Im not one to make speeches at occasions aside from those where there is simply no choice....i.e weddings.
But while running today I decided I was going to make a speech for my birthday this year, but as a blog post.
So here goes.
3 Years ago my wife was pregnant with my second child.I weighed in at 106kg, why never diagnosed I probably had high cholesterol, blood pressure issues and was a perfect candidate for type 2 diabetes.
2 Years ago I had started running, I was almost done with the couch to 5k program, and I was preparing myself for my first official event. The timing of the event lined up perfectly for my final run of the c25k, and my first full 5k run. I ran that 5k in about 35 minutes. I weighed in about 95kg and was feeling pretty good about myself.
1 Year ago I was recovering from my rolled ankle, ready to run no matter what medical professional said I couldn't, and was preparing for my first marathon. I started running again just before my birthday and I managed the marathon in 5:08. I weighed about 90kg and had completed about 12 21k training runs, so my confidence in my running was great.
This year things are a bit of a muddle. I am training for my second marathon, so far (touch wood) I have had an injury free year. I currently weigh in at 86kg, and I am confident in my running - to some extent.
The issue this year is one of psychology and confidence. I know I can run, that is for certain but can I run 42k in 8 weeks time? The last 2 training runs I have done have not gone so well. 2 weeks ago I had health issues which were trigger or exacerbated by my 20k run. Today I set out to finally nail the 28k run from Wandin to Warburton which still eludes me, but I was running much better today. The issue was twofold, first I started out too hard, and as such was struggling after 21k to keep going and second I had severe cramping in my legs. I called it a day at 25k and will have yet another bash at it some time soon.
It occurred to me today while running that I use running as a metaphor for living. I realized that when I turned 32 and was running, I really started living. Before that I endured life but now life is an endurance event :) Training to run marathons is really living, and you don't know what its like to be full of energy until you have given every ounce f what you have to a run, you don't know what it really feels like to give something your all until you have given it.
People talk about giving 100% to something, but I don't believe that its possible unless that something that benefits only you.
I have also decided that running and living is about rhythm. Humans are attracted to music. I'm sure that when you close your eyes and think about it you can hear your favorite song. Running is like this, you find your rhythm and you run to it. People often ask me if I listen to music while I run, and the answer is no, when I tell them this they usually ask how I keep myself entertained for long runs, as if the thought of spending 3 hours inside your own head was like eating roadkill.
when I think about this, I have decided that listening to music while running for me would be like living someone else's life. Of course this is purely my opinion and each to his/her own but I find when I run to music my rhythm settles into the musics beat, and my pace alters slightly with the change of songs, oh and I kind of like spending time inside my own head, with a busy busy job, two little munchkins and a million other things to do, running is a nice escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday.
So I know that this post is a little scattered but so are my thoughts at the moment, I get introspective and a little melancholy when I think about life, and I find that birthdays have me reviewing events to date. On the upside, since I started running my fears are about not being able to run, and how I would be able to survive without running, rather than heart disease and diabetes.
So Happy Birthday to me!
Monday, August 15, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
From 20 to 10 minutes
My first run of the couch to 5k was 20 minutes of intervals. 20 minutes 3 times a week. It all started with 20 minutes, 6 weeks in I ran my first 20 minutes solid block of running.
My first 5k run took about 34 minutes, today I ran 5k in 23:16. This got me thinking about what can be achieved in 10 minutes.
10 minutes with the kids is priceless, 10 minutes at work can seem like a lifetime, 10 minutes can be 2k's of running time or 10 minutes in a marathon can seem like 2 lifetimes.
This blog post has taken weeks to write due to insane work load and a very active home life.
Since starting this post I have developed a new issue. My running mojo has taken a hit, I have health problems and it all seems to be stress related.
For the last 2 weeks I have been performing the tasks of 2-3 people, things like this just happen in IT from time to time and it comes with the territory but this time I haven't done so well coping with the stress. After 2 weeks of long days, no breaks and worst of all mo lunchtime runs I was about ready to collapse. I set myself up for a 28k run on a Sunday, arranged for the wife and kids to meet me at the end and drive me back to the car, all was good.
5ks in I felt sluggish, I just felt like it was way harder than it should be at this point. I persevered and by 17k just knew something was not right. I called my ever understanding wife and arranged to cut my run short. It went from being a 28k to a 19.5k. That was ok by me as I had come to terms with cutting it short from the first k.
The wife and kids met me at a playground where we had a play for a bit. While there I had the first symptoms of a migraine, flashy lights in my vision. At this point I ushered everyone into the car, as I knew what came next.
I got home and collapsed on the bed, covered my head with a pillow and rode the waves of pain that would not abate for anything. I had to drag myself into the shower before I could get into bed proper because 20k of sweat, dust and grime has no home in our bed.
Showered and cleansed, but still wanting to die because of the pain I crawled into bed, and there I stayed for 4 hours after which I felt ok, my brain felt bruised but the majority of the pain was gone.
Monday, I didn't feel too bad, still brain bruised, but not too bad. (brain bruising is how I describe when there is no pain except when you cough or move quickly)
Tuesday saw the return of my headache, this was not so much like a migraine, more like a nasty headache, but I decided to run, and see if that helped. A strange thing happened on my run, I started seeing flashy lights in the periphery of my field of view, the colleague I was running with became invisible as he ran next to me. This lasted for the last 2k of my run and fir about 20 minutes after. Then my headache got angry with me, so I smacked it with some panadene, and all was well.
Wednesday I decided to try and sleep it off. Things weren't going too bad until I got stressed about a trivial matter and then the flashy peripheral vision came back. I slept for a couple of hours and was ok again.
Apart from some short periods of headache, and brain bruising I seem to be ok now. I haven't run since last Tuesday, and I plan to run today with some colleagues incase something happens.
The worst bit is that I'm scared to run, I'm worried about what this means to my marathon preparation and to general wellbeing.
When you drop a lot of weight, and become active something in your psyche tells you that you have become invincible, You see people around you getting sick and your enhanced runner immune system shakes off all but the worst if what's going around.
Then you get sick, and it scares the crap out of you that running might make it worse, and not running might make it worse, all you can see is things getting worse so it's hard to get back on the horse, but you do it all the same.
My first 5k run took about 34 minutes, today I ran 5k in 23:16. This got me thinking about what can be achieved in 10 minutes.
10 minutes with the kids is priceless, 10 minutes at work can seem like a lifetime, 10 minutes can be 2k's of running time or 10 minutes in a marathon can seem like 2 lifetimes.
This blog post has taken weeks to write due to insane work load and a very active home life.
Since starting this post I have developed a new issue. My running mojo has taken a hit, I have health problems and it all seems to be stress related.
For the last 2 weeks I have been performing the tasks of 2-3 people, things like this just happen in IT from time to time and it comes with the territory but this time I haven't done so well coping with the stress. After 2 weeks of long days, no breaks and worst of all mo lunchtime runs I was about ready to collapse. I set myself up for a 28k run on a Sunday, arranged for the wife and kids to meet me at the end and drive me back to the car, all was good.
5ks in I felt sluggish, I just felt like it was way harder than it should be at this point. I persevered and by 17k just knew something was not right. I called my ever understanding wife and arranged to cut my run short. It went from being a 28k to a 19.5k. That was ok by me as I had come to terms with cutting it short from the first k.
The wife and kids met me at a playground where we had a play for a bit. While there I had the first symptoms of a migraine, flashy lights in my vision. At this point I ushered everyone into the car, as I knew what came next.
I got home and collapsed on the bed, covered my head with a pillow and rode the waves of pain that would not abate for anything. I had to drag myself into the shower before I could get into bed proper because 20k of sweat, dust and grime has no home in our bed.
Showered and cleansed, but still wanting to die because of the pain I crawled into bed, and there I stayed for 4 hours after which I felt ok, my brain felt bruised but the majority of the pain was gone.
Monday, I didn't feel too bad, still brain bruised, but not too bad. (brain bruising is how I describe when there is no pain except when you cough or move quickly)
Tuesday saw the return of my headache, this was not so much like a migraine, more like a nasty headache, but I decided to run, and see if that helped. A strange thing happened on my run, I started seeing flashy lights in the periphery of my field of view, the colleague I was running with became invisible as he ran next to me. This lasted for the last 2k of my run and fir about 20 minutes after. Then my headache got angry with me, so I smacked it with some panadene, and all was well.
Wednesday I decided to try and sleep it off. Things weren't going too bad until I got stressed about a trivial matter and then the flashy peripheral vision came back. I slept for a couple of hours and was ok again.
Apart from some short periods of headache, and brain bruising I seem to be ok now. I haven't run since last Tuesday, and I plan to run today with some colleagues incase something happens.
The worst bit is that I'm scared to run, I'm worried about what this means to my marathon preparation and to general wellbeing.
When you drop a lot of weight, and become active something in your psyche tells you that you have become invincible, You see people around you getting sick and your enhanced runner immune system shakes off all but the worst if what's going around.
Then you get sick, and it scares the crap out of you that running might make it worse, and not running might make it worse, all you can see is things getting worse so it's hard to get back on the horse, but you do it all the same.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Strange happenings.
When I started running it was simply to run..now my drive is evolving. I am starting to run fast. I have discovered a new fuel for my motivation. This is an odd sensation. I wanted to achieve some good times this year across a few distances, sub 25 minutes for 5k, sub 50 minutes for 10k and a sub 2 hour half marathon(21k).
I haven't been running a lot of 5k runs but I reckon I could nail sub 25mins, and later in the year I will give that a bash. My best 10k is at 51:30 so that is close, and last Sunday I smashed the sub 2 hour 1/2 for the second time, except this time was 1:50:57.
This has raised a couple of internal questions ( and external from some other runners) am I setting goals that are too easy to achieve, should I be aiming for faster, and what should I shoot for in Octobers marathon.
I have the run Melbourne 1/2 on the 17th July, and my goal was sub 2 hour, I averaged 5:17m/k on my half on Sunday. If I can average 5 mins my time would be 1:45, is this a better goal? Then issue I have with this is twofold, firstly runs with lots of people tend to have bottlenecks, which makes pb's hard to achieve, second I have no idea what the course is like, last year I had to sit this run out due to injury.
So what do I shoot for in October, last year the goal was to finish, indie that in 5:08. This year I was hoping for 4:30, but it's looking like I should shoot for sub 4 hours...I just need to decide if I want that pressure.
I'm starting to see som subconscious strategy in my goals setting. I'm starting to think that I set achievable goals so as to not make running a stressful activity, so that I will not get discouraged by perceived failures, when the truth is that while I am out there pounding my body, putting one foot in front of the other it's impossible to fail. No one that enters an even comes last, everyone wins because they chose to compete against laziness, against sedentary life and against the voice in their head that says bugger it, it's 6am on a winter Sunday I just want to stay in bed.
There is something very satisfying about completing a run that you didn't really feel like doing in the first place. Try it sometime, running with a head cold is a good one, clears the head like nothing else, but it can be really hard to get out the door. Afterwards you will feel like you really achieved something because you overcame the little devil sitting on your shoulder saying "take something for that cold and go back to bed"
So get your ass out the door and run.
Daniel.
I haven't been running a lot of 5k runs but I reckon I could nail sub 25mins, and later in the year I will give that a bash. My best 10k is at 51:30 so that is close, and last Sunday I smashed the sub 2 hour 1/2 for the second time, except this time was 1:50:57.
This has raised a couple of internal questions ( and external from some other runners) am I setting goals that are too easy to achieve, should I be aiming for faster, and what should I shoot for in Octobers marathon.
I have the run Melbourne 1/2 on the 17th July, and my goal was sub 2 hour, I averaged 5:17m/k on my half on Sunday. If I can average 5 mins my time would be 1:45, is this a better goal? Then issue I have with this is twofold, firstly runs with lots of people tend to have bottlenecks, which makes pb's hard to achieve, second I have no idea what the course is like, last year I had to sit this run out due to injury.
So what do I shoot for in October, last year the goal was to finish, indie that in 5:08. This year I was hoping for 4:30, but it's looking like I should shoot for sub 4 hours...I just need to decide if I want that pressure.
I'm starting to see som subconscious strategy in my goals setting. I'm starting to think that I set achievable goals so as to not make running a stressful activity, so that I will not get discouraged by perceived failures, when the truth is that while I am out there pounding my body, putting one foot in front of the other it's impossible to fail. No one that enters an even comes last, everyone wins because they chose to compete against laziness, against sedentary life and against the voice in their head that says bugger it, it's 6am on a winter Sunday I just want to stay in bed.
There is something very satisfying about completing a run that you didn't really feel like doing in the first place. Try it sometime, running with a head cold is a good one, clears the head like nothing else, but it can be really hard to get out the door. Afterwards you will feel like you really achieved something because you overcame the little devil sitting on your shoulder saying "take something for that cold and go back to bed"
So get your ass out the door and run.
Daniel.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
What are you running from?
On occasion I am asked what I am running from. Usually I just laugh this off and say nah that's not what it's about.
There are several ways to really answer the question, aside from shrugging it off.
I run away from something, but it's not really something that's easy to admit to. I run away from the weak undisciplined fat person I was for the majority of my life.
I run for the energy I have everyday, for the satisfaction of knowing I have extended my life expectancy by heaps, for the confidence that discipline gives me, and because the reasons to run almost always outweigh the reasons not to.
I realized that people who don't run physically, still run metaphorically. They run from the effort that it takes to haul ass out the door. They run from the commitment it takes to just do it. They run from change.
How often I get told that my running can only end in long term injury is amazing, this I respond to with, then it will be time to swim, or bike but for now running has transformed me into who I am.
We all run, some physically, some metaphorically, and for some riding or swimming is their running, but the primal human instinct is to fight or flight.
I chose to do both as flight is my weapon to fight the person I no longer want to be.
It has also recently occurred to me how stark the contrast is between the roles in my life, and how little overlap there is. The old saying "wherever you are be present" is becoming something very tangible for me.
On a run day I play 3 parts. First when I get up it's the daddy/hubby role, making porridge and babychinos for the kids, the it's out the door for work role, performing my day job, but at about 11:30 it's time to change, clothes and role to runner. Back from my run and it's work and then daddy/hubby again.
It's oddly amusing to me, that the parts of my life are so separate, and so clearly defined.
I was asked recently how do you excel at something. The on,y answer I have is " have the discipline to force yourself out the door no matter what, just do it" (Nike really picked a good slogan there which I never really got until I became a runner)
There are several ways to really answer the question, aside from shrugging it off.
I run away from something, but it's not really something that's easy to admit to. I run away from the weak undisciplined fat person I was for the majority of my life.
I run for the energy I have everyday, for the satisfaction of knowing I have extended my life expectancy by heaps, for the confidence that discipline gives me, and because the reasons to run almost always outweigh the reasons not to.
I realized that people who don't run physically, still run metaphorically. They run from the effort that it takes to haul ass out the door. They run from the commitment it takes to just do it. They run from change.
How often I get told that my running can only end in long term injury is amazing, this I respond to with, then it will be time to swim, or bike but for now running has transformed me into who I am.
We all run, some physically, some metaphorically, and for some riding or swimming is their running, but the primal human instinct is to fight or flight.
I chose to do both as flight is my weapon to fight the person I no longer want to be.
It has also recently occurred to me how stark the contrast is between the roles in my life, and how little overlap there is. The old saying "wherever you are be present" is becoming something very tangible for me.
On a run day I play 3 parts. First when I get up it's the daddy/hubby role, making porridge and babychinos for the kids, the it's out the door for work role, performing my day job, but at about 11:30 it's time to change, clothes and role to runner. Back from my run and it's work and then daddy/hubby again.
It's oddly amusing to me, that the parts of my life are so separate, and so clearly defined.
I was asked recently how do you excel at something. The on,y answer I have is " have the discipline to force yourself out the door no matter what, just do it" (Nike really picked a good slogan there which I never really got until I became a runner)
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Hard time to stay committed.
Its "that" time of year. The time when everyone has colds, its raining every time you want/need to run, and its a real challenge just to kick your own ass out the door.
Its so easy at the moment to not run.....its almost like I have more reasons not to run, than I have to run.
But I keep reminding myself, that I have omitted to running Melbourne marathon again this year and now I need to make sure I don't die doing it :)
So running in the rain and freezing cold wind yesterday I kept reminding myself "each time my foot hits the ground, its a step towards a successful marathon"
This was hard though because every time the dog looked at me (as much as she loves running) I felt like she was struggling to be out there as much as I was.
In the end we both had a good run. In the rain, in the cold....but at the end of the day I took another handful of steps towards Melbourne Marathon.
Its funny the way that challenges to being a runner, and living that life manifest themselves in the strangest ways.
For example travel for work....once upon a time, I would have packed work clothes and my laptop and been right to go. Now when I travel, its my garmin, runners, skins, shorts etc. I dont worry about if where I will be staying is nice, I look up google maps to see if there is anywhere to run around the place, and make sure that work doesn't get in the way of running in a new area.
Another good example, is food. Not the kind that I buy or choose to put in my mouth. Its the kind that sneaks up on you, and is half eaten before you realize what is going on. Another example is that at present, there is a BIG pack of tim tams in the kitchen...they literally have a sign on them that says "Please Eat" This is on a post it note, but to my eyes it may as well be on a billboard in letters the same height as I am. I know eating one or some of them is not good, I know I don't need them, and I know that I will feel bad for eating them if I succumb.....but it doesn't stop me staring at them like I have been walking across the desert for the last 2 weeks and they are a glass of ice water.....
In a discussion with a colleague the other day I was asked "how do you cope with stress" This was a general question but it stemmed from a discussion about parenting, husbanding and working etc....the answer is simple....I run.....
til next time
Daniel
Its so easy at the moment to not run.....its almost like I have more reasons not to run, than I have to run.
But I keep reminding myself, that I have omitted to running Melbourne marathon again this year and now I need to make sure I don't die doing it :)
So running in the rain and freezing cold wind yesterday I kept reminding myself "each time my foot hits the ground, its a step towards a successful marathon"
This was hard though because every time the dog looked at me (as much as she loves running) I felt like she was struggling to be out there as much as I was.
In the end we both had a good run. In the rain, in the cold....but at the end of the day I took another handful of steps towards Melbourne Marathon.
Its funny the way that challenges to being a runner, and living that life manifest themselves in the strangest ways.
For example travel for work....once upon a time, I would have packed work clothes and my laptop and been right to go. Now when I travel, its my garmin, runners, skins, shorts etc. I dont worry about if where I will be staying is nice, I look up google maps to see if there is anywhere to run around the place, and make sure that work doesn't get in the way of running in a new area.
Another good example, is food. Not the kind that I buy or choose to put in my mouth. Its the kind that sneaks up on you, and is half eaten before you realize what is going on. Another example is that at present, there is a BIG pack of tim tams in the kitchen...they literally have a sign on them that says "Please Eat" This is on a post it note, but to my eyes it may as well be on a billboard in letters the same height as I am. I know eating one or some of them is not good, I know I don't need them, and I know that I will feel bad for eating them if I succumb.....but it doesn't stop me staring at them like I have been walking across the desert for the last 2 weeks and they are a glass of ice water.....
In a discussion with a colleague the other day I was asked "how do you cope with stress" This was a general question but it stemmed from a discussion about parenting, husbanding and working etc....the answer is simple....I run.....
til next time
Daniel
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
How I see myself
Of course, I'm quite convinced now that this is not what I look like....anymore. but I just cant shake the self image I have. It dosnt seem to matter what I achieve, or acomplish in running or life.
For example. Saturday I ran a 1/2 marathon in the fastest time I have ever done. 1 Hour 59 Minutes and 44 seconds. Looking back at past posts I had 3 goals. 1) Sub 2 hour 1/2 marathon, 2) Sub 50 min 10k and to complete my second full marathon. This means that I achieved one of my goals last Saturday. On arriving home. my daughter had her running shoes on, and said with the cutest possible look on her little face "Daddy take me running" So off to the park for a quick jog with her we all went....It was very cute, and I in no way want to dampen the fires of enthusiasm my children are harboring for running.
Sunday, Mothers day, and more important the family run, which is all my son has talked about for weeks. 4k's round the tan, with the push chair for when the kids little legs need some help....no worries. Now my training of late, has involved a 10k run during lunch time at work twice a week, and then a longer run on the weekends (puffing billy, Run for the kids etc) so a 4k is not really anything for me to get worried about.,....well...let me say the anderson st hill, double push chair, and 25kg of kids strapped in....it had me working my ass off. But it was well worth it, we all finished the run as a family sweaty and proud of what we had done.
Then today, I was "needing" to run again. (more on this later) so 10k at lunch, it was cold, but dry, and I was on fire. It felt so good to be out there in the open, and at the end of the run, I had been running for an amazing 51 minutes and 53 seconds. Now, after a couple of weeks of 10k runs, I would say my average time for 10k is 55 mins give or take. So to complete this about 3 minutes faster than I expected was an amazing achievement.
Thats 35k in the last 4 days and yet I still see myself as the above picture. If I attempted what i have just achieved looking like that I would be a) unable to walk. b) in a coma, and or c)very dead.
Last week was hard. I had puffing billy run on the Sunday, then a week of training. Training mentally is great. Physically it sucks the big one. I stand at my desk at work (which is a point of amusement for everyone that walks past me ;) so being stuck in a room where its not practical to do anything but sit on the second most un-ergonomic chairs I have ever seen really gets my annoyance factor up.
Second to this, my wife had arrangements/commitments on the nights that I would usually run...actually she had something on every night that week, so running at night was out. After the bastard hills of puffing billy I decided a week of non-running wouldn't be too bad anyway, bit of recovery and all that. By the Thursday the physical symptoms were very obvious.....I couldn't stand still. My leg was shaking with a nervous twitch, I was on edge, anxious and not coping at all with not running. I did something late in the week which maybe says a little about the kind of person I am.
The course that I was on, had an exam associated with it, and I booked the exam for the Friday afternoon. This seemed like a really good idea at the time, it would be fresh in my mind and all good. What actually happened was that my non-running symptoms, combined with the non-running anxiety, and the OMFG I have an exam that if I fail would be throwing away $200 anxiety. I was a mess, on the way there I was sub consciously looking for any excuse to run, oh that light is green better run, oh the tram is not there, better run,,,,etc.
Anyway I passed the exam and all was well, but it would have been much better had I been able to leverage off the quiet calm of a post run mind.
so back to my original point. Run for the kids, puffing billy, my 1/2 marathon training run, mothers day classic, and my amazing 10k time today were done by this guy:
A runner, a dad. a husband, and a much healthier man than the butterball at the top of the post!
Daniel
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
In love...again
For the last few months I have been in a running rut...I guess if my glass was half full it would be called a maintenance period..but if my glass was half full I would have been powering along instead of wallowing in the rut.
I have been content with 5k training runs 3 times a week, but a few weeks ago I realized I am entered in 13,14 & 21k runs that I don't know if I have what it takes to run.
So I got off my butt, last week I ran 3 10k training runs, which was amazing psychologically and physically. I am happy I can cover the distances in the runs I'm entered in now, but my goals are slightly shifted.
I have decided I want to achieve average 5min30sec kilometers across all distances.
Getting off my ass can be accredited to a few things, firstly I had my massage therapist treat my ankle which after 2 treatments and several bruises is at about 90% of what it was pre rolling. Secondly I swam/rode/ran the family triathlon with 3 of my nephews this year, and I saw how my passion for running had impacted my nephews, on in particular is developing a very healthy passion for sport, which is something I wish I had as a teenager. To influence someone by my running makes it incredibly rewarding.
Secondly I was going through the scenario of where I would have been from a health perspective had I not turned my fitness around. Would I have diabetes yet, heart disease, would I be able to walk up a flight of stairs without dying. This put my achievement in a new light, all of a sudden I realized that I have managed to take one foot out of the grave and kick morbid obesity in the ass with it.
Lastly we got a new trampoline for the kids. This is a little odd but, I really like our new trampoline, it's big enough for me, and then kids just love time on there with me. I really want to be able to do a forward flip, and more importantly teach the kids to do tramp tricks. There is no was the fat old me could have done this, as by now without running I would be over the weight rating for the trampoline. Instead I'm doing flips, and jumps so the kids have a role model.
Running now feel like I am working towards something again, each step is a reward for changing my life, each step sends out a spiritual shockwave that hits my kids and pushes them towards an active life away from a sedentary one, it seems that the shockwave extended further than I first imagined, which makes running even more worth it.
I no longer run for myself, I run for my family, and for the feeling of being endorphin stoned :)
So I am in love with it all again, fitness, running, the new trampoline and especially the impact it all has on my family.
I have been content with 5k training runs 3 times a week, but a few weeks ago I realized I am entered in 13,14 & 21k runs that I don't know if I have what it takes to run.
So I got off my butt, last week I ran 3 10k training runs, which was amazing psychologically and physically. I am happy I can cover the distances in the runs I'm entered in now, but my goals are slightly shifted.
I have decided I want to achieve average 5min30sec kilometers across all distances.
Getting off my ass can be accredited to a few things, firstly I had my massage therapist treat my ankle which after 2 treatments and several bruises is at about 90% of what it was pre rolling. Secondly I swam/rode/ran the family triathlon with 3 of my nephews this year, and I saw how my passion for running had impacted my nephews, on in particular is developing a very healthy passion for sport, which is something I wish I had as a teenager. To influence someone by my running makes it incredibly rewarding.
Secondly I was going through the scenario of where I would have been from a health perspective had I not turned my fitness around. Would I have diabetes yet, heart disease, would I be able to walk up a flight of stairs without dying. This put my achievement in a new light, all of a sudden I realized that I have managed to take one foot out of the grave and kick morbid obesity in the ass with it.
Lastly we got a new trampoline for the kids. This is a little odd but, I really like our new trampoline, it's big enough for me, and then kids just love time on there with me. I really want to be able to do a forward flip, and more importantly teach the kids to do tramp tricks. There is no was the fat old me could have done this, as by now without running I would be over the weight rating for the trampoline. Instead I'm doing flips, and jumps so the kids have a role model.
Running now feel like I am working towards something again, each step is a reward for changing my life, each step sends out a spiritual shockwave that hits my kids and pushes them towards an active life away from a sedentary one, it seems that the shockwave extended further than I first imagined, which makes running even more worth it.
I no longer run for myself, I run for my family, and for the feeling of being endorphin stoned :)
So I am in love with it all again, fitness, running, the new trampoline and especially the impact it all has on my family.
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