Cross post: Wanted to share
I know I haven't been around much lately, I spend most of my online time over on the fitness and exercise board. I see a lot of new faces over here, and it was brought to my attention that I might want to share this over here as well.
The Men's board is where I started here with O.H. it provided me with a lot of insight and guidance when I first started this process. For those of you who were here then, I want to say thank you. For those of you who are new, I want to say Hello, and encourage you to ask as many questions and get as much help and support as you need from those old timers who are so generous with their time. They really helped.
I want to thank my wife and son for sacrificing all the time they have that has allowed me to train and race. Without their support, I never could have done this.
I want to say thank you to all of you who supported and encouraged me. You were right, I can do it. When I started I was 441 pounds, today I am down to 190 pounds and I am running and biking further than I would normally drive my car. I want you to know that YOU CAN DO IT TOO if that is what you want. This journey while it has not been easy, has been worth every minute.
I also want to thank my best friend Kevin for being there to see me off on my run start this morning. He got up and came out in the cold foggy morning to cheer me on! And thank you to his wife Mary Ann for coming out to cheer me on at the finish.
This was my first 1/2 marathon and 5 miles further than I have ever run before.
Today I completed the Healdsburg 1/2 marathon http://www.eventswithsole.com/
I had several goals for this race:
Sign up
Train
Show up
Run
Don't stop no walking outside the aid stations
Average better than 12 min miles
I got to the race at about 6:00 a.m., walked around for a couple minutes, then decided it was too cold for that. I walked back to my car and waited until about 20 minutes to start time. Made my way over to the restrooms. The line was impressive. It took me longer to get to the front of the line than it did to run my first 2 miles.
I got to the starting line just as they were counting it down. Once the race started, it took me a couple minutes before I crossed the timing mat to begin my race. I didn't even look at my watch to check my pace as it felt like we were going nice and slow. Especially since everyone was all bunched up. At the first mile I looked at my watch and noticed that my heart rate was up in the 160's, it's never that high on my training runs, so I attributed it to the excitement. I looked at my pace and it was withing the range that I had set for myself, so I really had no explanation for the heart rate. At mile 2 I looked at the watch again and then I realized that the pace I was looking at was the average pace, not the current pace. My current pace was over a minute faster than what I normally run. So much for looking at the wrong readout on the watch. When I realized my mistake I tried to dial it back a bit.
I had been considering this as my plan of attack for the day. Run 3 miles walk the distance of the aid station. You see I haven't mastered walking and chewing bubble gum yet, and the act of actually eating and drinking while I run is close to suicidal. So in total there were 4 fuel breaks, probably totaling less than 1/4 mile when it was all said and done. There was never a stop because I was too tired, and never a stop or thought of quitting.
There were aid stations approximately every 3 miles give or take a few hundred yards as the roadside allowed for setup of the station. Mile 3, I slowed up enough (walked) just long enough to drink a mixture of hammer gels/water and take a swig of powerade to wa**** down. Then right back to running. Between the 3 and 6 mile aid stations it was constant rolling hills. The hill climbs sure take a lot out of you, and you never seem to make up the time going downhill that you lost going uphill. My pace up the hills was 2-3 minutes slower than it was on the flats.
Mile 6 comes along and my hip starts to hurt. Right up front at the top of the leg. I'm not stopping to stretch it out, I know that if I stop i'll never get started again. I decided to pull out the headphones and drown out the pain with a combination of heavy metal/ militray running cadence and some audio clips from previous Ironaman events. I also found a guy running at the same pace I was. We didn't talk, but we ran stride for stride for a couple miles until the turn off where the full marathon runners had to head off onto their side trip. Apparently this guy was here to put in some longer mileage today.
Mile 8 or so someone had tacked up signs to the telephone poles. U. R . Doing IT and distance runners have no boundaries. It's amazing but those 2 little signs really helped. 8 miles was the furthest I had ever run without stopping before, so everything beyond this was uncharted territory for me. Mile 9 was a big uplift. There was a guy standing on the side of the road right before the aid station clapping, encouraging, and handing out high 5's. That high 5 was good for one more mile. Someone must have a sick sense of humor, because they thought that miles 9.5-10.5 would be a good place to drop a mountain. I know it wasn't really a mountain, but at this point it sure felt and looked like one to me.
By the time I got to the mile 12 aid station, the hip pain was completely gone, but it had been replaced by 2 calf muscles that were unhappy and feet that felt like every step was barefoot and on a sharp rock. I was actually considering walking to within distance of the finish line and then running. My feet and legs were killing me. Just then this guy ran past me, turned around and said, come on it's only one more mile. You are so close. I finished my drink and started running. Just that little bit of encouragment saved the day. I was still within my plan, hadn't walked anywhere except the aid station and then only for drinks and fuel.
That last mile was the shortes mile of my life. I really don't remember any of it until I got to the last 100 yards or so. I felt like I was actually running to the finish. No shuffling, no jogging. The arms were pumping and my speed was increasing.
While I don't think I will ever be fast enough to win my age group or to qualify for a world championship, today I know I can go the distance.
Happy Birthday to me!!!!!!!!!
By the way, today I scored a
Lazer Tardis Aero helmet,
A new tire for my bike
and part of my entry fee to next years vineman 70.3
The Men's board is where I started here with O.H. it provided me with a lot of insight and guidance when I first started this process. For those of you who were here then, I want to say thank you. For those of you who are new, I want to say Hello, and encourage you to ask as many questions and get as much help and support as you need from those old timers who are so generous with their time. They really helped.
I want to thank my wife and son for sacrificing all the time they have that has allowed me to train and race. Without their support, I never could have done this.
I want to say thank you to all of you who supported and encouraged me. You were right, I can do it. When I started I was 441 pounds, today I am down to 190 pounds and I am running and biking further than I would normally drive my car. I want you to know that YOU CAN DO IT TOO if that is what you want. This journey while it has not been easy, has been worth every minute.
I also want to thank my best friend Kevin for being there to see me off on my run start this morning. He got up and came out in the cold foggy morning to cheer me on! And thank you to his wife Mary Ann for coming out to cheer me on at the finish.
This was my first 1/2 marathon and 5 miles further than I have ever run before.
Today I completed the Healdsburg 1/2 marathon http://www.eventswithsole.com/
I had several goals for this race:
Sign up
Train
Show up
Run
Don't stop no walking outside the aid stations
Average better than 12 min miles
I got to the race at about 6:00 a.m., walked around for a couple minutes, then decided it was too cold for that. I walked back to my car and waited until about 20 minutes to start time. Made my way over to the restrooms. The line was impressive. It took me longer to get to the front of the line than it did to run my first 2 miles.
I got to the starting line just as they were counting it down. Once the race started, it took me a couple minutes before I crossed the timing mat to begin my race. I didn't even look at my watch to check my pace as it felt like we were going nice and slow. Especially since everyone was all bunched up. At the first mile I looked at my watch and noticed that my heart rate was up in the 160's, it's never that high on my training runs, so I attributed it to the excitement. I looked at my pace and it was withing the range that I had set for myself, so I really had no explanation for the heart rate. At mile 2 I looked at the watch again and then I realized that the pace I was looking at was the average pace, not the current pace. My current pace was over a minute faster than what I normally run. So much for looking at the wrong readout on the watch. When I realized my mistake I tried to dial it back a bit.
I had been considering this as my plan of attack for the day. Run 3 miles walk the distance of the aid station. You see I haven't mastered walking and chewing bubble gum yet, and the act of actually eating and drinking while I run is close to suicidal. So in total there were 4 fuel breaks, probably totaling less than 1/4 mile when it was all said and done. There was never a stop because I was too tired, and never a stop or thought of quitting.
There were aid stations approximately every 3 miles give or take a few hundred yards as the roadside allowed for setup of the station. Mile 3, I slowed up enough (walked) just long enough to drink a mixture of hammer gels/water and take a swig of powerade to wa**** down. Then right back to running. Between the 3 and 6 mile aid stations it was constant rolling hills. The hill climbs sure take a lot out of you, and you never seem to make up the time going downhill that you lost going uphill. My pace up the hills was 2-3 minutes slower than it was on the flats.
Mile 6 comes along and my hip starts to hurt. Right up front at the top of the leg. I'm not stopping to stretch it out, I know that if I stop i'll never get started again. I decided to pull out the headphones and drown out the pain with a combination of heavy metal/ militray running cadence and some audio clips from previous Ironaman events. I also found a guy running at the same pace I was. We didn't talk, but we ran stride for stride for a couple miles until the turn off where the full marathon runners had to head off onto their side trip. Apparently this guy was here to put in some longer mileage today.
Mile 8 or so someone had tacked up signs to the telephone poles. U. R . Doing IT and distance runners have no boundaries. It's amazing but those 2 little signs really helped. 8 miles was the furthest I had ever run without stopping before, so everything beyond this was uncharted territory for me. Mile 9 was a big uplift. There was a guy standing on the side of the road right before the aid station clapping, encouraging, and handing out high 5's. That high 5 was good for one more mile. Someone must have a sick sense of humor, because they thought that miles 9.5-10.5 would be a good place to drop a mountain. I know it wasn't really a mountain, but at this point it sure felt and looked like one to me.
By the time I got to the mile 12 aid station, the hip pain was completely gone, but it had been replaced by 2 calf muscles that were unhappy and feet that felt like every step was barefoot and on a sharp rock. I was actually considering walking to within distance of the finish line and then running. My feet and legs were killing me. Just then this guy ran past me, turned around and said, come on it's only one more mile. You are so close. I finished my drink and started running. Just that little bit of encouragment saved the day. I was still within my plan, hadn't walked anywhere except the aid station and then only for drinks and fuel.
That last mile was the shortes mile of my life. I really don't remember any of it until I got to the last 100 yards or so. I felt like I was actually running to the finish. No shuffling, no jogging. The arms were pumping and my speed was increasing.
While I don't think I will ever be fast enough to win my age group or to qualify for a world championship, today I know I can go the distance.
Happy Birthday to me!!!!!!!!!
By the way, today I scored a
Lazer Tardis Aero helmet,
A new tire for my bike
and part of my entry fee to next years vineman 70.3
"What part of triathlon do I like? Well I try not to drown, I'm slow on the bike, and I detest running, but the finishing and the challenge of improving yourself is what keeps me coming back to triathlon."
Scott
The first time you do something - It's going to be a personal record!
I wa very glad to read your post and I recommend other men going to the fitness and exercise forum when they need more info on those subjects. I appreciate the efforts of your training schedule even though I can barely walk. The appreciation comes from hearing my brother about his training to run a half-marathon this year. Many of you will recall that he rode his bicycle accross the USA last summer. Well, he's 56 and due to several running injuries this year, he's going back to bicycling next year with his doc's recommendation.
I'm really impressed with your success. There are a few men who actually become weekend athletes and train throughout the week. Many more will never achieve that level of physical activity but they can strive to be more active and use you as an inspiration.
I'm really impressed with your success. There are a few men who actually become weekend athletes and train throughout the week. Many more will never achieve that level of physical activity but they can strive to be more active and use you as an inspiration.
Thank you for challanging yourself and for driving through to the end. It helps us to push each other (in a good way) toward the challanges we and goals we set for ourselves. Everytime I read something like this it makes me want to get back on the bike and ride somemore..."Hey, I have another half hour before dark...I may be able to get in another mile or two"...Thanks Scott
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