Popping My Blogging Cherry

OK, a little about me:

Despite being a pretty athletic kid - playing organized baseball, basketball,  a bit of wrestling in high school, and rec sports in college -  I sucked at running.  I don't think I ever ran more than a mile without stopping.

Then, in 2004, at 27 years of age, I set a goal of running a 5k.  I was tipping the scale somewhere around 210 and thought that I couldn't possibly be a fat person if I could run a 5K since fat people don't run 5K.

So, in an effort to lose weight, I made some dietary changes and started running on the treadmill at Lifetime Fitness in Canton, MI.

My first race as the Solstice Run in Northville, MI in June 2004.  Leading up to that race, I had 3 goals:

1. Don't come in last.
2. Finish in under 30 minutes.
3. Run the whole thing without stopping.

1. Little did I know before running my first race, but there are lots of  - let's just say - heavy people that try to run a 5K.  More power to them and God Bless them, but I really didn't need to worry about #1.  DONE!

2. I do not remember my exact time, but I think it was around 28 minutes.  DONE!

3. OOPS - The 2nd mile of this race used to have a pretty tough hill for about a third of a mile.  Being new, I really didn't understand how to adjust my pace or watch my breathing.  As a result, I blew myself up and had to walk for bit to catch my breath.  Still, since I accomplished Goal #2, Goal #3 was kind of irrelevant. 

I even beat a guy dribbling 3 basketballs at the same time, mostly because he dribbled one of the balls off his foot which sent the ball flying.   Kicked his arse!

This was life changing for me.  Not beating the basketball guy, the running the race part.  Never in my life had I ever considered the notion that I could be a runner.  That was something skinny weirdos did and weird as I might be, I wasn't skinny.

But, now I was a runner.

Over the next 3 years, I ran quite a few 5Ks.  That was enough for me.  Pay $30, get a shitty t-shirt, and run a 5K in around 27 minutes.

In 2007, I amped it up a bit.   My weight hit an all-time high of 228, so I got motivated, dropped 40 lbs and started running longer races and even did a sprint triathalon on Belle Isle. 

That fall, I ran my first half marathon, the Detroit Free Press - www.freepmarathon.com - in 1:58.  And then one of my big toe nails turned black and fell off.

In 2008, my wife and I were trying to get pregnant with our first kid.  I decided this would probably be the last time I could spend the time to train for a marathon (I was right so far, by the way).  That fall, I finished all 26.2 of the Freep in 4:59: 23. 

And, I got some crazy plantar fasciitis.

7 weeks and 4 cortisone shots in the bottom of my foot later, I ran a Half in Las Vegas in 2:20.  Swallowed half a bottle of advil to get through that.  Between the Freep and Vegas, I hadn't run more than 3 miles.

And that was it.

My foot was F'd up.  I didn't run for nearly 6 months.

My weight ballooned again.  Then, I started to get back in the gym and on the treadmill.  I was starting to feel good and planned to resume my running, but then I tore some cartilidge in my knee and had surgery.  That knocked me out for a little while longer.

In the meantime, we had two kids, TheBoy and TheGirl.

And, I used that an excuse to stop racing.  And going out.  And doing a lot of things.  Maybe we'll get more into that psychology later.

A few years ago, I lost 50 lbs and have kept 40 of it off for over 2 years.  I've been running in the gym about once per week.  Somewhere between 3 and 6 miles.  PR on the treadmill is 23:32 for a 5k.  I've ran a few 5K's, even setting my outdoor PR at the Plymouth Father's Day Run, 24:50, in 2011.  Even did the Warrior Dash in 2011, but that really wasn't my cup of tea.

That bring us to now.

I'm trying to do more for me.  Get back to some recreational things I used to love.  Including running.

So, I've signed up for the Heroes on Hines half marathon on October 5 (heroesonhines.com).  It's close to my house, for a good cause, and only $50.  And it's only 9 weeks away.

I'm in decent shape, but not half marathon shape.  The longest I've run in 5 years was 8 miles, but that was over a year ago.  Recently, I've run 6 miles a couple times.

I started this blog so that I could create a record of my thoughts and feelings while training and eventually running the race.  Hopefully, it will also motivate me to get out and run so I have something to write about.

Hope you find it interesting:)