104 Degrees, and I need to run how far?

Today has been a crazy day for us, however I managed to wake up this morning and get a quick 3miler in. Megan and I go to a church in a rural town just north of where we live here in Stillwater. A couple from our church is part of a missions group going to Uganda for a month and we had a send off party for them as well as prayer session. God is going to do amazing things through and in that group of four people. 

We are also very blessed to be friends with so many great people who motivate and influence our lives in more ways than they know. One of those is a lady who attends our young, growing, but powerful church. She has been on a quest for the last few years to lose weight and change her health. And she has done just that, losing over 100+ pounds, however her final goal is still just ten pounds away. So I mentioned running to her and said it would definitely take care of those final 10. So I put together a running plan for her and a few tips to get started. Well today she asked me a very good question and it really made me think, because I didn't want to give just a simple answer i really wanted to help her out. She asked me "What do I do now that it is so hot outside?". 

That is a great question, for those of us who see running not simply as exercise or a means to stay fit, we see running as part of our lifestyle, a way of coming down from stress, or just a way to cut loose on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Still though for those of you who maybe trying to start running because you want a new challenge in life or you are looking for a new hobby, or maybe you are trying to lose a few pounds and a gym membership is just not in the budget. I want to hopefully give you some encouragement and motivate you especially since it is getting hot outside and can become very frustrating. 

It is difficult to train during the Summer months because of the high temperatures and humidity, it can be very dangerous as well. So I first want to caution you, don't over exert yourself or push yourself more than you should. If you are just starting out, I recommend doing speed walking with short 1 minute runs intermittently. If you are able to get into a pool regularly I recommend doing some swimming during the summer. There are great water workouts online for runners as well as training for triathlons. I would also recommend while in the pool doing water running, which is just what it sounds like. Running while in the water, this is usually done for rehabilitation but is still a good workout and tremendously safer than running in the sun. I would also recommend looking to change up your schedule if you are able to, if you are able to wake up earlier and get your runs in before the high temperatures set it I would do that. Or even the opposite if you are able to do your runs at 10 or 11 at night I would do that too. 

Don't let the summer heat keep you from getting in your runs, just allow yourself to be a little more creative. Also if you have an old bicycle out in your garage you can dust that thing off, pump up those tires and do some biking, also a good way of training if you don't feel like pounding the pavement. Lastly I want to encourage you to look at what your motivation is why are you running, what do you want to accomplish and what are your small goals along the way. Running is an incredible lifestyle to adopt and it is open to any and all. I encourage you to push yourself this summer and find a good workout that fits you.  

One Year Ago Today.....

Standing in the sand as the water, in steady sequence washes over my feet. Watching as the empty beach kept it's usual schedule regardless of the crowd. It's amazing how some repetitive noises will annoy us but others, such as waves crashing are considered soothing. Laying in a lounge that morning was different, I knew that by the end of the day  my life would be different. For you see a year ago today my wife Megan and I were married on the beach in Destin, Florida....with no looming oil spill residue in sight...

Megan and I have had one amazing first year of marriage, she has been in school and I have maintained my status as Staff member at OSU. but what is great about our journey is that it all started several years ago as casual acquaintances. However the day that things really changed for us was in May of 2008. I had just ran the OKC Memorial Marathon which I bettered my PR by 20 minutes.  A few days after the race my friend Jeff sent me a link of pictures from the race. As I clicked on the link the first image that popped up was of Megan in a pink Under Armour compression top and black Nike running shorts. I just sat back for a minute looked down at the picture count and it said there were well over 150 images and her picture was the first that appeared......All I can say is Thank You God!!!

My first thought was....."Wow she is a runner" of course I was suddenly more attracted to her. And then as any good guy does once they have a crush, I put her first name in front of my last name to see what it would sound like, sounds great to me....

Anyways in a few short months we were seriously dating and within six months we were engaged. It's funny how fast this year has gone and how fast our time has been together but how excited I am about the future. Looking back over our one year of dating/engagement and one year of marriage we have been blessed in so many ways it is not even fair. We have been on two  mission trips to Rome, Italy. We have helped two of our good friends start a church in a rural town near by, we have welcomed a nephew into the family, most of all we have kept God at the center of our lives. 

I know today's post is a little off subject of the Boston Marathon, but I would not be writing this each day if it was not for the encouragement from my beautiful wife. Megan has encouraged me every single day we have been together to follow the things I enjoy and she knows how much running motivates me and excites me. So thank you Megan for being my #1 supporter and my wife. I love you, Happy Anniversary 

MMMM....Pasta!!

One of my biggest challenges throughout my training is determining the right diet. As my runs become more consistent and I even lengthen my distances naturally my metabolism will increase and I feel as though I will need to fuel my body more than when I am not training. Makes Sense.....but what should I fuel it with?

When I first started running, pizza was my training food, although it was exactly what I wanted it severely lacked the fuel and nutrients my body needed. So as any good educated person would do I went to Google for answers. I started to research "running diets", I also started looking at what professional runners were consuming and comparing my diet to theirs. The problem I did run into is most running editorials were preaching "organic" which I thoroughly agree with however as a poor college kid, my grocery budget did not always allow for that to happen.

But I have definitely changed the way I eat and the way I look at eating, because trust me I love food, and Pizza is still one of my favorite indulgences. One of my favorite stories is of Dean Karnazes, Ultra Marathoner, was out on a 50miler and ordered a pizza. The place delivered it to him and he carried the box under his arm while he ran.....Dean is crazy but incredible. Maybe one day you will see me running down the highway with a pizza box under my arm. Now days I have learned how to fuel my body and when it needs refueling. I have gone to were I eat almost every two hours while I am awake but in smaller quantities and more nutritious items.

Eating right is very important when training for a race or just maintaining your conditioning, I have people who tell me all the time "Hey your a runner you can eat whatever you want"....somewhat true, but I don't recommend it. You will be able to tell a huge difference between "eating whatever" and eating the right things.

I will share with you some of my recommended items to add to your shopping cart if you are training. I love Almonds and could probably eat more than I am suppose to but a good handful of raw almonds is a good snack throughout the day. Cage Free Eggs, you can never eat enough eggs when you are running they have great protein in them. Canned Black Beans are a great way to get the lycopene your body needs. Whole Grain Breads have good fiber. Steamed Vegetables not canned. I always have an Orange as a snack at lunch...load up on Oranges. Milk (add some chocolate syrup for a great post run drink). Sweet Potatoes are a great side dish with your meal. Whole Wheat Pastas are a better choice than regular. I recommend adding Oatmeal to your diet as well. Yogurt and granola are a regular breakfast for me as well. And for a sweet tooth craving I recommend Dark Chocolate. Last but certainly not least drink lots of WATER....Dehydration is miserable!!

Why Boston? Why Now?

The Boston Marathon has been something that has been a goal of mine for a while now. I have been a casual runner for the majority of my life and have really only been into long distance for about 5 years now. However after running my first marathon I was hooked and wanted to accomplish much more. I manged to better my time and really wanted to push myself. Obviously when you think of marathons there is one that comes to mind that even the least of runners can recall and that is the Boston Athletic Association Marathon...which is the oldest annual run.

I decided to set my sites on qualifying for this race, and in doing so I would need to tally a qualifying time of sub 3:10:59. For those who may not know, qualifying for the race is determined by your age as well as a current official race time from an official qualifying race. For my age the above time is what I would need to secure from my qualifying race. Well this year I plan to do just that at the Route 66 Marathon in November.

From those that I have received advice and coaching from have recommended that I should maintain my time and just wait until I get older so that my qualifying time is a bit broader. Which probably makes a lot of sense but I don't want to do that. I want to go to Boston soon, and I know I can qualify so that is what my focus is.

My running goals are really to run in as many major marathons as I can over my life. NY is on my list as well as Disney, San Diego, Rome, London, and maybe even some ultras. We will see. Please join me on my journey

Ascending the Chicago Spire.....kind of

In 2005 in Chicago, Illinois there were plans in place to build one of the world's highest and freestanding structures at 2000 ft and consisting of 150 floors, called the Chicago Spire. Primarily to be leased out to businesses and developed as high rise condominiums. Well today I climbed every single staircase in that building.....no lie I really did, and let me tell you what a view from the top.......Okay maybe I do lie.....the Chicago Spire is still in concept and is yet to be completed. However I did climb every single stair in the building...I just wasn't in that building, I was on a StairMaster.

For my cross training this morning, I climbed 150 floors of stairs in 35 minutes. This may sound sick but I thoroughly enjoy the stair climber......if there was a piece of workout equipment I would want to own, it would not be a treadmill, it would not be a hip shaker, probably wouldn't even be a Bowflex, I would be climbing Mt. Everest on the stair climber that's for sure.

I have learned that mixing up my cross training is crucial when training for a race. My first marathon I did I just primarily focused on running and I assumed that's what I needed to do. I had a running plan in place and I stuck to it, however I was not eating right or even eating the correct stuff and so I dropped weight tremendously which is actually not a good plan for running. Maintaining a healthy weight is what you want to do. With that being said you still need to do some weight training as well as cross training....and to be honest I think cross training can be defined in whatever terms you want to use. I like to do some low weight high repetition weight workouts, elliptical workouts, ride my road bike, do some swimming, and of course hop on the StairMaster.

There are many great cross training workouts out there, I recommend checking different ones out. Everyone is different and every one's body will react differently as well.

Today was day two for Megan and I to get up early and go workout, this will be a good pattern for us to get into. Tomorrow I plan to get in the pool, morning swims are my favorite.

Let me know if you have a favorite cross training workout.

365.....Commense

Today I am starting a 365 day challenge.......my goal is to create a series of blogs with one being written each day for the next year. I have been thinking for a long time about what I could possibly write about every single day for a year.....with much thought and a lot of influence from my wife I have decided to blog about my journey towards qualifying for the Boston Marathon and then hopefully my participation in the run next April.

I will be looking for an opportunity to put my struggles, my successes, my good workouts, my bad workouts, my pains, my thoughts down in words as well as hopefully hear back from anyone who might come across this blog. I will also be sharing some spiritual motivation along the way. And would be looking for the same in return from those who might read this. I am very excited about potentially running one of the most notable street races in all history and am so thankful that God has provided me the healthy body to do such a task, I would like to share my journey through this blog.

"blessed"

So, it has been a few weeks and I have not been able to post. but I just wanted to take a moment and talk about the blessings in my life. I was lying in bed last night with a million things on my mind and I just started to think about how fortunate I am and how thankful I am to be at this stage in my life. I think all too often I expect success, or my terms of success way too early in mine and Megan's journey.

As we are preparing to go back to Rome to serve on a mission trip, I was thinking about the people we will be working with and how rough there life has been and with no possible solution in sight. Being homeless at such an early age and not really knowing when money or food will show up....Wow...I just cant even really imagine that. I have always had food, I have always had clothes, transportation, safety, clean water to shower....and it's something I have always taken for granted.

I see people around me who deal with broken families way too often and have dealt with splitting time with each parent for years. I see kids who from the moment they were pretty much born have only had one parent present, I see brothers and sisters who hate each other, moms and dads who can't even stand the sight of each other. How fortunate I am to have escaped that and have had an amazing family my entire existence, thank you God.

As the Christmas season is upon us, how great a time of year it is for giving and receiving, as much emphasis is putting on giving, it's also important to allow yourself to receive. I have struggled with this many times, I don't like people spending money on me when it can go to someone else, but one thing I have learned is that people who want to give you something aren't doing it because they feel obligated they are doing because you are important to them and their life. Allow people to bless you and give to you.

I see young couples often who are either stuck in a sexually addicted dating relationship and can't escape, and I see married couples who seem so unhappy. All I have to say about that is "Put God at the Center".....stop fooling yourself. You can't do it without him there I promise!!! I am so thankful that I have the most amazing wife who loves God more than she does me. Who cares for me and cares for others. We are young yes but I believe we are on a good path for a healthy and LONG marriage......probably with multiple children.

So I know this is a very random post but take a moment and really think about the blessings in your life and I would love to hear back. Have a great day!!