Lightning Update:

1. Finished the Citizen-Times Half Marathon in Asheville, NC. My time was 2:40. It was frigid and extremely hilly.

2. I finally decided to ditch my Vibram Five Fingers due to the massive amounts of blisters from very nasty seems inside at the worst of locations.

3. My training has been back an forth. Yesterday after 3 runs in normal Aisics, my legs almost exploded with pain and I was forced to stop at 1.6 of a 7 mile run. I have determined that it is severe shin splints.

4. Finally got my new shoes in: New Balance "Minimus.". They are the bee's knees!

5. I have a girlfriend. Her name is Katie Pauley.

Ok, you're pretty much caught up.

Sick.

I haven't posted in a while because I haven't had much good news. I was sick for a few days and had to take two runs completely off. That makes me nervous, but I think if I bounce back, I'll still be ready for Asheville next weekend. I would've posted a picture of my feet again, but it's gone past the point of grody and on to disturbing.

James Corbin, one of my best friends from college part two is joining me in Asheville for the half marathon! This is great, but he might piss me off by running circles around me the entire time.

This is What Pain Looks Like.

If there's a silver lining to that painful 9-miler it's this: my blisters (a cluster of new and old on each big toe) held me back more than my legs, lungs, or heart did. I certainly wasn't going fast, but I was able to maintain a healthy pace and could've definitely picked it up if it weren't for the pain on my power toes. I will have tomorrow's cross-training and Sunday's rest to try and heal them up before another week. If anyone has any blister healing tips, PLEASE let me know!

Houston, we have a problem.

A mile into my 4-miler today I had to crash into a yard with my leg up in pain. Ugh. It was strange, like my bone was hurting. Long story short, I rubbed and stretched until I could stand on it and discovered that if I ran on the balls of my feet, the pain was manageable. For the last 3 miles my heals almost never even touched the road. It was hard on my calves, but legs felt better and better. I'm praying that the Lord holds my legs together again tomorrow and that they are ready for this Friday's 9er.

Second Long Run

Well, logged another one of my Friday long runs. This time it was 7 miles. I ran it at the same pace that I ran last week's 6, about 11:30/mi. I'm not gonna complain about my pace since, I did it in an Alabama summer afternoon, but I do want to see that number go down a good bit. I find that I start out at exactly a 10:00/mi. pace and just can't keep it going. Which, everything I read says that that indicates I really need to slow down at the start. The problem I have is that a 10 minute mile seems so slow to me already?! However, I'd rather see myself start out at an 11:30/mi and speed up throughout my run to finish with a 10 minute mile. At least, that's what the running experts say to do. It's easy for me to think.. I'm gonna go out there and see how fast I can do 3 miles (which is my plan for today), but it's a whole different story when I'm a 1/2 mile in and already feelin' rough. I think it's most discouraging when I feel like I'm killin' it and I hear my pace update in my ear somewhere around 11:00/mi.

I recently asked some ex-runner guys at work for some tips. These are the recommendations I got: 1. It's in your genes, there's not much to do about being slow (great..). 2. Get more sleep (hmm... that could be an issue). 3. Being limber is everything. 4. If you really wanna be competitive, getchoo' some Adderall(really?).

I have made a point to try to pound a protein shake or something after my runs in an attempt to quicken my recovery. I may already be feeling the affects of that.

This week's long run is only 5 miles(it's a rebuilding year), but next week I will break my record and do 9!

Today: 3 miles

Night Rider

Another late night run through the hood due to how awesome Wednesdays are. Work, Superior Grill's free buffet/happy hour, then to Church of the Highlands.

The dark runs mean better weather. It felt good. I took it easy and maintained about 10:30/mi. I feel like my body needs restoration as much as exercise lately, so I've decided to do some push hard runs and some easy runs. I'm already a little nervous about Friday's 7-miler...

First Long Run

This past Friday was the first long run on the plan. 6 miles. I did it at Veterans Park by Spain Park. It was the hardest run I've done to date. After a short water break at 2.81 miles, I had to decide in my mind that I would not stop again. It was extremely hard. When I saw I was about to click over to 5 miles on my nikeplus monitor, I decided that I needed to get pumped somehow. So, the next runner that I passed on the trail (45 year old woman) I turned to and screamed at her, "WE CAN DO THIS!!!" I thought it would be hilarious and that we would both laugh and be encouraged. Well, at least I laughed and was encouraged ... Then my dang phone died at 5.9 miles. Think I'm gonna put it in a little baggy, then put it in the armband next time. I "crosstrained" the next day at SnapFitness doing some weights/bike/elyptical.

Ready and Willing.

I'm gonna try to be positive here. Lord willing, I will run today and break at least one personal record. That record is runs per week. I have done 3 runs on several weeks lately, but today's will make 4. Also, for the first time, I won't be running alone. My sister, Laura, is planning on joining me at Veterans Park at 5:15. Then, I will be a volunteer at "Motion," a student conference going on at Church of the Highlands. I'm considering wearing some actual shoes on my run today to avoid some of the pain from my PW. The first available appointment I could get to have it removed is on Aug. 11. So until then, and at least a few days after, it will be a struggle. If you think of it, cheer me on via FB "like" on my wall, or just literally come to Veteran's Park with pom poms? It's time to kick some ass today, but I will require some divine intervention.

Day 3

In the past month and a half I've done more running than ever in my life. On average, I've done 2 or 3 runs a week including my all time record of over 8 miles. Can someone tell me why the day I start my "official" 19-week program, meant to prepare me for a marathon... my body decided all it wanted to start was a grand suck-fest? I got through my measly 3 miles on the schedule today, but it was even slower. Granted, I skipped lunch and that screwed with me, I think my foot is bleeding, and I did pound a stout marg before Church of the Highlands...

Anyways, things are sure to get better and tomorrow's rest day should help restore my broken shell of a body.

Ugh. (Day 2)

Again, today's run pretty much sucked. I could only squeeze just under a 10:30/mi. average out of my 3 miles. I'm not sure why I have slowed back down lately. It sure seems like I'm still pushing for speed, but it is not coming.
One issue I'm having is this painful plantar wart pictured above. It's like there's a sharp rock in my shoe. I can get to running on it through the pain, but if I were to slow to a walk, it becomes a hobbly limp with unbearable pain. I'm trying to schedule a removal with a doctor soon. Even though, the pic really makes it look like it's shrinking... And I certainly can't blame it on my speed. I'm not sure what's wrong, but I will get faster.

Today: 3 miles (done)
Tomorrow: 3 miles
Friday: 6 miles

Day One.

Where do I begin? Many days in deep and strange thought has brought me to this day where I begin a 19-week journey towards running the St. Jude Marathon in Memphis, TN. I'm not a runner. I'm not even an athlete, really. I like to think I am, because I love being an active person, and really really wanna be. However, I'm out of shape and let's be honest, a little thicker than I'd like to be...

Hopefully, that's all about to change. This is going to be hard. After all, of all athletic activities in the world, I HATE running.

Am I going to do this everyday? No. I can't even remember to poop every day. But, I'm going to attempt to chronicle this journey here on my blog.

Today: 3 miles