I came across a local half marathon that is run on my favorite trail, the NCR Trail. What a great way to kick start some running motivation, right? Well, unfortunately it's in less than 7 weeks. I debated over it. Could I vamp up in time? After playing with some training schedules, I decided to go for it. After all, I ran a half marathon only 4 months ago. I should be fine right? I guess we'll see!
It's the 3rd Annual Back on My Feet Nikia's Nippy Nor'easter Half Marathon & Relay. Last year there were a total of 124 finishers.
While I'm not one to suck money from others, since this race is a fundraising event, they automatically created a personalize donation site. If you're feeling generous, have at it. I won't mind either way...
My Fundraising Site.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Happy 2nd Blogoversary
I'm late by a few days, but February 10th made it two years that I've been blogging about running, life, and such.
It's been a great experiment and I hope to continue to blog/run indefinitely.
Oh, and I'm thinking of signing up for another half marathon soon. I think I need a race goal to motivate me. :)
Monday, February 6, 2012
Monthly Catch-Up
If I have any readers left, welcome. It's been nearly a month of silence, so I figured I need to update everyone.
A. I've been on a CPAP/BiPAP for a month now and I'm still fighting to get affective therapy. The good news is I took to the machine easily. I have no trouble sleeping with it on, and actually find it soothing in the mornings. The unit I have tracks all my data and stores it on an SD card. The resourceful me found some software that can read this data, so I'm tracking my daily progress. Also, I'm feeling much better. I wake more refreshed, rarely take naps during the day, and overall feeling better.
Now for the bad news. It's not adequately controlling my apneas. I have central sleep apnea, meaning the somewhere along the link between my brain and lungs, the signal to breath sometimes stops. I typically have 2-3 periods of time where there is a start stop interval of about 15-20 seconds. I recently moved to a BiPAP, which is supposed to help, but thus far, it's not much better.
B. Our 10 day juice fast was condensed to a 7 day fast. It was going well and I was feeling great, but the taste of green juices started getting nauseating to both of us. I still enjoy the morning juice a few times a week, and am considering doing another 7-10 days, but modifying it with a lunch salad.
The good news, I lost nearly 10 lbs, and have only gained about 2 back since stopping the fast. I've cut out coffee/tea, fast food, and donuts. I'd say that I've been a vegetarian for about 85-90% of my meals, and many times, I'm eating vegan. I still like and have the occasional meat, but only sparingly.
The great news, my blood pressure has dropped significantly. Most of the time, I'm in a normal range, and that's with stopping the meds. Yep, I've been sans medications for nearly a month. If I have a fairly high sodium meal, then I've noticed it creep back up, but not to high numbers. I'm hoping that as I continue down this path, hopefully get the sleep apnea better controlled, and loose some additional weight, that my numbers will drop even more. Wahoo!
C. Now for the topic everyone *snickers, as I don't think hardly anyone but Jen reads this* comes here for.. running. Let's just say I've been keeping a minimum base going, and when I say minimum, I mean 1-2 runs per week. Things have been busy, it's been cold, and I've got no races on the schedule. Yup, I'm slacking it. There is no excuses, I've just been lazy.
When I do get out there, save for the cold weather, my runs have been going well. I'm still not tracking time, but I know I'm slower than normal. Mostly, my running has been leisurely jogging.
I so can not wait for spring to get here!
A. I've been on a CPAP/BiPAP for a month now and I'm still fighting to get affective therapy. The good news is I took to the machine easily. I have no trouble sleeping with it on, and actually find it soothing in the mornings. The unit I have tracks all my data and stores it on an SD card. The resourceful me found some software that can read this data, so I'm tracking my daily progress. Also, I'm feeling much better. I wake more refreshed, rarely take naps during the day, and overall feeling better.
Now for the bad news. It's not adequately controlling my apneas. I have central sleep apnea, meaning the somewhere along the link between my brain and lungs, the signal to breath sometimes stops. I typically have 2-3 periods of time where there is a start stop interval of about 15-20 seconds. I recently moved to a BiPAP, which is supposed to help, but thus far, it's not much better.
B. Our 10 day juice fast was condensed to a 7 day fast. It was going well and I was feeling great, but the taste of green juices started getting nauseating to both of us. I still enjoy the morning juice a few times a week, and am considering doing another 7-10 days, but modifying it with a lunch salad.
The good news, I lost nearly 10 lbs, and have only gained about 2 back since stopping the fast. I've cut out coffee/tea, fast food, and donuts. I'd say that I've been a vegetarian for about 85-90% of my meals, and many times, I'm eating vegan. I still like and have the occasional meat, but only sparingly.
The great news, my blood pressure has dropped significantly. Most of the time, I'm in a normal range, and that's with stopping the meds. Yep, I've been sans medications for nearly a month. If I have a fairly high sodium meal, then I've noticed it creep back up, but not to high numbers. I'm hoping that as I continue down this path, hopefully get the sleep apnea better controlled, and loose some additional weight, that my numbers will drop even more. Wahoo!
C. Now for the topic everyone *snickers, as I don't think hardly anyone but Jen reads this* comes here for.. running. Let's just say I've been keeping a minimum base going, and when I say minimum, I mean 1-2 runs per week. Things have been busy, it's been cold, and I've got no races on the schedule. Yup, I'm slacking it. There is no excuses, I've just been lazy.
When I do get out there, save for the cold weather, my runs have been going well. I'm still not tracking time, but I know I'm slower than normal. Mostly, my running has been leisurely jogging.
I so can not wait for spring to get here!
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Back in the Game!
Last night started the first night on my cpap. I felt fine this morning, but the data showed I still has a bunch of apneas. We'll see how it goes.
In other news, Jen and I have started a juice reboot. More to come, but basically we're ingesting nothing but fresh juiced fruits and veggies, and water for the next 10 days, or more. So far things are going well and I'm feeling great. Lengthy, novelesque post to come. Until then "Come back when you can't stay so long!"
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
2011 Goals Check-in
I'll be posting a more comprehensive review of 2011, but until then, here is how I measured up against my 2011 goals.
A) Complete my first marathon. Heck yeah this was a success! Not only did I complete it, I did it well and went on to complete my first half marathon too!
B) After the marathon, I would like to increase my speed. Mixed success. Shortly after the marathon, I did increase my speeds and actually ran an awesome 5K, but the second half of the year saw slowing speeds and ending at a crawl.
C) Support and encourage my wife in her running quest, and hopefully run the Army 10 Miler with her. No go. The wifey put running on hold and has instead been doing Zumba. While I can't directly support her in Zumba as I can in running, I've done what I could.
D) Run a variety of race distances. Success! I've ran my first marathon, first half marathon, first 5 miler, second 10 miler, and a 5K. Not to shabby for variety.
E) Incorporate more cross training. No go. I did little to no cross training in 2011. YUK!
F) Stay injury free. Mixed success. While I did have a couple of injuries, I've recovered from them fairly quickly by being cautious and taking the much needed time away to recover. I was able to run my first marathon and walk away with virtually no ill effects. The next day people couldn't believe I ran a marathon and was walking around just fine.
Two successes, two mixed successes, and two no gos. Not too bad for the year!
A) Complete my first marathon. Heck yeah this was a success! Not only did I complete it, I did it well and went on to complete my first half marathon too!
B) After the marathon, I would like to increase my speed. Mixed success. Shortly after the marathon, I did increase my speeds and actually ran an awesome 5K, but the second half of the year saw slowing speeds and ending at a crawl.
C) Support and encourage my wife in her running quest, and hopefully run the Army 10 Miler with her. No go. The wifey put running on hold and has instead been doing Zumba. While I can't directly support her in Zumba as I can in running, I've done what I could.
D) Run a variety of race distances. Success! I've ran my first marathon, first half marathon, first 5 miler, second 10 miler, and a 5K. Not to shabby for variety.
E) Incorporate more cross training. No go. I did little to no cross training in 2011. YUK!
F) Stay injury free. Mixed success. While I did have a couple of injuries, I've recovered from them fairly quickly by being cautious and taking the much needed time away to recover. I was able to run my first marathon and walk away with virtually no ill effects. The next day people couldn't believe I ran a marathon and was walking around just fine.
Two successes, two mixed successes, and two no gos. Not too bad for the year!
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