Done my Marathon!

I set out at the beginning of this week to run a marathon over 7 days. That was quite a goal for the person who had only run 5 miles at a time up until this point in my life. It was a tall order, but I thought it would be a fun challenge. Then I missed the first day. O well, just ramp up the others. Then I realized I had one day less than I thought. Daily mile weeks run Monday to Sunday. I thought there were Tuesday to Monday. One less day. Then my new business kinda of robbed a day from me yesterday. I say kind of because I made a conscious decision to challenge myself to run 10 miles on the last day.

Wow. 10 miles. I had never even thought (realistically) about running that far. I know I would like to run a marathon, and eventually do the IronMan barefoot. 10 miles was a tall order. Blew right past the 10K (6.21miles) milestone. I was pumped. I had some iskiate before the run (about 30 minutes). I wore my compression UnderArmor with a long sleeve shirt over (to prevent flooding the treadmill).

I chugged some more iskiate at the 42 minutes mark. I knew I would have to eat during this run. I had no clue how long it would take. As it turns out 1:35:27. a 9:33mile. Better than expected considering there was a 4 minute walk in there. I did get scared when the treadmill turned off after 60 minutes, LOL. I think I caught a couple people off guard running that far barefoot. Especially the girl at the from desk.

When I was done I was DRENCHED. I was soo excited though. After all of my shorter runs I have felt like I could go further. This time I finally did. The best part: I felt like I could go further! Go figure. That was enough for today though.

It was so empowering to accomplish this goal. I told my mom what I was up to today, and she just asked that I be careful. Later found out that they had 10 baby ducks born in their yard. A mile for every duck. What great coincidence.

I'm back down into the harbor tonight. I got the Panorama done:


While it is good, I think I can do a better one now that I know how the stitching process works. Better raw materials make better finished products.

How did I gain this weight?!!?

Alright... I missed a day of my marathon. Yesterday I did not run. It was rough, but I had to be down in the harbor to get pictures of the night skyline for the website. Here is one of the better ones...

And actually, I did run a little bit... On my way back to the car when my meter was going to expire. LOL. Now I realize I will just have to run a little bit further every other day to make the 26.2.

On my run today I accomplished two things... First, got my run in. Sadly didn't eat anything before I went, but it still went surprisingly well. Second, I stopped at Advance Auto really quick and got a hitch for my truck. The good thing about that - and extra fourteen (yes, 14, I weighed it when I got home) pounds in my bag. Oh my god... I didn't know how much a little extra weight could do. I would hate to be fat. The last 1.5 miles were significantly harder, but I was able to keep up the pace.


I am also finding that contrary to what most people say and believe I prefer to run outside, I find it easier. I practiced focusing my Y'Chi today too. It was pretty easy when I was running in the grass, but harder when in the street and on some crappy sidewalks. Kept feeling like I was going to step on something not fun. Even with the Vibram's on I worry abut that. I was also starting to get the pelvic rotation into the mix, especially when the extra weight was added to my back. Some how the little bit of extra sway in the back pack really helped me feel it better. Like a third limb of "cotton."

Off to earn some dough now, hopefully. I will be running in Washington Pennsylvania the next couple days. Hope it goes well.

Jason Derulo - Ridin Solo

So the last two days I have listened to Jason Derulo - Ridin Solo 156 times... And that is only on the computer. LOL. Not counting in the car or at the gym. Pretty insane. Needless to say it is a great song. And no, I don't listen to lyrics, but the music is awesome. I wish I could think of more songs like it. There is actually a pretty good piano version on youtube by Yoonha Hwang at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shuvKLF50BE.

As for my training today, I read the first chapter of Chi Running while I was sitting in the massage chair at the gym. I finished it at the nearest table. It was great. The comparison of leaning forward while running to a unicyclist was great. As I was running I pictured that. I also pictured that as the unicyclist wants to go faster he leans further forward. Maybe that will surface in a later chapter. I also noticed a lot of parallels to the peaceful warrior. Focusing on the body and doing your best, not worrying about what other people expect.

As for the run, it was great. I did 4 miles on the treadmill in 37:17. I am on par for making my marathon. The funny thing was that as I put up the speed the running actually became easier. The only thing is that my muscles aren't ready to move that quickly yet. I did one Ridin Solo at 6mph, then one at 6.5, than one at 7. Seemed to work out well. And my feet were definitely moving faster than the tempo.

Gonna need some sweet potato tonight! Can't wait for my massage in the morning.

My new goal

This week I am going to run a marathon (throughout the week)! Lol. I got my daily mile report card this week and it said 18.9 miles. I was like, wow, that is kinda close to 26.2. Or at least it is in my world. Today I started off with 3.2 miles. I will pace myself through the rest of the week so that my next daily mile report says at least 26.2.

Today was pretty busy, but I got my business web site up and running. It is at http://www.kellersafetyproducts.com
Even though nobody that reads this would probably want anything on it, just humor me.

I have also decided to put vaseline on my left foot followed by a sock after every run. That foot has always been dry and with the last crack I don't want any more to follow. If anyone knows any other strategies let me know.

The random fact for today is that sweet potatos have 32% more potassium than bananas. The fruit that we all know and love for potassium has been one upped. Per 100 grams a banana has 89 calories and 358mg potassium. The sweet potato has 92 calories and 475mg per 100 grams! And the sweet potato is chocked full of vitamin A and beta carotene. One potato has by far your daily dose of Vitamin A. Hope this is interesting to you all!

**Addition: A potato has even more potassium than a sweet potato! 100g of potato WITH SKIN has 49% more potassium than a banana! 13% more than the sweet potato. Only downside: no vitamin a or beta carotene.

How to fix a mighty mouse that won't scroll

Got the last two!

I finally got the last two miles today! I woke up, had a chia frecsa (with lemon because I coudln't find the line =/), and went. My toe had looked very good but I decided to wrap it well anyway. Then when I got back to where I started there wasn't even a thought in my mind as to whether to stop or not. I just kept on going. I felt GREAT! I ran the extra two miles that I had been longing to for the last two days. The new GPS smart runner for the palm pre is still pretty neat. It doesn't have a lap funtion that I can find though. Want to do the two routes separately but couldn't figure it out. O well. 4.2 mile, 45:23.

Split toe... No problem

Today I went for a run around my parents house. I was a little bit hesitant because of a dried, split big toe. I noticed it last night as I was going to go for my second run. I immediately wrapped it in gauze and petroleum jelly then cancelled the run. Hopefully by morning it would be recovered. It wasn't well enough to go this morning. But later in the day I wrapped it real well and went for it.



Looks kinda like frankentoe. But it worked. My mom and I took off for the 2.5 mile run. It was great to have a companion to run with. I also got to introduce her to the smart runner app for the palm pre. It logged the distance, time, avg speed, max speed, etc. Very cool. In the end I felt great, almost went for the extra two miles, except didn't want to do damage the toe. Mom ran the circuit faster than she ever had before. Congrats!