Truth in the Numbers

Have you ever given thought to what our country and other countries constitute as illegal substances? On the surface it is extremely obvious to even the below average intelligence life forms the reason why most of these things are deemed harmful to not only the person taking them but also those around them. But those that partake in supposed “joys” of the high (if you ever listened to Michael Medved you know what I mean) swear that it doesn’t harm them and that it is a feeling that they never want to give up, even when it is made illegal.
141 Days ago I started running and I hated it. I would not have really called what I did running, but it was the beginning of something I was sure at the time I would hate. I could barely run 5 minutes at a 12 minute mile pace without hyperventilating and the thought of actually being able to run a few miles was just sickening.
36 days after I started “running” I actually completed what I had set out to do. I ran for 50 minutest straight at a 12 min mile pace. I wasn’t breaking any world records, but it was better than I had ever done in my life and I was proud of it.
3.1 miles seemed like an eternity when I started running. I completed my first 5k race and got completely addicted to the idea of running. I started searching for more races that I could take place in and set a goal to become faster.
4.9 miles used to seem like an impossible goal for me. If you would have told me last year that I would run in an 8k race and actually run the whole way I would have thought you should be committed. But, I did run the 4.9 miles and I loved it even more than the 5k race. This is when David (my cousin) gave me the book about Dean Karnazes (see previous post “Confessions of an All Night Runner”). I read the book and became inspired to up my pace and my distance. I had given the thought to running a marathon “someday” but hadn’t really committed (there is that word again) myself to anything yet.
13.1 miles even 2 months ago seemed like such an extremely long distance for anyone without at least a powered scooter. But I conquered that distance 2 weeks ago and loved ever minute of it.
So that brings us to the final number. If you studied the picture above too much I’m sure you know what it is, but it has to come with a short story (though it didn’t seem short at the time). I have been training for the Seattle Marathon, but due to some unforeseen circumstances I am going to run in another marathon as well. The problem is that it is at the end of September and not the end of November. To those that don’t run that may not seem like much of a difference, but to those counting the weeks I lost in my training it is a lot more time than one would think. So I adjusted my training to meet the new schedule.
My new schedule called for a 12 miler on saturday, but what killed me was the added mileage during the week. I had completed the weeks schedule and taken my day off to prepare for my 12 mile run but was still uneasy about it. I decided to run it early in the morning to avoid traffic and because we had early afternoon plans with friends that I wanted to be ready for on time and not have to rush to get done.
I started my trek at 2 am. Josh was leaving my house and gave me a piece of pizza and I was off on my run eating my pizza and enjoying the night. The first 10 miles were fairly easy and I decided that I was going to go further than my 12 miles. I had all night to run so why not take the opportunity to PR (personal record). I ran through downtown Kirkland and Bellevue. It was a beautiful night. It was clear out but not too warm. I had to stop to refill my water once and I walked a few times so that I could actually drink water easier and not get it up my nose. At about mile 19 I felt like jumping in front of a bus, but it was too early in the morning and there were not even any cars on the streets yet. I was fine after that until about mile 22. Then I hit some sort of wall, I was mentally and physically drained running through downtown Redmond wondering what the chicken I was doing. I pressed on because I knew that if I gave up now I would kick myself for not going just a little further.
Then I heard the words that I had wanted to hear all morning. After the sun had rose and the fog had burned off I pressed the button on my iPod and the voice said “Twenty-Six point Two-One Miles Completed”. I slowed to a fast walk and began the mile walk home (uphill). So that is the number of the weekend

26.2

How Much You Wanna Bet I Can Throw A Football Over Them Mountains?

While most people sat around and watched football in their air conditioned homes and eating normal food I joined family (My Dad, Josh, Matt and Jules) on a weekend adventure that was well worth the effort put out. From the looks of it in the parking lot we thought that we were going to have an easy “mosquito” year. We were sorely disappointed and after examining the before hike photos we should have paid better attention.







We hiked about 4 miles to Moraine Lake at 6,450 ft which was a pretty easy hike with our “lighter than usual” but “not as light as we wanted them” packs. We made camp in one of the designated camping areas and ate our cold chicken on pita bread (your usual food preferences go out the tent door at this point).







We went to bed early. Well, I must clarify that the rest of us went to bed and Dad apparently froze all night long and got an hour of sleep. We woke up early and filtered some water for the hike to the summit. Dad, Matt and Jules got a head start while Josh and I finished filtering water for the sprint to the summit (as much as one can sprint 4000 vertical feet). The night before we learned that the original trail to the summit had been closed down for “restoration” and we had to take a longer route which added an unexpected mile to mile and a half on our daily travels to the top of the mountain.
Josh and I gave them about a 40 minute lead on us and then started up the trail with a light warm up jog. It became apparent very quickly that training in Seattle at about 4 feet above sea level wasn’t the most effective in preparing us for a 6,000-10,000 foot climb. We slowed our pace on the uphill portions to a quick walk and ran the occasional downhill sections which became more scarce as the trail got closer to the base of the mountain itself. After about an hour we caught up with Dad, Matt and Jules. Matt got his sunglasses from my pack that we had retrieved for them at camp and we continued on our way past them at our faster than comfortable pace.
By this time we no longer looked up where we were headed as often and focused 1-3 steps ahead and kept moving as best we could. We stopped about every 15 minutes for a 30-60 second break but other than that kept moving. We reached the false summit (the area that looks like the top when you are hiking up the mountain, but after getting to it you realize you have another 1,000 vertical feet to go to reach the top of the uphill trail). We took a look up the last leg of our hike and then began our way up the soft sandy trail. We passed every person that we could see on the trail from the false summit (we were quite proud of that) and after cresting the top of the hill only had .4 miles to go around the edge of the volcanic crater to the highest point on the mountain. We took some pictures and then sat down to eat our “lunch”. Cliff bars, trail mix and water has never tasted soooo good. We made the trip from camp to the summit including breaks in 2 hours 20 minutes. We waited at the top for 45 min to an hour until the other 3 showed up and then we hung out for awhile and shared in the joy of what we had all just accomplished.
Josh and I began the downhill decent at a comfortable pace. The top is mostly sand and loose volcanic rock which isn’t the best material for stopping yourself from running over a cliff or drop off. Once past the soft ground we stopped to empty our shoes of the sand and rock we had inadvertently and then began running. We ran until Josh had some muscle issues with running and finished at a pretty good walking pace. Our time coming down was 1 hour 30 minutes.
We Made it to camp just as Doug and Mary (friends that used to live in Stayton but now live in Bend). We hung out ate some food and talked while we waited for Dad, Matt and Jules to get back to camp. Dad took a nap and then we decided to pack up and head back home a day early since we had finished what we had made the trip for.
The best part of the trip though was going to Pizza Mondo. My judgement admittedly is way off after I get back from hiking, but it was pretty good pizza. I think that everyone would agree that they would have probably eaten just about anything at that point though.
I’m still sore from the trip and have a few bug bites to prove that I was out in the wilderness, but it was well worth it. The view was unbeatable, and the weather was amazingly clear. Here are some photos from the trip.

Confessions of an all Night Runner

Well this weekend has been a weekend of firsts for me (in running that is). I began my saturday with a little jog around an 8 mile block with some pretty decent hills. That was my first time to run over 6 miles at one time and also my first time to run from one city to another.
I met friend in seattle at his condo for a Mariners game (they lost of course) and ran from his condo downhill to Safeco Field 2 miles away. That only left one more run for the day for me. Uphill 2 miles back to his condo for a BBQ.
I was pretty sure I had the next few days off of running. But, as you can see from above I was very wrong indeed. Krista (my brothers wife) is out of town for a couple of weeks so Josh (my brother) came over and we played some Tiger Woods on the 360 and then decided to go for a little stroll at 2:30 am.
Long story much longer now. We ran from my house uphill on redmond way into downtown kirkland which is about 3 miles. Then we ran south towards bellevue for about 3 miles and then headed east for awhile following the surface streets next to highway 520. Then we made the long trek back up 148th towards our apartment to make the 12 mile block. Then because we were so sleep deprived and delusional we decided to make it a half marathon and pass up our apartment and continue running. We ended somewhere in Redmond at 4 something o’clock in the morning.
We ran for 2 hours 8 minutes 58 seconds. 13.15 miles continuously without ever stopping to walk or rest. This was definitely a first for both Josh and I. We had some amazingly long uphill battles (pun intended) but we conquered them all and had an overall average pace of 9:40 per mile. A pretty good pace for first time half marathoners.
Some may say that we are insane or crazy. I know one thing for sure. The garbage truck man that passed us twice at 3 am I’m sure thinks that we are nuts.
If you think that we got this idea to run late at right from our own creative heads then I thank you. It is a compliment that you would think we actually come up with these crazy things ourselves. But I must admit that I was inspired by a recent book that I read. Even if you aren’t a runner and possibly want to hurl at the thought of running even 1 mile without stopping, you can be inspired by people like this.

- Ultra Marathon Man - confessions of an all night runner
Dean Karnazes

This book reminded me that I don’t have much to complain about when I’m running and my side hurts, or my feet feel heavy and tired. I won’t spoil the story but lets just say that the man has run the Hood to Coast relay and he was the only person on his team. He ran all 197 miles straight and ate while running. And you thought I was crazy for running 13.15 miles in the middle of the night?

I have only just begun!

Run For Fun!

Whenever I think of running for a long period of time I can’t help but remember that scene from Back To the Future III (my favorite movie series of all time). Doc is at the bar and talking with a man from 1885 and telling him about the future (bad idea if you don’t want to disrupt the space time continuum). He says that they have great forms of transportation and the “auto-mobile”. The old man says “doesn’t anyone ever walk or run?”. To which Doc replies “oh, yes but for recreation”. And then the line that I always say, but no one ever catches on (because as I get older so do the movies) “RUN FOR FUN!”.
All that to say, that man had no idea what the future would hold for running. I have run over 250 miles in the past 12 weeks and so needless to say my running shoes were shot (actually the right heel started to cave in). So I was in the market for some new shoes. Well, me being the geek that I am planned it just right. Nike just released a new line of Nike+ shoes that work with your iPod Nano. There is a chip that you put in your shoe and that sends your speed and milage to the Nano which keeps track of your run and displays the info on screen or via voice through your headphones.
Now if you didn’t know from this website or haven’t figured it out from talking with me I am a Mac Geek. I used to hate them with a passion, but after they went to OS X and have a unix base... blah blah blah, intel, blah blah blah. (the boring stuff was edited because that is what most of my readers would have seen anyway). These shoes “could” have just been a gimmick or something for those that only buy things with apples on them to buy. But, although I find him fascinating I won’t just buy anything that Steve Jobs allows the apple logo to be associated with.
So last night I went and tried on the shoes. I loved the feeling of them and the fact that they are extremely light and breathable. So I bought them and promptly drove home to try them out. Long story short, I LOVE THEM! The fact that I had someone telling me my pace and the distance that I had gone while running in the open air was awesome. You can select a “power song” as they call it that you can activate when you are trying to push extra hard, and at anytime you can press the center button on your ipod and your stats are given to you via voice and then your music fades back in.
Then to top it all off when you sync your iPod with iTunes it sends your data to nikeplus.com and you can track your progress in speed, distance, time and calories. Here is a snipit of what you can do.















As you can see I have only used the setup once, but this gives you an idea of what the thing looks like. All in all, the shoes are super comfortable and I love having the stats to push me and keep me interested.

RUN FOR FUN!
heck yes I do!

Seacrest out

100 Challenge is Over!

Well our weight loss competition (aka “100 challenge” is over! I’m very thankful that my wife pushed everyone to do this contest, but I’m also very glad that it is over. For those of you that don’t know what I’m talking about let me fill you in.
Haley came up with an idea to start a contest to see who could loose the most percentage of their body weight (not fat percentage). After getting creative ideas and input from others (yes you too Josh) she decided to call it the 100 challenge. Those that wished to participate (I will not list the names here, if the want to they can add their own names in the comments) would put up 100 dollars, and the contest would last for 100 days. In our case we started on April 1st and went to July 9th.
Now 100 days doesn’t seem like it would be that long to lose weight, but that didn’t stop some of us from taking it very seriously (you know who you are guys). I will say that by about day 90 I was ready for the contest to be over, but I had some personal goals to reach as well so I pressed on and made it to the end.
So an overview of the rules.
1. you must use the same scale the entire time
2. you must weigh-in the same as when you finish (aka no drinking a gallon of water before the contest started)
3. you can choose whatever diet and exercise plan that you want
4. you have to have a witness at the final weigh-in to verify your final weight

I won’t go into all the details of what I did to lose weight except to say that I ate a balanced healthy diet of mostly fresh vegetables and fruit. I cut out most all meat and animal products and my only exercise was running. And run I did. The last month I ran twice a day 6 days a week and ran between 4 and 7 miles on those days. My math tells me that I ran between 24 and 42 miles per week. So what did I accomplish in 100 days? I think that you will be as surprised as me in what you can accomplish in such a short time.

Here were my starting stats (some are a few weeks into the contest but close enough)
Weight - 236.2 lbs
Blood Pressure - ?/95
Resting Pulse - 85
Belly Button - 39”
Hips - 41”
Chest - 41.4”
Arm - 13.5”
Leg - 24.5”

Now to see what just 100 days can do if you eat healthy and exercise. These are my stats taken after the contest had finished.
Weight - 166.4 (69.8 lbs less)
Blood Pressure - 109/60
Resting Pulse - 48
Belly Button - 32.5”
Hips - 35.5”
Chest - 37”
Arm - 11.5”
Leg - 21.5”
This amounts to a 29.55% loss of my original weight. This number won me the contest but I was trying my hardest to get over 30% and hit 165 lbs. Oh well, I will settle for a win and I only missed my goal by .45%. All in all that isn’t that bad.
It may sound like I’m bragging a bit, but I’m proud of what I have done. I lost 70 pounds and am lighter now than when I was 15 years old. Granted I’m not unhealthy light I’m more fit than I think that I have ever been. I love to run now and last week ran my first 5k (that is metric for 3.1 miles) and yes I did it without walking. I remember the day that I started this contest like it was yesterday. I couldn’t run for more than 2 minutes without almost hyperventilating and I got shin splints within the first 2 weeks. I pushed on through the pain and just kept running.
36 days into the contest I reached my goal of being able to run for 50 minutes without stopping. Admittedly it was at an extremely slow pace, but I had to start somewhere. My fastest mile is 7.5 minutes now and I am continually working on my speed and distance.
I love my new healthy lifestyle, but am glad that now I can occasionally indulge in something not so healthy. I’m working on my running and strength training now and I am seriously considering running the Seattle Marathon this winter.
I also want to mention that I’m so proud of those that took this contest seriously. Without your dedication I would not have been able to do as well as I did. I wish that we all could have won, and I know that in a way we did. I hope that you keep it up and keep off the weight. It wasn’t time wasted, we all added years to our lives if we can just keep up the healthy eating and active lifestyles.
I also want to mention how proud of my Dad that I am. He was the biggest stinker going into this contest and waited until the starting day of the contest to commit to it, but I know that he is glad that he did it now even though he got 3rd place. He has lost 80 pounds and is now lighter than I was when we started this contest. He has some of my old jackets now and they fit! I know that this is a life long change for him and I know now that we will be able to enjoy having him around much longer than the old Dad. I’m proud of you Dad and if you even try to go back to the old you believe me I will let you know. Plus now that you have all those foreign cars you have to stay smaller so that you can fit in them.
Lastly (I know this has gone on for a long time) I’m very proud of my wife. She has lost so much weight especially since she just had a baby a year ago and looks thinner every day. I’m also thankful that she has put up with my insane workout schedule (which has tamed down some now). She also started this contest and got us all off of our butts. I think that she secretly did it because she wanted a thinner husband though. (it worked)

Here are some before and after pictures of Haley and I

before and after Pictures

Again ... Shameless plug (use the comment system)

My Xbox 360 Can Blog!!!

Check this out. My Xbox keeps a record of my addiction in a blog of it’s own. Kinda dumb and pointless but Xbox fans might find it funny for a few seconds.

click here for my 360 blog

Just a Quick Update

I still think that everyone should get an Xbox 360. (Josh are you listening to this?)

I have now lost over 44 lbs! for those reading this that think they are going to read the competition ... Can you beat 30% weight loss? Too extreme for you? I would tell you my current percentage lost but you may give up early and I want all that are participating, and those that aren’t to achieve their goals in weight and fitness.