Dang commenters

Some pesky folks have been commenting on this pathetic blog and have one again shamed me into actually writing something. I have no idea why you have been reading this crap, but if you really want to read about my boring ass life, I guess I can oblige.

First off, training. Last Monday, I started a new training program. The program is from the New Balance website and I found it when I got one of their emails. It is the beginner 10K plan. So far, I really like it. I tend to fail on most training plans because one rest day becomes two becomes three, etc. This plan has running or walking everyday of the week and keeps me going.

If your body can handle 5 days of running per week with 3 of them back to back, then I would recommend these training plans.

Wildlife:

On two of my runs this week I have seen a skunk. I believe it is the same one since I saw it in about the same place both times. Needless to say, I am very cautious when I am running through there.

There is also a family of rabbits that I see on the road most morning. Generally, when I come running they scatter into the fields.

Nothing much else going on, however I will put up a post tomorrow on a potential change.

A lot going on

I apologize for being such a slack-ass blogger lately. Life has been super busy and I suck at blogging.

Right now, I am sitting in my sweltering office because they are replacing the AC unit…oh, and it is about 90 outside. Fun, fun.

Just a quick update and I hope to blog more later.

I spent Wednesday through Friday of last week as a chaperone for the 4-H camp teh Daughter was attending. The Wife and I had a blast and I plan on telling everyone more about it later. When we got back on Friday, we took a quick nap and then headed out for the start of a soccer tournament. This took up almost the entire weekend. The girls played really well on Friday and Saturday, but I think they were tired yesterday. I am still very proud of them. We ended the weekend 1-3, but we are definitely getting better.

I have been running regularly lately. The 4-H camp thing killed my mileage last week, but I plan on hitting it hard this week.

Last I weighed myself, I was down 5 pounds from where I started and I know that I can do better than what I have been.

Also want to give a shout out to Brian Flash for finishing the Comrades 56 mile run. That is just freakin awesome. By some freak of nature, I won a prize from his site. Cool.

Later.

Jorts

Last night was the monthly soccer board meeting, which is held at the park. At the park, there are some running paths that are usually pretty busy. I don't run there because it is a 15 minute drive from my house, but I have run there a couple of times before.

As I was entering the park, I saw a lady who appeared to be in her early 30's. She was running the paths. I immediately noticed that she was not wearing normal running shorts…she was wearing jorts…with a belt.

All I could think was WTF?? It is 85 degrees outside and she is running in jorts.

Took a rest day today after running both Monday and Tuesday.

Total Miles: 88

Workouts: 42

Quick Post – Think the Mojo is back

I know that it has been quite a while since my last blog post and I apologize. Life and work have been very busy and I have been negligent in posting. I have been reading all of your blogs and I have tried to comment occasionally.

First of all, I think that my running mojo is back. It left me and it has taken me a long time to find it. I think I found it by just getting out there and running. I am planning to continue ramping up my running and see what happens. I have increased by pace by almost 2 minutes per mile on average. The first mile on most of my runs lately have been in the 11-11:30 range, which is great for me.

The scale is showing a 5 pound loss so far. I want to keep this momentum up and keep the pounds coming off.

I will try to post more often, I promise.

Gotta get back to work now.

Miles logged: 86

Workouts: 41

Pounds lost: 5

Dang, when was the last time I posted?

I realize that it has been quite awhile since I posted last. I think that I have started this blog entry a couple hundred times in my head. First off, a little running info: I have been running. Not a lot, but I have been out there. I have only been getting 8-10 miles per week (sometimes less….okay, normally less).

Last week, my wife and I accompanied my son's class to their field trip. Actually, we didn't get to go along for the whole trip. The class first went to the Golden Flake factory to watch them make chips, but parents were not allowed to go. We were kind of sad about that. We met up with them at Chuck E Cheese. Anyway, the point of this story is that before we met up with them we went to Target. Since there is not a Target in our pathetic, crap ass town, we try to stop by this one whenever we are in the area. As we were wandering through the store, we found a clearance rack near the sports gear. On the rack was Barry's Bootcamp workout kit. Came with two DVD's, stretchy bands and big inflatable pill shaped ball. All for $25. Since both of us really need to get in better shape, we got it.

I started Barry's Bootcamp on Sunday. Damn I am soo freaking out of shape (more on that in a minute). The workout routine is lower body one day, upper body the next, repeat. You take one off day per week. Since I don't want to stop running, I have started doing double workouts. Running 2 miles, then coming in the house and doing the bootcamp. I have done the double twice this week (Tuesday and this morning). I really think I like doing this. The bootcamp part is only 21 minutes… 21 minutes of hell. This means I can run and do the bootcamp before I have to get ready for work. I just get up about 5 minutes earlier.

A brief history of Needle:

Growing up, I was the fat kid. Until I was 14 or so, I was always big. Never grossly big, but definitely fat. The end of my freshman year of high school I was 5 ft tall and weighed 190-200. During the summer before my sophomore year, I discovered a love for playing basketball. By the start of my sophomore year, I was 5 ft 9 in and weighed 145 pounds. Not only had I grown taller, I had lost 50 pounds. I stayed at this weight or right around it all through college and for a few years after. I swore to myself that I would never allow myself to be the fat man again. Whenever I started to see the pounds come, I would play some basketball (college days) or start running (after college, married life). 10 years ago, when my daughter was born, I weighed about 190. This was actually a good weight for me. I looked too thin at the 140-170 range for my bone structure.

Before she was born, I ran pretty regularly. Soon after, I stopped running altogether. I was more concerned with being a new dad and all the other stuff that it just dropped from the radar. I started running again 4 years ago and it has been very off and on. Usually more off than on.

Yes, I have completed numerous 5K's, 2 half marathons and 1 failed marathon attempt. My last serious training was done for the 1^st half marathon 3 ½ years ago. In the last couple of years, I have continued to pack on the pounds because I don't eat right (very bad diet) and I don't exercise enough. Those of you that have read this blog know that I have only logged 70 or so miles this year. Not going to get back in shape with that kind of effort.

Right now, I am the fat kid again.

Right now, I am taking back charge of my weight.

Right now, I am no longer accepting any of my excuses for not exercising.

Right now.

So far this week, I have completed 5 workouts including 2 doubles (run plus bootcamp). Yesterday morning, I had a kid sleeping in the living room and didn't get my bootcamp workout in (pathetic excuse, should have gone for a run).

This blog is now going to also include my weight loss. I wish I knew how to pull the info directly from daily mile, but here is what I will do until then.

Miles logged: 73

Total workouts: 34

Pounds lost: I will only do this once a week or so when I weigh myself.

Right now I feel like this:

Strange Weather

This week has been really strange on the weather front. Monday morning was a mix of rain and snow. Temps were in the mid 30's most of the day. Obviously I skipped my run on Monday. Tuesday the high was 67. Wednesday had a high of 72. I got a good run in on Tuesday morning. However, when I got up Wednesday I was just not feeling it. Just had that "rest day" feel to it.

I should have gone out for a slow run or something. Regretted it all day long.

Wednesday night I went on weather.com to see what the forecast was for Thursday morning. Supposed to be nice with little chance of rain. Liars. It was pouring down rain when I got up. The rain continued most of the day and last night there were severe storms with some nice little tornados mixed in.

Temps this morning were great, right about 50. Problem was the wind. Stiff 15-20 mph winds. I still went out for my run and I am glad I did.

I have a long run planned tomorrow. Not sure yet of the distance, but I am thinking in the 7-8 mile range. Really planning on running a better pace than last weekend and I am planning on having Teh Daughter run part of it with me.

Another busy weekend coming up, but I am used to it now.

Total miles: 56

Math Runtarded

Well, I did get out for my long run this weekend. My plan was for 6 miles and when I mapped it, the total was 5.75. Teh Daughter wanted to run with me, so the plan was for me to run the 3 mile loop around the house. Then I was going to go in and wake her, get some hydration and the two of us would run another 3. Brilliant.

So, I am out of the house at 5:30 am to run the first loop. I was taking it really slow since I have no idea how fast I can run 6 miles and I really wanted to run 6. At the end of 3 miles, I knew that I have run it way, way too slow.

I head in the house and teh Daughter is awake. While she gets dressed, I get me some hydration and out the house we go. At the end of the driveway, I ask her which way she wants to go. We normally run counter-clockwise around the 'hood. She wants to try going the other direction.

Biggest problem going that way, is that you start off with a pretty decent sized hill. We attack that sucker, but by the time we hit the top she is ready to walk. We walk for few and then continue running. For the rest of the run, we run the flats and downhills and walk the uphills.

Since I run this route allot, when we get to 1 mile I ask her if she wants to just run 2 or run 3. She is struggling since this is only her 3^rd run recently. She makes the decision to run only 2. Now, normally logic would tell you that since you have run 1 mile from home, you should turn around and go back to complete two total miles. Not is this brain.

According to my runtarded math skillz, we need to run another ½ mile and then turn around and come back. Two miles. Easy.

It was not until we were at the turnaround point that it dawns on me that after we run the ½ mile out and back, that we still have another mile to go. D'oh!

Running + Math = FAIL

After cleaning up and doing some errands in town, I spent from 12-4 on my feet outside helping with Upward soccer evaluations. In a way, I think that it helped keep some of the soreness at bay from the long run. However, I crashed pretty early on Saturday night. I am pretty sure I feel asleep on the couch by 9:30 watching basketball.

Total miles: 52

Off the injured reserve

No, it was not a running injury. Not likely that any of you remember my post about getting and splitting firewood, however this was the cause of my recent injury. I was sore for a couple of days after and in the middle of the night Thursday, my back went out. I could not stand up without it screaming at me. Out went the run on Friday and Saturday and Sunday, etc…

By the time I finally got to feeling better, it was almost a week later. It was another week until I started running again. Yup, two weeks off and I was planning on running a ½ marathon with only 6 weeks of training anyway. That half-marry is now 15 days away.

• I have a long run of 4 miles
  
• I have barely run in the last 3 weeks
  

So what do I do? My plan is to run 6+ miles tomorrow. If I can successfully run 6 tomorrow, do I go ahead and sign up? I have no clue about the route of this ½ marry. They do not have a posted map of the route, so I have no idea if it is hilly or flat or is a big circle that you have to run 20 times.

Please help of wise runners of the interwebs! Sad puppy dog eyes

Now, per LooMoo's instructions or at least my understanding of her instructions:

Anal, anal, anal. LooMoo luvs her some anal! X100

Total miles: 46

The Con-body-cavity

(Ed. note: I wish I was a good enough writer to properly put my theory on the blog.  I know it was allot funnier in my head in the middle of my long run.  Enjoy and mock away in the comments)

I was planning on writing my theory of the blogosphere disappearance of one Glaven Q. Heisenberg.  Realizing that G is a sensative soul, I have instead decided to write a story about a completely fictional blogger name Gloven.  Plus I don't want to get sued for libel, he might get my fortune of approximately $2.35, $1.85 (got thirsty).

Now Gloven, aka G-love, is a humble librarian in the great northeast, possibly even in Jersey somewhere.  G-love is a runner and enjoys a hearty banter on teh interwebs.  He also has some weird obsession with his own n*ts@ck and an@l love.

See, doesn't sound like anyone I know.

Every year G-love and the Misses would go on their an@l annual vacation to Teh Great Concavity.  This also meant this was G-love's time to try to get into Teh Great Body Cavity that he so desires.

On the first night of vacation:

G-love: Hey baby, you know what big daddy G-love needs?

Misses: No

G-love: But I read that MooLoo lets Mr Moo do it!

Misses: No

G-love: I can be like Needle! You won't feel a thing!

Misses: No

G-love: I bet ToyBum would let me...

Misses: Oh hell no!

As usual, G-love is denied what he desires.

The next day, G-love devises a plan...

After a nice dinner, G-love and the Misses retire to hotel.  G-love surprises the Misses with a bottle of wine.  While G-love pours up a couple glasses of wine, he slips a roufie he picked up from the dealer at the softball game that day.

Unfortunately, G-love isn't that bright and gives the Misses the wrong glass.  As they are drinking, G-love starts to fell weird all over and the room starts spinning.

The next morning, G-love wakes up without a clue of what happened the night before.  The last thing he can remember is slipping the roufie into the Misses drink.

Misses: G-love, last night was sooo amazing!

G-love: Yeah....yeah, it was.

Misses: I can't believe that you would give up contact with all your friends to finally fulfill your dreams.

G-love: Um...yeah...it was totally worth it

G-love is franticly trying to remember last night, but nothing is coming back.  He also realizes that his only friends are on-line and now he has to give them up.  What will MooLoo, ToyBum, Dr Ric, Steve R and all his other blogger friends think?

G-love: Honey, do I really have to give up all my friends?

Misses: Well, you got what you wanted, now I get what I wanted.

The Misses, knowing full well that G-love passed out at 8:15 the night before, is finally getting her revenge for his an@l pestering ways.

Now, G-love has learned the truth and has returned to teh interwebs to spread his pervertedness with the masses.

Quick update

The pouring rain prevented me for my scheduled run yesterday, but I was able to get out for a nice 2.5 mile run this morning.  Really pushed the pace for the first 1.5 miles.

Teh Grand Theory of Teh Glaven Disappearance is in the works1!

Total miles: 42

First long run done

Saturday morning I completed my first "long" run in my super-non-scientific 1/2 marathon training plan.  As a matter of fact, I don't even have anything written down in this training plan...I wonder if that is going to be a problem??

During this run, my brain did some serious wandering.  I do believe that I came up with teh real reason why Glaven went missing.  I can't remember all of it, but trust me it was odd (just like him).   Expect more on this topic later.

After my run, teh Son had his Pack Pinewood Derby.  His car won 1st in speed and show.  Very cool.  Unfortunately, I missed it all because I had to leave to go coach his basketball team.  Once we got done with the derby, I had to go pick up some firewood.

Mrs Needle's grandfather had a tree cut down Friday and had them leave some firewood sized pieces for me.  Loaded a full size truck and 8 foot trailer with wood.  Some of the pieces are a good 2 foot around (that's what she said!1!).  Unloaded the trailer when I got home and then headed to teh Daughters basketball game.

Crashed early Saturday night.

Sunday was teh Son's birthday.  I celebrated by getting up and going outside to split and stack firewood for 2 hours.  Fun, fun.  After dealing with the firewood, I loaded the truck and trailer up with stuff we are donating to a local yard sale that is raising money for the Susan G Komen foundation.

Did some Girl Scout stuff with teh Daughter and family where she got her badges she has earned.  Finally, crashed at home.

This morning...every. muscle. hurts.  All. of. them.  Even my pinkie finger hurts.

run+firewood+yard sale stuff=very sore and tired Needle

Needed to go to work just to rest up for a day or so.

Total Miles: 40

Gonna run that Half Mary

Alright, since I got all of 2 votes to do the half, I am going to do it.  Didn't take much to push to into wanting to run it.  And really, I posted it here because I just wanted someone to agree with me that it would be a good idea.

In order to train, my plan is to run at least 4 miles tomorrow.

As I was getting dressed for my run this morning, I was looking for a pair of shorts.  I have this "area" in our half bath/utility room when I put all my running clothes (complete and total disaster area).  When I grabbed what I thought was a pair of running shorts, I pulled out a running jacket I had forgot about. WIN!  It still had the tag on it.  I bought it at Dicks this past summer on super clearance and forgot all about it.

Of course, I wore it this morning and absolutely loved it.  For some reason, I get really hot around my forearms when I run with a jacket on.  Normally, I just wear a zip-up vest and short-sleeve tech shirt.  This jacket was VERY breathable and was super comfortable.  It will be in heavy rotation when it is cold outside.

Total miles: 36

Conundrum

Alright, here's the deal.  Just found out this morning that the local running club and the local community college are hosting a 1/2 mary / 5K.  The run is April 3rd.  So, this is a possible half mary within 10 minutes of the house AND it only costs $40.

Should I run it?

My longest run this year is 3 miles.  That gives me 5 weekends to ramp up the long run to at least 10 miles??

Am I crazy?  Help!

Also, there is this rumor that a certain, pervert, um...blogger may have returned.  If so, where is my freakin comment1!1!

Nothing to see...move along

I keep expecting that the more I run and then blog about said running that eventually I might learn to write worth a damn.  Unfortunately for you, I don't think it is going to happen.  I finally came to the conclusion, that I am just a dull, boring man.  My life revolves around being at work (no actual work gets done) and doing stuff with the kids.

Sounds exciting...

I have discovered my workday crosstraining....ping pong.  Here at work, in the warehouse, is a ping pong table.  I started playing about a month ago.  It was the first time in 15 years that I picked up a paddle.  It was ugly to start.  Really ugly.  I have slowly gotten better, nowhere near that good, but I am out there to have some fun.

See, I told you I was boring.

Total miles: 33

Is it spring yet?

I am really, really, really ready for this arctic blast to return to the arctic.  I live in Alabama and I expect my mild winters.  I deal with the 90+ degrees (in the mornings) in the summer so that I can have a nice mild winter with lows in the 30's and highs in the 50's.

This southern boy does not like 15-20 degrees outside with a wind chill even lower.

/end bitching about weather

The old Needle reared his ugly head the past two weeks.  Only 5 runs during that time.  Plan is to get 5-6 runs per week and hope to actually get 4-5.  Just need to refocus and get the consistency back.

Giveaway link (you don't expect my cheap ass to give something away did you?)

It just looks like slow motion is hosting a giveaway for Yurbuds.  Click over and read her.  You really don't need to enter since that will just decrease my slim chance of winning.

Total Miles: 29

Cold, windy and freezing

Got up this morning for my run.  Looked at the temp gauge, which showed a balmy 29 F.  First of all, wtf?  I live in the south for a reason.  Don't like this cold shit.  Not. One. Bit.

Got all my running stuff on (long sleeve tech shirt, shorts, sweatshirt, socks and shoes).  As an aside, I was trying the sweatshirt instead of my running jackets because I seem to get too hot once I have been running awhile, but only on my arms.  Weird, I know.

While I was prepared for the cold, I was not ready for the wind.  The wind was from the west, blowing around 15 mph with gusts up to 20-25.  Damn, that is some serious wind-chill.  By the time I got to the home stretch, Needle's Needle was not liking this run.  Maybe I should have worn some running pants because that part of my body was revolting by the time I was done.

Needless to say, I was booking it for the last 1/2 mile or so trying to get done.

Total miles: 25

Enter creative title here

Sorry for the blog silence, been having to do actual work at work.  Dang companies and their expectations.  Don't they know I have to publish a blog post?

Anyway, I have run the last 3 days straight.  All of the run have been around 2 miles and I ran the last two days without any walk breaks!  I am pretty excited about that and hope to continue to build on that.

According to the fine folks at weather.com, tomorrow's run does not look good.  Supposed to rain, rain and then rain some more.  I will get up in the morning and check the radar and see if I can get out and get it done.

As usual, nothing exciting going on in Needleland.

Total miles: 23

Run...dog...pain

First of all, let me apologize for the last post being such a downer.  Both grandparents are doing ok.

Now back to your regularly scheduled bad blogging.

Completed a 3 mile "long" run on Saturday...in the rain.  I know.  I am as shocked as you that I went out in the rain to run.

I ran again this morning after not running Sunday or Monday.  Sergent Sh*tcramps decided to pay me a visit on Monday.  That bastard is mean.  Did a nice 2 miles this morning.  Nothing great, but still decent.  I am slowly feeling better.

After my run, I gathered all my stuff to feel my two dogs.  I have 2 Siberian Huskies that we recently moved into the fence together.  The dogs are polar opposites of each other.  Koda, our male, is laid back.  Doesn't bother you.  Just wants his food and some petting.  Kylie, our female, on the other hand, is spastic.  She doesn't know how to settle down.  Drives me insane.  As I am trying to get in the fence to give them food and water, Kylie is just jumping all around and over me.  I swing out my right foot (hands are full) to push her out-of-the-way.  Well, I swung a wee bit harder than I had planned and hit the top of my foot on some bone of hers.

Ouch.  Like, I feel like I broke my foot, ouch.  I am hoping that it is just a bruise.  I guess I will find out in the morning if I can still run.

LooMoo, you are correct.  Dogs are evil.

At least this time they didn't bite me.

Total miles: 19 miles

Stuff

First, a quick running update.  Ran again this morning.  A little over 2 miles in 30 min.  I felt good and I ran the entire 1st mile without walking.  Very happy about that one.  It is very slow getting back into running shape, but I know that if I keep at it I will get better.

Second, both my Nana (maternal grandmother) and Paw-Paw in-law (MIL grandfather) are in congestive heart failure.  My Nana is 94, will be 95 in March.  My Paw-paw in-law is 86.  Unfortunately, I am not really that close to my Nana.  She lives in Topeka, KS and I really have not seen her that much in the last 20 years.  They are giving her some drugs to help relieve the fluid buildup and I am hoping that she can recover as much as possible.  We are planning on going to Kansas in March to celebrate her 95th birthday.

My wife's Paw-paw on the other hand is not doing so well.  He is in the hospital again now and will be in there for a few days.  He is the closest thing I have ever had to a grandfather.  Both of mine died before I graduated from high school.

I apologize for being a downer.  Just remember to tell your parents and grandparents you love them today.

Total miles: 14

Still on that wagon

Didn't run yesterday.  Regretted that decision as soon as I walked outside to go to work.  Really have no idea why in heck I didn't go.  I do consider it a success that I did get pissed at myself for missing it.  In the past...no regret, didn't give a crap if I missed it.

Nice 2 miler this morning.  Finally had some moments of being "in the groove" while running.  You know, when it feel effortless and everything is just flowing.  Loved. It.

Absolutely nothing interesting going on in Needleland.

Total miles: 12

Craptastic and fantastic

I actually got off my lazy butt and completed my "long" run.  It was on 2.7 miles, but considering that I really have not run much for the last 5 or 6 months...I'll take it.

No run on Sunday due to this little thing called lightning in the area.  Just felt it was prudent to lay around on the couch and watch Sportscenter rather than get electrocuted.  Poor excuse, but I will take it.

Craptastic 30 minute run this morning.  Everything sucked.  My pace, my effort...you name it.  And you know what?  It was fantastic to be out there having a craptastic run.   In the past 7 days I have run 5 times.  I do not believe that I have ever run 5 times in a week before.  Ever.

There are no "grand" or "big" plans.  As I wrote the other day, this is about me.  Me going back to running because I love it.  Not because I want to run a marathon before I turned 35.  Not to live up to other expectations of my running.  Just for me.  Damn, all this talk about me and you would think I am this guy, or this guy or this guy or that n*t@ack loving guy who left blogland.

Total miles: 10

3 runs in 4 days?!?!

I have now run 3 of the last 4 days.  I missed my run yesterday morning due to the weather.  While I don't mind running the rain, it was absolutely pouring here when I got up.

Finally starting to feel a little bit of the running groove again.  It is still a struggle and I had to take too many walk breaks the last 1/2 mile.  It is hard for me to fathom that at this time last year I ran 19 miles of a marathon and now I cannot even run two miles.  Only person to blame is me.

I will do everything I can to get this mojo going.  Wish me luck.  I am planning on running both days this weekend unless the rain messes up my Sunday long run.

Total miles: 5 (all this week)

Back on the wagon

Since I figure that everyone has deleted this retarded blog from their reader, I guess I am just writing this for me.  I am finally back on the running wagon.  For the last month, I have used every excuse in the book to skip my runs.  Every. Single. One.  I finally ran out of excuses.

I decided that a year of moping about my marathon FAIL was enough.  It was time to start fresh.  New online tracking, gone is BIMActive, now going to use DailyMile.  Going to just get up in the morning and go.

I have now been officially back "on the wagon" for two days.  Both runs were shortish and I sucked, but I now remember why I started.  This time, the running is about me.  No far-flung goals to run this race or that race.  I am running for me.

My plan is to post most every day to at least say, hey I did a run today.  Maybe if I write enough I might actually become a competent writer (not likely, but still).

I would say that I am going to write about all the interesting stuff that happens to me, but as I have discovered I just can't seem to write it.  Oh well.