Maybe I should try and run the race like this guy?

I could jump off palm trees the whole way up, and roll the whole way down, what do you think?

Brutal!

Just got back from tonight's run and I was really struggling. I dunno if it's cuz I really didn't do anything the last 2 days or if I wore myself out w/ the 5K or what. From the first step I knew I'd be struggling. My shins and lower back hurt really bad and I was going pretty darn slow. I had to stop and walk twice which I haven't done at all in my training runs up to this point. But at least I got out and did 2 miles.

Another thing I noticed was I think listening to music really helps me. Tonight I listened to a podcast that was all just spoken word and I just couldn't get into my run. The last 1/4 mile I switched over to music and it seemed to give me a little boost. I know this is all in my head but whatever works I'll go with. Anyway - not a good run tonight but it'll get better. Ashley went tonight too and took Pim w/ her to jog/walk which was good. Just as we left there were 2 deer in our front yard just standing there watching us about 20 yards away so that was pretty cool.

Foodwise today I just had Gatorade this morning and then got "Buffalo Calamari" for lunch in downtown Naperville which was really good but probably not great for me. We haven't had dinner yet so don't know what we'll do but I think I'll try and keep it pretty light.

Heard today that my grandpa is doing better down in N.C. so that is good news! I read a great article in the new issue of National Geographic Adventure Magazine today about sea kayaking in the Great Bear National Forest in British Columbia, Canada. It sounded awesome - maybe that will have to be our next adventure.

Well Ashley just got home w/ Pim and he just threw up! Uggghh so I gotta go.

First 5K Complete!

So yesterday morning I ran in the Batavia "Batfest" NAMI 5K Bat Run. Ashely hasn't been feeling too well and was pretty sick Friday night, so she did not end up walking in the event as she had hoped because she didn't feel well at all. She did come along though to see me off which was nice.

We arrived in downtown Batavia to find quite a few people milling around outside the main building along the riverwalk that holds a bunch of city offices. I made my way inside and got my running number, tshirt, and bag of other various stuff they give you. I went back outside to meet Ashley and it was pretty cold, especially when I took my fleece off to pin on my number. Ashley's mom and dad came by on their way to have breakfast and help Austin move to his new house in Batavia so that was really nice. Ashley's dad even ran up to take some pictures of me starting the race so I will post those when I see them. I don't know how many people where actually there for the race, but I'd say right around 100 which seemed like a pretty good turnout. They had us cross the bridge over the Fox River led by a bagpiper in full Scottish outfit which was cool. The bagpipe music seemed to blend perfectly with the cool, gray, fall day as we walked over the water. After everyone gathered on the opposite side of the bridge an organizer yelled out a few simple details and things to watch for and then they set us off!

I knew right away that it was important I stick to my own pace and not try to run any faster than usual at the begining of the race. My goal was to run the entire race w/o stopping to walk. I didn't look behind me too much but I'd say I was probably in the last 3rd of the pack for the entire time as far as runners went (you could just walk too if you wanted). I felt pretty good for the first mile and the only strange thing was a guy on a bike who was just out riding on the same path we were running on crashed directly in front of me after skidding out on some water. I stopped to help him up and he seemed extremely embarrased but ok. He was a pretty good guy and crashed pretty hard - but he could tell he was going down and had time to brace himself. I actually probably would have finished 15-20 seconds faster if I just kept running but I wanted to make sure he was ok.

One thing I noticed is that it's definetely nice to have other people running with you. I stayed pretty much w/ the same group the entire time and focused particularly on 2 women in front of me who seemed to be running at a pace which was just about right. There were a lot of kids running which was also fun. Some of them just ran right through the entire time and were probably some of the first to finish. Others tended to sprint or run quickly for about 100 yards, then walk for 50, etc. the whole time (the ones that kept passing me and then I'd pass). Overall, I think I did a fairly good job keeping up my own pace which the ipod seemed to be reinforcing when I clicked on it to get my current, pace, etc.

I pretty much knew the entire course but hadn't actually walked it before, just kind of driven along it. The course was completely on sidewalks and then for about 90% on bike paths along the Fox River which was really pretty as lots of the trees are still hanging onto to some of their fall colors. Right about the halfway point we crossed the river on a pedestrian bridge over to an island where they had a water station set up. Since I'm not used to drinking anything DURING my run I didn't know what to do! I decided I'd grab a cup but soon wondered if this was a good decision as I realized you pretty much have to throw it back like a shot if you don't want water all over you and your face. After taking a small sip, spilling most of it, and then finishing off the water I threw down my cup and felt pretty good. It was right around the 2 mile mark that I started straining a bit to keep up the same pace, but by concentrating on the runners in front of me I was able to keep going. When I hit 3 miles (they had timers at every mile mark) I realized I was running at an OK pace and also realized to my dismay that my Ipod is off significanlty (assuming the race organizers measured the 5K correctly, which I think is a pretty safe bet). Anyway, basically I discovered that all my runs up to this point aren't quite as long as I was thinking. Yes this sucks - but it's probably only about an 1/8 of a mile or something. How did I figure this out?? I had set my ipod for 5K so I'd get accurate updates on where I was at and halfway points, etc. Anyway, it told me I was done when I still had quite a little ways to go (probably 800 meters or more). Luckily I had not really been pacing myself at this point based on its audio feedback as I could pretty much see the finish line. The odd thing is it was right on in terms of the halfway point... So I don't know what to think - but I'm going ot take it out to one of the highschool tracks or the treadmill at the Y and calibrate it next week.

Anyway... I was defintetely feeling pretty tired towards the end, but once I turned the corner and could see the finish 3 blocks away (slightly downhill), I was able to turn it on and pretty much run at a 100% sprint for that small period and into the finish shoot. Even though I knew it was only a 5K, it felt really good! I could see my time as I finished: 30:58. This wasn't too bad at all I didn't think.

Ashley had gone over to meet her parents for breakfast and I guess meet up with Brent who had walked down to downtown from his house. They didn't make it back for the finish but were there shorty afterwards which was fun. We have gone to see Brent finish 2 races so it was nice he walked over w/ Ashley to say hi to me. I grabbed a half a bagel and some water inside but we didn't end up sticking around for the awards, etc. Although I think we should have because there was a raffle and stuff which I forgot about.

Anyway, Ashley had volunteered us to help out at the Batavia Mainstreet "Batfest" information booth starting at 10 a.m. so we went and sat in the car, listening to "Car Talk" before heading back to the tent to help out. It wasn't too bad but I was really cold at this point in only shorts (the temp had been perfect for the run, however). I ended up wandering over to the Mac Shack for a Bagel with Egg and Cheese and Bacon and some Hi-C. I read the paper while I ate and noticed two funny things:

1. In a small article on the 4th page (the Chicago Tribune), it was reveald that FEMA had set up a "phony" news conference w/ employees serving as reporters asking softball questions about the California fire situation. Apparently in an attempt to "get the word out as soon as possible". The White House ended up condemning this action... Weird - manufactured news (as much of it is).

2. This just cracked me up - in a story on the Britney Spears custody battle, the published courtroon drawings! How ridiculous is that. Everyone knows what Spears and ex Federline look like - and what in the world would happen at a custody battle that would deem in necesary to have a courtroom artist! blah!

Back to the tent where Ashley pointed out all of the cute kids in halloween costumes (there was some very good ones, Dumbo being my favorite), while I tried to stay warm and read a review of Ira Glass's new compilation of artiles/essays called "The New Kings of Nonfiction" which I definetely want to check out.

Came home after staying at the tent for a bit and pretty much spent the day lazing around watching TV in front of a warm fire and napping. OK - time to go to the dog park for a walk. I might go for a run later tonight and will report on it if I do so. There is another 5K next weekend in Wheaton, do you think I should sign up?

Rest Day

Well didn't run today since we have the 5K in the morning. Also it was just a gray, rainy day and to be honest I didn't feel that great this morning and tried to make myself feel good but stopping in for the Pizza Hut Buffet at lunch but actually just at too much!!

Was hoping to go for a walk tonight but w/ the weather decided to go see a movie. We went to see "Dan in Real Life" which was a pretty good watch (good enough the audience clapped at the end which doesn't happen much). There were parts I liked and overall I'd recommend it but more as just a fun to watch escape, diversion - I won't really be thinking about it tomorrow or anything. Steve Carrell is great though and he definitely has the "everyman" type role down pretty good. I always liked him on the Daily Show but haven't ever got into the Office much. I think I'll start watching it more. And obviously 40 year old virgin is great if you haven't seen that.

Glad it's Friday!! I'm going to enjoy staying up a bit tonight until I fall asleep to something on the TV. Then get up for the race early tomorrow and come back for a nice long afternoon nap! Other than that this place is a pigsty lately (one drawback of having a really nice big house to live in - it's super hard to keep the whole place clean at once!), so I hope we can get some cleaning done this weekend. I also need to clean out my car and do a bunch of laundry. Just opened a nice Halloween card from Laura and James!!! We enjoyed getting it and miss you guys a lot. Then Pim and I had a play fight over the bright orange envelope it came from that ended up with the paper in shreds! I love that dog so much, and as it gets colder its extremely obvious he remembers being out in the cold and wet as a stray last winter. He HATES to go outside if it's at all rainy more than just sprinkles and the temperature is anywhere below like 60 unless he is right next to us. I still can't believe how skinny he was when we got him - he is one lucky dog and we are lucky to have him. All the other pets are doing good too, but Butrose (I have no idea how to spell her name) got an eye infection and we had to take her to the vet Wednesday. Should clear up though. They are all getting more cuddly as the house is getting colder. I never thought I'd want to share my house w/ 3 cats, 2 dogs, and a rat, but once you get used to it it's not too bad (seriously though - I don't recommend it unless you fall in love w/ a girl that works at an animal shelter like I did!)

All right, I'll post tomorrow on how the 5K went. Hopefully I can run the whole thing and I think Ashley's parents are coming to see us off so maybe they'll get some pictures. Wish me luck!

I Love Widgets!

What's a widget you ask? Why just take a look at the right side of the blog. I just added a countdown to the race widget as well as a weather on St. John widget (scroll down a bit). These things are completely free, customizable, and take about 20 seconds to add to your blog. Wahoo for Widgets!

Longest Run Yet - and a fun new project!

Got home tonight and decided to get my run out of the way before it got too late or I got too tired. I knew I wanted to go for a pretty long one (for me) and so set the ipod for 2.25 miles and took off with Pim on the same route I ran Tuesday night, up a main road by our house and then back. For the most part I felt pretty good the whole time. My pace was a bit up and down but not as much as the above graph makes it look like (since they squish it all together the highs and lows look huge!). By the last half mile I wasn't winded so much as my legs and back were aching a bit and a side ache had started. Still, I was able to pick it up the last 500 meters or so and almost sprinted the end.

Having Pim along tonight was fun, and he definetely keeps me going at a strong pace, but I need to keep in mind that I will have to keep that pace (or whatever pace I choose) going in the future w/o him pulling me - and he literally does pull ahead sometimes which keeps me running fast. It would be nice to be running close to 8 minute miles over a sustained distance by the time I head down for St. John. Anyway, overall tonight was a good workout and I felt that little "athlete's buzz" kinda high that you get from really getting your heart going.

Speaking of the upcoming race, I emailed the organizer Peter Alter today just to let him know that I was excited about coming down and told him about my blog and asked him a few questions. He had also mentioned on the 8 Tuff Miles website that he was looking for someone to help design a shirt for this year, but was "hard to work with". I'm not sure what that meant, but said I'd be interested in helping anyway!

I got a really nice email back tonight from him saying he enjoyed getting my email and was "confident I can complete the race". So that made me feel good! Also, he asked if I'd like to try to help out w/ the tshirt design which I'm going to see what I can do on. He's got a lot of different things he wants to include in the design - so it should be a challenge to come up with ideas that will work well! We'll see if anything I come up with ends up on the actual shirt - it should be fun to work on. Peter said that I'll get absolutely nothing for this, though he may buy me a beer after the awards ceremony following the race! haha. I'll keep you guys updated on my ideas and let you know if I come up w/ something that he likes and wants to use.

What else... I got to go on a ghost tour of Naperville for free today following a Naperville CVB meeting so that was pretty cool. It was actually very entertaining and the guy who was "in charge" was a very good storyteller and I really enjoyed the hour or so we spent on the bus driving around Naperville. Some creepy stuff has happened there!

Food Report for Today:
Breakfast - 1 small pizza crust leftover from last night, Diet Coke
Lunch - Double Cheeseburger from Burger King (this was obviously not great but was sorta a time thing)
Dinner - Homemade apple streusel waffle, syrup, and water

I know that doesn't sound very good but portion-size wise I'm doing a lot better.

In really good news, Ashley played some major hardball w/ her realtor and was able to get the house sold (keep your fingers crossed everything goes right) on her terms for the most part. This is AWESOME news and I'm very proud of her for getting through this stressful situation. When we buy our first house together I'll definetely be looking to her for lots of answers! She's not feeling good tonight though so hopefully she doesn't get sick.

I'm thinking tomorrow we'll maybe just go on a long walk or something before the 5K. I want to be rested so I can try and run the whole thing w/o stopping or walking. I'm excited for the run and think it will be a good challenge at this point in my training. Well I better get to bed before too long. If you have any ideas for a tshirt w/ a pickup truck, stick figures, palm trees, banana plants, a road sign and lots of text let me know!! :)

Not the Best Day...

Wasn't feeling really well at all today and so didn't end up going for a run. Ate pretty good until dinner when we sort of "pre-celebrated" as Ashley has a serious offer on her house that looks like should go through and got Papa John's for dinner. Ate too much as Brett warned against!

In other news, DuPage Children's Museum, where I work in Membership and Marketing, was named the top children's Museum in the Chicago area by the Chicago Tribune. You can check out the article here. And if you're wondering.. the tippy shelf was fixed a week ago.

It was just one of those "ehh" days. :(

Very Interesting Article

OK,OK.. I know I said I had to get started on some other stuff tonight in the post below but just as I was about to leave my blog page I noticed on the Google News thing that I have set to "Virgin Islands" (see below right - if you haven't noticed this thing changes everytime you visit my blog and has the most up to date V.I. news stories) a link to a GREAT article I read on St. John last night in Conde Naste Traveler. I have absolutely no idea why they are publishing this on their website already as we got the new issue in the mail yesterday. It'll take you a while to read, but it's worth it. Anyway, here is the link:

St. John Article

My only problem with the article. I was planning to write it!!! I'm not kidding, the author has a nice hook w/ the way the island is changing, but basically describes her two weeks on St. John and what life is like down there for both visitors and locals in relation to the inevitale "progress" that is taking place. She does a really nice job of describing the island's feel, and after being to most of the places she mentioned on my 2 short trips to St. John, I enjoyed reading her accurate descriptions. But seriously - I was going to write this article some day, if not in conjunction w/ the run then focusing on something else like the history of the national park and the best places to go.. but Nooooo she covered that too! Anyway, I can't complain too much - and it was nice to see the island that I somehow immediately recognized as St. John when I flipped open to the table of contents of this month's Conde Nast.

And I couldn't go to bed w/o finding out who that pleasant English woman living in my ipod is. Here's the answer:
http://www.paularadcliffe.com/home.php

Thank god for my girlfriend...

See the run for today posted above? That probably wouldn't have happened without Ashley. I had a kinda crappy day for whatver reason and was feeling like all I wanted to do was either come home and sit on the couch or immediately take a nap. On top of that I was scheduled to do my trapshooting leauge which takes almost 2 hours after factoring in driving time, etc. So I wasn't particularly psyched to fit a run into my night as well.

As soon as I walked in the door I saw Ashley (well first Pim attacked me w/ slober and presented me w/ his rawhide as if it were a million dollars - the same thing he does w/ the same rawhide every night). She was already in a sweatshirt, shorts and had her running shoes on. How could I say no? I'm the one that wants to run this race. So thanks to her I changed quick and we headed out the door sans dogs.

I got going a bit quicker than Ash right away so we didn't see eachother again until we met at home tonight. My dad pointed out that I really need to be extending my distance so I set the Ipod for 2 miles (it tells you when you're halfway, almost there, etc.) and took off on a new route. This took me directly down the main road running by our house which I kept running along until I hit one mile, then crossed the street and turned back. It was a good course because it's a gradual incline all the way up and obviously the reverse headed back. I was pretty tired I think afer last nights run though and my body hurt more than I was having trouble breathing. After just half a mile I was dragging, but I was able to stabilize a pace I think and then pick it up a bit in the last half mile. It felt good to run two straight miles w/o stopping but I would probably struggle to do more.

I was a bit dismayed by the fact that my pace was only 10 minute miles. This is pretty sad - but I guess I need to keep in mind that other than hockey once a week this summer, I really haven't done much exercise at all. Still - seems like I could powerwalk that!! On the positive note, I burned 356 calories which is probably a lot more than I took in for dnner tonight.

Speaking of Calories here is the food report:
Breakfast- nope
Lunch- Went out to my favorite pizza place in Naperville for the buffet which I knew would be dangerous. I still wanted to go though because I go at least every couple weeks to see my friend Elsie who is the hostess and helps seat people. She is probably 75 years old and about 4'10" tall - and I absolutely love her. She takes me to my booth, gets me the paper and my drink, then after I've filled up my plate comes by to give me a backrub and ask me how I'm doing as I eat. I'm not kidding - she gives me these awesome 5 minute backrubs while we talk about life, it's great. I even had Ashley come out to meet her for lunch one day and she sat and talked to us for awhile (I'd been telling her about Ashley for some time). So of course she asked about how my "beautiful girl" was doing today. She also calls me "T" now which is pretty cool. Anyway, I did overdo it a bit but not too bad. I had spinach salad, 2 pieces of thin crust pizza, and one chicago style deep dish piece, along w/ a small piece of bread and butter and a brownie. So thats not great - but I used to eat WAY more than that when I went there, so it wasn't bad.
Dinner- Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich, water

The Peanut Butter and Jelly was necessary as I had to take off immediately after our run to go to my shooting league. It must have been pretty good because I shot a 21 (out of 25) from the 16 yard line, and a 17 from the 21 yard line (trap shooting clay pigeons). I think it was our last night so it was nice to go out well. Still, I missed three of the last five and that is never fun!

THE BIG NEWS!
Ashley signed us up today to run the 5K on Saturday during Batavia "BatFest". The run is a fundraiser for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, something I wholeheartedly wish to support considering my past work in the field at Orchard Place in Des Moines and my own experience with mental illness. I'm a little nervous about this just because it will be the biggest distance I've run. But if I can run tomorrow and then do 3 miles on Thursday and rest on Friday I think I'll be set. And it is a run/walk so obviously it's not like a bunch of pro runner people will be the only ones there. I'll be sure to report on it Saturday!

The only other thing I'm really thinking about tonight is that it's too bad the little nike graphs don't show up on here like the actual website. The little green line actually shows your pace by graphing it up and down while a little man runs in front of it. On here it's just a flat line which is no fun at all! **NOTE** I just posted this entry and the line showed up for the first time!! either blogger or nike must have updated something on their website to make this work, yahoo! - the only bad thing is you can see how inconsistent my pace is as I continue to work on it!** Well I have some other stuff to work on tonight that I can't put off. Hope everyone is doing well and if you have a chance send out a good thought/prayer for my grandpa down in North Carolina who is going through some health stuff and is currently in the hospital. Love you Boompa!

Running in the Rain

OK - I'm writing this on Tuesday night but am reporting on my Monday run. Went out tonight without Pim (per my dad's recommendation to help me find a good pace for myself), but Ashley came along which was great. She's starting to come each night and we run together at the beginning for awhile and then each find our own pace. It was pretty darn cold and sprinkling the entire time. I did wear a sweatshirt though and 5 minutes in I was at a good temperature and actually a bit warm. I have obviously been running each night w/ my ipod but for the past few haven't actually listened to music - have just used it for the pedometer. I listened to a lot of stuff Monday which I think made the run go a bunch faster (everything from Johnny Cash to the soundtrack of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat). I was able to run the entire time and did almost 1.5 miles pretty comfortably w/o being exhausted or anything at the end. It was also cool cuz this is the farthest I've gone w/ the ipod nike plus system and someone named Paula Radcliffe comes on and in a proper English accent says "This is Paula Radcliffe, Congratulations on your longest workout so far". Ashley arrived home shortly after me and I spent the rest of the night online and watching TV.

Food Report:
Breakfast - still struggling on that..
Lunch - Eggs Benedict and Diet Coke (1 refill)
Dinner - Smallish bowl of Mac and Cheese w/ Hot Sauce, water
Before Bed - One Lowfat Yoplait Yogurt

Brett pointed out I should try to spread out my eating and kinda "snack" throughout the day as opposed to "gorging myself" (his words) when I finally sit down to eat. I have noticed a few things since being more careful on food though. One is that I don't feel like overly full anymore after eating which is good. The other is that several times when I've been just bored or whatever, I'll think to go get something to eat - I've been able to recognize that and just start doing something else instead of mindlessly snacking.

My running partner in action!

Here's a video of Pim I made on a really cool website my dad sent me, www.animoto.com. Enjoy!

Weekend Update

Time for weekend update! - just like on Saturday Night Live but not as funny. Got back a few hours ago from the run posted above. It was really nice out again and Ashley went with Pim and I on this one. She didn't run w/ us the whole way but started out with us and ended up doing a big walk and got a lot of good exercise. Pim and I ran the same route as we tried last week, eventually making our way to the park and a bit beyond. We didn't go any further though, and were a little slow - which probably isn't bad considering our weekend.

I'm sorry to say that Saturday I didn't get much exercise in - in fact it was a bit of the opposite with lots of eating! We went down to a wedding where Ashley's cousin was getting married in Scottsburg, Indiana. It was about a 5 or 6 hour drive into the very southern part of the state. I did manage to eat healthly until dinner, when I indulged in the "candy table" at the wedding reception. Anyway, with all the driving, sitting in the church, eating, and visiting I didn't get a run in.

I'm happy to say though that as soon as we got back Ashley agreed to go on the above mentioned run which was fun to do together. Here's the weekend food report:

Saturday:
Breakfast - nothin'
Lunch - McChicken, small fries, small Diet Coke (no refills) from McBadforyou in Gibson, IL
Dinner - Candy of various kinds, chicken casserole, small cut of pork, potato wedges, 2 rolls w/ butter, and some small beef strips w/ rice (NOT a very healthy meal(

Sunday:
Brunch - scrambed eggs, 1 biscuitw/ gravy, 3 pieces of bacon, 1 sausage, 1 1/2 small cinammon rolls
Dinner - Small bowl of rotini pasta w/ cheddar cheese sprinkled on top and tomato sauce, piece of leftover wedding cake.

So today was better.. just not by much. This weekend did get me thinking a bit though. I think it is really "OK" to celebrate at an event like a wedding or a holiday with big meals and a bit of indulgence. The problem is our society has turned EVERY meal into this kind of celebration (i.e. "you got an A Johnny! Let's go get some mcnuggets and a quarter pounder to celebrate - then stop for ice cream!). Either that or meals aren't "events" at all anymore. People, including myself, tend to just eat when they want, which leads to eating in front of the TV, not paying attention to what they are eating - then looking for food next time they are bored. It's not like I'm coming up w/ original thoughts here, lot's of people have noticed we do this, its just so damn hard for us to change.

I just got of the phone w/ my friend Laura who is a PE teacher out in Colorado. She sent me a nice note congratulating me on putting this run up as a goal and working towards getting in better shape. In fact, she said parents ask her all the time how they can get their kids to be more motivated to work out and eat better. Her usual response? It's all about what you do as a family, how you act. Basically it's a different lifestyle. Anyway, I know I'm not going to stop loving pizza and donuts, but I may be able to have 2 less slices or one less donut and still be able to enjoy those things w/o thinking much of it.

All right, enough regurgitation of "Super Size Me" and "Fast Food Nation", Morgan Spurlock and Eric Schlosser could probably sue me for plagerism. Speaking of, click here for an interesting news story going on in Illinois right now. The faculty at SIU has apparently voted overwhelminly asking him to resign.

Well Ashley just came in and said she wants to do 8 minute abs. So I'll sign off for the night - thinknig of my grandparents down in North Caroina :)

Starting to get cold...

Since I've brought up that I've taken Pim on all my runs so far I thought I'd show you guys a pic of him if you haven't seen him. Here he is doing his favorite new thing - running!




Just got back from a run on a little bit different route than usual. It was much colder tonight than the rest of the nights I've gone out this week, but in a long sleeve tshirt I wasn't bothered too much. I went a bit farther tonight - not much though. I did walk another few blocks after running, and then ran about 1/8 of a mile up the small hill on the road leading up to our driveway.

Haven't done 8 minute abs yet - figure I'll wait till Ashley gets home to see if she wants to join me. She is out trying on a bridesmaid dress for a friend's wedding. I'm not particularly happy about this wedding (nothing against the bride and groom) simply because it is on the same date next August as James and Laura's. I'm in that wedding - so obviously Ashley won't be able to join me out in Denver which would have been fun - oh well. Hope she gets home soon as she has been gone forever!

I wanted to say a quick thanks to Brett who has been sending me some really good training trips via email lately. He is going down to run the race with me but has the advantage of already being in fairly good shape (as does Brian). Brett is an extremely talented althete who played football as a kicker for Simpson College and a few Arena League teams. He also did some personal training work when living out in Pasadena, so all his advice is very good. He is a very "go get 'em" kind of guy himself that will never turn down a challenge - but has been extremely understanding and realistic when helping me set goals and come up w/ new ways to train. He thinks I should get on a bike or rollerblade almost as much I run which is probably a good idea that I'm going to look into. Anyway - thanks for the advice so far Brett.

In other exciting news, I got the confirmation letter in the mail from where we'll be staying while down on the island, Cinnamon Bay Camps in the US National Park. We'll have a large group site so may have to share but will be literally 30 yards from the beach. Also got our car rental confirmed, and since we got the plane tickets last weekend we are all set - just need to save up some $$ for fun stuff while we're down there. Because of it's beauty and the fact that most of the island is undeveloped due to the National Park, St. John is one of the most expensive islands in the Caribbean. Because we were able to get one of the last campsites, a great deal on flights out of O'Hare, and will be renting a car and not depending on taxis - before food, fun, etc. this trip is only costing us each about $600.00. That's as much as some people pay a NIGHT to stay on St. John (don't believe me, click here!), and we'll be there for 6 full days and nights. Obviously we are giving up some luxuries - but you go for the island (and in our case the run), not the hotel.

OK.. before I forget Food Report:

Breakfast: nada
Lunch: Burrito Bowl from Chipotle - no tortilla (free!), and diet coke no refills
Dinner: So far only a yogurt - I'm waiting for Ashley to get home!

Tonight's Run - at least I'm not in New Guinea!

NOTE: I added a bunch of new stuff to the blog today if you're interested. Including the "widgets" already on the right side column (news from the Virgin Islands, etc.), I put up some lists of my favorite websites as well as what I'm currently reading. I also am trying to link stuff whenever relevant in my entries - so if something is blue, click it! The purpose of this is twofold - first, it's fun for me to mess around with, second, the 3 of you that read this can kill more time at work. See, we both win!





Just got back from a really good, short run with Pim. It was again a really nice night and the perfect temperature out - all I had on was shorts and a tshirt and I was really styling by rocking my black dress socks w/ my nikes. Went on the same "to the park and back route" as I did Tuesday night, but went a bit faster and a little further this time. I was definetely tired at the end but glad I could more or less comfortably run the whole thing.

After the run and uploading to the nikeplus site I did my old favorite, 8 minute abs. 8 minute abs was one of those short workout tapes really popular in the mid-nineties, a la "Buns of Steel" etc. I first came across it when I was in college at Northern Iowa. I was friends with a girl named Lisa who lived several floors below me and one night asked if I wanted to do the tape when I was hanging out in her room. Well one thing let to another.. (no - not like that! get your mind out of the gutter) and we ended up working out to the tape every night together. Eventually several others joined us, and I'll admit I think it was the fact that I was pretty much the only guy taking part in this ritual that kept me coming back. For some reason, I got a hold of the tape, and by the time I left for my first year at summer camp, we had a large portion of the 4th floor of Campbell Hall stopping by on a regular basis each evening to tone our mid-sections together. I digress... my point is its a good tape and actually does give you a great ab workout in just 8 minutes. I also enjoy counting the number of times the "leader" says "gang". I swear he must say it at least 20, as in "Let's go gang, just 5 seconds left before the next motion". I'm trying to get Ashley to start in on it w/ me but she opted out tonight as she has had a long day and has to get up early tomorrow for an important meeting. You can check out 8 minute abs here:



Food report:
-no breakfast as usual (gotta work on that)
-lunch: Pizza Bagel at Einstein's. Tiny side salad and a diet coke (no refills)
-dinner: Roast Beef and swiss sandwich, grapes, and potato salad with O.J. to drink

If you couldn't tell already, I'll probably diverge a bit from solely talking about my training in this blog - if you don't like it sorry, I'll try to report on the running stuff up front. Anyway, just wanted to report that Ashley and I went to see a really interesting and engaging speaker tonight at the 1st Infantry Division Museum at Catigny Park in Wheaton. His name is James Campbell and he just came out w/ a new book called "The Ghost Mountain Boys." It details the 42 day long journey of troops in the 32nd Infantry through the mountains of New Guinea during WWII. They were the first to ever actually cross from one coastline to the other, and it has been described as one of the worst and most difficult military campaigns/traverses of the war, however it has been almost completely overlooked in the textbooks, history, etc. He even said Ken Burns only dedicated ONE sentence to these guys in his recent PBS miniseries "The War" (Mom, I figure you'd appreciate that - My mom has on ongoing personal feud w/ Ken Burns. I'm serious, ask her about it).

Anyway, what these guys did was just absolutely amazing. And upon completing the journey, they were immediately thrust into absolutely horrid war conditions on the Northern coast of Papua New Guinea where the Japanese had already dug in and took up strategic positions. There is a LOT more to the story than that, so if it sounds good, go get the book. The cool thing is the author actually went over and completely retraced the steps of the journey, tearing an ACL in the process but making it coast to coast and over the mountains none the less. They even had some local native "carriers" help them that had been children and walked along w/ the soilders during the War. You're probably wondering why I even knew about this book or would care since I'm not really a war buff. I first read a summary article of this guys journey to retrace the steps of the "mountain boys" in my favorite magazine, Outside. When I saw he was going to be here tonight I definetely wanted to go.

I was able to ask a question after the lecture and it was cool to hear the veterans that were there ask some questions as well. They all stood up to be recognized which was neat too - some who had served on New Guinea. We bought the book following the lecture and waited in line to have it signed. The author was extremely nice and talked w/ us for several minutes about the piece in Outside, etc. Overall a really cool night.

Oh one more thing on the training. The nike website lets that I'm using w/ my high tech nikeplus ipod kit and shoes let's you set goals and track them, so I'll post that as well. Here is my first goal:



Ashley, sorry I was annoying you on the way to the talk tonight. I love you more than anything and thanks so much for all the support you have given me!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's report!

One Word - Lawry's

Ok - unfortunately I can not post a run report as one did not happen today (I know... smells like trouble - no run on the second day!). Ashley's Uncle Todd was in from San Diego and we all went out for dinner at Lawry's Prime Rib in downtown Chicago (click the link - see that plate? That is EXACTLY what it actually looks like when your dinner arrives. It was ridiculous. Seriously, I think I can go until Sunday and not eat. As for eating "healthy", I'm not sure it's really possible at this place. You basically are required to order a huge cut of prime rib, carved right at your table, that is served w/ potatoes, creamed corn, and the like. Anyway, for us to get down to Chicago in rush hour takes about an hour and a half. Dinner lasted about 2.5 hours and then another hour or so back to St. Charles (which included a bathroom stop at the Children's Museum resulting in us setting off the alarm, calling the police, and ultimately guessing the code to turn the alarm off). So I sit here after taking Pim out and don't think I'll get a run in if I want to hit the hay before midnight.

On the positive side, I ate at a new restuarant - Pockets - for lunch, and had an extremely healthy and pretty good sandwich. Ashley pointed out that to keep the blog honest I did say I was planning to pack a lunch today which I did not. Still, what I had was a lot better than McDonalds. Now to digest this slab of beef inside me and get back to training tomorrow. I'm out.

The Start of a Great Adventure... or Disaster :)

OK... welcome everyone to my running blog! The purpose of this web diary will be to keep track of how my training is going for a race I plan to run THIS FEBRUARY. That race is the "8 Tuff Miles" road race which will take place Saturday, February 23, on St. John, US Virgin Islands.

A little background (which I'll go into more in the future hopefully). I heard about this race from my parents who are frequent visitors to St. John, and in two visits to the island, I have fallen in love with the place. First off - I'm not a runner, and I never really have been. There was a point in college (just before heading off for a Caribbean cruise coincidentally) where I was running about 4 miles every night to stay in shape, but that only lasted about 6 months. Other than that it was hockey and just staying active that kept me in shape when I was younger.

So here's the point to fess up - I'm FAT. yep, since moving to Illinois about a year ago I've put on quite a bit of weight and am just about at the highest point I've ever been: 246 lbs (I'm only 6'). My weight has been up and down my whole life, but I've never been "really in great shape" or "really obese". I'm as close to the latter as I ever hope to be, and it's time to make a change.

When I came up w/ the idea to run the race several months ago I knew that I'd need someone to do it with and immediately called my best friend Brian as I knew he'd be up for an adventure and is already in very good shape after himself taking on some major lifestyle changes. He was in immediately as I expected and we also asked our other best friend Brett if he'd like to join us. Brett was in as well, but up until this weekend we've kinda been brushing off the details and I, in particular, have been brushing off the training. We went to visit Brian this weekend and I decided it was time for that to change. We also spent several hours on the phone together Sunday afternoon and now have our plane tickets, accomodations, race registration, etc. completely taken care of. In other words - we've put our $ down, there is no turning back!

OK - enough about all that for now as I need to get to bed. So I'll say tonight was my first "official" training run. I did better than I thought, but I have been doing some little runs and more walking here and there. It was a perfect cool night and I ran to the park a few blocks down the street and back with Pim (my white boxer), who enjoyed it immensely. I did not go fast at all, but I also did not stop. I know it's dumb to be happy I ran a mile w/o stopping, but you have to start somewhere. You can see my run information courtesy of my ipod nano and the nike plus website here:



Certianly nothing special, but like I said - it's a start and it's a mile. We'll do the same or a little more tomorrow and go from there.

I'm also attempting to seriously change my diet to cut the weight and get healthier. This has resulted in 2 horrible headaches the past few days that I am guessing are due to lack of sugar and caffiene. Anyway, today I had a small half a sub for lunch, cup of chili, chips, and diet coke (not great, i know). Then for dinner Ashley and I had chicken breast, grapes, and potato salad, w/ fat free jello for dessert (it was in a cool little mini pie crust w/ light whip cream). I'm going to try and pack my lunch a lot more and will do this tomorrow. Also, I rejoined the Naperville YMCA so I'll fill you in when I figure out how to work that into my schedule. I just don't think I'll be able to go in the morning - its too hard for me get up but I may go at lunch or after work. For now I will try to run every night and Ash said she'd start doing 8 minute Abs with me this week.

OK, that's enough for now!