6 Miles

I ran my first 5k today.  It was at Northview Christian Life's Hillfest.  They kick off the festivities with a 5k run at 9:30am. 

I decided a few months ago that I would run this 5k as a training run to guage my progress prior to the 5k that I am training for at Taylor's Homecoming 5k.  My goal for Taylor's 5k is 22 minutes.  This will allow me to "qualify" for seeding in the Indianapolis Mini-Marathon in May.  This morning I was discussing with my boss and running partner that my ultimate target would be 22(7:00/m) minutes, however, I would be happy running it in 23:10(7:30/m).  If you check out my running page you will see that I ran it in 22:40(7:18/m).  Unfortunately, the Nike+ I use isn't vary accurate and it claims I only ran 3.01 miles.  IT LIES!!!  It was 3.1m(5k).  Basically, I exceeded my satisfactory goal and feel that my ultimage goal is in reach 6 weeks from now.

SIL – Hope to see you running again soon.  Wanna run the Taylor 5k with me? 

In June of 2006 Tina and I decided to try Bill Philips' Body for Life program.  I think that it worked out well for us.  We modified our eating habits and lost some weight.  It was a 12 week program that we managed get 10 in due to having to drop my BIL off at school in AZ. For the next year I struggled with motivation to get out and excersize.  It didn't seem like anything I did made any differance. 

And then I found running.  I am sure have read the posts on my experience with running.  If not, view the archives.  I started running 15 miles a week in June and am up to 17 to 20 a week right now.  Since June I have lost 10 pounds.  Unfortunately my body weight is lower so I burn less calories each day and I don't feel like eating less so I am at a plateau.  I am planning of fixing that by adding some weight training to my routine to build up my lean body mass.  This should allow me to burn more calories and remove more fat.  Weight probably won't drop that much, however; I am not worried about my weight. 

So what you were all wondering:

     BEFORE                    AFTER

In a prior blog post, ‘Waiting . . .,’ Tina mentioned a few projects that we have put on hold while we wait for our land to sell.

Here is one project she forgot to mention:

I might just do this one anyway. Good way to conserve water.

Preface:
Last night we taught The Tort how to play UNO!

Chapter 1:
After reading The Tort his bible story and praying with him he stated "You are my favorite Daddy." 

I found that flattering and said, "Thank you."  I followed it up with, "When you grow up do you want to be a daddy?"

He said, "Yes"

Of course, being the vain daddy that I am I asked "What kind of Daddy do you want to be?"

He said, "I want to be a daddy like you."  (yes, {single fist pump} my bait worked!)

"really, and do you want to have a boy?" I asked.

He said, "Yes."

Me: "What will you name him?"

"Uno" (remember the Preface?)

"Are you going to have a girl?"

"No"

"Why not?"

"Cause one is enough!"

After dinner we require our children to say "Thank you" to the preparer of the meal and to say "May I be excused."

This evening The Otter was finished with his meal so we said "Tell me mommy 'Thank you'."

He said, "Dank you".

Then we told him "Say 'May I be excused Please.'"  (Yes, of course we know he is only 9 months and can't grasp 5 word sentances.)

He said "ehhht, me-me" (Translated, "{burp}, excuse me."  He can't burp so he makes the vocal sound, ehhht) 

Tina was out for the evening so I let the Tort have ice cream.  He decided that he wanted two scoops and was very determined to make sure I gave him exactly two.  Since mom wasn't home I offered some toppings:

Me: "Would you like cool whip?"

TT: "Yes"

Me: "Would you like chocolate syrup?"

TT: "Oooh, yeah, I LIKE chocolate syrup."

Me: "Would you like ketchup?"  (he LOVES ketchup)

TT: "No, Silly Daddy, Ketchup is for chicken nuggets and vegetables."

Whew, glad we cleared that up.

Check out lolcats.

I think Betty and Shari will waste the most time.

Check out my new page titled “Running” in the links section. (White writing on blue bar.) I have links to my progress and stats on that page.

I finally got back to running today. I think I kicked my butt on that 4.4 mile run last Wed. It felt great but I really felt it for a couple of days afterword. Tried running on Friday and I felt the soreness with every step.

I took Saturday and Sunday off to recoup. Today was a good run. I ran 3 miles at an average pace of 8:19. I ran negative splits which is progressively faster miles. My splits were: 8:18, 8:08, & 7:51. We shall see what tomorrow brings. I will be running another 3 miles.

My run:

I am “training” for the Taylor Homecoming 5k in Octobor. I remember seeing them set up for that while in College and couldn’t figure out who would be stupid enought to spend their Saturday morning running if someone wasn’t chasing them. Well, I guess I am. I have a 12 week training program that I am using from www.coolrunning.com. It is a beginner program and doesn’t start for another couple of weeks. Towards the end I am going to run another 5k at one of the local churches. I am going to try and grab the same group of guys that ran the last race with me plus one of my developers who is pretending to get into a running pattern.

The jury is still out on my goal for the 5k. I say 7:30/m which would be 23:30 for the race. My boss is trying to convince me that I should shoot for 7 minute miles. I am not against it. Just not sure what shape I need for that. The spare tire needs to be deflated some. That is a shape I would prefer to be with out.

Check back often. I am hoping to learn more about this running thing. My ultimate goal is to qualify with 6 minute splits for the Mini-Half-Marathon they put on in May for the Indy 500 festival. I have to run a 5k in 18:36 to get a good starting position in the Mini. I hear that makes all the difference in the world because you don’t have to run around walkers.

On Sunday my boss called me up and asked if I wanted to run the Freedom Run on July 4th.  I have been running for the past month, 5 days a week, so I thought it wouldn't be too bad.  I run 4 miles on Saturdays so I figure the 4 mile Freedom run wouldn't be two bad. 

So, we registered on Monday.  Only, It wasn't a 4 mile run this year.  It was a 4.4 mile run.  Now, neither one of us has run longer then 4 miles before but we figure that another .4 miles couldn't be too terribly bad, right?  Besides, there were two others from the company running.  They usually run 6+ miles at a time on their long runs so we figure, if they can do it, we can too. 

Having only run for the last month I figure I am going to go out and run my own race.  Aaron, who invited me to race, doesn't run as many miles per week as me so I figure he would be a good person to run with to help pace me.  The other two, well, they have run a lot more then me so I wasn't going to run with them.  I figure they would run a much faster pace and I would not be able to keep up.  My goal? Complete 4.4 miles in under 40 minutes.  That would be a 9 minute mile pace.  That wouldn't be two bad.

At the start Aaron and I head out together.  The other two started further up in the pack and take off.  We are running at what I figure is a good pace.  I was comfortable.  We hit mile marker one and I look a the time, 7:59.  Ut-oh, we are running a minute per mile faster then what was my goal.  I was comfortable so I didn't bother to slow down.  I was running at about 85% of my MHR, wasn't feeling winded and my legs weren't tired so I kept the pace. 

At about the 1.5 mile mark I lost Aaron.  I past a gaggle of girls and he got stuck behind them.  He never caught back up and I wasn't going to wait for him.  At about 2.0 miles, Alan, who has run a mini-marathon earlier this year, was in my sights.  He was one of the ones that took off earlier in the race.  He slowed to walk and I caught up with him.  We ran together for about .5 miles until he let off the gas and I left him.  At this point I had stopped tracking my time.  I was just watching my pulse and running a consistent pace.

At the 4 mile mark I passed Tony.  He was the other one in our company that ran.  He slowed to a walk to grab water.  I just kept pushing.  I wasn't sure of my time at all but knew that I only had .4 to go.  I wasn't going to wait up for anyone.

With the end in sight I pushed my pace a bit for the last 200 meters or so I thought.  It just felt like it.  I crossed the line at the 35:04 mark.  After wondering around, resting and eating some pancakes We checked the results.  I finished first of our 4 at 35:04 which is a 7:59 pace.  I was very consistent the whole race.  Aaron brought up the rear at 36:04 so he was a minute back.  Not bad for him as he claims to be a football player and not a runner.  The other two landed in between somewhere. 

All in All, it was a very good time.  I think 3 out of the 4 of us enjoyed the race and the results.  Unfortunately Alan didn't run a strategic race, ran too hard at first, so he did not get the results he had hoped for.  I think that frustrated him.  Oh, and me crossing the line in front of him didn't help either. 

I have attached my Nike+ IPOD results here.  You will see that it shows me running 4.56 miles in 38.47 miles at a 8:30 pace.  Unfortunately I forgot to unlock the IPOD before I tried to stop it so it calculated me standing around, getting water and resting for serveral minutes after I actually finished.  Just ignore the drastic drop off at the end of the graph. 

As you can see, I ran a very consistent race. I am very pleased with my first race. Next up, 5k (3.1mi) in September. I think a 7:30 pace will be my goal.

Again?!?  What does he mean by "AGAIN"?

Today we decided to venture over to Lowes from some Jimmy Johnson saturation.  Okay, so it had nothing to do with JJ.  We just needed some home improvement supplies.  Flowers for Tina, a spool of weed-eater string for James and a smoke detector for ALL.  ( I realized last week that the smoke detector in our house was attached to the security system that is unplugged.  OOOPPPS.  Only took two years to realize that one.)

The boys were hungry and tired so they got to sit in the cart.  We checked out and loaded up the car with our supplies.  I began to walk the cart back to its intended location with both boys in the cart.  Just a little joke I like to play.  As I was walking away from the car, pushing the cart, full of boys, The Tort blurts out "Don't leave us again, Daddy." 

For the record, I have never left my sons in the cart.  Don't call child protective services.  I have taken them home with me after EVERY trip to the store.  I promise. 

Of course Tina was a little concerned with the "again" part of that statement.

The only explanation I have is that he remembers the one day I pushed the cart into the cart return and pretended to walk away.  Must have traumatized him I guess.  I didn't even walk away.  I just turned around.  And The Otter wasn't with us that time.

I guess I should be more concerned about the 'us' then the 'again.'

Thanks DAD.  Look what you've started.