Week Ten: Saturday

I managed to face a fear that has been haunting me for a while now. I ran down the sidewalk.

My main fear is that I know that people will be staring at me and possibly mocking me and throwing stuff at me from their car. But if I am going to run a marathon, there are going to be a whole heap of people standing along side the road and I need to start getting used to being on display.

One person did yell something but I cannot be sure if it was at me, a passenger, or a cell phone. Otherwise it went pretty well. I always hate the awkward interaction with drivers at cross streets and cross walks that street running ends up forcing. Are they going to stop? Should I run? If they keep going the at the same rate and I do too I can run behind them, but will they think that I am running in front of them and slam on their breaks? Did they mistake the hands up “Thanks for stopping wave” as the “I am my own traffic cop and you should stop right now?”

This was a real accomplishment. I managed to run 6 miles in 65 minutes. I actually think it was a little more than 6 miles. I ran the first 4 and extra and then walked/ran the last 2. Since my running route left me 2 miles from home I timed my trip back to see how long the 8 mile route would take me. A little more than 8 miles took me about 109 minutes.

Week Ten: Thursday

Since Thursday was my 4 year wedding anniversary, I took a mulligan on running. I actually was looking forward to using the hotel treadmill to run after work, but it was logistically not possible with our dinner plans. We ended up staying at Graves downtown and having dinner at Ruth Chris.
Not only did I not run, but I broke my no drinking pledge as well. When one is eating an opulent meal it is required that one order a scotch with the meal to appear sophisticated. Also, one really wanted a drink and one’s wife was saying that it was ok and that one should not feel guilty about it because it was a special occasion. All in all it was a very nice night.

4 years down, 50 more to go give or take a couple.

Week Ten: Wednesday

I wish I had more to write about, but these last couple runs have been uneventful. Lots of couples on bikes. Not the evil kind of bikes. The leisurely kind. They all kind of look at me funny but I know the guys, who are around my age or a little younger, are thinking “I may have put on a few and that is why she guilted me out here to ride around the neighborhood, but at least I ain’t as bad ad that guy.” The wives are thinking “At least he ain’t as bad as that guy.”

I have really been hoping to see the Sasquatch jogger again so I can tell his tale. If I have another boring post lined up I will explain his legend.

Managed to run for 27 minutes which was about 2.6 miles, walk for 3 minutes then run the rest of the 4 miles which ended up taking 43 minutes.

Although I did go the 4 miles, I really want to be able to run the full distance on these down days.

Week Ten: Monday

The Fat Guy announcement that is so shocking that most will not believe it.

I have sworn off alcohol until after the race. That is three months of booze free living.

This will not be really that difficult coming up because of the new one on the way. At least I thought. Mrs. Fat Guy picked me up from the bus stop and told me that our neighbor had offered us Saints tickets. Honestly I cannot think of another event that I associate with getting drunk more than a Saints game. I have spent more than a couple nights at that stadium drinking to ridiculous excess. I managed to maintain my composure and resist the urge. I guess that isn’t that difficult when you are with your pregnant wife, but still.

I may have solved the mystery of the 5 miles in 56 minutes. My running pace must have increased. I did 3 miles today, but I mixed in like 15 minutes of walking and did it in 36 minutes. That was around my 3 mile pace when I ran the entire distance. This means that I have drastically increased my pace inadvertently and I cannot sustain the pace and have to walk earlier as a result. In the grand scheme of things it doesn’t really matter how long I walk or run if I am going the same amount of distance in the same amount of time. However, I really want to run for as long as possible to start the marathon so I can get as much of the course behind me as quickly as possible. I am going to have to experiment with pacing a little bit. I was really disappointed in myself when I have run 4 miles in the past and now can only run 2.

Week Nine: Saturday

After 9 weeks of this I thought I had encountered every type of path dweller – Stroller Family, Stroller Family with kids on bikes, Rollerbladers, other runners, walkers including makeout walkers and not walking for leisure walkers and of course the hated enemy.

I encountered a new path dweller on two separate occasions today and it is really more confusing to me than anything else. Roller Cross Country skiers. Why on God’s green earth would one strap skis with wheels on them and flail down a path in the middle of summer? We have winter like 10 months out of the year when you can cross country ski.

The act of keeping yourself moving forward requires you to practically dominate the path which is why I welcome the RCCers into the fold. Why? Because it must be such a colossal pain in the ass to a bicyclist wanting to speed by them. Me I can just run off the path. Not Lance wannabe. Scream “On your left” all you want. They will not be able to make any sudden movements.

Today’s run was a little confusing. I travelled what I thought was 5 miles in 56 minutes. This would be a great time but I am starting to question that it was 5 miles. I ran for what I think was a couple miles and then walked for 10 minutes than ran and then walked for like 6 minutes and then ran and then walked. Considering the amount of walking I did, I either have increased my pace or I didn’t go 5 miles. Either way I couldn’t run the whole route, but I am going to have to train to run as far as possible and then take a break and run some more. These Saturdays will probably be how I train for the actual marathon and the other days will be attempting to run the complete distance.

Week Nine: Thursday

Quick post. They always are when I fail.

Only made it what I think was about 2.5 miles before I was just too exhausted. Partly due to the heat. I also thought there was a house fire and I wanted to walk, not run, by that for maximum gawking time. There was a fire, but it was just out of my line of sight.

I ran the 2.5 in 26 minutes and then walked the rest of the 3 plus a little extra in 36 minutes. At least the pace was quicker.

Week Nine: Wednesday

Since it has been 4 weeks since the last weight posting I owe you folks an update. If I owe you an update, you owe me a mental drum roll.

(begin mental drum roll now….)

228 lbs. You looked ahead. Shame on you.

That is 5 pounds dropped since the last weight post a month ago and a total of 13 dropped.

I am a little disappointed because I really have been trying to adjust what I have been eating. However, it is really not all that surprising because the first 4 weeks I went from little physical activity to some physical activity. The last 4 weeks I have stepped it up according to the program, but it still wasn’t that much considering the weight I need to lose.

I am going to stick to the salads and soups, but instead of Buffalo Chicken Salads I will need to try more dinner salads and I really need to start having more than coffee for breakfast. If I can get used to some fruit for breakfast and a light lunch and dinner I should see a much sharper weight loss when I mix it with the program of running 3 miles 2 days a week plus and increasingly longer amount of running on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

I actually ran 4 miles today. That seriously blows my mind. I know that I am going to struggle down the line when I need to increase my distance by a mile every Wednesday and Saturday, but I am really going to see if I can keep up.

I did the 4 miles in 44 minutes and then I mowed the lawn as a cool down. If I had had the patience I could map the distance I walked mowing my lawn. That really sounds like a waste of time.