The San Francisco Marathon
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Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
It's been so long...
I probably don't have anyone following the blog anymore, because I haven't written in such a long time.. life gets in the way sometimes. Over the last hour or so, I came to the website and read an entry that I had at the end of last year. It basically stated all the goals that I had for this year, and how I wanted to approach my running for this year. At the time, my wife was 8 1/2 months pregnant, and I didn't know how much would change in my life with re: to running, work, etc. Well, it's been 5 months since that post, and I'm still here plugging on.... so in a nutshell this is what has happened over the last 5 months with my life:
1. Alayna, our 3rd child has entered into our lives. She will be 3 months old next week.
2. I am working quite a bit, which actually is a good thing in these tough economic times.
3. Adryana, my oldest daugther, is finishing her first year of elementary school.
4. I have run 1010 miles for the year
January: 179 miles
February: 162 miles
March: 180 miles
April: 219 miles
May: 239 miles
5. I have signed up for the San Francisco Marathon, which is July 26.
6. I have run a few races since the beginning of the year:
Wiregrass 5k: 19:30
Clearwater Half-Marathon: 1:39:45 (with a friend)
Chasco Challenge 10k: 41:27
May Classic 5k: 18:54
There you have it...
I have improved my running quite a bit, and I am training more than I thought I would have been able to at the beginning of this year. We have adjusted with our new family, and life is good... hectic... but good.
I want to continue to become a better runner, because I am realizing that I enjoy running all distances, (not just the marathon). I have gone from being one of the slower runners in the race, to usually at the top 10% of finishers in the races....and I love that feeling!!! I love coming home with medals to give my kids!!!!
I will try my best to update my blog on a weekly or 2x/month basis as I lead up to the San Francisco Marathon. This race will not be my goal marathon race for the year, because it will be a vacation for me and the family, and I don't want to feel like crap for my vacation. But, depending on how it goes, I will decide later on in the year, if I want to attempt to qualify for the Boston Marathon, which requires me to run a 3:10 marathon..... yup... 3:10, that's 7:15 seconds per mile for 26.2 miles. It sounds completely out of my league right now, but we will see how it goes.
Even though I won't be blogging minute by minute about my running endeavors, you can track every run that I do at the upper right corner of the blog. You can see all of my weekly runs, that are updated every 24 hours, and track how my runs go. That pretty much explains it all.
Oh yeah!!! One more thing... the purpose of the blog is changing. I used to blog about how all of my paces and training runs went (which can still be followed by looking at my runs)... well, now I think I want to blog about how I manage to do my training and stay active with my family life, spiritual life and work life... because that is what we all struggle with. How do you maintain a sense of balance with all aspects of life? I struggle with this on a daily basis, but I hope that some followers of the blog can find that we all struggle with the same things in so many different ways. It's hard to think that some folks actually get inspired by some of the things you do... but I get inspired by people that don't even realize that they inspire me.
1. My clients at the weight loss facility that I work at inspire me on a daily basis. Them walking 1 mile is more impressive at this point than me running 10 miles.
2. My patients at Renewal Rehab inspire me because of their determination to recover from various injuries to return to normal life.
3. My RWOL forumite friends (3:20 thread) help get my butt out of bed when I hear of their insane training schedules that they have with the same or more amount of responsibilites that I have. One of them literally got me out of bed, as she was down in my area, and ran 18 miles with me yesterday.
4. FB friends that are very active such as "K" who goes to the gym every single day and crushes out her workout sessions, and "A" who has completed 2 half-marathons despite having lupus... very impressive.
Most importantly, my family, particularly my wife who allows me to do this crazy stuff. She is my biggest fan and supporter of all.
1. Alayna, our 3rd child has entered into our lives. She will be 3 months old next week.
2. I am working quite a bit, which actually is a good thing in these tough economic times.
3. Adryana, my oldest daugther, is finishing her first year of elementary school.
4. I have run 1010 miles for the year
January: 179 miles
February: 162 miles
March: 180 miles
April: 219 miles
May: 239 miles
5. I have signed up for the San Francisco Marathon, which is July 26.
6. I have run a few races since the beginning of the year:
Wiregrass 5k: 19:30
Clearwater Half-Marathon: 1:39:45 (with a friend)
Chasco Challenge 10k: 41:27
May Classic 5k: 18:54
There you have it...
I have improved my running quite a bit, and I am training more than I thought I would have been able to at the beginning of this year. We have adjusted with our new family, and life is good... hectic... but good.
I want to continue to become a better runner, because I am realizing that I enjoy running all distances, (not just the marathon). I have gone from being one of the slower runners in the race, to usually at the top 10% of finishers in the races....and I love that feeling!!! I love coming home with medals to give my kids!!!!
I will try my best to update my blog on a weekly or 2x/month basis as I lead up to the San Francisco Marathon. This race will not be my goal marathon race for the year, because it will be a vacation for me and the family, and I don't want to feel like crap for my vacation. But, depending on how it goes, I will decide later on in the year, if I want to attempt to qualify for the Boston Marathon, which requires me to run a 3:10 marathon..... yup... 3:10, that's 7:15 seconds per mile for 26.2 miles. It sounds completely out of my league right now, but we will see how it goes.
Even though I won't be blogging minute by minute about my running endeavors, you can track every run that I do at the upper right corner of the blog. You can see all of my weekly runs, that are updated every 24 hours, and track how my runs go. That pretty much explains it all.
Oh yeah!!! One more thing... the purpose of the blog is changing. I used to blog about how all of my paces and training runs went (which can still be followed by looking at my runs)... well, now I think I want to blog about how I manage to do my training and stay active with my family life, spiritual life and work life... because that is what we all struggle with. How do you maintain a sense of balance with all aspects of life? I struggle with this on a daily basis, but I hope that some followers of the blog can find that we all struggle with the same things in so many different ways. It's hard to think that some folks actually get inspired by some of the things you do... but I get inspired by people that don't even realize that they inspire me.
1. My clients at the weight loss facility that I work at inspire me on a daily basis. Them walking 1 mile is more impressive at this point than me running 10 miles.
2. My patients at Renewal Rehab inspire me because of their determination to recover from various injuries to return to normal life.
3. My RWOL forumite friends (3:20 thread) help get my butt out of bed when I hear of their insane training schedules that they have with the same or more amount of responsibilites that I have. One of them literally got me out of bed, as she was down in my area, and ran 18 miles with me yesterday.
4. FB friends that are very active such as "K" who goes to the gym every single day and crushes out her workout sessions, and "A" who has completed 2 half-marathons despite having lupus... very impressive.
Most importantly, my family, particularly my wife who allows me to do this crazy stuff. She is my biggest fan and supporter of all.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Why Runners make good employees....
Something I found on wordpress.com
My good friend and super personal trainer Holly DiGiovine sent out an email over the weekend that struck a chord with me. Here’s some of what she had to share:
When you have a goal that is as huge as the marathon-it will “keep you honest.” It’s not like a smaller goal that you can announce and then put off or fake your way through. Once you sign up, commit months to training, and take your first step on race day-you better have done your homework.
The beauty of this is that it goes against 99% of the natural tendencies of our culture that favors gratification without effort or devotion. But is that kind of achievement ever as satisfying? Linda Hill once told me she loved the quote, “There is no glory in training, but there is no glory without training.” In no way is this more true than in running.
And business.
One thing I’ve found over the years is that many of the folks I train with (and race against) are for the most part as devoted to their jobs (if not more) as they are to running or cycling or triathlon.
Unlike participation in say, golf or softball or basketball - no offense to club/league sports - the type of determination, discipline and emotional focus that comes with training day in, day out for extremely challenging endurance events (often by yourself) tends to bleed over into people’s 9-5’s.
Whether you’re training for a marathon, a century or the Ironman triathlon, one thing you quickly find out is that there’s no room for bullshit out there on the pavement. You either do the work or you’re screwed. Politics won’t get you to the finish line. It doesn’t matter who you know or how well you can work the system. When you’re out there, every weakness bubbles up to the surface and stares you in the eye. Lack of preparation, lack of motivation, lack of dedication will all come back to bite you in the ass. there’s nowhere to hide. They will all find you and jump up on your back to stop you dead in your tracks. The choice becomes this: Do you let them stop you, or do you accept them and keep going?
You learn a lot about yourself, training for that type of event.
You learn a lot about how to break thresholds and get past your own little ego, training for events like these. When you’re tired and sore and hungry but you still have four miles to go, guess what? You still have four miles to go. How you get through these last four miles is entirely up to you. Nobody cares whether you walk those last four miles or run, or hail a cab. Nobody made you set 26.2 miles as a goal. Or 100 miles. Or 144+.
Once you’ve broken past your lack of will and learned to keep going, you are transformed. A similar thing happens to Marines during training. At some point, who you used to be before you went beyond what you thought your limitations were, before you kissed excuses goodbye, before you left all of the bullshit that stood in your mind’s way ceases to exist. You become someone else.
That someone else, the marathoner, the long distance cyclist, the triathlete, the Ironman, he or she walks into your place of work with you every morning.
We all work with two types of people: Partisans of the least amount of effort, and dedicated professionals.
The latter aren’t all marathoners or triathletes, but I have yet to meet an Ironman or marathoner who didn’t take his or her intensity and dedication to their job.
Not that there’s anything wrong with drinking a case of beer and watching sports on TV all weekend, but who you are outside of your work does have parallels with who you are when you are at work.
Something to think about.
My good friend and super personal trainer Holly DiGiovine sent out an email over the weekend that struck a chord with me. Here’s some of what she had to share:
When you have a goal that is as huge as the marathon-it will “keep you honest.” It’s not like a smaller goal that you can announce and then put off or fake your way through. Once you sign up, commit months to training, and take your first step on race day-you better have done your homework.
The beauty of this is that it goes against 99% of the natural tendencies of our culture that favors gratification without effort or devotion. But is that kind of achievement ever as satisfying? Linda Hill once told me she loved the quote, “There is no glory in training, but there is no glory without training.” In no way is this more true than in running.
And business.
One thing I’ve found over the years is that many of the folks I train with (and race against) are for the most part as devoted to their jobs (if not more) as they are to running or cycling or triathlon.
Unlike participation in say, golf or softball or basketball - no offense to club/league sports - the type of determination, discipline and emotional focus that comes with training day in, day out for extremely challenging endurance events (often by yourself) tends to bleed over into people’s 9-5’s.
Whether you’re training for a marathon, a century or the Ironman triathlon, one thing you quickly find out is that there’s no room for bullshit out there on the pavement. You either do the work or you’re screwed. Politics won’t get you to the finish line. It doesn’t matter who you know or how well you can work the system. When you’re out there, every weakness bubbles up to the surface and stares you in the eye. Lack of preparation, lack of motivation, lack of dedication will all come back to bite you in the ass. there’s nowhere to hide. They will all find you and jump up on your back to stop you dead in your tracks. The choice becomes this: Do you let them stop you, or do you accept them and keep going?
You learn a lot about yourself, training for that type of event.
You learn a lot about how to break thresholds and get past your own little ego, training for events like these. When you’re tired and sore and hungry but you still have four miles to go, guess what? You still have four miles to go. How you get through these last four miles is entirely up to you. Nobody cares whether you walk those last four miles or run, or hail a cab. Nobody made you set 26.2 miles as a goal. Or 100 miles. Or 144+.
Once you’ve broken past your lack of will and learned to keep going, you are transformed. A similar thing happens to Marines during training. At some point, who you used to be before you went beyond what you thought your limitations were, before you kissed excuses goodbye, before you left all of the bullshit that stood in your mind’s way ceases to exist. You become someone else.
That someone else, the marathoner, the long distance cyclist, the triathlete, the Ironman, he or she walks into your place of work with you every morning.
We all work with two types of people: Partisans of the least amount of effort, and dedicated professionals.
The latter aren’t all marathoners or triathletes, but I have yet to meet an Ironman or marathoner who didn’t take his or her intensity and dedication to their job.
Not that there’s anything wrong with drinking a case of beer and watching sports on TV all weekend, but who you are outside of your work does have parallels with who you are when you are at work.
Something to think about.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Treadmill Workouts...
Check these out... found them on Runner's World. I might have to use some of these soon when baby Todd comes along.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1243489102/bclid1504353741/bctid9154666001
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1243489102/bclid1504353741/bctid9152461001
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1243489102/bclid1504353741/bctid9154668001
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1243489102/bclid1504353741/bctid1382944374
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1243489102/bclid1504353741/bctid1364171464
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1243489102/bclid1504353741/bctid1373284230
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1243489102/bclid1504353741/bctid1404866445
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1243489102/bclid1504353741/bctid9154666001
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1243489102/bclid1504353741/bctid9152461001
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1243489102/bclid1504353741/bctid9154668001
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1243489102/bclid1504353741/bctid1382944374
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1243489102/bclid1504353741/bctid1364171464
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1243489102/bclid1504353741/bctid1373284230
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1243489102/bclid1504353741/bctid1404866445
Monday, February 16, 2009
Keep on keepin' on...
Sorry for not posting for awhile... I'm trying to get caught up with everything, and with the baby on the way soon... everything has gotten side tracked. Anyways, everything is all good, and I am keeping up with my running fairly consistently. I have done two races for the year so far... a half marathon in Clearwater and a 5k in Wesley Chapel. The half marathon might have been my most enjoyable race ever, because everything came so easy to me and I was pacing someone else... so I wasn't giving it full effort, but it is something that I said I wanted to do at the end of last year... just run to run.... not always have to race. The 5k brought me a new PR, 19:30, and that was cool. I placed 2nd in my age group. The good thing about this is that I haven't been focusing on my speed at all. I have just been running easy for the most part, and I was able to still pull out a great time. So, basically that's it.... I am running at least 40 miles a week, and my goal is to maintain that mileage consistently..even when the baby comes ( I might be changing my tune in a few weeks tho :). As for upcoming races??? I don't know... I really, really want to do Gasparilla 1/2 marathon, but that is next Sunday, and if the baby hasn't come yet, I'm not doing it... Also, if the baby does come this week, I just don't know if I'm gonna be so tired that I will have a crummy race... I guess I will play it by ear. Thanks for reading.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
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