Monday, November 21, 2011

Since I Last Wrote

Immediately after my run last night.

Things have happened.

I took a break from running. Not really on purpose. It just sort of happened. I got a little sick and just didn't go back. Well, not for a while, anyway. But I'm proud of how I did get back on the road.

You see, there are a ton of iOS apps with variations on the name "Couch to 5K." The idea being to get people from doing zero running to being able to run 5 kilometers without stopping. Five kilometers is 3.1 miles.

The pride comes in because I was able to get sick and not run for weeks on end to completing 10k on a whim. That's pretty stinking cool.

I'm now running that distance, about six miles, once a week, but I've got to ramp it up. I like running and would really like to get back to my faster pace and longer distances. I've got a marathon coming up, after all.

And things have gotten cold. In the photo above, I'm wearing a long-sleeved mock turtleneck under a normal bright yellow running shirt. I also had gloves and began my run with a knit cap. Oh, and I wore shorts. It was cold. I ended the run with my gloves rolled up exposing more wrist, my sleeves pushed up and my hat tucked into my belt. Weird how much heat a body generates when exercising. No wonder they call it warming up.

Anyhow, I've also learned how to bench press at the gym. My goal is to forevermore be able to bench press my body weight five times on my birthday. I'm about 160 pounds right now and am lifting 90 plus the bar itself which is probably 45 pounds.

And since all the resources I found said you count the weight of the bar, I'm lifting about 135 pounds, not too far off from my goal.

Lastly, as mentioned above, I'm still on for running a marathon with Blaine. I'm more than a little worried about the marathon since they plan on leaving me to my own devises after mile 23. Expect an editorial in the New Times on that topic in the near future. At this time, I don't have a plan for how I'll deal with those last three miles.

Related: the SLO Marathon has a half-marathon and also a 5k. As of this post, it's 152 days away. Plenty of time for all you non-runners to train up for the 5k. Honestly, nothing would make me happier than running with you, no matter what the distances. Obviously more is better, but I don't think I can overstate how happy I'd be to finish the marathon the same day one of my friends finishes an official, timed 5k or half-marathon.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading.