Wow! How fast time flies when you're busy as crap with work.
Today I have passed $500! $500 down... $3,700 to go. I'm starting to plan my fundraising event which will be on July 12. I'm working on a KILLER raffle prize which I hope will be a trip (airfare and hotel)
I've been keeping up (90%) with the running and finally start to believe that I can truly do this. I'll be doing my next maintenance run in Ft. Worth, TX while I'm there on a site visit. Here's hoping!
Thanks to all my donors so far!
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Training, Day 1
I had my first training run/session yesterday. It was more informational than anything, but it was nice to get started, meet some people including my carpool buddy Emily! Super nice person and while she says she's not a morning person, she pulled off the morning chipper pretty well!
This past week I went to Fleet Feet to get my new ACTUAL running shoes. I say actual because my usual M.O. for buying sneakers is as follows.
- Find any size 14
- Of the 14s find a shoe that doesn't look like I'm trying to be in the NBA or a 14 year old boy trying to show his props in the hood.
How they fit is so secondary to finding my actual size.
Enter Kristin at Fleet Feet. She had me run a little on the treadmill while I was being video recorded from behind at foot level. She showed me on the monitor 'how' I ran and took time to explain what she was looking for and how it affected her choice of shoes.
Long story short, The shoes feel fantastic and I can actually tell a big difference in the support. Granted, I'll be eating spaghetti and other cheap pasta dishes for the next two weeks to make up for what I had to pay for the shoes, but it will be cheaper than trying to train to run and damaging my feet. See my pretty new possessions?
Training on Saturday begins at 7am right now which meant Emily was going to pick me up around 6:15. (We train on the south side of Chicago...ugh) Sadly, that's not a bad time for me. I'm not really able to sleep late because my internal clock is so strong. Besides, with this sunrise waiting on you
how could you NOT want to get up and run?
(Yes, you're right, I'm deluding myself to make myself get up and at 'em)
I was successful for a Saturday morning having not done anything remotely athletic in so long my last 'running' shoes could be carbon dated. I ran the warm up mile without stopping. I'd like to say it was due to my drive and perseverance, but mostly it was because I was with other people and didn't want to look bad.
I was surprised with two things. 1. I finished the first mile. 2. How many times have I discounted myself in my life thinking I couldn't do something.
I often pshaw trite sayings like "When you fall off the horse you just have to get right back up again". I think you should shoot the horse for throwing you in the first place! However, I did see a girl with a shirt that said something to the effect of "You must make yourself do what you think you cannot" I think her shirt said it better, but memory, a long day and time are clouding the actual words. I like the saying though.
Off to more!
This past week I went to Fleet Feet to get my new ACTUAL running shoes. I say actual because my usual M.O. for buying sneakers is as follows.
- Find any size 14
- Of the 14s find a shoe that doesn't look like I'm trying to be in the NBA or a 14 year old boy trying to show his props in the hood.
How they fit is so secondary to finding my actual size.
Enter Kristin at Fleet Feet. She had me run a little on the treadmill while I was being video recorded from behind at foot level. She showed me on the monitor 'how' I ran and took time to explain what she was looking for and how it affected her choice of shoes.
Long story short, The shoes feel fantastic and I can actually tell a big difference in the support. Granted, I'll be eating spaghetti and other cheap pasta dishes for the next two weeks to make up for what I had to pay for the shoes, but it will be cheaper than trying to train to run and damaging my feet. See my pretty new possessions?
Training on Saturday begins at 7am right now which meant Emily was going to pick me up around 6:15. (We train on the south side of Chicago...ugh) Sadly, that's not a bad time for me. I'm not really able to sleep late because my internal clock is so strong. Besides, with this sunrise waiting on you
how could you NOT want to get up and run?
(Yes, you're right, I'm deluding myself to make myself get up and at 'em)
I was successful for a Saturday morning having not done anything remotely athletic in so long my last 'running' shoes could be carbon dated. I ran the warm up mile without stopping. I'd like to say it was due to my drive and perseverance, but mostly it was because I was with other people and didn't want to look bad.
I was surprised with two things. 1. I finished the first mile. 2. How many times have I discounted myself in my life thinking I couldn't do something.
I often pshaw trite sayings like "When you fall off the horse you just have to get right back up again". I think you should shoot the horse for throwing you in the first place! However, I did see a girl with a shirt that said something to the effect of "You must make yourself do what you think you cannot" I think her shirt said it better, but memory, a long day and time are clouding the actual words. I like the saying though.
Off to more!
Friday, May 2, 2008
OUCH!
So today was my first day in the gym with my initial trainer period (included in membership Thank God) We'll call him "Trainer Boy" or TBoy for short.
It was really just a physical assessment, not terribly taxing except for the fast paced mile walk on the treadmill. Not so much taxing as it was early, my first day, and I had on my regular sneakers, not my nice new fangled ones (more on those gems later)
The reason this post was listed as OUCH! was the slip of the tongue that my friendly and well meaning TBoy let come out of his mouth. It was time to measure body fat composition (can you see where this is going?)
I was happy to see that we were going to use the electronic version
It was really just a physical assessment, not terribly taxing except for the fast paced mile walk on the treadmill. Not so much taxing as it was early, my first day, and I had on my regular sneakers, not my nice new fangled ones (more on those gems later)
The reason this post was listed as OUCH! was the slip of the tongue that my friendly and well meaning TBoy let come out of his mouth. It was time to measure body fat composition (can you see where this is going?)
I was happy to see that we were going to use the electronic version
and not the "pinch an inch" calipers that I detest.
I don't so much pinch an inch as much as I grab a slab. Anyway, you set in the parameters into this electronic fat-o-meter like height, weight, etc. and grab the metal handles like a steering wheel and it does it's calculations.
With all the future NBA star kids growing taller than me (at 6'7") it's odd when height ranges stop at 6'6". TBoy was calibrating the device and noticed that it would not measure me correctly
"This thing only goes up to 6'6" tall so it's going to skew your results. It's going to tell you that you're fatter than you actually are."
I love you TBoy. And no, I'm not mad at what you said... why don't you just... go to sleep.
He didn't mean anything by it, but after the assessment was over, I had scientific proof of what I already knew. It's time to get this lard ass off the couch and run me a marathon!
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