Im Sick!

So exactly 2 weeks before the big race, I got a very nasty head cold. I felt bad. I had taken most of December off from work, but when I returned I came back to an office plagued with all kinds of germs. I blame my sister in law, because she came into my cube hacking all over the place. Ha! Well after a week of feeling like crap here I go back to the doctor... Immediately I told him what was going on and somehow he needed to get me better in one week. (yeah right)  Well he was pretty sure it was a Sinus infection. I get those pretty easily especially if I have had a cold. He gave me some antibiotics again, said I could run as long as it does not go into my chest or I get a fever and sent me on my way. Yay good news. Oh but the really good news is I weighed in at 222. I lost almost 20lbs in just a few short months. No diet! Yay!

Training to much

So for a while in December I had been running 3 or more times a week.  That's great if you are Superman, but I just really started this whole running thing and the body was not up for a challenge like that. I think it was right after Louisiana, but during a nice 4 mile run I noticed some pain in my groin that radiated to my abdomen. I kept going. That was probably stupid, because I injured myself. At the time the doctor thought I may have had an infection that he thought was brought on by running and not having proper support. He had me not run for 10 days while I was on anti-biotics, and wanted my boys to take a break from jumping jacks. It eventually cleared up . But from this point forward I will not be running without support and I am careful not to train to much. Oh and if you are on anti-biotics please talk to your doctor about them and running. I learned some anti-biotics are bad for runners tendons. I know my joints hurt pretty bad when I started back up.

Work and training

So if your like me, there will be times your work gets in the way of life a bit. But it really is all about what you choose to do with it that counts. In my case I was asked to go to Louisiana in December for a field study to see how players liked my game. That meant that I needed to go during the week and I had to be there during training. That also meant that I was going to stay up late and get up super early. All while eating amazing food. Oh and there was lots of it and none of it was healthy or helped in my running. But who cares because it's so yummy... Sorry Ill get back to the running part. Well I packed my running gear because I thought it would be cool to run at sea level and get some new sights in while I get ready for the SW Half marathon weekend.  At this point I had gotten in another 6 mile run and I was pretty constantly running at least 3 times a week with most runs around 3 - 4.5 miles.


The morning of my run I had to get up at 5:30am to run. I had been up super late and my gut was not feeling right from all the great food. I had planned on trying for 6 miles. The weather felt good so I headed out. There was no elevation so it was super flat and I could breath almost to good. I was having a great run going down Veterans Memorial Blvd heading towards Lafrenier Park Lagoon. At about 2 miles in I was sure I was going to get in another 6 mile run... Then all of a sudden I ran out of side walk. The side walk just ended and the only way to keep going was to merge on to a freeway. Well I was not going to do that, so I headed back. I ran the way I came and the weird thing was all of a sudden my energy I had just before mile 2 started zapping away fast. WTF how could that be? Well let me tell you, after a couple miles running in humidity you feel it. So now my goal was to get back to the hotel and fortunately I did in the upright position. Running in that kind of humidity is not easy.

Sooo good.

 

I found where the sidewalk ends.

 

My total run was only 3.59 miles. Boo!

Wobble before you gobble

I had been running for about a month and even though I was running/walking at least a 5k and had 1 10k distance, I was getting a bit worried about the Star Wars event I had booked. I had all kinds of questions. Can I do this? What should I expect when I get there? Should I run a 5k or 10k before I attempt to run this giant event? Luckily my amazing wife found a run on Thanksgiving and suggested I take Hannah with me to try it out. We did and it was so much fun.

Hannah was funny when I told her we were going to do it. She told me that she wanted to win a medal that was more than just the plastic ones they give to everyone at school. So I kept running to get ready for this and Hannah went on a couple walk/ jogs with me. Then on the day before thanks giving Hannah tell me she needs new shoes. So that night we raced over to Target at around 8:30pm got her some "running" shoes and some warm clothes to run in. It was freaking cold out you know. She was so happy.

So we arrived in downtown Reno early. It was cold!!! But Hannah was a trooper. She took her picture with someone dressed up as Gumby and we waited patiently. I tried to get her to move around, but I think she thought that might not be a cool thing to do. So instead Dad was jumping up and down and looking like a freak while she stood still freezing and looking super cool.

At about 8:00am I think it was time to race. We lined up and then we were off. Hannah ran for about 100 yards and got a stitch in her side. Poor Girl. We walked most of it, talked a lot and got to have some good Daddy/ Daughter bonding time. We eventually did get some running time as I suggested we make it into a game by picking out someone in the crowed and trying to pass them. As it turned out this was a good game because there was some guy with toilet paper who smelled pretty bad when we were behind him. That was the fastest Hannah and I ran the whole race. Our time finishing was just under an hour, but it was so much fun. I think Hannah had fun too but her side and her feet were hurting the whole time, but after we were done I don't think she cared because she had her medal. Oh and after doing this my confidence sky rocketed!

On our way!

It's Gumby and a redneck running Santa type dude.

Have to get a finish line shot!

The money shot! We did it!

Life Change

Last October I was surfing Facebook and up popped a blog post about RunDisney.com. They were previewing the 2017 race medals for the Star wars Light side Half Marathon. I thought wow those are really cool, I wonder if I could get one. Now up until that point in my life I really, really hated running. So the idea of running a half marathon or 10k seemed out of reach. I tried to let it go, but for some reason I could not stop thinking about how cool those medals were. At about the same time I had been feeling pretty ill, I went into the doc's office and when I got weighed I came in at a whopping 240 pounds. Yikes! this is the heaviest and worse feeling I have ever had. So later that day I started asking my friends who I knew were runners, what they thought about being able to pull off a 10k in 3 months. They were so supportive and gave me some good advice. The first of which was sure, just get on a treadmill and walk 20minutes. So I did. But the walking lasted about 5 minutes, something in me said I had to Run. I ran very slow then walked then ran then walked and did that until I hit 2 miles. I felt pretty good. I continued to show up to the Gym and did this off and on for at least 3 days a week.... I was hooked. This is fun.

Ok so I'm going to post a few more things from October until today to help fill in some gaps. Then from there I will do my best to keep this thing going. Thanks to my wife and kids who have been the most supportive people on the planet. Love you guys. Also many thanks to Ron, Dave & Chris for pointing me in the right Direction. Oh and here is a picture of those sweet medals that got me off my ass.