lost about thirty pounds and Dawn was down almost forty. They were successfully losing, without completely cutting out their favorite foods. That day, as I ate my candy and drank my beer, I started to think. I thought about it for just over two weeks, and then on Jan 9, I took the plunge and joined the Weight Watcher’s Online program. I weighed myself on a good balance scale at work, and found I weighed in at 380 pounds.

Training

I started serious training for the December half-marathon this week. Saturday I did my first long run of 7.77 miles. Today I ran a fast (for me) 5 miles in 46:43. Tomorrow will be an easy day to get ready for Saturday's run.

I am feeling great right now, looking forward to the next six months of training.

Hot run

I ran in the heat of the afternoon for the first time this afternoon. Everything went fine.
Veronica drove home from work again today and she is improving every time she gets behind the wheel. I can't wait until she gets her license.

Time for a longer race

In the world where you either crap, or get off the pot, I decided to crap. Maybe that is not the best term, but I just signed up for the Jacksonville Bank Half Marathon.

http://www.1stplacesports.com/jm.htm

It is not until December, but I want a lot of time to train.

These are my runs.

http://www.mapmyrun.com/user_profile?username=darrin40

I will be using the 4.5, 6.29, 7.77, 8.35, and 9 mile runs for the first three-quarters of my training.

I have yet to map out the 10 mile run.

Aphrodite

When Veronica informed me that we were getting a cat, we decided that Isis was to be the one. Before we got Isis, Nicodemus came into our lives. Aphrodite was the last of our three cats. She was originally obtained from the ARNI people by MaryLee Brong, one of our first acquaintances in Florida. She also had an older cat, and that cat abused Aphrodite so much that they just let her run outside in the apartment complex. We started feeding her, and decided that we would just take her in as our other two cats seemed to get along great with her. Even after four years she is still a skittish cat. She will jump and run at the slightest sudden noise. Since Aphrodite us a mouthful, we simply call her 'Ditee. She is not really a lap cat, but when she wants attention, nothing stands in her way, not even our being asleep. She does not seem to understand that no civilized human enjoys being awoken to pet their cat at four in the morning. Overall she is a good cat, and she doesn't fight very much when someone picks her up to hold her.

Next, last but not least, Nicodemus.

Saturday Run

Last week my legs and knees bothered me abit after my Sunday run, so I took it easy and didn't run any until today. I ran my usual Saturday 6.29 mile course in 1:00:35. A minute and a half slower than last week, but I did intervals for 42 minutes starting 8 min into the run. My intervals now are 1 minute at >5K pace, 3 minutes rest pace. Of course by the time of the last interval at about the 49 minute mark, my fast time was much slower. I felt like I was running in molasses.

Next week I am going to try and do intervals with 1:30 min >=5k with 3 minutes rest pace. The 10K is on July 1.

My plan for the rest of the week is:

Sun 4.5 easy miles

Mon 3.83 miles

Wed 3.83 miles

I have been increasing my long run distance .5 miles every month, but I am just going to work on increasing the intervals in the time before the race. After the race I will probably increase the run to 7 miles. On January 12, 2008 Disney is holding their half marathon. I think I will train for that one.

With my long run being about 10K now, can I prepare well enough to do 13 miles in the next 6.5 months?

Maybe I should shoot for a race in later 2008 or early 2009.

What a weekend

Over the weekend I ran a total of 10.83 miles, by far my best mileage over a two day period. On Saturday I ran 6.29 miles in 1:01:32, and Sunday I ran 4.54 miles in 45:51, I was not interested in speed, but rather setting and keeping a consistent pace. I am positive I could have run either day faster.

Everything else over the weekend went great, we got in all of our shopping including the vegetables at the flea market. For Sunday dinner I made stuffed eggplant. It was, in my opinion, delicious.

Today is my friend Dawn's birthday, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAWN. You will get your gift later this evening.

And Happy Mother's Day again Mom.

Wow

What a difference a day makes. I feel great today. It is still early in the day, so I may post again later, but right now everything is wonderful. Except, of course, for the early start to the hurricane season, and all the smoke everywhere from the fires. But, even paradise has to have it's problems. Tonight I am planning on playing tennis with Steve, but the smoke may be to bad to be outside. Tomorrow is a scheduled rest day, though I may run a couple of miles after work since I missed my run yesterday.

1st of 3

Yes, we have three cats. Isis is not the oldest, nor is she the first one that shared our home, but she was supposed to be the first and only. She was a kitten of a cat that belonged to a friend of a friend, and she was the runt of the litter. When we got her she was about the size of my palm and weighed practically nothing. She is now about five years old and still only weighs about twelve pounds. When we last took her to the vet we found out that she has a heart murmur, though it is not life threatening. She loves to sleep under covers, whether it is in bed or just under a throw on the couch. She hates thunderstorms, somewhere I have a picture of her cowering under the covers during her first storm experience. She is more my wife’s cat than mine, but she has been known to join me in the recliner when Veronica is not around.

Next: Aphrodite, the weird one.

Not Well

I left work yesterday morning because I was not feeling well, I am home today for the same reason. Because I am home sick I will not be able to run today and that is making feel a bit guilty. I am planning on going back to work tomorrow, and my next running day will be Saturday morning. I am going to try a new course that totals just over 6 miles. I got my grades back for my two spring classes at DBCC, my streak of A’s continues. Thought it was close in the report writing class. I am going to take my pain pill no and take a nap. Have a great day.

I struggled today

I am taking a generic Lortab for the pain from Friday's root canal and it is making me very tired. I had a heck of a time staying awake at work. After work I did run 4.67 miles in 45 minutes on a treadmill at my gym. Right now I am very tired and I just want to get dinner done so that I can go to bed.

Meals On Wheels 5K

Saturday I ran in the Council on Aging 5th annual Meals on Wheels 5k.

http://www.altavistasports.com/results/2007results/mealsonwheels5k050507.html

I turned in my best time yet, 25:18. 59 seconds faster than the race two weeks ago.

I finished 6th of 12 in my age group, and 71st of 189 overall. It was a fantastic run and I feel great right now. Which is amazing as I had a root canal done just yesterday.