Hello 2011 - Preparation for 21-day Fast

I am planning on doing a 21-day fast with my Church, Christ Fellowship. I will be doing what's called a Daniel Fast in which I will restrict my diet to fruits, vegetables and whole grains and water. I took my first step by giving up coffee & caffeine starting yesterday. So far, so good on the headache front. Felt a little bit funky when I came home today but a quick nap nipped it in the bud. I will spend the rest of the week figuring out what to eat next week. I experimented with a veggie chili over the past few days which was quite enjoyable.

First Run

I bought a new pair of Nike Air Pegasus shoes on Saturday and went out on my 4-mile route yesterday. I am out of shape but the shoes felt good except for my normal bunion break-in points an a little rubbing on my little toe on my right foot.  I could not finish 1 mile. My out of shape conditioning seems to be getting worse with age as is to be expected.  i probably ran 2 of the 4 miles.  I'll take it though.  Out again today.  

2009 Already!

Okay,

I totally missed the second half of 2008.  It is 2009 already and I'm at the same point I was last April.  Well, to catch up, I was able to run my marathon. I ran for almost 23 miles before I really bonked. I had to walk and "almost run" the last 3 miles.  I finished though which was a relief.  After the marathon, I stopped running for some odd reason and really haven't been able to get back in gear.  I ran the Race for the Cure in January and that's about the last time I really ran.

I now find myself at the same point as last April: overweight and unmotivated.  I need another goal.  Maybe the goal is to write everyday. That it itself proved to be impossible for me last year. Why is that? I'm on the computer all the time. I only need a few minutes to blog.  I gotta figure this out.  Maybe I have nothing to blog about?  Just saying.

Week 20

This was the first of two warm up weeks before I start my formal training for my marathon. I'm going to use the 18-week Novice-1 training schedule set out by Hal Higdon on his web site. I completed the Gulf Beaches Marathon in 2003 and finishing it was a great experience. I remember when I started training back in 2002, I couldn't run a mile. I was just a bit overweight and I started running because I was sitting in my La-Z-Boy recliner and I felt my heart beat just a little irregularly and I freaked out thinking I was on the way to a heart attack. I had always been a pretty active person and I just felt the need to be active again. I can't remember when I decided to run marathon but I committed myself to doing it and had fun training. I had a calendar of miles that I had to complete and I liked checking them off.

This week's highlights:

I ran about 10 miles this week. My legs still suck. Can't wait until they are like machines.

Luckie and I finally got to see The Dark Knight this past Wednesday. It was great entertainment. Just LOUD as hell. We still didn't get to see it in IMAX because it was sold out and the 7:30 show we originally got tickets for was so packed we couldn't find seats together so we had to get a refund and go to the 8:50 show which ended at 11:15! It was a long night to see just one movie. We left for the theatre at 6:45pm.

Dark Knight

Luckie and I decided to go see Batman: The Dark Knight in IMAX at the local Muvico theatre. Evidently, everyone else had the same idea. All the IMAX shows for today were sold out. Alas, we'll have to go another day. My buddy Rich says this movie has gotten more hype than the second coming.

Today we are going to celebrate Rich's birthday. To celebrate, a group of us are going putt-putt golfing and then over to Rich's for cake and ice cream. Hopefully the weather will hold up.

In last night's preparatory run, I worked on my heel-toe form. I tend to run on the outsides of my feet so I was concentrating on getting a good heel strike. My legs got a good workout. Next run on Sunday.

I want to start tracking how my weight fluctuates as I train. Weight Watch: 184 lbs.

What's Been Going On?

I joined my church choir. It's been fun. I can't sing all that well but I can carry a tune and can sing notes. It's amazing to be around the musicians and other creative types. I envy people that can make music.

My Girlfriend Luckie and I celebrated one year together on July 5. We went on a casino cruise to celebrate. I won 50 bucks and then spent most of it. It was cool though.

On the nerd front, I built my own PC instead of buying one. I spent exactly $350. My goal was to move from Windows to Ubuntu Linux. I have found a way to do everything that I did on my Windows PC on my new PC. My biggest worry was what to do with my iTunes library. When I tested Linux-based music programs before, I couldn't get one to synchronize my iPod. Now, there is a new open source music player called Songbird that i use. Songbird is still under development, but I find it to be pretty neat. I eventually want to learn enough C programming to contribute to the project.

Back to Training

Beginning training for the Marathon of the Palm Beaches is a chore. It is so hard to get your body back to getting used to the grind of running. I'm trying to get back in slowly before I start the harder training. I ran on the treadmill for a couple days last week. This week, I'm running on the road. The road is so much harder than the treadmill. I find I can run 3 milse on the treadmill without much problem. On the road, I can run about 1.5 miles before my legs get fatigued and then I walk for a couple minutes and then run another mile. Hopefully next week I'll be up to running 3 miles with no problems.