Joys and Pains of Running

Hello Readers!

This past weekend I ran a 5K here in KC with my friend Kerri, this experience brought out the reasons why I have so much fun with running now. Running and exercise provides you with an awesome opportunity to catch up with great people and get to know so many more. Kerri and I were old college friends, she is married to another great friend of mine from Drury Mike. I am unlike many runners I love to chat while I am on the course, I find it takes my mind off the actual running. On Saturday I had a blast talking to Kerri during the race and hearing that she used to dislike running but that she has found that recently she really enjoys it and looks forward to running more races to come. I think we may have even convinced Mike to join us on my favorite race every year the St. Patty's Day 4 miler. The true joy though was seeing the excitement on Kerri, Mike, and their children Audrey and Mike's faces when Kerri crossed the line and set her new personal record that morning. Congrats Kerri you made that a very fun race for me! I can't wait for the next one.

A second joy with running is the fact that every race has a post race celebration. This race was especially fun as it was Mizzou versus the dreaded Jayhawks. In the post race celebration the glorious news was announced that to no surprise more Mizzou fans showed up and raced. The post race also provided fun as the bar sponsoring the race provided me with two complimentary Bloody Mary's, that is a fun treat for putting in the miles. The post race celebrations always provide an opportunity to talk to other competitors and swap stories on how the race went for them, many times these can be very interesting or inspirational stories which are great to hear.

The name of this post was the joys and the pains, so there was a second part to this weeks blog "pain". Pain can refer to many things, for me this week it meant exhaustion. This was my craziest and most intense week of training yet, and for some unknown reason I forgot my iPod so it was just me, my mind and the open road. Just to give an idea of the week I put in Monday I ran 4.5 miles and did my boot camp class, Tuesday night I put in a ten miler, Wednesday I got up early and spun, Thursday and Friday I took some well needed rest, Saturday I competed in the 5K in the morning but felt guilty as that is normally my long run day so I put in a 1700 meter swim that afternoon just to get the guilt off of my conscious, and finally Sunday I did a 14 mile run. I am actually exhausted just writing about that. In the end when the destination is reached the joy and the pain will all be worth it.

Have a great week, live life hard it is short!

No Turning Back Now!

Hello Readers!

Last Thursday I reached the point of no return. I am now officially signed up for the San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon. This was a giant step! I have been saying all along I was going to do this, I have been logging the training and preparing but until you actually pay the money and enter the race there is still time to back out. This is no longer the case. Training wise I am in very good shape, for the most part I have been very diligent in my training. I did have a minor setback this weekend as I went out of town and didn't get my long run in, but do not fear I plan to absolutely crush it this week.

This weekend marks an exciting day. My friend from college Kerri will be running a local 5K here in KC with me. She is new to the running world so hopefully this is a great experience for her and just the first of many runs yet to come. We are running the rivalry run which will be a ton of fun, this run is Mizzou fans versus Kansas fans. The good news is currently more Mizzou fans are signed up for this run, lets hope it remains that way. I am hoping that maybe this will be the 5K where I break the 30 minute mark.

I have already put this out on facebook, but for you who are not using facebook a couple weeks back I mentioned that I did a interview for an Aha moment for Mutual of Omaha. I received the link and I am very happy with it. For those who do not know me about 8 years ago I reached a peak weight and size, since I have lost almost 160 pounds and 14 pant sizes you will see a photo in the link where I am almost unrecognizable. Personally I keep this photo with me at all times to remind me of the transformation accomplished in my lifetime. Here is the link to my video hopefully this will show that hard work pays off and inspire others to reach all their goals as well.
http://www.ahamoment.com/pg/moments/view/16696 hopefully everyone enjoys.

Until next week have a great week of exercise!

Awesome Opportunities for Charity and Exercise

Hello Readers!

I am very excited as I post my blog this week. This previous week my intensity level continued to increase with my marathon preparation. I put in close to 30 miles. My longest run was 11 miles on Saturday that was sandwiched with 2 four milers and and a 6.5 miler. I mixed in some standard cross training of walking, boot camp, weightlifing and finally swimming. The effort is starting to show in my stamina and according to others in my looks. I have had several people ask this week if I have lost weight, thank you to those people as that is always motivational and inspirational for me to continue this effort. I want to share a couple of great opportunities coming up that will allow you to exercise and help out with great charities.

One of my biggest inspirations in running is my friend Jen, you see me mention her name often as she continues to push me along with my brother and sister-in-law to reach these lofty goals. Jen is running the Boston marathon next April which is the most prestigious marathon one can run. She is raising money for a great charity which is the Miles for Miracles. This charity raises money for the Childrens Hopital in Boston. One of her prime fundraisers is the Dig for Kids Charity Volleyball tournament on October 2nd at Volleyball Beach. You have heard me pimp Beach Volleyball and the incredible workout it provides recently. This in an opportunity for it not to be ridiculously hot and get out to support a great cause. The following is a link to the site for this tournament please get out and support it: www.digforkids.net. There will be some great raffles, a silent auction, and many other opportunities to win prizes and have a ton of fun.

The second event I am going to mention is the Patriot Run in Olathe. This run goes from noon to 9:11 PM and is run on September 11th every year. This cause is definitely near and dear to most peoples hearts as this is for our soldiers. What makes this event so special is that the soldiers in Afghanistan are actually taking part at the same time as the runners here in Olathe. I will be particpating in this event with my co-workers at USC. This will be the part in my marathon training where it gets really difficult as my schedule has be due to complete 17-18 miles on that day. I will be out there an running my set amount. These distance runs require an insane amount of phyical exertion so I would love for followers to make it out that day and run a few laps with me. The course is one mile in length. This will probably take me around 3 1/2 hours to run. Again I challenge you to make it out, support the cause and help push me to my limits that day. You can sign up for the event at http://patriotsrun.us.

Readers I look forward to seeing or hearing from you on your adventures. Please support these great events and causes and happy exercising this week!

Special Moment

Hello Readers!

Last Friday I was given an opportunity to share my story with Ah-ha moments, this is sponsored by Mutual of Omaha. This is a traveling Winnebago where people share when the moment was in their life that caused them to change in a positive direction. I was very touched that this blog was being followed and they wanted me to share with so many people. I will publish my link in about three weeks after they send it to me for everyone to see. This blog is exciting for me as I enjoy sharing tidbits I have learned along the way and trying to inspire others to reach any goals in their life as well. FYI this link will have pictures of a couple props I took one was my pants when I was a size 54 inch waist and the photo of me at my peak weight, I think many of you will not even recognize me in the photo and be shocked at the pants.

This upcoming week will mark me getting fully back to the grind. I did a very good job of exercising last week and incorporating some fun new things into it. I competed in a Sand Volleyball Tournament for charity which was a true blast. I don't think people realize how exhausting this is, I woke up a little sore and very tired the day following. This is highly recommended for those who do not enjoy running. I will be joining league during the week at night as I had so much fun. A point I always try to make is exercising should be fun. When it becomes routine and no fun then the benefits and the great feeling starts to fade.

Not to fear everyone, I did not let my running slip as I still got all the necessary training runs in. Getting back into the grind means it is time to ramp up the mileage. So far my longest training run has been 10 miles, but this week I will begin extending this out. I will begin increasing some of my shorter runs from 4 to 6 miles as well. I have new set of running shoes just itching to push my body and mind to the next level. For those of you that are new to the running scene you want to make sure you get new shoes every 500-600 miles you put on them otherwise you will risk injury.

Everyone have a great week!