My Real LIFE weight and changing my life...

As I have touched on a little, my life changed on March 4, 2012. That was the day after my brother and his new families marriage to each other (he married his new wife, Lauren, and her two kiddos, Ashton and Chloe) that day. It all started in a Cracker Barrel in Concord, NC. He asked my uncle to run a marathon with him after his 30th birthday (January 2013). I decided to hitch my big caboose to the engine of my uncle and the fellow training enginer of my brother and join in this endeavor. Little did I know, this would be a life changing experience and not just a goal of completing a marathon.

I had been making too many excuses in my life (I still do too often but I am trying to get better at this aspect of life) and had blamed a difficult previous year with the death of my Grandmother in April 2011, not coaching any longer, not being satisfied with life or work and biggest of all the death of my father-in-law in October of 2011 to just eat, drink and do what comforted me. The problem is, those were actually burdens to my health and life. I weighed around 187 in April of 2011. I felt like that was a "comfortable" long-term weight I needed to sustain. I got up to about 195 by the time my father-in-law passed saying that I was only a couple healthy weeks of eating from being back below 190. Then I started drinking soda, eating candy and any 4th Meal I could get my hands on. My diet was heavy in extra calories of fast food, junk food and pop pretty much and contributed to be being between 203-208 from November until March 5th when I weighed myself and said I was going to change myself for good.

My wife had mentioned running in the past and I always made an excuse that I hated it or I had wrestling or some other activity I could do. Unfortunately, I never committed myself or had the time while coaching to change myself but instead focused on who I was there for, the kids. So I would watch them get in better shape as I stayed out of shape, but tried to eat less and get a couple days in where I worked out for maybe an hour. That's when I got down to my "comfortable" long-term weight. So when we had breakfast on March 4th, my Uncle was talking 160s for the marathon and mid to high 160s for my lifelong weight, I laughed at him. I was like, 175-180 long term would be great, 170 is what I think I'll be for the marathon. But the more I though about it, the more I realized I had spent 13 years not taking care of myself. I had not been in good shape since I turned 18 and was just finsihing up high school and that was a sad realization. When I was 18 I weighed between 165-180. I was never the most athletic or best, but I worked my bottom off. Part of that was probably due to having a younger brother who was more athletic and spent 12 years beating me up, until I turned 14 and my work as a freshman athlete started paying off to even the field, and realizing that talent alone wouldn't be enough but hard work would get me there.

So I realized I needed to approach this and fully commit to it. My Uncle layed out a schedule the Monday, the day after our March 4th breakfast and him and I had got back from NC, for our marathon training that was 50 weeks away. He pointed out that it was a goal of completing the marathon but to change our lives was the most important part. He talked aboout MEPS, changing your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Spiritual well being to make your life more complete and be a happier and healthier person. I have learned this takes adjustment and I am still failing at aspects of this but making strides to become better person and trying to readjust when I lose that focus.

We are 16 weeks into the program. I have weighed between 170 and 175 for over 3 weeks now. My Uncle was right. A weight has literally been lifted off my shoulders. I used to be sitting there and feel weird pressure on the top of my collarbone when I was at my heaviest weights. I tried to say it was something else but knew it was simply my body and mind did not feel "good". I have to tell you, I feel amazing at this weight but feel being 165 (at least with my current muscle tone) is a better long-term weight. I have no doubt I'll be there and I won't let myself balloon back past 175 again. My body feels great and looks much better too. I have noticed the following major changes in my MEPS (not in order):

• Physical (Body)-My legs have always been strong and fairly lean, but they are muscular and I can see my quads, hammies, calves and see the strength in them. My moobs/man boobs are much smaller and I can take my shirt off and feel comfortable. This also includes my waist. I unfortunately have always carried more weight in my waist than anywhere else. But now I feel the upper abs I had in high school and only small love handles and only a front small tire. My arms are leaner (they have lost some of their thickness which I think a lot of overweight guys who used to lift think is muscle but is actually just fat stored up) and my back doesn't have all the loose skin and fat but is tight and strong. The biggest thing is my face. I tend to lose weight in my face at first, but now it's really noticeable. I have no double chin, my strong jaw line is back and my cheeks are no longer rosy red but I have cheek bones again!
• Mind- I am more focused when a task is at hand and can get it done quicker whether at work or at home. I have realized a lot of decisions I made were affecting my mind and my well-being. I still need to use my head to become a better parent and partner to my wife. I say and do things that I immediately or later realize are not going to make the situation better and I am causing more problems by not focusing on the positivities of other things to fix a situation.
• Emotional-I am happier. I joke around a lot more and smile a lot more I believe. I love seeing my daughter interact with her mommy, her other family and myself and realize that showing you love someone is a lot different than just saying it. I love a lot of people in my life from family, to old friends I have not seen in years, to former co-workers that have made me feel loved and fortunate to have as people I can say made my life better but ultimately my family I spend every day with are what I need to show that love to and earn their love most. I still struggle through cussing issues and attacking a problem with that cussing rather than fixing it like an adult and that is my biggest hurdle I need to still clear. I believe myself and others tend to take our issues out on those closest to us because instead of choosing to use them as our support system, we use them as a crutch system and someone to vent frustrations and other issues we have. They should be who support you and listen to your issues but not who you take those issues out on.
• Spiritually-This is a tough subject for me to truly dive into. I believe running and the past year together have made me realize we are lucky to have life even if this life is not that special compared to the ultimate life we seek of Heaven. I am not a full-fledged Christian. My belief is I believe Jesus died for our sins. I believe He is the most divine being ever to grace our planet. I also believe He has others that He has touched who TRULY are followers that allow others to see His beauty. For me, the person who helped get me jump started into this after being kind of skittish about it is Tim Tebow. He helped show me that believing in something someone above what you can imagine is truly what we need to do as good people. I still don't believe every word in the bible is complete fact, nor do I believe I am where I need to be as a father, husband and person, but I believe my life has changed.

Running is the key factor to have helped me change my life. I have learned a lot. Last year on my 30th birthday when people were giving me XL shirts (even though they were tents on me and I was a bigger Large shirt wearer) I was given a book Longevity Made Simple by my Uncle Tim and Aunt D. I was 30, not 40 I thought so I threw it in my top shelf of my nightstand and said I'd get to it after I read everything else I wanted to. I opened it last night after seeing it there and laughed. The book was everything I had spent the past 12 weeks reading up, watching info on and discussing with my Uncle and people around me. The main thing a person needs to do to lose weight is change their diet and then excercise. I can tell you, I feel more like excercising now at 170 than 205. Ultimately I have cut out what I eat and how much. LIke I've stated before, fast food, soda and junk food are the #1 contributors to bad caloric intake. Calories in have to be less or even to calories out in order to maintain your body weight. You don't have to count every calorie to understand this but you should have a good idea and there are 1000s and 1000s of sources to get you there.

I look forward to my life, my family and changing the person I am to be better. It started with this challenge. Happiness is not food, it's a healthy body and lifestyle which include watching what you put in your body and working it off through excercise. Excercise is great for the mind, body and spirit. Be happy, eat better and go for a run. :)

Hot in the City, Hot in the City Today and Night, plus Father's Day...

Today is supposed to get up to 100 in Denver and most of the CO metro area.  Damn!!!   In my opinion, 80 degrees would be the maximum temperature I'd like in a day, but can live with 90 if there is a pool or some cool ocean breeze nearby.  Unfortunately, I only get that option for a week every year or every other year when we take a vacation to FL.  Hopefully I can get my bottom out of bed early 2 or 3x this week and get my runs in.

So Sunday started the real hot unbearable weather after a nice day Saturday.  I woke up at 5:45 Sunday morning after sleeping poorly.  My family stays at my mother-in-laws on Friday or Saturday night to spend some time with my mother-in-law which I believe I've touched on before.  After getting some water in me and getting my stuff in order (which included my new/old freebie running belt from uncle), I quietly went out through the back to try not to wake anyone (though our treat seeking beagle had already got his morning started with me).  It was a cool morning and I knew I should savor it since the rest of the day and run would not be fun.  I took off not knowing exactly how I was going to get to my final destination of Westminster City Park but knowing I wanted to get there.  I decided to go straigh on Lowell from 120th.  I knew there was not a path that connected right away but knew there would be one eventually.  I was just hoping for a way to cross without having to go through the Big Dry Creek Ditch.  Forunately I quickly found the path and a way to do so.  I hadn't been the only person that had crossed that field (not sure what person was last since I only some a couple bike tracks that were faint and dried in the path I found).  By the time I got to my point where I interesected with the path, a sign read 2.0 miles to City Park (remember Westminster).  Unfortunately there was 2-forks in the path and I didn't know which was the one I should take.  I took the one that headed west rather than back north.  The trail I went on was sandy and hardly used.  Hmmm, well anyhow, things were going well.  I had a female runner that was probably running at my marathon pace or just slightly under that was ahead about 100 to 200 yards that allowed me to realize I was keeping a good long running pace.  Just as the underpass to Sheridan wasn't far away, I saw her stop dead in her tracks.  It was curious because she looked like she was trying to run pretty good pace and probably do 4-5 miles since I didn't see any water she was carrying.  Right before I got up to her, I could see something on the path and realized she had stopped for a snake.  This snake was probably over 5 feet long and didn't appear to be as fat as a bullsnake, but I am not sure what it was.  I saw its pattern briefly as I ran by him and he was a few feet off the path as I was on the other side.  Just glad someone else spotted it and was near or I may have mistaked it for a stick until it freaked the shit out of me.  Then I would have had to run with a great big bowl of chocolate pudding in my running short underpants.

Well, the run to City Park the rest of the way was uneventful.  I was glad to finally get there as I could feel the sun starting to pick up its intensity.  I ran back the first mile and a half pretty fast, then I came to find out I did take the wrong trail and went College Trail next to FRCC instead of staying on Big Dry Creek earlier.  I decided it was about the same distance and went back the way I came from, especially since I had a water bottle I had placed there knowing my G2 wouldn't be what my body wanted the rest of the way and because I don't like to leave trash.  I decided to not cut through the field again and took the route back I knew from the map and driving by it and running by parts of it these last few months.  Knee pain started with about 2 miles to go but it was minor and less than last week so I kept going.  There were a lot more people out on the way back.  A lot of "good mornings", but mainly from walkers.  Bikers seem to be the unfriendliest group out of the bunch I see.  I got home and felt good and felt acheived.  Unfortunately, I had not taken a key expecting someone to be downstairs.  I decided to relax on the deck after a couple light knocks.  I knew my mother-in-law was up and would be down soon with Sully, her rescued Airedale, bounching around upstairs.  She was down shortly after as expected and I came in to hear my little Sophie up and about in her room in Home 2.  She had a big smile on her face with Grandma, Mommy and Daddy being there.  She gave me a big hug and kiss and wished me Happy Father's Day.  It was a great start to Father's Day for me but a huge hole was in my in-law sides heart and mine as well since this was the first Father's Day without their dad.  It was also another year I had gone without communicating with my dad other than when I let him know about Zane's death.

Still, we all got together later to be around each other as a family after deciding no one really felt like going out for breakfast.  I enjoyed a very good Strawberry Smoothie my mother-in-law made after my wife and mother-in-law went for a walk and Sophie and I enjoyed an hour alone at the playground and playing at the house.  After showering off the crazy morning and a mall run for the 3 of us, we headed back to Home 2.

When we got back, we grilled chicken and brat sized hot dogs and ate other BBQ type foods.   We sat outside and it was hot, 97ish.  I then had an epic watergun fight with my brother-in-laws, Barry, stepson.  He gave me the hose and the best water gun and I doused him repeatedly.  He seemed to really be enjoying it.  I would not have.  We got home in time to lay Sophie down and then my wife and I just layed down and relaxed until we decided to shower.

Yesterday's 100 degrees was just not fun.  Yet, it was a productive day when I got home.  I unfortunately had Sophie decide to bounce in my lap and put her full 29 lbs directly on one of my "Ahems".  It still hurts and is the worse pain I have felt in quite some time.  I thought my running would be my injury but it's a playful 3-yr old having fun with daddy that took care of it.

I miss my Father-in-law.  He was my in-laws rock and I knew the man half my life and he did so much for our family of 3.  He absolutely loved his grand daughter and was so happy.  I was singing I'm On Fire while cleaning the garage with my wife last night for some reason, but the lyrics ring too true and I immediately felt bad for singing it.  She knew it too.  She asked if I forget he's gone sometime. I don't forget but I realize it immediately when I think of him or hear something that reminds me of him that while he was stubborn and not the easiest guy to get along with at times, he wanted you to succeed and help you out with things and be there for you and ultimately love you.  I/We love you Zane.

I also miss my dad and he's alive but many miles away.  Unfortunately I also don't miss him.  I have made the choice not to talk to him because of things he said about my parenting skills, my family and how he acts in general.  Maybe some day soon when I can finally just call and lay it out and hope he realizes his wrongs and we come to being friendly again, just not now.  I love him, he's my dad and there are a lot of good memories.  Unfortunately, the bad memories and things he says is not healthy for a relationship with him.

Back to sunnier times, it's still hot today.  I got a nice little 4 miler in this morning.  My brother and wife and two kids are all in town.  I am super excited to see them and especially him.  He and I have always been close even though we've spent over 10 years apart from each other with him living in NC and only seeing each other a couple times a year.  He helped jump kick me into wanting to improve my life and my uncle has been a good coach and my wife has been really supportive, even when asking if I plan on getting to Christian Bale weight in The Machinist LOL, allowing me to get runs in even when they don't fit the best time wise into a day.  It should be a good week.  I am too busy at work to take more than a couple hours off here and there and a day off Monday but it should be fun!!

10 mile run to celebrate my 31st Birthday...

I turned 31 Saturday.  It was a day with much less fanfare than last year (and cleaning up and taking care of my puking drunk brother, but that's a whole other story that he should not be shunned for publicly beyond a mention here and he doesn't drink like that but maybe once every couple years and I am no better in that area) but "The day was a good day" like Iced Cube would say (replace the day with Today). 

I started celebrating my birthday by going on the longest run I had to date (by 3 miles) and waking up before 6:00 to do so.  I wanted to do 10 miles to do double digits and to prove to myself I could.  The run I had planned out did not  have a lot of sidewalks for half the run and was along busy roads.  But I knew there was a shoulder and enough room to run since I had seen bikes hug those shoulders as well.  I got up and drank almost a quart of water and had my bottle filled to 24 oz for the run.  After taking the dog outside to do his thing, I tried unsuccessfully to do my thing for the second time.  I hate those times.  I know I'll have to go, but just can't get it done.

So I started off on my run at 6:15 a.m. expecting to be home at or just after 8:00.  I started my normal route for my old 3-mile runs.  I got to just over a mile and a half and I knew I wasn't lasting until 10 miles without some relief.  Fortunately there was a port-a-john/let/pottie/etc that was only just over a 1/4 mile detour I saw.  It was a nice little 5 minute or so detour from my run, but my head (amongst other things) were clear.  The run was awesome.  It was beautiful out.  Great temperatures at that time, though by the end of the run it was getting up there quickly.  I saw a lot of flattened prairie dogs and just focused on running and keeping a comfortable pace.  At Mile 6, my knee felt a slight pain but I had felt it early in my running and knew it would not be a serious problem, so I kept at it.  I ate up the run, probably staying pretty consistent the entire time.  I got home at just before 8:05.  I am giving myself 5 minutes and saying it was 10:30/mile which is exactly what my long paces should be around.  It felt comfortable and I felt like I could have kept running.  My knee pain was not present after that and the day was good knowing I had burned around 1200 calories and had burned off overeating the day before and my upcoming birthday foods.

We got a late start due to my late arrival and got to my mom & Michael's house 45 minutes or more late.  We had a really good quiche, enjoyed a homemade gluten free strawberry shortcake (low calories w/ frozen yogurt and strawberries too!!!) and I got a gift card to Sports Authority and what appears to be a delicious dessert wine.  It was a nice way to get calmed down after a hectic hour.

Unfortunately we had to run to the mall to exchange/return a couple of shirts I got Thursday or Friday night from the Rockies Dugout store at Flatirosns and had a Rockies game to get to after picking up my mother-in-law.  We got there and were the only customers the entire 20-30 minutes we were there, but it did not end well.  My wife had our bag for returns in this little store and I was trying to help give my opinion on shirts while Sophie was running around the store.  The people didn't ask if we needed help the entire time.  Then when we got to the counter, fireworks ensued between my wife and the lady in the store.  The lady pretty much was leary of what we were returning, what we had in our bag and everything else.  Pretty much she is not good in customer service and decided she would make things sound like accusations that we were trying to move things around and take an extra shirt or two.  That was not the way to go with my wife that has worked in retail and has been in customer service working at a bank the last 10 years.  It's easy to say, my wife wasn't taking her shit.  I was more thinking, let's just get out of here.  We are running late, we know we are good and that this lady is an idiot.  My wife let this lady have it and the lady tried to back pedal but she'll remember my wife I am sure.  LOL.

We got to my mother-in-laws and got down into the ballpark in the Top of the 2nd.  Rockies suck is the easiest way to put it.  They have the worse starting pitching staff in MLB. They have some pops in their bats, but you can't let a team score 6 or more runs every game and expect to get a win.  The seats were great.  10 rows up halfway between first base and the right field wall.  I hadn't understanded the speed the ball comes off the bat until seeing a variety of foul balls zinging into the stands.  I realized, I don't want a foul ball unless it bounces to me off a seat.  I didn't want any harm done to my family from one and saw a little kid a couple sections over get hurt by one.  No thanks.  It was nice to be out there but unless I get discounted or free tickets like these were, to me, it's nothing more than a once or twice a year thing.  My daughter had fun at her baseball game (after already being a Buff and Nuggets attendee) and Grandma K kept spoiling her with food.  It was hot, so it was good they went up there a lot.  I also sat there baffled at the group of guys two rows in front of me.  They must have had 6-10 beers each between a group of 3.  I get irked buying one beer for the price of a 6 pack (thankfully my mother-in-law bought mine as I am a cheap ass) and was just saying idiots repeatedly about these guys.  The Monforts are well funded by concessions and these guys spent over $150 on beer alone.  I would rather spend my $150 on a lot of other great things.   Anyway, we left after the 7th inning stretch.  It was 93 degrees and we were just ready to enjoy the rest of our day.

After getting back to my mother-in-laws, I went to get Barclay Beagle and my stuff to spend the night at The Kunkel House.  When I got back, the 4 of us enjoyed shish kabobs my mother-in-law made, jell-o cheesecake and a beer and hung out on the deck until past the sun went down and putting Sophie to bed, the 3 of us laid there outside and we almost fell asleep until we decided to go inside and watch some SNL.  It was a good birthday with good, not overly unhealthy foodand I got some money for more running gear and entry fees into some races.

I woke up exhausted the next morning, but fortunately after soothing Sophie back to bed and letting the pesky beagle out, I got back to bed.  My legs felt great and I decided to get a 3 mile quick run in so I could feel good about doing something active.  I ran the fastest 3 miles I had ran since my 5k and felt great.  I didn't totally exert myself and was probably just over 8 min/miles.  We hung out at my mother-in-laws after a mall trip and stayed late.  We had a nice weekend with the four of us.  We shared a couple stories about my father-in-law and it was nice being able to have a relaxing weekend even though we weren't home almost the entire time. 

I was at 173 today.  I weighed myself Friday at 179 after eating more than I had ate since before starting this journey but also drinking around 5 quarts or more of water, so I didn't feel too down about that.  My goal is 3 more lbs by the time my brother leaves.  The weight is slowly coming off because I am rewarding myself and eating more regularly and refueling my body.  I have no doubt that I am better suited to weigh what I do now at the heaviest.  I used to think 180 was that skinny mark.  Ha!

My first new training run...

My genius mathematical and multiple marthon running Uncle/marathon coach/friend/etc. devised a run he has been doing that combines the Marathon-M, Tempo-T, Long-L, and Y-Yasso  run into one.  He calls it the MTY, I call it the MTLY but essentially it is a good way to get used to all 4 of these runs that a runner uses throughout their training.  So my paces based off my 5k and 10k races at the end of May are as follows:

Yasso/fast 5k-8:30/mile or 4:15 for the 800m Yasso
Tempo/15k-9:07/mile
Marathon-9:44/mile
Long-10:30/mile

This week I did this run as my first run because it just worked best w/ my schedule (learnign to adapt my runs to my schedule, but trying not to go 2 days in a row with inactivity) to where I'd prefer to get a warm-up 4 miler (usually around marathon pace) in first.  The MTY is 2 miles marathon, followed by 1 mile Tempo, then 1/2 mile Long and 1/2 mile Yasso.  I ran my marathon in the set time and got to the track (I hate running in the oval of the track thus why I probably have never ran over a mile on a track before and try to keep my runs from going to a point and back because I don't enjoy the same over and over of them, like treadmills).  It was dark and windy when I got there, but the 2 mile run helped warm-up my legs.  I pushed my Tempo at 8:47, which would probably be what I could run a 10k/15k in around August but right now, probably not based off my 8:59 for the Bolder Boulder.  I then ran my Yasso at 3:45 (7:30/mile) after a long run where I was right on pace.  I ran 8:00/miles for my 5k and believe I could run a 7:45 pace in around August also but I pushed it much too fast and was not on my pace.  I think there is something about a track that my body says, run faster than what you would on the road.  All that said, my legs feel great today and the run was not bad.  I think I'll have to be a little smarter and get a head lamp or run in the morning for those runs because there are snakes and other things that could be lurking with that track so close to open space.  The track is almost like a trail with loose rock so it felt good rather than some asphalt or concrete covered by a spongy surface so it was great to run.  I did a nice mile back to my house and slept like a rock after a shower and cooling down for 30 minutes or so.

A question my Aunt asked was Am I enjoying it?  That is the perfect question to ask someone if they are trying to lose weight or get back in shape and ultimately change their life.  If the answer is no, there needs to be some other outlet to help with those things.  I can honestly say, I have loved this experience and believe this will be part of my life.  Until I do my 2-1/2 marathons (August and December) and the ultimate goal (as of right now) of the Myrtle Beach Marathon in February 2013, I don't know if it will be more than what I am doing now in the long run, but 15-20+ miles a week I can see myself doing for years to come.  I already know I'll be doing the Bolder Boulder again next year and plan to be at least a minute per mile faster by then.  Another goal is the Colfax or Colorado Marathon, but once again I need to see how much of a beating my brain and body take doing my first.  Baby Steps to the marathon as they'd say in What About Bob?. 

Western Slope Weekend & Run and other things...

The family went across them hills to the other side of Colorado and ended up in Delta late Friday night.  We went to help my grandmother-in-law move up the road to Cedaredge, closer to more family and in a newer and safer house for her to live in.  I know it can't be easy.  I heard my Grandma V go on up to when she died about not living in her home or being able to drive.  That's what 4 or 5 decades in one place will do to a person.  It was a long Saturday and I missed postpone my run, though I was an ass hole about not getting one in though I have to remind myself that my family bends a lot letting me run when I want so when they ask to share time with family, I need to give that back.  I intended to run when we got back but it was past 10 p.m., we had heard a number of stories about mountain lions and bobcats in the area since that was their land too and my wife helped me realize it was smart and safe to delay to the next day.  It was a good day overall and a lot was accomplished and myself and my in-laws got to share time with their family.  Only shitty (pun not intended) was the next morning, my wife woke up with a stomach virus when we had intended to get out of town by 7 or 8 a.m.  My mother-in-law stuck around in case my wife had to stay instead of leaving and took Sophie to the other side of Cedaredge while my wife rested in our hotel room and I got a run in.  It was much needed.  I had slept erraticly and the long two days before had stressed me out, especially since my runs have become my "fix" which is better than the soda and sweets I was "fixed" too but now just use VERY lightly.

I got going around 9:20 a.m. and the weather was good, though it was already warmer than you'd like for a 7 mile run.  Fortunately the later start helped me "clear out" and I felt comfortable.  Bad part was this was not my usual run of maybe 100 ft in elevation change but over 500 and got past 6000 ft elevation.  It was also a foreign area and these were smaller town roads where there was only a shoulder for the highway run (thank goodness for that since cars go 55-70 on Grand Mesa Drive and it was my first run over 6.2 mi).  It was a very beautiful and quiet area I ran along the first half but I kept thinking, damn I am moving seriously fast and DAMN this is all downhill and I have to end back uphill and have I gone too far and missed my turn.  After realizing I had a good mental GPS and finally seeing the road, I was good but the first hill was massive but after all that downhill my legs felt great up it.  I felt like Rocky at the top of the steps, but my celebration was short-lived because I knew I was headed uphill the entire way.  Cool part was along this quiet slight uphill, quiet road I saw a horse all alone and I talked to him while I ran and he started taking off running with me and stopped and galloped after showing he'd whip my butt.  Thing is he wanted more so I talked to him more and he went for another sprint and as I reached the end of his land he let out a thunderous neigh that echoed around the area.  It was a beautiful run back up hill looking up Grand Mesa after I turned off the street I met my horse friend.  Only problem is it was even worse uphill after a very light uphill up and down climb to where this was going to be a long last 2.5 miles up and I needed to keep pushing.  I also knew checkout was not far away and wanted to make sure I got there in time, so I kept pushing with no water left after finishing my 16 oz. and the sun beating down on me. 

I've ran further the last 4 weeks on my weekend runs than I had in a single run in my entire life.  Yes, 7 miles is the longest I have ran.  I am sure too many people will tell you the same thing.  I have learned in these 3 months that unlike Bobby Boucher's mama may tell you, running is not the Devil.  Instead it is a relaxing, stress relieving time of the day that burns calories and has allowed me to lose over 30 lbs in less than 3 months without completely getting rid of a food.  It is also going to be easy to maintain because I have chose to live and run than get fat again from being lazy after this marathon that is still 37 weeks away.  174.4 today.

So anyway, back to the trip.  We left yesterday at just after 5:30 and allowing my wife to relax, it allowed us some time with family.  We got home just after 10.  It was good considering we stopped after going over Grand Mesa and I didn't drive assanine speed back over either.  After trying to troop through today at work, my wife's dizziness and nausea every time she got up and going was a recipe to just get worse so she is at home resting.  Hopefully by tomorrow that crud will be gone and we can all get some rest and back to normal for tomorrow.

I am getting a run in late tonight after it cools down.  I have realized my lunch runs may be very few and far between and I will need to get up early or run late.