Living in the Limelight

They say everyone has their fifteen minutes of fame. This may be mine. I think I mentioned being selected as a Finalist in the Weight Watchers Inspiring Stories of the Year contest last year. I wasn't a Grand Prize winner, so no trip to New York. But some fame has come my way nonetheless. In an effort to drum up first of the year business Weight Watcher's PR firm sends out briefings to media outlets regarding local people who have had success. As a finalist in their contest my story was pushed towards the Colorado media. I have had requests for a newspaper interview, 2 radio interviews, and 3 TV interviews in the past couple of weeks. I was caught a little off-guard by this, and am not a limelight kind of guy, but did agree to do all but one of the radio interviews. I've now done all but one of the TV interviews, and they haven't been as bad as I thought they would -- meaning I wasn't uncomfortable doing them, which I thought I would be. I suppose the interviewers are good at helping you not feel that way. I especially enjoyed doing the newspaper interview. It was a very relaxed conversation at a coffee shop one evening. The longer duration of this interview helped me realize all that has gone into this over the past almost four years now.

My spring and summer racing plans are starting to shape up. I've decided on the Colorado Marathon on 3 May, which runs down a beautiful course in the Poudre Canyon and ends in downtown Fort Collins. I've also decided to do a triathlon, aiming for the Loveland Lake to Lake Triathlon on 20 June. It's an olympic distance tri, 1.5K swim, 30 M bike, and 10K run. I've got to learn how to swim that far -- it will be the hardest part. If I can get out of the lake I'm home free. I'll pick up some shorter races along the way, the Horsetooth Half Marathon in April for sure, the Bolder Boulder 10K on Memorial Day, and probably at least one 5K around Saint Patrick's Day. I'm probably nuts, but know I will enjoy every bit of it, the races and the training.

My weight has crept up a bit, but is still low enough that Weight Watchers meetings are still free. I've weighed in under my Lifetime weight for 9 straight months now. It seems almost silly that I once was more worried about maintaining my loss than losing in the first place. It's all in the mindset, I think. If you think you can go back to eating like you used to, you'll start weighing like you used to. In other words, nothing changes - there is no finish line. And I'm OK with that.

Lastly, a good quote I came across late last year:

Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man. -- Benjamin Franklin

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Now playing: Rush - Limelight
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Who's that guy?

I have received a lot of funny looks when showing my old driver's license to people as the picture did not look like me. Nobody declined me anything, butI decided I should get a new one before voting earlier this month just in case. It seems almost obligatory to post "before and after" driver's license photos, so mine are included below. The before is from 2002, I was probably around 300. The after is 2008, at 180. The poor quality of the current photo isn't my fault, it's that bad on my license as well

My weight has been fluctuating up and down, a little more up than down, lately. Still at a weight I can live with but not as low as I'd like it to be. As I sit down and make fitness plans for the winter months losing some more weight is going to be part of that too. I want to run a lean and mean marathon next spring!

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Now playing: KUNC (NPR Radio Stream)
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sub-2 Hours!

I ran my first half marathon in 2:31:56, a pace of 11:35 seconds per mile, about 18 months ago. Not too long after that I decided I wanted to run a half marathon in less than 2 hours. At the time I had been running for 6 months and my speed had picked up tremendously, I had taken 2.5 minutes off my 5K pace in those 6 months so I figured it was just a matter of time and work, but a sub-2:00 half was going to happen sooner rather than later. Afterall, I had just started doing speedwork for the first time, minutes were just waiting to fall off my time. I was naive then.

I realized pretty quickly that it wasn't going to be as easy as I thought. By the end of last year I ran a 2:15, and a 2:09 this past spring. As mid-summer approached I decided to target the Heart Center of the Rockies Half Marathon for my sub-2:00 race. I'll leave out the gory details of my training, but suffice it to say that some runs I had it, some I didn't. I was 75% sure I couldn't maintain the 9:09 pace needed to break 2:00 for 13.109 miles. But that 25% kept me working. Here's my race report.

Heart Center of the Rockies Half Marathon
Saturday 01 Nov 2008

It was a perfect day for a race. The temperature was around 50°F at the start, maybe 60°F by the end, the sun was shining, there was no wind. I was happy with my taper, my legs were feeling quite strong the previous several days, I beefed up on carbs the previous night, and stayed out of the kids Halloween candy (within reason ;-). Oh, and I was well hydrated as evidenced by 3 trips to the bathroom during the night Friday.

I ran with a guy from work and a lady he knows. The guy from work could have gone faster, but we both appreciated his running with us and we both set PRs today. It certainly helped me to have someone to run with the whole way - when solo it seems easier to give yourself permission to slow down a bit when the going gets tough. Today I just ran with the other two, hardly glancing at my pace on my GPS. I've run with Frank, the guy from work a few times these past few weeks and it was these runs that convinced me sub-2:00 was possible. They were some good tempo runs in the 6 mile range, all about the pace we ran today or bit faster. The thing about those runs is that I just got behind Frank and a couple other fast guys at work and held on, not paying attention to pace until we were done, then saying "wow, I didn't know I could run that fast". There really is something to be said about Seaweed's comments on giving yourself permission to run faster. Interestingly, a month ago I accpeted that sub-2:00 wasn't likely and would probably have to wait until April. I think this lack of pressure and the confidence from recent tempo runs allowed me to relax and run a good race.

I didn't run negative splits, so maybe could have run a tiny bit smarter, but I think I did pretty well. Miles 1-8 were all sub-9:00 miles, ranging from 8:40-8:59. Miles 9-13.1 I was slowing a bit, but not a ton. All but one of those were between 9:00 and 9:10. Mile 12 was the toughest at 9:20. My kick at the end was a gradual speed up of maybe 20 seconds a mile for the last 0.5 mile or so, in other words I didn't have a ton left at the end, I left it all on the course. It certainly is fun to be up in the middle of the pack during the race, a relatively new experience for me on races of this distance. I am used to being "lonely" the last 3 or 4 miles but there are a LOT of finishers in a half between 1:50 and 2:10. Finishing 153rd out of 297 finishers I can say I'm a mid-packer now.

This was my sixth half marathon, my finishing time of 1:56:40 is a PR. My previous half PR was 2:09 last April, though on a VERY hilly course and no taper. Think 600 ft of climb in the first 2 miles and a week after a 20 mile run. My first half was 2:31:56 in April '07, 18.5 months ago. That was a watershed day for me as it changed my outlook on myself, my weightloss, and my fitness. But that day I never dreamed that this time was possible. Who knows what the future holds. My buddy Frank was talking about taking up ultrarunning, in my oxygen deprived state at mile 8.5 I thought this was a good idea.

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Worldwide Festival of Races

The Worldwide Festival of Races is the brainchild of SteveRunner, author of the Phedippidations. It's a virtual race, think globally, run locally. The race is run around this past weekend, as part of another organized race or on a course of your own design. The idea is just to run together as one global community. There were 5K, 10K, and Half Marathon options. The people behind the race describe it better than I, so click on the link above if you want more info.

On the Weight Watchers Guys on a Diet message board we organized a team of 25 runners. Some of us were experienced runners, many were running their first ever races at the distances they signed up for. I am quite proud of Team GoaD Racing as many of them completed a feat they did not think possible when I brought this concept to their attention last spring. Way to go, guys!

My "race" was really a training run for the Heart Center of the Rockies Half Marathon I am running on 2 November this year. I ran a 2:10:54, just about 2 minutes slower than my half marathon PR. I was happy with this time for 2 reasons, first I ran at a training intensity rather than a race intensity. And second I had tightness in my left Achilles at about mile 10. Against my runner instincts ;-) I slowed down for the last 2 miles by about 90 seconds a mile to give the Achilles a break. Through 11 miles I held a consistent 9:45 pace which would have been a PR for me, and is 15-30 seconds off my anticipated pace for the upcoming race.

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Now playing: Runners Roundtable Podcast: Steve, Toni, Nigel, Nik, Dan & Zen Runner... - Episode 4: John Ellis and Matt the Dump Runner
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Been Awhile

I realized I haven't posted anything here since the marathon. Not that I expect anyone to hang on any words here, but thought I should post an update. I've had a great summer, the highlight spending 9 consecutive days in a tent on vacation with my extended family in the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks this summer.

On the running front I definitely backed off my mileage after the marathon. After posting 100+ mile months in April and May I logged 64 miles in June and only 29 in July. Though my running miles backed down, my cycling jumped way up. I cycled 75-100 miles a week during those months and have become quite interested in cycling. In August I started ramping up for a half marathon on 1 Nov and a trail race I ran a couple weeks ago so I'm back at around 70 miles per month now. I'm hoping to average 20/wk from here to the end of the year which will put me at 1000 miles for 2008 and give me a good base for a spring 2009 marathon, maybe the Colorado Marathon the first week of May.

I mentioned I ran a trail race a couple weeks ago, the Sombrero Trail Race in Estes Park. It was only 4.5 miles, but had lots of uphill in it. I beat my goal time by 4.5 minutes. I had a blast at the race (and finished in the top 20% of the field!) and more importantly thoroughly enjoyed trail running this summer. Next year I'd like to do a half or full marathon on the trail. It is truly a different experience than running on the road and something I'd like to do a lot of in the future. Maybe someday I'll be one of those ultrarunner nutjobs you read about!

On the weight front I've basically maintained my weight from marathon time. I've been down as much as 5-7 lbs from the marathon, but have been up a few at times too. I'd like to drop another 10-15 and hope to do so before my spring marathon.

On the Weight Watcher's front I have some exciting news. WW runs a contest each year called the "Inspiring Stories of the Year" contest. You submit an essay (or video recording) and it is judged mostly on the merit of how inspiring it is. I submitted the essay. Of 1500 entries I was one of 17 entries chosen to be a finalist! I won a Macy's gift card and am in the running for a grand prize which is a trip to NY for a photo shoot, a night out on the town, a feature on the WW website, etc. I'm not sure when we'll find out these results. I've included my essay below.

There is no finish line”

I turned the final corner and had 1.5 miles to go. Thoughts and emotions were racing through my mind. I remembered being 18 and fairly athletic. I remembered being 36 and unable to keep up with the guys on my softball team anymore. A concert where walking from the parking lot to the amphitheater took me so long I missed several songs from my favorite band. I remembered swollen legs and difficulty getting up off the couch.

I remembered being scared while walking into the local Weight Watchers center to learn how to lose weight for the first time in my life. I remembered being amazed at how low a healthy weight was. I remembered deciding I wanted to just be a “normal fat guy” instead of a “big fat guy”. I definitely remembered the first compliment I received after beginning to live healthier. I remembered thinking this was actually not too difficult. I remembered walking, then hiking, and then climbing mountains. I remembered realizing I was then a “normal fat guy” and also realizing that was no longer enough.

I remembered that I used to be outgoing, an extrovert. I remembered not realizing how much I had changed. I remembered the self confidence coming back, the extrovert in me peeking back out. I remembered my meeting leader and the friends I have at our WW meeting. I remember the friends I have on the Guys on a Diet message board and how they all wished me luck in this race. I remembered the man who told me I didn't look like I belonged at Weight Watchers on the day I first weighed below my goal weight. I remembered the wonderful celebration at my meeting the day I reached lifetime status. I remembered the easy stretches, and the hard stretches.

I remembered the first step I ran. The first 5K race. The first half marathon. I remembered the day I decided I would run a marathon. I remembered the long slow runs in the cold, wind, and snow. I remembered the short fast runs in the heat. I remembered never wavering in my resolve to run this race.

I then passed the 26 mile mark and snapped back to the present as I saw my wife and children up ahead. 285 yards and I'll have a medal around my neck. But I won't be finished. This is for life, there is no finish line.