Diet and Exercise

This week has been mostly diet and no exercise but this morning I had a nice run over a 1.8 mile bridge and back. It was a little shorter than my former Sunday runs, but my knee held up well. This week at the gym I will start some strengthening to try and help my knees. Especially since I have a new penciled in race with Jason to be announced once finalized.

On the diet front, last Monday morning I weighed in at 210 punds and this morning I weighed in at 200 pounds. It looks like I will be less than 200 shortly which will be the first time in a while. I am hopeful that this makes running easier. I would like to get to 185-190 range, and then maintain it. So week 1 on the South Beach diet has been good. In truth I don't even mind the diet. It is relatively easy to do.

Two Lawyers and a Mathematician were running a race...

The mathematician says, "Did you know that if you go 50% of the way and then 50% of the way again and continue this forever, then you will theoretically never finish the race?" The Lawyers just roll their eyes and finished before the mathematician.

Early morning. Rolling Hills. Donut hole at mile 6. Lots of water stations. Ladies in pink cheering for you. 10 minutes per mile. 10 miles. Stiff Legs. Still had to do some chores. Lettuce provided at the finish (Locally grown).

I did not get beaten by a 9 year old girl. I was not very fast. I need to pick up the pace. The next step is to try and lose 15 -20 pounds at least. I think this will help.

Sometimes when I get really bored...

I play this game Hedgehog Launch. Truthfully I have not played in a while. The object of the game is to build a slingshot that is able to launch a hedgehog onto space. For some reason I find the concept of this to be amusing.

2 more days until the Race To Register 10K. I would like to break the 1 hour mark. I think that I will, and will finish the race in ~58 minutes. Then I will sign up for the Marine Corps Marathon.AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhh!!!!!
Sometimes I wonder what I could possibly be thinking in signing up for a marathon, but once I pay for it I am commited. Oh... I still have all of my Elite Eight teams in the tournament.

How to keep running when your partner gets injured...

You have to get another person to run with. So today I ran the 7.2 mile scenic loop with Stu Fugler. It was one of the warmer temperatures that I have run in of late. The only warmer time being in San Diego. In truth, though I was only in a thin running shirt, I actually began to get warm near the end of the run. I have commented lately that I need to lose some weight. I have not gone down much at all. So I started my endeavour by going to Cracker Barrel immediately upon finishing the run and having pancaes, eggs, and bacon. Oh well. I think I will now go eat a piece of cake... seriously.

If only a camera followed me around...

I was on quite a roll. It was a bit warmer outside so I decided to do a different loop than I do on cold nights. I ran great down Waterway. I ran well down Golf Club. I managed to not slip on some pretty slippery ground. I was preparing to go up the hill on Dolphin to start the final stretch home. I felt like I had made good time. When I notice myself making a vocal "oogh", and come to a complete stop very quickly. I had run right into a chain that was meant to keep cars out of the parking lot. It hit me right about waste level. I gathered myself up. Made sure I didn't seem too hurt, and kept going. I finished the run in 32 minutes which is at least 2 minutes faster than I had run it previously and it may have been 4 minutes faster. I think maybe next time I will step over it before running into it.

Tonight I ran with an IPOD

Now I know that running with an IPOD at 1030 pm on the street is probably not the smartest of maneuvers. I also know that wearing a black jacket when I ran did not help make it safer, but it did make it warmer. I was cruising though. I was able to run so much faster and I definitely did not notice myself getting as tired. I think I ran the ~3 miles between 2-3 minutes faster then I have run it previously. Too bad you are not supposed to wear IPODS in a race.

BTW. I am now reading through the book of Matthew after finishing 1 Samuel. I never quite finished Ezekiel. I need to go back to it.

Happy Birthday Mr First President

Saturday morning I competed in the longest race of my life. Previously in my life the longest race I had completed was a 200 meter dash. I did this while a Junior in High School. I won the heat that I competed.

The other competitor...
I had the competitor in my sites at mile 3. After the water station at 4 I passed the competitor but with ~1 mile to go the competitor passed me and never looked back. This was an 8 year old girl. I also got beat by some ladies in pink outfits. I did however beat the girls who chit chatted the whole time. Also, I beat the guy who pushed a stroller the whole time. I finished in 62 minutes 17 seconds. I finished 490 out of 659 competitors and in my age bracket I finished 71 out of 78. My pace was a blistering 9 minutes 44 seconds per mile which I am actually pretty happy about. I think I could keep that pace up for a lot longer. So the first victory goes to Iceman who I saw for the first couple of minutes of the race and never saw again. You win this battle...

On a different note:
My entry for this year's Pelt NASCAR driver competition is Grg Biffle. I think he has a cool last name.

BTW. Thanks for all those who supported me in the polling place.
Who will finish finish ahead in the George Washington Birthday 10K?
Results:
Iceman - 3 Votes
Maverick - 4 Votes
We'll call it a draw - 2 Votes

In Preparation for this weekends race...

I just ate a cup of ice cream. George Washington Birthday 10K this weekend. Trip to California and back before Saturday. I am going to predict a 10K finish of 55 minutes. I believe that is a little better than 10 minutes per mile. So I may not be able to pull it off. Any guesses from someone else?

Still reading Ezekiel. Also started rereading 1 Samuel. Let's just say Ezekiel is not the easiest book of the Bible.

Tomorrow I commute all the way to Stafford. The 15 minute commute will be very nice relative to the 70 minute commute I normally have. I feel more relaxed just thinking about it.

Long Run

After a long run this morning, I am again look for suggestions. What do you do about a sore knee?

Dear Iceman,
Part of me would like to apologize for jogging so slow. Another part says I prefaced our running agreement with the statement, "I am fat and slow" and thus have no need to apologize. Either way, I am just as fat and slow as originally advertised. So I suppose I get credit for honesty. Too bad honesty doesn't make my legs move faster. Maybe as time progresses I will get faster. I make no guarantees.
-Maverick

What I Need

First: While talking to Jason on our ~7.2 mile/1 hour 14 minute run around the scenic loop at Prince William Forest Park in 20 degree weather, he informed me that he was not sure he liked being referred to as Jason "Farley" Pelt by someone else. Even though he called himself this previously I have decided to not refer to him as "Farley" any longer. This now leaves a clear nickname void. So I am in need of some suggestions for nicknames to use when referring to him in this blog. Until such time as I have a acceptable nicname suggested I will refer to Jason as Iceman.

Second: Iceman has decided we would run in the George Washington Classic 10K in Alexandria on February 14. I don't really feel like paying another $30 entry fee. However, if I can get $100 in donations then I get to run for free. The donations support the Alexandria Police Youth Camp, Inc.. Any willing Donors?

Third: If Iceman and I are going to continue winter running. I think I need a face warmer. I don't need donations for this though.
-Maverick

The thing I like about running

You can see your improvement. Today I ran the same distance as last week's second jog. Last week I ran it in 31 minutes and 25 seconds. This week i ran it in 30 minutes and 17 seconds. Next week I may have to run a slightly further distance. I had another moment of genious on the run. Early in the run I started kicking a loose chunk of ice for distraction, then a little later in the run I tried to kick another. This one was frozen solid to he ground. It nearly turned my knee around. Put another star in the should have known better column.

Did I mention I decided to read Ezekiel? Sometimes I read about the prophets and I think, "It would have been cool to be a prophet." Sometimes I read about them and say, "Thank goodness someone else had to do that." What always interests me about reading the Old Testament is to see how God is clearly the same God as in the New Testament. He is not a God that was at one time strict and full of wrath and the later on became loving and full of grace. He is a God that in the Old Testament and the New Testament hates sin and yet shows grace to his people in spite of their sin.

Now it is official

Today I signed up for the Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon. Goodbye $60. Hello 13 miles and a T-Shirt. I then went and ran in 30 degree weather with freezing rain. I heard that Jason "Farley" Pelt ran in snow this morning. I could not be outdone. So freezing rain it had to be. I figured out that going forward was not a problem . I did not slip a single time while going forward. Coming to a stop in any short distance needs to be thought out. I nearly slipped and fell. This would have been the second fall today if I had. In a moment of intellectual clarity this afternoon I decided to walk down my steep snow covered driveway in deck shoes. Three Quarters of the way down... I went down. Back to the run... I also found that I was forced to have the turning radius of a volkswagen bug otherwise friction was to little.
Run Stats:
30 minutes 16 seconds
Cold Ears
Frozen hat
Freezing Rain
No falls
One loose shoelace
Two funny looks from neighbors
One word of encouragement from lady shoveling snow
Snow is fun

-"Swayze"

A first long run

1 hour 7 minutes 45 seconds through the scenic USMC Base Quantico OCS Trails starting a little after 7 AM. It looks like we had a temperature of a little over 40 degrees. Very pleasant. I even got a little warm. My new running shirt worked good. And since today's blog is exceptionally boring I am cutting it short. Also I have a two year old tugging on my shoulder.

Do you ever feel like your getting old?

Today I do. After three straight nights of my son not sleeping well. After running twice this week. I decided to have my son chase me around the house like he often does, and also chase him around the house as well. As I started to do that today both of my hips hurt. Then I tried to "bound" up the stairs like a graceful gazelle only to be brought to a quick stop by pain in my hips. If this is not depressing for a 28 year old male, then I do not know what is. So I have made a decision. If I am ever a teenager playing sports again or a young adult playing sports again, then I am going to rest my injuries better. If that day comes I will rest my sprained ankles. I may even ice them. When I get an ovulsive fracture in my hip I promise not to play a soccer game on it. Until that day comes I will have to go on feeling older than I really am. Maybe as I get into better shape things will start to improve. I will now go wipe a tear from my eye.

How to keep a nose warm?

This is what I need to know.

Stats for second run:
19 degrees and clear starry skys
Feels like 19 degrees
31 minutes 25 seconds
Longer run too
Felt better than first run
Hips stiff at first
loosened up after a few hundred yards
nose so cold that it was running ice cubes

On a different note, I finished the book of Numbers in my quest to read through the Bible this year. I am trying to decide where to go next. I am having trouble picking a next book of the Bible to concentrate on getting through. I considered something easy like Revelation, but decided to hold that off until I need a little light reading. I have read 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings more than any other books so not them yet. I am not sure of the best way to read Psalms yet, so it will wait. Acts is good but we just finished it at XFold. Proverbs should be read one a day for a month, and clearly the next best month to start that is March as there are 31 days. So I think I will read one of the prophets. Not Daniel though, I have read Daniel a bunch too. Will let you know which one it turns out to be. Isaiah is currently sounding good, or maybe Ezekiel. I think I will need to skim over a chapter in "How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth" for tips on how to best read Psalms. I would like to get into Psalms soon, and I seem to recall the book providing good advice for it.

My nose tingles

First Run Statistics:
31 minutes 15 seconds
Constant plodding
No walking
Warm Ears
Warm hands
Cold Nose
Cold Lips
No Podcasts
10:20pm start time
Temperature of 28 degrees
Wind Chill 18 degrees

One small step for some.. One giant plod for me. It feels good to start.

Pre-Training Weigh In

Ok. So I am going to start running on Monday. I will have my first "long run" next Saturday. On Tuesday I am planning out schedule for races. So I decided to weigh in. See where things stand. Now I know that the best way to get a lighter weigh-in is first thing in the morning before breakfast. I also know that I have been known to fluctuate several pounds very quickly so I am not particularly hung up on an exact number. Knowing all that I weighed in late this afternoon after a lunch at Ruby Tuesdays. So maybe it is not 100% accurate. Ok... I have put this off long enough. I am ~ 6 feet tall (maybe 5' 11.75") and I weighed in at 211 pounds. And so it begins.

At Pillar Church we are learning about the Book of James. So here is a fun fact I believe is correct: Martin Luther wanted to remove James from the Bible.

How to get started

One day I intend on beginning to run again. Today I did not. Tomorrow I probably won't. When I do decide to restart I think I will do the following which is similar to the plan they give you for the USMC marathon.
30 minute run on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday.
Long Run on Saturday.

I think I will probably start on this coming Monday. I will definitely have to download some good podcasts. Current preferred podcasts:
Hillsong Australia
Ravi Zacharias
Alister Baig (or whatever) "Truth for Life"
Basically people with cool accents.