What a difference a year makes....

YES YES what a difference a year makes. Its too bad that I dont have a post for last years race because I have grown leaps and bounds as a runner and person. For some reason I do not show up on official results of the race. I assure you I was there on the heals of my wife as we finished in about 2:15. It was a new course record for me, trumping last years time by 10 min. I cruised. I walked with her, I ran with her, I felt no fatigue or pain. Today i am sore but no more sore than any other long run. I looked around, I took pictures, I hung out with my wife. She struggled. She had a lot of trouble breathing and "pressure." She is the only person to ask a medic for a kleenex. Most runners just snot rocket. Not my wife until the medic had no kleenex. Funny.

I have to give it up to DIsney. The know how to run/organize a race. They start on time, they plan the corrals well, they have excellent volunteer support including local people, cheerleaders, marching bands, mariachis, and other groups. They also have a good course which included a route through California adventures, Disneyland, throughout the streets anaheim, around the Honda center (where the anaheim ducks play), and this year since the Angels are out of town a "victory lap" through Angel stadium, finally finishing back through Disneyland and Downtown Disney. It was awesome. Angel stadium was the best part since the whole stadium had cheerleaders, boy scouts, various other loud yellers so when you entered the stadium they were loud. The announcer said as many names as he could over the loud speaker and the jumbotron was in full effect. Awesome.

One thing brought to my attention was that no bloggers knew that I run with a big group. All in all, there are 9 runners in my group from Las Vegas and it is our second half marathon as a group. We have some creative people in our group who designed t-shirts that we all rock together. The girls had pink ones and guys wore black ones. They all had our "RUN CLUB" logos on the back. A turtle with a caption that reads "slow and steady wins the race." In the front we modified the fight club movie logo on a bar of soap to say run club. We get a lot of comments about them. We enjoy them. Special thanks to Chuck for hanging out and running a bit with us after his 1:31 time. Way to go chuck! Pictures to come.

So where does this fit in to my training? It means that the next chapter is purely getting ready for Silverman. Start a big block and get my overall mileage up. Lets do this.... quote:

“The key to success is to keep growing in all areas of life - mental, emotional, spiritual, as well as physical.”
Julius Erving quotes

Its fun to realize the growth.

last post before my date with MICKEY

Yes that is right I have a date with mickey this weekend, I am running the Dinseyland 1/2 marathon. My original plan was to strive for my fist sub 2 hour half but I may be hanging with my wife and taking some pictures. Just enjoy the race. So here is how my week went:

Monday-Long swim. I am in a recovery block so my long swim was 1500 meters. It was slow. I didnt feel like swimming. I got in the water and did it. 40:11.
Tuesday-Recovery run. 3 miles without a watch and right before softball practice. It went well.
Wednesday-Ride on some hills. I found a new hill to repeat on. I went a total of 21 miles in 1:25:34 . I felt the best I ever felt on the bike. The hill I climbed to start was 3 min faster than the last time I biked on it. It felt fresher and faster. My ave was slow at 14.7 but I took it easy as I could on the down and pounded the ups.
Thursday-Swim easy. I decided that I just wanted an easy swim. I did some weights and then swam for 20 min straight. Just get it done.

My next block is going to be big again. I have 2 big blocks planned and I am looking forward to it. I am looking forward to it because I am starting feel like an endurance athlete. I began this journey without any specific goals. I had let myself get very out of shape during physical therapy school. Then I starting getting winded with the littlest things. I decided I would walk. Walking turned into running and running started me on a journey to see how far I could go. Can I do a half-marathon? 10 years ago I would have said hell no. A year and a half ago I would have said may be. Then I did the Palos Verdes half. It was brutal. Not the intro to halfs you like. VERY VERY HIlly. Then we decided to try another one. Disney. While training for Disney I still didnt believe that I could do it. Then something funny happened. I was running last years disney and I got mile 10 or 11 and I was dying. I was cramping and I was tired and not having fun. I looked around and said to myself...you know what? I dont feel so bad and I started to push it, and I pushed it and I finished with confidence. I reached down deep and I found something inside me that said I can do this. As my brain drifted off I thought about pain and training and what that does to your brain. I have let my old soft ways rule my life, training, and my perception of what I am capable of. It was then that I decided I wasnt going to limit myself anymore. It was at Disney last year that I fully bought into my new lifestyle.

When I say new lifestyle I mean NEW. The life I live today is light years more healthy and active than I have ever lived. As I sit here reading IM race reports I am excited, encouraged, and jealous. What would I be doing now if I didnt have a few years of "break time." Would I be an IRONMAN now? My new lifestyle constantly evolves. I lost 50 pounds and then my weight just stuck. I havent lost any weight in 8 months. Until this last week. I had an excellent nutrition consultation (thanks MARNI) and have received some excellent information that has resulted in a 7 pound loss. You would think that given the training load that weight loss would come right with it. NOPE. Now I feel in control of my body for the first time in my life, All the baseball, football, basketball, running, cycling, and swimming I have ever done was limited by what i put into my body. If I grew up with these tools what would have gone different? I was never thin. I remember being embarrassed about husky jeans. I played lineman, I hit homeruns, I got rebounds....RUN? Thats for punishment. How much weight in the weight room can I push? How far can I hit the ball? Box me out? i dont think so. Triathlon? Ironman? THATS NOT ME. I CANT DO THAT. THATS FOR LITTLE DUDES. Stick to what I do....power. Here I am reading triathlon blogs and writing one myself. I am running my 5th half marathon and in the midst of training for a 1/2 iron distance triathlon. Im going to use this half marathon as a TRAINING RUN. What? 13.1 miles as a training run? Yes and I am going to train right through it and make a push to silverman. Im going places and as I sit here ranting I am proud of the distance I have traveled. I have a lot more to accomplish and each step of the way brings on more knowledge about how to go about this active life. I love it. My body and brain are the healthiest they have every been and I am just getting started. My next entry will be the happiest race report on earth. Thanks for the rant. QUOTE:

“A healthy body is a guest chamber for the soul: a sick body is a prison”
Francis Bacon, Sr. quotes (English Lawyer and Philosopher. 1561-1626)

Boy it feels good to be free.