Wednesday Weigh In

     10/29/14 official weigh in

179 lbs

Change: -1.5 lbs

Total loss from heaviest: 138 lbs

Current BMI: 28.0 (overweight)

Change: -.2

     Well its been a little over a week and a half since Columbus and I am finally starting to get back into a bit of a routine with my life.  The one thing that I thought would be the biggest challenge for me, really wasn't to bad to be honest.   All this week I have been slowly decreasing my daily calorie limit back to where I should be now that I am not running the volume of miles I was pre marathon.  I had a couple of days were my stomach grumbled a little trying to tell me it wanted something when I knew it didn't really need anything.  I try to put that fire out with a large glass of water which seems to help it subside.

     To get the time I needed off for the race I had to switch around my days off which meant when I got back to work Tuesday of last week I had eight straight days before I would get another day off.  I know that doesn't sound that horribly bad except I had just run a freaking marathon and all I wanted to do was rest!  Today was finally the day I could truly just sit down, relax and not have to worry about anything.  Now don't think I was a complete lazy bum, I did get out of the house for a run and I headed into town to take care of a couple of things. 

     After Mandy headed off to work this morning, the pups and I decided to sleep in till almost nine before I got up and headed out for my run.  The temp was hovering in the mid 40s with the sun shining and a decent breeze to contend with.  My idea for this run was to just get 4 easy miles under my belt.  As I walked out the door I told myself not even to look at my watch, which is impossible for me, but it was a nice thought though.  During the two miles out I had that cool wind coming right at my face making it feel a little cooler than the temperature was saying it was.  When I would glance at my watch, it was mostly just to check my mileage, which is basically a lie because I know exactly where the 2 mile turn around spot is, so really I was checking my pace.

     For most of the run my knee was a non issue, but somewhere around the 2.5 mile mark a little light pain crept up on me, but quickly subsided.  The one thing I am still having issues with, is my calves.  I made it further today than on Sunday before they started to ache, but the fact is they still did.  The aching pain never really got to horribly bad, but I did add some walking at the start of miles 3 and 4 for maybe a tenth of a mile each.  I thought it would be a good idea to break it up a little and give my calves a little break.   When I got back to the house the aching diminished a lot quicker than it did on Sunday.  This tells me I am healing and if I continue to take it easy for the rest of this week I should be back to my old self really soon.  My plan is to rest Thursday and Friday; I was planning on running Saturday, but with our event that evening at work I'll be putting in at least 12 hours on my feet.  I thought it best to skip it and do my next easy run on Sunday.

     I might as well say it now, I am skipping the Monroe Half Marathon that's coming up on the 9th.  This decision was made for me by fate when I was trying to register for the race.  I spent an hour and a half trying to register, but every time I submitted my info to get to the payment screen it would kick me out.  I eventually took that as a sign that maybe I shouldn't be running it.  The more I thought about it, I felt like if it is taking this long to get my legs back from the marathon I don't know if I'll be ready to race by then.

     Anyway I have been thinking long and hard (#) about where to go from here with my running and my goals.  I have started to formulate a couple ideas that I will run by you all soon.  I think next year is shaping up to be fun and quite challenging. 

Final Thoughts on My First Marathon Experience

     If I was asked to give an overall grade to the Columbus Marathon committee on this year's race I would have to give the whole entire experience an A or A-.  Overall I loved the race, the course and all of the town support to go along with it.  Being as I have never run any other marathons you can take my recommendation for what its worth, but if you are trying to considering where to run your first, I would say to put it right at the top of the list.  Why I didn’t give it an A+?  Well, come on nobody is perfect! LOL! Seriously though, the layout at the expo didn’t make for a great experience and the problem with the overcrowding of the corrals at the start really bugged me.  Another was the temporary fencing they used seemed a little dangerous to me for those running along it with how the legs stuck out into the course. This was especially bad at the start, with all the runners crammed in I was running along the fence and I found myself high stepping a little to keep from tripping.  The last thing that I had issue with was the road during the 24^th or 25^th mile they took us down.   It was a road made up entirely of all brick and had a lot of ruts and high/low spots. Not that I think that kind of road is ever really good to use for any course, but at the end of the race where a lot of people are shuffling their feet vs. running normally made it a little dangerous.

     Other than those little picky things, I loved this race and would totally do it again some day.  Every water/fuel station was well maned and all the volunteers were great.  Plenty of port a potties to satisfy the size of the field and all the spectators alike. Out of the entire 26.2 the only boring part of the race, as far as the scenery goes, was a bike path with fields on either side that only lasted a few hundred yards.  I think the race committee new this because there was a lot of great signage featuring inspirational and funny quotes for a laugh and to keep us going.  This race seems to really pride itself on providing an "all about the runner" race experience and boy did they deliver.  
  

     While I was sitting here reflecting back on the marathon for this post, I couldn’t but help think back to my first ever race experience.  The idea of running a marathon at that time would have been crazy talk considering just running an entire 5K was a challenge to me.  That race was in April of 2013 and I finished the 3.1 miles with a 33:27 and an avg. mile pace of 10:46 and in just 18 months I completed a twenty six point freaking two miles averaging 8:53 per mile. 

     
     As amazing as that sounded to me I really wanted to give myself a little different perspective on this so I looked up what my weight was and what my marathon time would have been if I ran one 18 months ago.  Using the average pace from that first 5K I would've had a 4:42:05 finish time while I was weighing in at a whopping 260.5 pounds vs. Sunday's race which was 3:52:43 finish time at a weight of 177.5 pounds.  That is a difference of 42 minutes & 22 seconds and a weight difference of 83 pound.  I really don’t know what to say to that, just thinking about it out gives me a lump in my throat.

     As for my training, I will have to look back at it little more to decide what, if any, changes I would like to make.  The three 20 mile runs I think really helped me prepare for the mental aspect of the race, so I am sure those will defiantly stay in.  I do like how I kept my training plan flexible to accommodate my work and personal life schedules, while keeping it strict enough to maintain some quality training.  If I was going to make any big changes, it will revolve around doing a little more speed specific training and cross training.  I am not sure what that will entail yet, but it is on my radar. 

     The two things I couldn’t live without when it comes to marathon training, other than my shoes, is my Garmin and my Camelbak.  Despite the occasional issues with the Garmin, it really helped me analyze my runs and kept my pace in check.  My Camelbak was a life savor on the long runs.  It kept all that weight off of my hips from my fuel belt I usually use, which helped my running form and allowed me to carry enough water and nutrition to last the entire run without stopping.  I know I have been slacking on getting my product reviews done, but for now I will give both these great items two huge thumbs up.

     
    So where do I go from here?  Well I can say without a doubt this was my first, but defiantly will not be my last marathon.  When the next one will be remains a big question.  I was thinking before Columbus that if I finished the race and wanted to do another one it would be the Medical Mutual Glass City Marathon that I am one of the ambassadors for.  However, now I need to see how long my recover takes, because 7 days after that race I will be at my SoleMates reunion running a half marathon with them.  The way I feel 4 days after I am sure I could do the race, but I don't think it would be a PR attempt by any means.  The other thought I had was if I ran the Toledo half instead and the Indy half that next weekend I would qualify to join the Half Fanatics club which is on my my to do list.  So needless to say the decision to do the half or the full in Toledo is up in the air at this point.  For now, I think I am going to run the Monroe half in a couple weeks and do another turkey trot on thanksgiving.  Then I am going to concentrate on some speed work this winter and finally get down to my goal weight.

The Loss & The Heartbreak

 You left my life,

But you will never leave my heart!

     It is a sad time in the Running In The Fat Lane household.  We were faced with the decision that no parent of a furry four legged child ever want to have to make.  I know this blog is geared toward my running and weight loss journey, but sometimes life throws you a curve ball that really can affect you.  I thought this would be a nice way to remember our little Stinka and give you all a little window into the family side of my life.

     Back on Valentine's Day of 2003 I asked Mandy to marry me, obviously she said yes, but that was the genesis to where Stinka would eventually enter our lives.  At this point we were not living together and we had decided to have our wedding in June of 2004, so we were trying to decide between renting our buying a home.  At this time the rates were pretty good and it made a lot more sense to buy, so we started looking for our home.  One day we were out shopping and stopped into a Petland store to look around and play with the puppies.  Now I know what your thinking, a fucking pet store, but when we saw Stinka we fell in love with him.  We were young, stupid and didn't know any better, but even those poor dogs deserve loving homes too.  Anyway, we bought him and Hemi became part of our lives.

     To explain the name thing, we originally named him Hemi and stuck with it for a while.  He was trained on it and all his vet papers and his original ID tag had that name.  Well as time went on Hemi became pretty known for; well his stinky farts!!  We were constantly commenting on how bad they were.  Mandy and her family are known for giving their pets all kinds of little nicknames, and one night Mandy called him Stinka.  Over time we were using Stinka more and more and Hemi less and less.  Before we new it, Hemi was a lost cause and Stinka would forever be his name.

     

     In October of 2003 Stinka, Harley (my black domestic short hair cat), Mandy and I moved into our new home.  It wasn't long after that that we felt like Stinka needed a friend and we brought Chopper, who through the same nickname process is now named Mr. Widdle, into our home.  The next 11 years Stinka has been nothing short of pure joy in our lives.  Dogs always seem to know when you need a pick me up and Stinka was always there to give us kisses, I mean A LOT OF KISSES, even when we didn't want any.  Stinka sure didn't like other people a whole hell of a lot, but he did love other dogs.  He would always wanna play with the neighbor dog and bark at every little noise he heard outside, which annoyed the shit out of Mandy and me, but today I miss it terribly.

     I am not going to get into the details of what led us to this decision because frankly it doesn't fucking matter.  It is a hard and painful decision and I don't envy anyone who has to do it.  All that matters to us is that we had 11 wonderful years with him and that we were able to give him what all dogs want, a home with parents that love him.  He was our child, our first child and we loved him every day of his little life. 

RIP Stinka

Mommy & Daddy love you and miss you