It's Gotta Be the Shoes

I bought new running shoes the other day. Typically I need to wear a pair of shoes, any kind of shoes, for a week or two before I feel comfortable in them. Not these. When I put these on I knew they were MINE. I have never had any kind of footwear fit like these shoes fit the first time I put them on. Now I know how the kids in Harry Potter feel when they find their wand (or, really, the wand finds them) at Olivander's.
I can be pretty sensitive to footwear. In fact I can always tell if somebody borrowed my wrestling shoes even if they don't tell me. They just don't fit right afterwards. I love my new wrestling shoes though, they fit right the first time, and hopefully, every time.

I'm back to regular running after being sporadic the last ten days. Training run is 7 miles this weekend. I've reffing wrestling matches somewhat regularly which has made it a little difficult to keep up with the program, but with the days getting longer again hopefully the early morning runs will become feasible.

Until next time, I'm hitting the road.

Chicken and waffles

I went on a run this evening and realized two things. One: I needed to run. Not "Wow, I'm out of shape. I need to run". Not "I'm stressed and need an outlet" (although I think there was a little of that). No, this was "I want to go for a run. I want to finish this work so I can go running", and once I was out there I felt amazing. This is the absolute earliest in training for a race that I've had this feeling.
Now for the second realization: Cool weather twilight running is great! Why hasn't anybody told me about this? With my schedule I've always run in the summer and used wrestling practice to stay in shape (sort of) through the winter for the Shamrock 8k in March. I had no idea about this time of day/year to run. This was like a few years ago when Dana, my wife, took me for chicken and waffles in Roanoke. I had been in Virginia for 6-7 years and nobody had thought to mention this awesome culinary invention to me. Same thing with November twilight running. How have I not heard about this? I absolutely loved running after the sun set and finished in the moonlight. I ran the TJ/Trevilians campus, not the road, so very safe. Safe and amazing. I really hope I get another one in there this week.
2nd training run in C'ville was last weekend. Ran 3 miles, felt good. 10 miler here I come!
If any runners read this please let me know how you feel about running this time of year.

Back at it

It's been awhile since my last post, but it's been awhile since regular running. I've signed up for the C'ville 10 Miler training with the full intention of signing up the C'ville 10 Miler.
I've been running some, and watching how much I eat a little. I've been watching what I eat not at all. With just the little bit of moderation and exercise though I feel a difference. Bathroom scales are broken so I haven't been on them (scared to actually, glad they are broken)  but the clothes a little better. With the days getting shorter and the training runs mandatory it's back to running around the campus afterschool. If you see me wave or yell "Hi". I need all the encouragment I can get.

See you on the road.

Fit

This week I was supposed to do 4 runs total but only fit in 3. Wednesday was only a mile and today was 2 miles. Both were at 10:30 minute pace which I really can't stand. However the program I'm following his very adamant about one breath every 6-7 steps. I made sure to follow this, and when I do, this is my time. In the past I've pushed it thinking, "I'm an athlete, he (the coach) is talking about couch potatoes that have never done anything". Well now I'm listening to the coach. He's been doing this awhile and he knows what he's doing. I implored wrestlers for 10 years to follow this advice and now I'm finally following it myself.
Last time I talked about what I mean by fat. Today, what I mean by fit.
My senior year of high school I had a football coach whose two basic coaching strategies were screaming and making us run. Up-downs were also very common. Every practice the number of up-downs we had was equal to the number of points we had lost by the previous Saturday. We went 0-10 losing 9 games by double digits. Long story short we were in shape. During wrestling season that year I was never tired after a match. After wrestling season we had a bunch of heifers get out and end up in a neighbor's barn. We didn't have a trailer big enough to get them all back home (something in the neighborhood of 14). Therefore we led them one at a time back up the road. I don't remember exact mileage but I know I was up and down that road a lot, running quite a bit in boots, and wasn't running out of breath. Still in shape. College hit and I was quickly out of shape. 230lbs was my high water mark. At that point I dieted, lost 30lbs and moved down here.
After being in Virginia for about 9 months I met the love of my life, who introduced me to my current infatuation. In truth I only started running because I wanted to spend more time with her. But as I ran I liked it for the exercise more and more.
She convinced me to sign-up for races which fed competitive side.

What I mean by "fat"

I admit I am starting this blog in large part because I have two friends who have started one and I thought it would be fun. It was definitely easy. Keeping up with it will be the challenge, and that's where the title comes in.
I recently started running (again). You see, me keeping up with running is like it is for many who quit smoking. It's easy to start running, I do it all the time. The tough part is sticking with it. What often happens is I get ready for a race, run the race, then slack off and get fat again.
When I use the term "fat" I mean it differently then 95% of the population. I use "fat" in the wrestlers sense of the word. When a wrestler says "I'm fat" that could mean anything from a tenth of a pound to 10 pounds over his or her target weight. Fat is a generic flexible term that can be used as an adjective (I'm fat), a noun (I'm wrestling their Fat), or an adverb (I'm being fat). Fat doesn't refer to BMI, weight, or body fat percentage. Simply put being fat refers to the act or acts which would make one overweight.
So after running the Men's Four Miler, I got fat. Again. And so I've started running. Again. I've literally started with 1 mile at a time.
Monday 9:27
Today 10:28