Motivated to Succeed

8:00 AM - Woke up early and went running before going to Northampton, MA with Emma. Some pain in the 5th metatarsal of my left foot. I think I have to make a cognizant effort to increase stride turnover to 180 bpm to be more effective. Also focusing on my diet. Going to try to eat small 150-250 calorie "mini meals" every 2 hours to see if that can help get my metabolism going! Feeling sluggish, but 224 lbs and I know I have gained some muscle. Hard to believe I started my first of two marathons this time last week!

Total Time: 30:00 Total Distance: 3.05 miles Average Pace:  9:50/mile

2:45 PM - Slept like a baby last night. Got up and helped with some chores around the house. Laundry, sweeping, clothes, etc. Drove to Albany to meet Mom, Jonn, and Harry and swap Harry's wallet for my laptop charger. Can't believe how tall Harry's getting. Loved seeing Jonny's Morgan Spurlock-esque mustache! Came home and went on the treadmill. Concentrated on trying to land on my midsole and getting my stride rate up to 180 bpm. It is a tough thing to do. I think if I do at least 1-2 of these type runs a week though my feet will get stronger. Feeling pretty good, despite only being one week out from the double marathons. Sending in some registrations and such later tonight/tomorrow for races and then have to make sure I start booking some hotels! Virtually no pain. Been listening to the second book in the Hunger Games Trilogy. I'm addicted to Katniss and Peeta and Gale!

Total Time: 49:24 Total Distance: 5 miles Average Pace:  9:53/ mile

7:20 PM - Poor night's sleep last night. Went to bed around 9pm, only to wake up to Lizzy bopping me in the face at 1:30am. She was really restless. Maybe she's going through adolescence? After all she IS a 10.5 month Saint after all! Couldn't fall asleep for the life of me. 3am came and went and then about to fall asleep at 4am and the cat this time jumped on my head. Ugh! Turned off alarms and salvaged a 15-20 min "cat" nap, no pun intended, before dragging myself out of bed.

Interesting day at school. Kiddos made me laugh a few times. Last four days with the 7th graders and then back to 6th graders. Ended up hopping on the treadmill after Emmy made a really nice dinner with black beans, coconut rice, grilled plantains/bananas and a mango/onion/cilantro salsa. Really yummy! (and healthy too!)

Ate well today. Raw oatmeal w/ raisins and sugar in the raw for breakfast, two apples for lunch with a chobani yogurt and a light n' fit yogurt. Just got to keep drinking water to stay full! Need to lose those 25 pounds!

Total Time: 48:00 Total Distance: 5.02 miles Average Pace: 9:33/ mile 

7:00 PM - Got through the day. When I got home, had a sandwich and then spent some time with Emm. Drove her to the library to pick up the third book in the Hunger Games series. I am still on book 2. I love them! Dare I say new favorite book series? Got on the treadmill to sweat out some miles. Felt pretty good. I really need to make a concerted effort on my diet. I have done well on the beer front. Only one Guinness in the last two weeks. Need to get the snacking under control though. Have also eliminated most junk food from the "arena". I need to view it as another challenge, just like conquering the inevitable wall in an ultra. If I want to make my goal races, I need to make my goal weight. 24 more pounds to go!

Total Time: 46:23 Total Distance: 5.00 miles Average Pace:  9:16/ mile

9:00 PM - Needed a run tonight. Been stressed with work. Waited for Emm to get out of work at 7 and had a nice dinner with her and then hopped on the treadmill. She was exhausted and wanted to listen to the third book of the Hunger Games series, Mockingjay. I can't wait to get to that book. Still a little over halfway through the second book though. Watched an episode of "Coal" on Netflix. Really like that show. If you ever thought you had a hard job, check that show out. It will add some perspective and bring you back to reality. What an incredibly difficult job. Trying to work on the leg turnover for the run and my trailing left leg. It is slightly weaker and I found that I am running awkwardly on that foot. I think I got to get off the treadmill this weekend and get a long run in at Taconic. That may help. In any event, did first 2.5 miles at 9:30 pace, and picked it up each .25 until the end. Did the last quarter in 5:20-5:30 pace. Felt good to go fast, as Rick Bobby would say!

Total Time: 44:00 Total Distance: 5 mi Average Pace: 8:48/ mile 

11:00 AM - Had a great run at Loumar with Emmy. Brought Lizzy but she started barking and a lady thought that she had been stuck under a car and came to her rescue, only to find we had tied her to the inside of the car. The loop is .29 or so, and every 3 minutes when we came around, Lizzy started barking which in turn ended up starting a chorus of canines around the neighborhood. Emm went ahead and jogged her the mile or so home and then came back. We decided with the nice day to ditch the long run and go hiking instead.

Total Time: 45:00 Total Distance: 5 miles Average Pace: 9:00/ mile

1:00 PM -  Hiked Monument Mountain with Emmy - went running. What a great day and view! Some snow/ice, made for a tricky descent. Ended up driving around after getting a coffee/chai tea at Riverbend Cafe, and eventually went to Koi to get Chinese food. Absolutely lovely! Finished the afternoon finishing up the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy. Couldn't ask for a better afternoon than today!

Total Time: 52:00 Total Distance: 3.25 miles Average Pace:  16:00/ mile

Who said fat men can't run? Hopped on Satan's highway and did the first miles in 9:00 pace. Then sped up to 8:34, then progressed to 7:50, 7:30 and tried to hold on for the last mile. Felt really great. I needed that run. Hoping to get some quality longer runs in in the coming weeks. Trying hard to get miles in with work is tough!

Total Time: 38:xx Total Distance: 5 miles Average Pace: 7:45/ mile 

Ran an easy 3 and a quarter miles today in 28, good for average pace of 8:34 a mile. Sweat does the body good!

Nothing like sweating on Satan's Highway. Had to get some stress out. Angry and upset. But it was good fuel for the run. Did 1 mile at 9:20 pace and then did 4 x .5 mile repeats at 6:55 pace with .25 at 10:00 pace recovery between each. Cooled it on down to the end. Need to do a long run tomorrow.

Went to Boston with Emmy and saw "The Hunger Games" with Missy, Kara and Ian. Was nice to meet Ian for the first time. Really nice to see Missy's apartment which I haven't seen since the first weekend she moved in. Feel very fortunate to have a couple close friends, even if I have stolen them from Emmy. Didn't get runs in because got home late Sunday night at about 8pm. Too tired. But it was a really fun weekend!

Ran at 15% incline after work for 25:00. Ended up running a total of 1.75 miles. Felt great afterwards and was surprised that I didn't feel any soreness A really great run! Good for sweating.

Went for a relaxing run after work and started reading Geoff Williams's C.C. Pyle's Amazing Foot Race again. Read the first forty pages really quickly. It's amazing to think about what folks were willing to do for a little bit of money and a smaller bit of frame. Sometimes I dream about being Ukelele Jake and just jumping on the bandwagon and going where the winds carry me.

Total Time: 1:00:00  Total Distance: 6.03 miles Average Pace: 9:57/ mile 

1:00 PM - Emma had to work 8:30 - 7:00 today. I hopped on the treadmill after getting some veggies to make a casserole dish for dinner. Watched a couple episodes of "Intervention", and then contented myself to reading the next 60 pages of Geoff Williams's book. I really like this book.

Here is one of my favorite parts of the book because I think things haven't really changed. People try to exploit something that they think can benefit them only to have it blow up in their face.

"In another instance, Pyle's advance men came into one town - probably in Arizona - drumming up support and interest in the race before the runners came through. They mentioned the names of some of the runners to one of the newspaper editors, who perked up when he heard about Phillip Granville. "That is rather coincidental," the editor said. "He is Canadian, and so am I. His name is Granville, and by jove, so is mine. I wonder if it could be....

The editor guessed that Granville might be a cousin, and Pyle's men didn't dissuade him. Before the race, the editor wrote a lot of articles about Granville, giving him a ton of publicity and making it seem that he was the finest athlete in all the land, which was not a wholly outrageous statement. Granville, the editor, bragged to his friends that Granville the runner was his cousin. After whipping the town into a frenzy, the editor stood with a group of his friends as the runners came through, anxiously waiting to welcome his would-be relative."

"The editor, who was white, was unaware that Phillip Granville was black, an Oxford-educated Canadian born in Jamaica. It was never recorded exactly what happened when everyone saw Granville run through the town..." (page 104) 

Total Time: 2:28:36 Total Distance: 15 miles Average Pace: 9:54/ mile