Tough run today! Lots of cold wind, hills, and wet sandy gravel. This was the longest training run of my "Two Halfs in a Month" plan. Only 2 weeks until the Flying Pig 1/2 marathon in Cincinnati, so will start tapering volume this week.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
First Post - Why I Started - Part 1
Well, here it goes! I have many thoughts running through my mind during a long run, and my thought on today's 14-miler was "I should blog about running". My goals will be to share the ups and downs of training, training tips I read about, talk about some of the cool gear out there, and speak out on other random things.
How the Journey Began
I started my journey back in October 2009. At that time my weight had ballooned to nearly 230 lbs, and my life was full of stress and poor coping mechanisms with that stress. Then, on a Saturday evening, between slices of pizza, bottles of beer, and levels of Call of Duty, I received a text message. It was my brother Andrew. The message was simple: "lets run a marathon". I nearly spit out my beer and laughed for about a minute. Sure, I had been in good shape just a couple years ago, even completing a 107 mile bike ride, amongst other bike races, but I was in NO condition to run a marathon, nor could I even imagine training for one. The most I had run at a time was 5 miles, and that was 10 years ago, and I did it just once! I had "sort-of" run for a few months each spring and fall in medical school and residency, but no more than 5-10 miles per week. I don't want to say I was too busy to exercise regularly, because that is a cop out. Some of my med school classmates had found time between classes and clinicals to train for and complete the Madison Ironman after all! I was merely lazy and in denial about my deteriorating physical health. Like most Americans these days, I like my comfort food, and love to wash it down with a tasty beverage or two. The problem was that as I became less active, my diet worsened along with it. Throw in the added stressors of having a child, moving to a new state to start a new job, and the "results" were in. I was fat. I knew it, but it took a catalyst to make a change.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone.
How the Journey Began
I started my journey back in October 2009. At that time my weight had ballooned to nearly 230 lbs, and my life was full of stress and poor coping mechanisms with that stress. Then, on a Saturday evening, between slices of pizza, bottles of beer, and levels of Call of Duty, I received a text message. It was my brother Andrew. The message was simple: "lets run a marathon". I nearly spit out my beer and laughed for about a minute. Sure, I had been in good shape just a couple years ago, even completing a 107 mile bike ride, amongst other bike races, but I was in NO condition to run a marathon, nor could I even imagine training for one. The most I had run at a time was 5 miles, and that was 10 years ago, and I did it just once! I had "sort-of" run for a few months each spring and fall in medical school and residency, but no more than 5-10 miles per week. I don't want to say I was too busy to exercise regularly, because that is a cop out. Some of my med school classmates had found time between classes and clinicals to train for and complete the Madison Ironman after all! I was merely lazy and in denial about my deteriorating physical health. Like most Americans these days, I like my comfort food, and love to wash it down with a tasty beverage or two. The problem was that as I became less active, my diet worsened along with it. Throw in the added stressors of having a child, moving to a new state to start a new job, and the "results" were in. I was fat. I knew it, but it took a catalyst to make a change.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone.
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