He's back

Well the ball game was fun. Boston beat TB 7-1 and my loyalties were torn. I come from New England but now I live here and the D Rays are my team. Lots of fun to be at the ball park though.

Did a fair amount of walking on my day off. The party was about a mile from the ball park and the entrance we used was on the 1st base line and the tickets were in right field. The trip around the park must have been another mile. Probably 4 miles of walking without even counting it.

Yesterday I tried the mile again to see if it was a one time fluke. Lo and behold not only could I do that but when I had walked 3/4 of the second loop I decided to try to run to the end and did so without any problem. Final heart rate of 144 after two light posts of sprinting.... well, running faster...well jogging faster. At least it was faster.

Also met Holly with her TNT shirt on in the shoe store and she had just come back from an event in Pasco County. Got the chance to talk more about L&LS and TNT. Another sign.

Today I tried out my new shoes. No real change in my running that I was able to perceive. Did my complete first mile and then started my run for home at the 1/2 mile mark so I got in 1 and 1/2 miles running as part of mile 2 mile circuit. Again the final rate was 144 and down to 120 within 5 minutes. No aches or pains. I am ready for some hurting but so far none has appeared. My pace seems to be fairly steady throughout. Slow but steady.

The legs are tingling a bit now so it is time to get out of this chair and stretch.

We will be at it again tomorrow.

First Week

Well I have been at this for a week now. I went 3 days on and 1 day off. On that schedule I am able to be off tomorrow which works out since I will be going to a Tampa Bay Devil Rays v Boston Red Sox game with work tomorrow nite. The bad news is I am dead exhausted and the idea of running tonight is unbearable. Had dinner and sat on the couch...I am very well trained in this part of my life. Watched the clock tick off the time until it was time to run or give up. Got dressed in my gear and went out determined to at least walk the 2 miles. Got to the apex and started to jog. Came to the light pole where I have stopped the last two nites and felt okay...not breathing too hard...no pain...let's see how far this takes us.

PF Chang calls their race the Rock N Roll Marathon....another sign...I am thinking about Jim Morrison and my visit to his grave last year while in vacation in Paris. Perhaps there is a connection as something lit my fire. I kept on going to the outer apex...still okay...let's see how far this goes.

Hit the bottom of the horseshoe and the sky lit up with lightning...storm coming?...Hmmm could this be a Rider on the Storm?...who knows. Step step step step right along. Turned the corner and headed for home..the whole mile done in one shot....now all I have to do is walk another mile and I am done. Got the hard part out of the way at the start. I guess I can have my pudding now that I have eaten my meat. Came home relaxed and very satisfied with another jump under my belt and on a nite that I almost did not go. What is that Forest? Runners are as runners do? That's right.

Also the weight in one week has gone from 250.4 to 245.7 almost 5 pounds.

Say good night Gracie.

See ya Saturday.

New Milestone

Tonight I thought I would try to see how far I could run. I started at the apex of the inner horseshoe of the run and ran down the inner leg and around the foot and back up to the first light post. Hmm that should be about 1/4 of the way. I then walked to the apex of the outer horseshoe and then ran the to the bottom of the horsheshoe. I then walked back to the inner apex and then back to where I stopped running the first time. Then I ran to the apex of the outer horseshoe and walked to the bottom. That only left the bottom and the inner leg of the inner horseshoe. I ran that and even sprinted the last light pole to complete my first full mile run since I started. What do you know...I did it.

My heart rate was about 144 after the sprint but most of the time it was around 120...good aerobics. Time was under 34 minutes. After five minutes I was back under 120 again with some cooldown walking.

Still need to do some stretching but I have made one small step for mankind but one great leap for this man.

As my Momma used to say " Runner is as runner does"

Goodnite all.

Day 5

I took yesterday off because I had some very unusual feelings in both calves. Everytime I stood up from a seated position I needed to nurse the next 5 to 10 steps. Ouch. Either there was not enough stretching after Day 3 or my muscles were building up lactic acid that would not drain out.

Today all was better and so I ran my 2 mile track again. This time I went 4 light poles at a time. That was easier than trying to count out 200 sets of steps. Since my breathing came heavier and deeper toward the end of the 200 steps, I found myself counting the breaths instead of the steps and I think it added a few steps.

I did a better job of stretching and cooling tonight so we will see how tomorrow fares.

That is all for today. Good nite Forest.

Day 3 and counting

Talked with Marianne from TinT and got some preliminary info on the Rock N Roll Run in Flagstaff. Talking with her and hearing about her background made me very proud of my decision to get involved. She is sending the signup documents and then I can make it official. She also directed me to a possible store for good shoes (probably between shoes and someone to look at my running style, I may avoid my undesirable injuries and pains). I then called Lisa and confirmed that we would be going together to Flagstaff since she is the one that encouraged me to start in the first place.

Got another late start 10:00 but got the run in. Went the 2 miles and ran 10 sets of 200 paces interspersed in the two miles. More than the two previous runs. Still feeling good. This time my first run included slightly cramping calves but that subsided and did not return after the first set.

Got to do a little more stretching and then off to bed. Treated myself to watermelon after the run...some water and some jummy for my insides. Hope that is okay.

Well that is is for today. Keep running Forest.

Day 2

Some personal scheduling issues made it impossible to run until 11:00. Managed to haul my procrastinating self onto the road. I feel good for having done so. Started to figure how much running I am doing on these first two miles. I started counting my running steps and feel 200 steps is a good pace for now. That can be done without gasping and just as soreness is entering the muscles. I think I will try to raise that by 10 percent to keep in line with the other advances to avoid injury and grow stronger steadily. I run the 200 steps and then walk till my breathing is under control and I can walk with my mouth closed. This seems reasonable.

I am sure that I will get more information when I get in contact with TNT. Also I stretched after running and drank fluids. I know this sounds elementary but I want to be able to look back at this whole process and see how far I progressed.

Gotta go to sleep now.

Getting Started

It all started when we had our family get together in Virginia when Jenn had the whole family over for the 4th of July. I was telling my girls how I wanted to learn to run and enjoy running and Lisa said that there is a group that will help you learn to run, how to train, and will even sponsor you for an event. It is for the benefit of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

I had said that I wanted to run a 15 k someday. That night when we went to dinner in downtown Charlottesville, we happened upon a man on a treadmill with donation buckets on a table in front of him. He had a big clock that displayed his running time and he was going to run for 4 hours to raise money for L&LS. I again stated my desire to learn to run and enjoy it and he said that it took him some time to get there after being a drinker and a smoker but he loves it now. He looked great running during the first half hour of his run.

We went to dinner at one of the restaurants and I mentioned how odd it was that he happened to be there just the very day that we had gotten me signed up with the web site for Team in Training. We saw him again after dinner and this time he had passed the 4 hour mark. (we had a very leisurely dinner). He was still going strong and I was excited to be considering finding that kind of pleasure in running.

I put a lot of time into planning to start running and managed to make that last nearly two weeks but finally tonite I started my training.

I had measured out the block on which we live and it is just about 1 mile exactly so that was my first attempt. I walked most of it but did some running as my body would allow. I feel good!