Week 16 in the books

This week I did a 6.2 mile tempo run, 3 x 1600 m repeats (including one at 8:21, a PR for me), and a 13 mile long run. Though my paced lagged a bit on the long run, I still felt pretty good about it. It was windy as heck and I still got out and ran. Overall I have felt pretty good about the marathon this week. While there's a healthy amount of respect I didn't feel at all intimidated this week. I've been reading a couple books of marathon stories, First Marathons and The Spirit of the Marathon, both by the same Editor. I have realized that while I am not at the level of some of the people in the stories, I have certainly read some stories of people who were way less prepared than I will be, and they still finished!

For those who know anything about marathon training I plan on following the FIRST (See also) training program, though I may back off on the five 20 mile runs in the plan. FIVE 20 milers seems like it may be more than necessary for a first-timer. We'll see how the first 16-18 mile runs go. Anyway, FIRST is a plan based on running fewer days (3 days per week) than traditional marathon programs, but doing so a little faster with very directed workouts (a speed session, a tempo run, and a long run each week). Additionally 2 days of non-weight-bearing aerobic cross training are required, not suggested. The idea is that you get aerobic workouts with the cross-training while allowing your legs time to heal up and stay fresh. I am really enjoying spin class, have found a great teacher with great taste in music.

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Now playing: Elvis Costello - Watching the Detectives
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26.2

So 16 weeks from today, Sunday 1 June 2008, I'll be running 26.2 miles in the Steamboat Marathon. 26.2 miles, over four and a half hours. Wow! If you would have told me 5 years ago that I would be running a marathon this summer I'd have laughed in your face.

How do I feel about all this? Some combination of excited, scared, awed, inspired, nuts, stupid, and wonderful. Typically 2 or 3 of these at the same time! I've said before that I'm an adult-onset runner. Growing up, though I played sports, I hated running. Running was punishment in most of the sports I played. That I am about to undertake such a physically demanding endeavor, voluntarily, is at times baffling. And at the same time I knew this day was coming the day I ran my first 5K, Labor Day 2006. I didn't admit it then, even to myself, but part of me knew. The runner in me, patiently waiting to be set free, knew.

My "official" training program starts tomorrow, but I've been building up base miles since early January. Distance-wise I am back where I was last summer and fall, not quite back there speed-wise. I will try and document my feelings and training experiences throughout the next 4 months in weekly blog entries. No promises though.

If you are a runner, or just want to see an inspirational film, I recommend you go check out Spirit of the Marathon on 21 February 2008. I saw this movie in it's first showing last month, it was great. Those emotions I listed above, I felt all of them at one time or another during this movie.

Lastly, after cracking 200 last November I've lost about 5 more lbs. I'd like to drop another 15 before the marathon, the training will likely help with that. But if I don't, I don't. Running is more important to me now.

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Now playing: Pink Floyd - In The Flesh
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Onederland

This past week I officially weighed in at less than 200 lbs - known as Onederland in the Weight Watchers community. The first digit of my weight is simply a statistic I know, but there is something more satisfying about passing "round" numbers, multiples of 10, multiples of 100. And passing a multiple of 100 is very satisfying. I have to admit that before I started WW and really for six months or so after I started I never dreamed I would see Onederland again. As I said in August, this is 20 year territory for me, freshman in college territory, it still boggles my mind ... Still, if at the end of my life I can say I "only" spent 20 years weighing more than 200 lbs I bet I'll be ahead of many.

I ran another half marathon yesterday, the Heart Center of the Rockies Half Marathon. I am not sure which is more mind boggling to me, my running half marathons or my weighing less than 200 lbs. My answer probably switches daily. I had a good race, finishing in 2:15:41.7, a pace of 10:22 per mile. That is 5:19 faster than the half in August, 24 seconds per mile faster. Maybe most impressive to me is how strong I felt even at the end of the race. And today I feel great, a little stiff, but not that much -- I even took advantage of nice weather and went biking today. Maybe most mind boggling is my excitement about training for and running a full marathon next May or June. And I bought an issue of "Triathlete" magazine the other day... The sky's the limit.

It's been a few months since I posted any pictures. I don't think I look much different now than I did in July, but here are a couple. The one is from behind only because I was actually amazed that I almost look like a skinny guy in that picture (everything's relative!), and I didn't find another picture that captured that. The pumpkins my daughter is standing by were grown by her and I in our backyard. The largest weighed 74 lbs. and together the 4 of them weighed 202 lbs., more than I do!


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Now playing: R.E.M. - Gardening At Night
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I Run

I run
Because I can
Because I couldn't
Because I wouldn't

I run
Because they do
Because you don't
Because you might

I run
And it is work
And it is fun
And it is spiritual

I run
And I finally understand
And the world is a better place

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Now playing: Led Zeppelin - Achilles Last Stand
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New Milestones

In the past few weeks I've hit a couple major milestones in my weight loss. First my BMI has dropped below 30. This is significant because a BMI of 30 or more is considered obese. While I have thought of myself as obese in awhile, I guess it is official now. Now I'm simply overweight. The second milestone I've hit is losing 40% of what I weighed when I walked into Weight Watchers in March 2005. That's right, I'm 60% of the man I used to be. But so much more. At 203 lbs I am very close to breaking into "Onderland". It will take a good couple weeks to get there by my summer goal of my birthday (the 28th), but if not by then it will be soon after. This is territory I haven't seen since my freshman year in college (1987). I've also seen several people this summer who I hadn't seen in several years, and few of them recognized me. That's pretty fun.

Last weekend I ran another half marathon, The Georgetown to Idaho Springs Half Marathon. It was a beautiful course up at 8000 ft in the Colorado mountains. Initially the thought of running down an interstate frontage road was kind of boring but the course was really pretty. About 1/2 was on dirt roads and paths and nearly all of it was far enough from the interstate you didn't even notice the cars. I was shooting for a finish of 2:17:30 (10:30 / mile) . I finished in 2:21:05 (10:46 / mile). Still a personal record by 6.5 minutes and 11 minutes faster than my first half marathon. I will run at least one more half marathon this fall, but haven't decided on which one yet. Or maybe I'll look for a duathlon -- I've been riding my bike a lot lately. I also need to find some time to get up another mountain. Our plans started grand and we kicked Mt Massive's butt, but we haven't gone out for another yet.

I'll have to look for some pictures. I'm sure my wife has taken some.
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Now playing: Steely Dan - Kid Charlemagne
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