Dawn of a New Day

I've had my ups and downs.  My "good days" and my "cheat days" with both food and exercise.  I've gone extended periods of eating no meat, only to binge eat at some later date. I've ran 135 days straight, only to slack off for months and loose all the improvements.  What is it about life that causes these roller coaster dips and climbs?  My answer... That's life!  We all go through the extreme joy of the ups and the dark sadness of the downs.  It's inevitable.

I'm talking today about the nutrition/exercise/rest roller coaster.  Two and half years ago, I was coasting along.  Running regularly, and not worrying too much about my diet.  Then fatigue set in.  It hit me like a Noland Ryan fast ball, hard and direct.  After being dupped into hours upon hours of being attached at the nose to a hose (CPAP for central sleep apnea), I hit the deep end and took great strides in changing my diet.  It paid off in a big way.  My energy levels returned.  My blood pressure went down, and I grew leaps and bounds in my running.  That is, until about ten months ago.  Relationship issues forced a change in my lifestyle and old habits settled back in.  The waist size grew, the miles slowed, and before I knew it, I was back in feel-like-crap-ville.

I wouldn't say I've hit bottom, but I've hit the "enough is enough" to motivate me off the long slow downhill.  It's time to uphill it!

Food - I'm jumping head long into a mostly vegan food base.  It worked before, it will work again.  I keep saying that to myself.

Exercise - It's time to get over my setbacks of late.  I extreme-ed it last year with races and frequency, then crashed down to nil.  I've got the Army Ten Miler in October, year number five.  I'm putting a simple goal.  Make it better than last year.  It's a lofty goal, as I rocked it hard last year, but I know I can do it, and will.

Sleep - I'm lucky in that I rarely suffer from insomnia.  Where I suffer is that I stay up too late doing meaningless shit.  New rules... 10:00 pm bed time.

Blog - The Runner's Bug has been neglected.  Time to put a stop to it.  I missed writing quite a few race reports last year, causing my blogging motivation to plummet.    I'm in  a new life and a blog renovation is in order.  Time to kick myself in gear!

Here's to the dawn of a new day!

Cheers!!!

Ultramarathon #4 Is In The Bag!

yesterday I completed the Labor Pains 12 Hour Endurance Run.  I had a slip which caused some leg pain, so I stopped at a 50K.  Race report to come.  I know!! I still haven’t gotten one out for Rosaryville.  To be honest, I’m stuck with that one.  It was my first DNF, and although I felt accomplished, I still can’t grasp the words I want to use to describe it.  Either way, yesterday was one tough and successful day in the woods!

Pikesville 5K 2013 Race Report

This race went through several different plans.  I originally signed up for it on a lark, to see if I could PR my 5K times.  I'd asked Paige if she wanted to run it with me and she declined.  A couple of weeks before we left on vacation to Texas, she noticed a sign on the side of the road, and decided she really wanted to run it.  Jen won free entry through a local contest, and the plan was changed to us running it together.  At that point we had about three weeks to vamp Paige up to being ready. It didn't happen.

Vacation was busy.  While I was maintaining my running streak, Paige did not want to get in runs. She did two 1 mile runs with me, and she really didn't want to do them.  After vacation, I had a work trip (was only in Maryland for about 15 hours), and she got in one run (I think) that week.  Jen discussed with Paige that she hadn't really trained for this one, and if she really wanted to, she could drop to the one mile fun run. After a night of thinking about it, she decided to drop down.  So again, plans changed and I was back on line to attempt a PR. 

My previous run of the Pikesville 5K was in 2010, right in the middle of my run/walk phase. I completed it in 32:31.  I'm in far better shape than I was at that time, so beating my course record should be no problem.  PRing was iffy.  My previous PR was 28:33 during last year’s Red Rock 5K in Las Vegas.  I don't typically track my times, so I wasn't sure if I would have the right stuff to beat it or not.

The morning was pretty uneventful.  I got up, grabbed some fruit to eat, and headed to the race.  Paige was coming with her dad, Jen and Connor were going to a baseball game after, so they drove separate.

We all met up, and prepared for the race.  I wished Paige good luck and headed off to the start. Soon we were off.  The race day weather was hot and humid, we were right smack in the middle of a heat wave. It took its toll on many runners that day.  

I was moving well.  Water bottle in hand, I flew past the aid station and hit the turn around.  The heat and humidity was getting to me.  I decided to take a quick break and catch my breath shortly before two miles.  The course is not difficult, but the back side does have a slow gradual hill.  Before cresting it, I chose to take another short break, combined, they equaled about a minute.  After my second break, I kicked it into gear, passing Paige and her dad about the 3 mile mark.  She was done and enjoying a post-race snack. No time to chat, I was heading for the finish line.  Rounding the final corner, I made my break and flew past several runners, hitting the finish line in 27:10.  A PR by 1:23!  The heat wave was tough, but I pushed past it and kicked ass!  

In typical Runners Bug fashion, I couldn't leave well enough alone.  About an hour after finishing the race, I was out at Soldiers Delight, where I tacked on an additional 5.7 mile trail run in the dead heat of the day. 

All told, it was an awesome day for running!  

As a side note, Paige commented that she wished she ran the 5K instead.  Apparently she kicked butt on the one miler and was one of the first to finish!  Yay!!

Yup, today's Rosaryville 50K did not go as planned.  I'll get a race report out soon (After I get the Pikesville 5K report), but for now, there were two factors that caused it.  One, the weather, heat and humidity were terrible.  More importantly was Two, my stomach.  I woke up this morning with some nasuea and couldn't stomach eating much all day.  No fuel means dead in the water at some point. For me, it was at 25 miles!  More to come....

State of Affairs

I've totally neglected this blog. It's not that I don't have much to say, I've just been so focused elsewhere in life, that I've not taken the time to sit down and blog. It's so much easier to bang out a quick sentence or two on Facebook than it is to write out a full post.  That being said, I want to make a concerted effort dedicate time here.  After all, I firmly believe that this blog was a big contributor to my success with making running a lifetime change. Without it, I would have likely ran for a few months, then petered out for a few more years, as I always did. 

Ok, so where are things.  My last post was an agenda for this years races.   A couple of changes.  I will not be running the Martha Moats Baker Memorial 50.  I intended to, but it falls on the same day as another race, which I'm volunteering at.  Secondly, I added in a 5K, which I ran two days ago.  Race Report to follow.  :)

On June 15th, I volunteered at a nighttime 50 miler.  It was quite awesome.  Staying up all night, helping runners refuel at the far aid station, and joking around with a good group of people.  I'll definitely be volunteering more!

At the end of July, my family took a vacation to OK/TX.  While in my hometown (Ardmore, OK),  I lead a trail run with a group of 14 people.  I just wanted to get in a decent long run while on vacation, and posted about it on Facebook.  A friend from high school, who runs a nutrition and fitness store, took me up on it and had her fit class join in.  I mapped out a 10K route, then flagged it the morning of the run, giving me over 9 miles that day.  Everyone had a blast, and I think I may have some trail converts.  Hehehe!

Vacation went well, Then I hit the road to Kentucky for a week for work.  I got in a few TOUGH runs at an old favorite of mine Saunders Springs, where I ran last year.   

As mentioned earlier, I ran a local 5K two days ago.  This was going to be Paige's first 5K, but she didn't get much running in, so she decided to switch to the 1 mile fun run, leaving me free to outright run it.  I kicked ass!  I PRed by 1:23 from my Red Rock 5K last year!   Sweet!  I'll hammer out a race report soon.

Lastly, the biggest news is that as of last night, I've been on a running streak for 50 days!  That's right, I'm Streaking!  I had some minor issues at first, but I believe my body has settled in for the long haul and feel like it's stronger now.  Active recovery seems to fit well with me!  I'll write a post about it soon too!

Oh, and I have Rosaryville 50K this coming Sunday. 

Run on my friends!!