End o’ the trip: Leaving Clark County for Clarke County

Well, our fun family-filled trip is over. We’re in Las Vegas at the airport waiting for our flight to board. Then we get four hours of airplane bliss to Atlanta, and another hour and a half to Athens. Sweet. My wife and I equally hate airports (and flying) , but I am thankful for free internet to write a brief update.

I have learned that it is well worth it to program workouts into a trip. This trip in particular was quite fun since I was able to run with family…I’m really grateful for them because it seems as if we’re pretty good at motivating each other…in any case, they’re certainly good at motivating me. Yeah, I had to battle food issues, but I still managed to run six times, when I was trying to be realistic and had only planned for four.

Getting up at 5:30 this morning for a quick 1.5 miler made me realize that I am committed to doing this.

Can you say obsessed?

We had a great time…I’ll be sure to post a few pics as soon as we get home.

Hi from the Silver State

Taking a cue from MizFit, I decided that I would make a video entry for Wednesday’s run. I uploaded the video, and 439 tries later, I couldn’t get the clips to work. So, I hope you’ll settle for the lovely picture of Arizona I found online.

But trust me, it’s no loss.  Wednesday’s ‘run’ was horrible. It was probably already well over 100 degrees by the time I left around 7:15 a.m. Not joking.  I picked a route along the Tempe Canal, and after my five minute warmup walk and got through the first three minute interval. Great, I thought, I’m going to actually do this.

Or not at all.

The sun was a killer that day. My energy was sapped in no time, and I walked most of the way. I was hot and disappointed.  There are a million reasons excuses I could give, but it’s just a day I need to put behind me. I might need to repeat this week of Couch to 5k, but since my first 5k isn’t until August 30, it’s not going to hurt.

We made it to Nevada fine. We agreed to take our niece and nephew with us to relieve our sister who just had her third. They were quite well behaved, but it was probably too many hours in the car, thus making me a little stir crazy. My wife talked me out of the run (it’s just as hot in Nevada as it is in Arizona), because it was so hot, but I needed to get outside and do something. So, I went outside with my father-in-law and learned to vacuum a pool. I burned a whole five calories, I’m sure, but I just had to be outside.

Tomorrow we’re headed to the track and I’m going to try my intervals again: 3 min. run/90 sec. walk/5 min. run/2.5 min. walk/3 min. run/90 sec. walk/5 min. run. My brother- and sisters-in-law are in much better shape and better runners than I am, so hopefully I won’t keep them waiting too long!

I’ll be sure to return and report…

“Some weeks are just better than others…”

This is something my wife just reiterated to me.

I didn’t realize traveling would be so hard on my exercise plan…because let’s face it, I don’t want to consider exercise being hard on my traveling. I did a run this morning, and while I was still happy that I did the requisite 3 minute intervals, the course was not as long as I hoped. However, I guess I shouldn’t be too upset because I’m about to make a pivotal turn in my Couch-to-5k training. I’m starting week four (week five for me since I repeated a week) on Wednesday and am about to kick up the running time. I am truly excited for this…call me crazy, but I just can’t wait.

My diet has been crap, and I should have done better in planning ahead while traveling. The past few days will surely incur the wrath of my coach when I call him. He’s maybe 5′7″ tall and lives in Salt Lake City, but the distance is the only cushion…that fire of his will definitely burn through the phone line.  But I deserve it…it’s a lesson learned, and I’ll need to do better in the future.

My back seems to be improving. It’s still sore when I’m sedentary or immobile, but seems to be fine when I walk, or even run. My father-in-law and I went to Massage Envy the other night and I greatly underestimated my therapist. She found all the right spots…nearly killed me, in the process, but I think it helped.

Friends, can I just tell you how great I feel despite all of this? Sure, I have complaints, but this is the best I’ve felt in a very long time. I am still flabbergasted that five weeks later, I’m still here, and I’m still doing it. I can actually see a difference in my body. My belly is shape-shifting, my man-boobs are shrinking, and I think I’m slowly going back to one chin. I run in the mornings and see people who smile and say “Good Morning.” This is the opposite, in fact, of a bad dream I had where I was running down the street with people pointing and laughing and making some really horrible remarks.  Eh. If it happens, they can say what they want. I’m doing this to make a better me.

It’s been hard for me to say this, but whether one agrees with me or not, if one perceives something differently, regardless, I can now categorically state:

I am a runner.

The one?

Well, I finally went to New Balance (which is more or less the only ‘running’ store within 25 miles of my house). I had the guys there look at my gait, and they told me I definitely supinate on one foot, and not as much on the other. They recommended the 768s. They’re nice, a little big in the toe box (in fact, I’m going to exchange the 4E’s I got for 2E’s…because blisters and me? Uh uh) and are very comfy. I hope they work out all right. I read a lot of reviews on them – some negative, but most were positive, especially from the big guys. Either way, I’ll be sure to give it my own, fair review.

I am off to Arizona and Nevada for ten days tomorrow to see family before my little boy arrives, and have set aside time for my runs and workouts. After the horrid humidity I ran in this morning…seriously, more like a swim…I am looking forward to some parched, dry heat (though it is getting close to monsoon season there).

I’ll be sure to keep you updated from the desert!