Boston and Running Out Of Town

     I was driving to work yesterday thinking about my latest work trip to Boston when the genesis for this post hit me.  Running has allowed me to experience a city more than I ever would have if I wasn't a runner.  When I look at my trip to Boston as a whole, if I wasn't a runner I wouldn't have seen more than my hotel, the convention center and the couple of blocks we walked to a restaurant for dinner.  I know this was a work trip and NOT a vacation so I didn't expect to spend any time "site seeing", but when you are a runner all things are possible. 

     A city like Boston with so much history I was able to experience some of it, when most everyone one else is still dreaming with bags of feathers beneath their heads.  On day one I was able to visit the Marathon finish line and site of the bombings.  While out on my run I came across a statue of Edgar Allan Poe and I even got a little lost and wound up in their section of Chinatown.  Day two I ran by the Boston Tea Party museum, found a statue of Paul Revere statue and house, and ran around an area with narrow cobblestone streets just like they were back when horse and buggy was the main mode of transportation.  

     

     It was a fun adventure that I wouldn't have been able to do if I didn't run.  With this new found freedom I was able to run in Milwaukee, Nashville, San Antonio, and Las Vegas.  Running also took me to Southern California with my Ragnar team, and even though I was recovering from my hip surgery I was able to get out to see Phoenix and the surrounding area.

     Here are few tips if you plan on running in a city you are not familiar with.

1.  Contact someone who knows - Before every trip I hop online and take a look at where my hotel is located with google maps.  Then look for running shoe stores around that area and either call them or email them.  I tell them when I will be in town, the hotel I am staying at and the estimated time when I would be out running and ask them if they can recommend any safe areas to run.  

2.  Plan your runs - once I get info from the locals I use google maps to look for any historic or interesting things to see while in town that may be in those safe areas that were recommended to me.

3.  If you are traveling with others and they don't run, let them know you will be out running early - having someone that would expect you at a certain time in the morning will know something is wrong if you don't show up on time.

4.  Local Laws - check local laws if you plan on carrying anything more than your fists to protect yourself, you'll want to know.  Also check about J walking and other local laws you may unknowingly break.

5.  Prepare for weather - Check the weather before you leave so you can take the proper gear.  While it may be sunny and 65 where you are, it could be 100 and rainy or 30 and snowy where you are going.

6.  Take your phone, ID and some cash - Of course you'll want to take pictures on your runs, but if you have an emergency you'll want to call for help.  You never know when you'll need to prove who you are so take your ID and cash is a must because you never know when you could get injured and a cab could be your savior to get you back to your hotel.

Here are a few pictures from some of my sights while out, burning up the road. 

 

The Surprise!

     Well this weekend played host to a lot of races around the country, but one in particular I was wishing I was at, but instead I was at work.  The Indy Mini Marathon, the largest half marathon in the US with something like 35,000 registered participants and home to my Ragnar Sole Mates reunion was going on.  Around nine months or so ago Katie came up with a great idea to have a reunion for our Strangers to Sole Mates Ragnar team and thought that Indy would make a great spot for it.  Unfortunately five of the twelve were not able to make it, but for the seven of us that could planning moved forward.

     I registered, paid my $85 and booked my hotel while counting the days till I got to introduce Mandy to them and got to run one of my bucket list races.  For those that don't know, part of this race is run on the track of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and whether you are a race car fan or not, getting to do that is pretty darn cool.  Whether it was fate or karma, three months before the race the marketing staff at my work moved the dates of a very important three day event to the same weekend as the race.  Needless to say as a manager this required me to be in attendance for the event and cancel my vacation.  First I was pissed that I wasn’t going to be able to hang out with my friend then the idea of wasting money on the registration fee and missing out on the race quickly added to my frustrations.  I let my Sole Mates know that I was now the sixth member not able to attend.

     As the race drew closer I held out hope that I was going to somehow be able to go, I even waited to cancel my hotel reservation until two weeks ago.  It was around this time I thought I can’t run the race, but Indy isn’t that far for me and maybe I can figure out how to still at least see everyone for just a little bit.  From my work, Indy is about a two and a half hour trip, so looking at my schedule I thought I could shoot out of work Saturday, drive to Indy, visit with everyone and get back by eleven the next morning to work the third day.  I wanted it to be a surprise, but I also didn’t want to drive all the way there and have to figure out where they were all at, so I emailed Katie to let her know of my plans.  It was at that time she let me know that our teammate Hilary was now able to make the race and was flying in to surprise everyone as well!

     Saturday came and at first I was so bummed because I was seeing all the great pictures of all the fun they were all having on Facebook while I was working, but none the less I would be seeing them in a few short hours.  My boss was nice enough to allow me to slide out an hour early, so I texted Katie, hopped on my motorcycle and I was on my way.

     Once I arrived at the hotel, I texted Katie and she met me in the lobby to hatch our master plan.  She went back to the room like nothing happened, while I hung out in the bar with a friend of hers, her sister and sister-in-law who also came to run the race.  When the four of us went to the room the girls walked in first saying they just met this cool guy at the bar that also has run a Ragnar and thought he should come hang out with everyone.  I walked in the room and everyone freaked out!  Hugs, tears, and happy faces were all that you could see.  I was so happy to see everyone and carry on a conversation that didn’t involve typing.

     We hung out in the hotel room for maybe a half hour or so before we all headed down to the hotel bar to get some drinks and play a freaking hilarious game called Cards Against Humanity.  If you have never played or even heard of it and you are not easily offended, then you should really pick up this game.  Sometime around midnight we all started getting pretty tired and loopy and decided to call it a night.  With everyone having different flight times in the morning, we knew this would be the last chance all of us were together, so we took a group shot before heading to bed.

     I was up and showered by seven to hit up breakfast before I headed back to work, but breakfast didn't start till 7:30 so I hung out in the lobby with Nancy, a fellow Ragnarian and Bonnie.  The three of us had a very in depth conversation about our weight loss and our inspirations that got us there.  I am not gonna lie, there were some tears shed, but it just shows the passion for the hurdles we've had to overcome.  Once breakfast started, Bonnie, Nancy, Paige, Katie, Rik and myself sat down to eat and continue our pre-breakfast conversations.  You may remember Rik from this previous post (click here).  Rik is one of the Ragnar Relay - From Fat to Finish Line team co captains that inspired the documentary of the same name.  Rik, unknowingly, was a huge inspiration in my weight loss / running journey and thanks to Katie I was finally able to meet him a few months ago.  We have since become friends and have talked about running a marathon together, but our schedules just didn't mesh.  Until now!  We decided to run the Glass City Marathon, my hometown race, next spring!

     Well as they say I hate to eat and run, but I really had to hop on the bike and head back so I could make it to work on time.  So after this long winded post, I can sum it up with what I posted on Facebook:

Worked 8 long hours followed by a 187 mile ride to spend a few short hours with my Ragnar Sole Mates before getting up at 6:45am to ride 187 miles back so I could work another 6 hours. #totallyWorthIt

   

The Goals for 2015

     This past month everyone has been making and letting the world know what their New Year resolutions or goals are for the year.  I actually love seeing what other people are looking to achieve in the coming year, it gives me such motivation to sit back and really look at what I want to achieve.  Last year my goals were to continue my weight loss, run the Owens Corning Half Marathon, run Ragnar SoCal with my SoleMates team and complete my first marathon.  I would say that last year was a resounding success.  Not only did I run the Owens Corning Half Marathon, I ran it in under two hours, and I did run and obviously loved every second of my Ragnar adventure.

Ragnar pt1

Ragnar pt2

Ragnar pt3

Ragnar pt4

     On January 1st I weighed in at 210.5 lbs and on December 31st I finished out the year at 175 lbs, that's a total of 35.5 lbs down for the year.  As for the marathon, I couldn't have asked for a better first marathon experience.  Not only did I finish the race I did it in under 4 hours when everyone thought I was crazy to even try to attempt a sub 4 marathon.

     My plans for 2015 have changed several times over the last month or so as I have thought about it.  Before this IT Band issue consumed my life, I had glorious ideas of going after a sub 3:30 marathon this fall.  I also wanted to earn my membership into the Half Fanatics club, but that now has been scrapped, at least for how I intended to do it.  I was going to run the Owens Corning Half Marathon and 6 days later run the Indy half with my SoleMates for our reunion, but thanks to a large 3 day mandatory all hands on deck event at work being moved to the same weekend as Indy I am gonna have to miss out on the reunion and the Half Fanatics.  

     This IT Band has really put a damper on things for me, just because of the uncertainty with this injury not knowing how long it will last.  That, however, has not kept me from still thinking big for this year.  First, without much thought I signed up for a Fat to Finish line Facebook group challenge of 2,015 in 2015.  Stupidly I pledged that I would attempt to cover all 2,015 miles in 2015 all by myself considering I am starting out not being able to run, but it didn't cost anything and it actually helped form the rest of my goals or challenges for the year.

     For me 2015 is going to be all about miles not time.  I want to work to get healthy and run as much as I can, no matter how fast or slow it is.  That sub 3:30 marathon time goal will come, but I truly think that I pushed my self so hard this past summer to that sub 4 goal that I forgot why I was really running, to lose weight.  I can't burn calories and continue to lose and/or maintain my weight if I'm not running.  Right?  OK, I can but I would rather run than something else because I enjoy it so much.

2015 goals in no particular order

Get back to regular running

     Continue to work with my therapist till I can run pain free.  This is the biggest because if I can't do this than I can't do anything else on this list.

2015 or more total miles for the year

     I explained this one already earlier

Run a trail race

     This is a little tougher only because we don't have a lot of trails in Northwest Ohio and the ones we do have are pretty flat and basic vs other areas, but here is a local race that features a 5K, 25K and a 50K called the Oak Openings Stampede.  My first thought is to run the 50K because this will cross the trail race and ultra marathon off my list, but I may just do the 25K for the experience of it, but we'll see.

37 miles on my 37th birthday

     This may be a pipe dream, but I was inspired when I read a lady's blog, who was recently featured in Runners World magazine, that she was running 50 miles on her 50th Birthday.  She was running a race, but I am thinking about just hitting the road in the morning till I hit 37 miles and then have Mandy pick me up and take me home. 

Complete an Ultra Marathon

     Ever since I completed the marathon I was so proud of myself, but I had that feeling of what next.  I was mostly thinking of time goals at that time, but the more I read about ultra running the more it intrigues me.  I don't know if I am built for it mentally or physically, but I wanna find out. 

Complete the Detroit Marathon

     Katie from my SoleMates team and the runs for cookies blog is shooting for a marathon PR this year and our fellow SoleMates teammate, Thomas, is coming in from Portland, Oregon to help pace her to her finish time.  I wanted to at least run one marathon this year and my very first half marathon was the Detroit International Half, so I thought it would be perfect.  I'll get to see Thomas and Katie and since I don't have a time goal this year I'll just hang with them to give Katie any support I can.

Hit my goal weight of 173 lbs

     I am so close to my goal weight I set for myself, and I think I would be there already if it wasn't for me not able to run much these last couple months.  Once I am back on the road I'll make the push to get there.

Maintain my weight within the range of 168 - 178

     Once I hit my weight goal I need to give myself an range to live in so I thought a 10 pound range is an acceptable way to maintain where I am at.  That is unless I become some muscle bound buff guy and put on 20lbs of muscle or something crazy. Bahahahaha!

Try more fruits & vegetables 

     Trying the Apple has really opened my eyes and made me think that I need to give some other things a try.  This will be slow and on my terms, but even if I only try one new thing this year I will call that an accomplishment.

     So that is it.  That is what I am thinking right now.  I reserve the right to change my mind and or alter my goals, but I feel like this is really representing how I feel right now.  I never ever thought I would say the words "I really miss running", but I do miss it.  If running a little slower and going longer is better than short and fast (#) than that is what it will be.

Wednesday Weigh In - Overweight

     Well I think the title for this week says it all, Overweight!  I bet not to many people are happy and excited to tell people they are overweight, but when you have been obese and probably considered extremely obese, becoming overweight is a huge deal!
   
     I had a very busy day today so the first thing I did was get my weigh in out of the way.  When I hopped on the scale and looked down I saw 190.8lbs, exactly 1 pound less then last week.  The funny thing is because I had to keep moving due to my schedule I didn't record my weigh in till I got home later in the day and totally didn't realize that my BMI rating had dropped out of the obese category.

5/14/14 official weigh in

191 lbs

Change: -1 lbs

Total loss from heaviest: 126 lbs

Current BMI: 29.9 (overweight)

Change: -.1

      After I got my weigh in done my long run was next on my list.  It was cool in the mid 50s and overcast which made for a nice run, to bad it was only a 6 mile long run.  I just know when I hit the peak of my marathon training it will be in the high 90s and super sunny and humid.  Recently I have been trying to work on keeping my pace pretty consistent mile after mile, and today I did a much better job.  Usually I start out fast, slow way down mile two and slowly recover to a steady pace.  Today I wanted to keep the pace at 10mins per mile and it looks like other than mile 6 I kept a pretty steady pace going.

     I miss judged my time this morning and was short on time when I got back from my run so I had to quickly eat and shower so I could head to my buddy's shop, Lucky Luke's Tattoo Studio.  I was going to get my long awaited Strangers to Solemates Ragnar tattoo.  I wanted to use the logo that I created for the team, which we did, but we had to make a few minor changes that would allow it to transfer well as a tattoo.  I also wanted to give it that old school Sailor Jerry look to it.  We added the sun and the palm tree leaves to give a nod to Southern California.  Once we worked through all the design stuff, I had to decide where to get it.  I was going to do my lower leg next to my Detroit Half Marathon tattoo, but due to the size and shape it fit much better on the top of my thigh right above the knee.  I didn't keep and eye on the clock but I was probably in the chair for around 3 hours with only one break so Luke could talk with a couple potential customers.

   
     I am very happy with the outcome and love the simplistic traditional look to it.  The only downer is I won't be running for a least the next week while it heals. 

Ragnar SoCal Recap Pt 4

     Those of us in Van 2 headed back to John and Ric’s house for the after party.  When we got there,  I got a quick change of clothes and headed to the back yard.  Everyone's jaws hit the floor when they stepped into the back yard and saw what Ric had put together.  It rivaled some of the best wedding receptions I have been to.  Satin covered chairs, LED mood lighting, fully stocked bar with all the trimmings, propane heaters to keep us warm on a cool night, fine china and flatware, stainless steal buffet style food trays and large umbrellas floating above us.  

John’s Aunt Sue prepared a wonderful spegetti dinner with your choice of a vegetarian or a meat sauce, garlic bread and salad. 

The Ragnaholics joined us as well and I couldn’t ask for a more wonderful way to wind down and celebrate, than with my new running family.

     The next morning John, Susan and myself returned the vans and met the team at Baja Betty's, John’s favorite hangout, for a mimosa brunch.  I of course stayed away from the mimosas but the spread was fantastic and the food was wonderful.  I also partook in the “cheese crack”, which is a homemade cheese dipping sauce that I thought was going to be to spicy for me by the looks of it, but it was not at all.  

     We reminisced about our adventures and took a few picture, then John awarded Tay, who was unanimously voted by van 2 has our All-star of the Van.  Tay is such a wonderful person and totally deserved it.  With her new job and having to move, she had the least amount of time to train and she rocked her three legs, all while having a constant smile!  Cat had the great idea to have everyone sign her BIB but all I had was my medal so I asked everyone to sign the back of mine. 

     After brunch most of the team headed to the world famous San Diego Zoo.  My overall impression was it was a nice facility and had a lot of interesting designed exhibits, but even with a $5 off coupon it was $41 dollars a person.  Once we got into the place we hit the Skyfari chair lifts that took us to the back of the park and gave us a nice birds eye view of the place.  We made our way around the main exhibits, checking out the polar bears, pandas, monkeys and others.  The park is very hilly, and all of our legs were so tired and hurting so we hopped on the double-decker tour bus to get a tour of the rest of the park.  

     We were all pretty exhausted and getting hungry so Hillary’s boyfriend suggested a great fish place on the water called The Fish Market.  The restaurant was literally right on the water of the bay, right next to the USS Midway museum.  I ended up getting the fish & chips mostly because there was not much else that interested me and my basic palate.  It was so nice just to sit and talk with everyone.  I learned so much about their backgrounds and why they are who they are, which is what makes them so great!  The sun set over the bay as we were finishing dinner and we said our sad goodbyes to Caitlin who had to change her flight and get home early for a family emergency.      
      Thomas and I made plans to visit the USS Midway while the ladies made plans to head to Mission beach.  The Midway was amazing!  Its sheer size alone makes you stand in awe of how it can stay afloat.  They offered a free audio tour with your admission so, we made our rounds from the lower decks all the way top side on the flight deck.  The one thing that stood out to me was how the higher in rank you got the nicer the accommodations would get.   Unfortunately we were running short on time so we were not able to make it to the tower tour of the ship.  

     Thomas’s flight was leaving at 5pm and all of us wanted to get together for lunch before I took him to the airport.  We met at a cool little restaurant called Fat Fish in Mission Beach and hung out on the patio.  Again, I got the fish & chips platter, it is my weakness when it comes to seafood.  After a wonderful lunch we had another round of sad goodbyes with Thomas leaving.  After I dropped him off I headed back to Mission beach to check out a huge souvenir shop.  Being that close to the Pacific I told the ladies I couldn’t be this close and not get my feet wet, so we walked to the beach and hung out and took a few pictures.

     We dropped Martha off at her sister’s place, hugged and said our final goodbyes, because her sister was taking here to the airport.  Cat, Bonnie, Katie and I headed straight to the airport to drop Colleen off and say our goodbyes.  The four of us met John and is Aunt Sue at another local favorite of John’s, Gossip Grill.  We grabbed a table on the patio and the ladies ordered some drinks while we waited for John and Sue to arrive.  I was a perfect relaxing end to a long week.  I ordered myself a bacon bbq burger and fries which was really good.  The menu was quite interesting with their choice of words for some of the items.   

     When we finished John took Katie back to the hotel, since it was going to be the last time he would see her.  Cat, Bonnie and I headed back to John’s to pack.  When John got back we sat around and talked for a little while longer before we all crashed for the night.

     Katie, Bonnie, Sue and my flights all left around the same time, so it was quite interesting getting us all to the airport.  John let us use his Jeep Compass to get to the airport, which we filled the entire back cargo area with luggage, we had bags between our legs, on our laps and squeezed 5 people in. 

     Cat’s flight was at 2pm so she dropped us off and John was going to take her back later.  It was hard to say the final goodbyes with everyone, but I was ready to get back home and see Mandy, I had been missing her terribly. 

     My first flight went pretty well, I had an isle seat but this time had someone right next to me.  I was able to get a good bit of reading done but I dozed off for a little while, which was unusual for me.  We landed in Chicago where I had an hour layover.  It seemed to go by pretty quick, because before I new it I was in my window seat taxiing to the runway.  The second flight, a lady that was on my last flight and I shared a row with no middle passenger which was nice.  Once we hit cruising altitude the started passing out drinks and snacks.  I didn’t even have half my drink down when we made a sharp turn and the pilot came on stating we were on final approach and to prepare for landing.  Once off the plane, grabbed my luggage and headed to the door to meet Mandy.

      I have said this is was a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget.  Its true that I will never forget, and have made 11 new life long friends, but the adventure was so fun I know other Ragnars are in my future.  If you asked me if I would recommend doing a Ragnar, I would say HELL YES you should. 
     Till next time, thank you Strangers to Solemates for such a wonderful adventure!!!