Happy Easter!!

Today was my Easter Sunday run.  A little 5.5 mile recovery run from yesterday's 9 miles.  I don't know the time because I am not timing myself in preparation for this Half Marathon.  I personally don't care how fast I run it, it's about finishing right now that matters to me.  The only time you will probably see a pace from me on this is when the results are posted.  As mentioned in other posts and areas, it's not about bragging, it's about chronicling how I feel and sharing with the people that want me to.

This morning started off at 4:45 thanks to our 3 year old Riley.  Another Chocolate Chip Banana muffin with a 12 oz cup of black coffee for breakfast.  I think my energy from the the breakfast was fine, however I was slow because my legs were tired as well as I had our two dogs with me.  I will explain why that matters in a moment.  I am not sure what other details people might want about my workouts.  If there is something you want to know please email me on the email link to the left or commenting on a post.  I hit the road at about 6:30-6:45, I don't really remember.  

Running with our two dogs is always interesting.  It's amazing the two personalities of them.  We have two labs, a black male American style lab named Brody.  We also have a female yellow English style lab named AnnaBelle (or more appropriately AnnaBull).  Brods has been pretty much running with me since the start.  He is a great running companion, he trots along side of me with only a slacked leash and collar.  I honestly could just have him run off leash with me, but there are laws in the city and it is better just in case I need to get him out of the way of something.  AnnaBelle, well we got her last year so she is still working on the whole running thing.  When running she has a dominant personality, running in front and stopping to mark her territory.  She has gotten a lot better, but she still needs to be run on a harness because she has a taught leash and would probably choke herself.

Well, that's all for today.  Happy Easter!

Watch your step

On Saturday's I am going to push my workout mileage.  Being out of it for a little while I went for a good one today.  I had to drop my car off to the Hyundai dealership to have the idler pulley (my Brother-in-law will probably hit me for using the wrong term) and went out for a run from there.  It was a variation of a route that I have done before.  I put it up on the Maps section.  It ended up being 9.12 miles that it tracked before the batter on my cell phone died.  It was a nice run though.

A couple of notes.  First, I ate my chocolate chip banana muffins for my breakfast fuel source.  That recipe, found here, is actually something I took from a banana bread recipe.  So the muffins are pretty dense, filling, and have been referred to as "very banana-y".  I also had two 12 oz cup of black coffee to get me going.  The run felt good but I would suggest to anyone that if you are going to run on a trail, make sure you don't space out.  You might end up running through a thorn bush, which will tend to sting a little.  Yeah, my legs have a few scratches on them.  I guess I can just call them my battle wounds.

At this point my goal is to get my Saturday run to about 12 miles before we leave for Florida on the 20th of April.  Or be able to run 12 miles that day before we leave would probably be a decent goal.  The race that I am going to be doing is about 6 weeks away, the site for it is www.racewmass.com.  It starts at 8 am so my goal on the Saturday runs is to start my day of training at 8 am.  I was able to do that today as the Hyundai dealership took my car in at 8.

Moving forward, if you have any questions for me about anything please email me or send me a comment.  I will spend some time answering them on my off days.  In the past people have asked me about what I eat and what I wear when training.  I am going to get to those in future posts.  Until then, enjoy your day!!

The beginning

Ok, so a few days ago I decided I wanted to push myself a little.  For those that know me know that I have been running for about a year now.  Over the winter I have been running on a treadmill and doing elliptical work as I have been trying to heal shin splints, some massive blisters, and a herniated disk.  I am now at the point where I feel like running on the treadmill or around the track at the local Y is boring me greatly.  The weather is starting to get nicer and it is time to get out and run!  I like running, it clears my mind and helps with stress relief.  But I really wanted more of a reason, like I did last year when I decided to run so I could run a 5K.  So I picked one, a half marathon.

So what does that have to do with this?  Well, I want to chronicle my progress and work outs so at some point I can look back at it.  I also wanted to share with the people that have asked me to.  I don't like facebook anymore and I do not want to use it for this.  I wanted something a little more detailed in what I was doing.  I also think the interaction with this will be better.  Plus, why not??  So basically I am going to share the my exercise routines, dieting, recipes and overall thoughts on how things go.

I hope you enjoy and feel free to put any feedback you would like.

-Tom