Oh man...it has been a mix of snow...and then...no snow...running on snow, or better said, running through the snow (sometimes with yak trax a spring loaded grippy thing that fits on the bottom of your shoes) is hard, cold, wet and needless to say slippery. Sometimes I look at the weather and just say, "it is time to run on the treadmill" ugh. I REALLY don't like running on the treadmill. It is boring, and for some odd reason, every time I run on the treadmill I hurt the next day. I have always read that running on a treadmill was supposed to be something like 15% easier....hmmm not for me. It feels harder for me and for whatever reason I must run differently than I do outside, because something always feels out of whack when I get done running on any treadmill. Ok...enough whining. Running outside in the weather is something that I have (mostly) evolved to love. Rain, just water. Snow, just cold water and usually quietier when your running down the road. Wind, sythetic hills. So, I think I've started to convince myself that running in the (extreme) weather is just part of the game and have embraced it. Which of course doesn't mean that I'm not looking foreword to the time that I can run in shorts and a tee shirt.
So, weather? bring it on.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Going from "have to"..."to want to"...know what I mean?
As my friends have watched me over the last year some of the more astute have asked me if running is something that I still feel like I have to do...Like, "oh I need to get that work out in for the day but ugh! I don't really feel like it." Or, has running become something that I really WANT to do?
For me, there was a gradual transition from having to do it...to wanting to do it.
It didn't really hit home until I injured my calf late last summer / early fall and couldn't run. Thats when I felt that keen sting of NOT being able to run...THAT is when I realized that I had crossed some threshold from running being just a workout...to something altogether different. In reading blogs and articles by other people who have come to the sport of running later in life, (like me), I find that most mention some sort of evolution from work out to...dare I say it...lifestyle. Or maybe to put it in simpler terms...running evolves to become a habit. However you choose to look at it...as the creation of a habit...or as something more profound... there is a definite change in how you go about your running.
For me, running became easier. I didn't head out on a 5K run and wonder if I could run the whole thing or do it in under 30 minutes. I didn't have to wonder if I could head out the door and rip off a 10K if I was feeling good. I KNEW I could do that on regular basis. (like 6 times a week...most weeks) Running had become more that just the calories burned and the time to complete. It became FUN.
So now...running is fun. I look forward to it almost every day. Even in the rain. (my wife and kids think I'm nuts on the rain thing) Even in the snow. (like 2 days ago). But the point is, that no matter how the rest of my day may going, I can head out the door and have some fun for 30 minutes or an hour. And its good for me...on many different levels.
For me, there was a gradual transition from having to do it...to wanting to do it.
It didn't really hit home until I injured my calf late last summer / early fall and couldn't run. Thats when I felt that keen sting of NOT being able to run...THAT is when I realized that I had crossed some threshold from running being just a workout...to something altogether different. In reading blogs and articles by other people who have come to the sport of running later in life, (like me), I find that most mention some sort of evolution from work out to...dare I say it...lifestyle. Or maybe to put it in simpler terms...running evolves to become a habit. However you choose to look at it...as the creation of a habit...or as something more profound... there is a definite change in how you go about your running.
For me, running became easier. I didn't head out on a 5K run and wonder if I could run the whole thing or do it in under 30 minutes. I didn't have to wonder if I could head out the door and rip off a 10K if I was feeling good. I KNEW I could do that on regular basis. (like 6 times a week...most weeks) Running had become more that just the calories burned and the time to complete. It became FUN.
So now...running is fun. I look forward to it almost every day. Even in the rain. (my wife and kids think I'm nuts on the rain thing) Even in the snow. (like 2 days ago). But the point is, that no matter how the rest of my day may going, I can head out the door and have some fun for 30 minutes or an hour. And its good for me...on many different levels.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
The beginning...
Holy crap!...I'm going to die in 3 years...that was my first reaction upon learning the results of my company provided health screening. The overweight nurse in her straining scrubs reviewed each of the depressing details of my test results...weight/BMI?...obese. (no more "big boned excuse") blood pressure? borderline hypertensive.... cholesterol? HDL bad, LDL bad, Triglycerides? out of whack.
So, I've become a stereotype of the ugly obese American. How in the world did this happen...I remember thinking that I'm only 47 and at this rate I won't be around to see my kids graduate from High School.
That was a year ago. That is when I decided to save my life. It was the middle of Winter so about the only thing that I could do on a regular basis was run on the treadmill that had been gathering dust in our basement. OK...so in the shape I was in...(as my wife so gently put it..."you just may want to start out walking") running wasn't really an option. I started out walking. And after a few months of walking I was able to run half a mile, then a mile...then a mile and half...then finally when the weather started to turn and I could venture outside I was up to 3 miles.
I'm now up to 20 to 25 miles per week. (needless to say a recent physical confirmed all my health parameters as normal...except for weight/BMI... according to the actuarial profession I'm still "overweight" even after losing 55 pounds) And I thought I'd document the next phase of my transformation from cliche to athlete as I train for a half marathon sometime this summer.
Here we go.
So, I've become a stereotype of the ugly obese American. How in the world did this happen...I remember thinking that I'm only 47 and at this rate I won't be around to see my kids graduate from High School.
That was a year ago. That is when I decided to save my life. It was the middle of Winter so about the only thing that I could do on a regular basis was run on the treadmill that had been gathering dust in our basement. OK...so in the shape I was in...(as my wife so gently put it..."you just may want to start out walking") running wasn't really an option. I started out walking. And after a few months of walking I was able to run half a mile, then a mile...then a mile and half...then finally when the weather started to turn and I could venture outside I was up to 3 miles.
I'm now up to 20 to 25 miles per week. (needless to say a recent physical confirmed all my health parameters as normal...except for weight/BMI... according to the actuarial profession I'm still "overweight" even after losing 55 pounds) And I thought I'd document the next phase of my transformation from cliche to athlete as I train for a half marathon sometime this summer.
Here we go.
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