Week Seventeen: Wednesday

Wednesday was a seven miler. I was trying to come up with excuses not to run, but in the end my poor performance on Monday made me realize that it was necessary. I took off at 8:30, which turned out to be the best/worst idea I have ever had.

It had rained and was still very overcast when I started, so it got very dark very quickly. My original plan was to run in the park only and avoid running along the road because it was dark and I was wearing a black shirt. Maybe the navy blue pants would have been bright enough to alert a car. Somehow I doubt it.

Well, when I got to the park it was a ghost town. There was one pickup truck that left as soon as I ran by it. I thought they were going to either kill or mock me. I lucked out and they did neither.

Then I had to run through the woods. A little background; I am pretty sure that a bunch of years ago they found a headless woman dumped in there, and I remember at least one other dude who died back in there. Plus there have been a roving band of teenagers beating people with baseball bats in St. Paul. All of this made me super paranoid and convinced that I was finally going to get serial killed.

This is important because at this point I was at the two mile mark and not only was I not going to walk, I was running pretty fast. I wanted to get the hell out of there. I also decided that I would rather get hit by a car than batted or stabbed so I took the route along the road the rest of the way. Since I am writing this, you can guess that I made it out alive….or did I? The only other moment that was touchy was when my super Ipod mix brought up “Wild Boys” by Duran Duran and the lyric: “There’s Murder (rder,rder,rder) by the roadside” came up and I thought I was going to get killed on Long Lake Road.

In the end, I ran the entire seven miles. I was extremely pleased with myself. It took me 1 hour 14 minutes. Somewhere between a 10 and 11 minute mile. I really tried to pace myself better and it paid off.

Here’s the payoff for the above rambling. Weight time! When we last left our hero, he hadn’t run for two weeks and weighed in at 224 lbs.

211 lbs. Ladies and Gents. That is 13 lbs for the math challenged. That is a lot of weight, but the most important thing is that it sends me into a whole new world; the world of Overweightness. At 181-214 lbs and under I am obese, and can now classify myself as simply overweight. This means that when the local news does their weekly story on how fat Americans are, they will have to subtract one from the statistics and when they roll the stock footage of large people from the neck down, guts hanging out of shirts and large backsides, if they show me I will sue their asses.

Granted, I still have a ways to go. I am concerned some of this is because of that diet that I quit the next 30 isn’t going to come off so quickly. I am really going to keep at the eating healthy, but this running makes you hungry.

Week Seventeen: Monday

Not sure if it was the sore legs or the lack of Brother of Fat guy, but Monday wasn’t great. Went out around 7 and it was overcast but a little humid. Ran 8 minutes and gave up and walked for 2. Ran 10 minutes then walked 10. Then ran the last 15 minutes for a total of 4 miles in 45 minutes. May have also been a big meal only and hour before running. I figured four miles would be a breeze. The fact that I did it in 45 minutes makes it obvious that I am running way faster than 10 minute miles and that is why I am getting worn out. I need to figure out how to pace myself better.

Week Sixteen: Saturday

The reaction I get from most people when I mention that I am doing this is “Why don’t you start with a half marathon?”

Well, I did a half marathon. Now I am gonna’ do a marathon.

I really did not know what to expect for an organized race. I had only run with one other person so I had no idea how I would respond to running in a large group. I also had decided to use some gels, which are essentially packets of nutrients and carbs that are the consistency of frosting.

Brother of Fat Guy and I got to Hudson, WI at a little before 7 am. We already had our numbers with us so we jumped on one of the school busses that were there to bring us from Hudson to Stillwater. We sat in the back, primarily because we are trouble making badasses, and had a nice conversation with a woman who had run Grandma’s and a half in St. Cloud earlier this summer. When I mentioned that I was training for the TCM, she said good luck in a non condescending manner. I keep waiting for these runner types to look down on me because they are so cool and wise about running but so far I have not been ridiculed.

We got to a local park that was serving as a starting line and waited in line with every single other runner for the bathroom. One guy was taking so long I was convinced he was doping but I cannot verify. I didn’t see a needle in the bathroom at least. The race started at 8 and we lined up near the back because I didn’t really think that I wanted to deal with 3 minutes of people running by me annoyed.

We started out what I thought was our normal pace. We spent a good portion of the first 2 miles behind a couple who didn’t know each other who agreed to run together. Since they didn’t know each other, we got to hear a little bit about there lives. I kind of liked this because I did not have an ipod. Since I am preparing for the TCM and you can’t have one on that run I wanted to prepare myself. I felt like the people with ipods were cheating and therefore I decree that I officially beat all of them. If I had music to listen to I argue that when I was going to stop I could pick a song that I simply had to run to.

On that note, we ran about 5.5 miles before I had to walk. There was a water stop every 2 miles and we walked to the water stop and then started running again. Unfortunately, this is where my ability to remember the pacing gets hazy. I tried to run, and then walk, then run, and then walk. It got harder as time went of course. I kept trying to not focus on the miles and use other runners as a pace. We would run in front of someone and then walk until they were ahead of us. My guess is that they were really annoyed by this strategy. But I need so frame of reference since I was not familiar with the course so I had not idea where the mile markers were. I also had forgotten my watch. I feel like this is a good thing because not knowing made me think that I was doing poorly all race.

We stepped it up for the last half mile and ended up finishing in 2 hours 33 minutes. That was 639 out of 685 runners. I was 125 out of 129 in my age bracket. I ran an 11:41 mile.

I didn’t exactly take the running world by storm, but here are the upsides:

I finished

Last Saturday I ran 12 miles in 2 hours 33 minutes. I added one mile with zero time in one week.

This race has made me aware of the importance of pacing. Since I had no watch I had no idea what was going on with our pacing. This lead to us running fast miles early and not being able to maintain. I also need to work on a ritual for the morning run.

All in all a very rewarding experience. I got a shirt.

Week Sixteen: Thursday

I didn’t run on Thursday. I am really trying to make sure that I can get though this Half without incident. I didn’t want to strain myself so I fell on my face during the race. Plus Brother of Fat Guy couldn’t get there until 9:15 and I didn’t want to be out that late. Plus I wanted to spend some time with the family. Plus I can do whatever I want and I don’t have to justify it to you people.

One of the benefits of working at an advertising agency is having a vast magazine library at your disposal. I used this resource to read Runners World this month, which was where I learned that I had better hydrate and carb-load or I am screwed. I felt really funny reading it on the bus looking the way I do. I thought the woman sitting next to me would be less perplexed if she saw me reading Teen Beat. Actually, I am kind of curious whether or not the Jonas Brothers are “Too Cute!” of if they have graduated to “So Hot!” status. Is “Hot” too racy for Teen Beat? These are questions that need to be answered.

I also decided that I had better grab a Bicycling magazine as well. Why, Fat Guy, you ask? Well, l let me tell you. It is very important to know your enemy. By reading Bicycling magazine I can get into the heads of all those lil’ Lances out there. I also wanted to make sure that they did not have articles calling for my head. I am a very powerful force in the Northwest New Brighton running community and I have no doubt they would silence me to guarantee that their suckiness is not spoken of. However, I will not be intimidated by the threats against me that I have made up.

I was also a little disappointed in the lack of coverage of tandem bicycles. Or the bicycles with a giant front wheel. I am going to give Bicycling Magazine a pass on this and assume that there are separate publications for these types of bikes.

Week Sixteen: Wednesday

I have been doing some research now that I am running for longer and longer runs. I also wanted to make sure that I was prepared for the race on Saturday. Everything I read made me realize that a low carb diet might be a really dumb idea right now and I am quitting. I am still going to cut all the bad carbs out, but I am not going to be militant about what I eat as long as it is healthy. I will still work out, just not on weeks when I am in an organize race. This is because I do not want to fall over dead or not be able to finish because my body gives out.

Now that I officially can reasonably consume carbs I drank a sports drink before I ran Wednesday and it may be the change that I needed. Brother of Fat Guy and I went 6 miles in 1 hour and 5 minutes. We did not stop. I actually think that I could have kept going. I joked about running another 4 when we were almost done and he called my bluff and said yes. I want to stick with the program and not overdo it so we stopped.

I am picking up my race packet tonight along with a bunch of garbage that I have been reading about that I am told that I will need. This little hobby is going to end up costing me a small fortune. Watch for the running $ total (that is a non-pun pun. Cool.) as soon as I get enough energy to post it.

Week Sixteen: Monday

It was a four mile day and I was going to have to do it solo due to brother of Fat Guy’s prior engagements.

It had been a while since I had run alone and I was really looking forward to seeing if I could maintain all by myself. Not only did I, I finished the 4 miles in 43 minutes. That is less than an 11 minute mile for the math challenged out there.

In preparation for the Gopher to Badger Half Marathon on Saturday I have been reading running forums and the like. The one thing that I really hadn’t taken into consideration is hydrating myself during long runs. On the 11 and 12 mile runs I have done I have maybe stopped at a drinking fountain at the park but that is it. Turns out that may not be enough. I am going to try and start being better about this and getting used to drinking while on the run. I realize screwing with my routine may not be the best idea during the Half, but I would argue that if my body goes all screwy then at least there will be people around to point at me and laugh.

Week Fifteen: Saturday

After not posting on Saturday I had you worried, didn’t I?

Brother of Fat Guy and I hit the road at a little after 6pm. I had originally planned to run a route down by the U of M along the river I found on Mapmyrun.com, but I didn’t want to lose the time driving down there. Eventually I would like to get out of my comfort zone and run some more interesting places, but for now I am just trying actually do this.

We ran about 3.5, walked .5, ran 3, walked 1, ran 2 walked 1 and the last mile we kind or ran/walked ran walked. We did this all in 2 hours, 33 minutes. The low points were not being able to run a full four miles and the poor showing towards the end. The high point was that I did manage to beat my 11 mile time by 2 minutes.

I should wait until it is over before I mention this, but since we are all so close I can’t keep anything from you folks. Brother of Fat Guy and I are registered for the Gopher to Badger Half Marathon on Saturday. I am actually supposed to do 14 miles that day, but 13.1 will have to do. This is very exciting because it will be my first actual running experience. I am very curious as to how it will be different.