Mid March Update

The first half of March has been very challenging. The first week of March my wife and I were in the Bahamas for a work meeting / event. It was great to be in the warmth but the full day of travel to and from, along with the activities we needed to attend, coupled with nothing but concrete to run on, plus a lot of really good food, bottom line I didn't get the mileage in I should have and ate way too much food and gained some weight.

The second week went much better. I was able to get back into my routine and put in the mileage. I was able to go run Saturday with my son Josh. We went out to Antelope Island and ran the first 19 miles of the 50 Mile race that Josh is in there on March 26th. He is so much faster than I am that he has to drag me along the entire route. It really makes me press my time but I know it forces him to really slow down from what he is accustomed to. It was great to spend the time with him and the time went by much faster by having a running partner. I am very excited to see how he does in his race on the 26th, I think he will do extremely well.

Summary for the first half of March. Still a lot of work related stress, it is simmering down but is still huge. I ate better the second week than the first. I put in 50 miles the second week, my first 50 mile week ever. I am hammered physically due to the time change and not enough sleep for the mileage I have put in. All that being said the mileage is good and my weight is right where it was 2 weeks ago due to the weight gain from the week in the Bahamas and then a good week after getting home. This current week I should have another 50 mile week and hopefully can get down to about 195 pounds by the end of this week. I am optimistic that the work stress will continue to ease up, that should help me as well. Unfortunately my Dad's health is not good, I am hopeful that his health stabilizes and I don't worry quite so much about he and my Mom.

End of February Update

I am so happy to see February behind me. The days are getting longer and warmer and on the 13th we switch to daylight savings time. Daylight savings is great for the extra daylight in the evening but it still keeps me running in the dark every morning, but I'll take it, I love having it light longer in the evening. I can get a lot more done around the house. Also my work stress has gone down just a tiny bit and I look forward to March being a little less stressful in that regard.

The last two weeks has seen my running mileage come in at 40+ each week with last week coming in at 42. My weight is at 196.0, and still slowly going down. This week will be a real challenge for both my mileage and my weight as I will be on the road for a few days. While on the road I have a difficult time eating properly and also getting my mileage in. Time will tell how it works out.

This last Saturday I ran with my son Josh on the parkway. We ran 18 miles, I slowed him way down the entire way and he made me stay honest and punch out consistent mileage times. I can't believe how much faster he is than me! I am hopeful that by this fall I will be able to be a better running companion for him and at least only slow him down by a minute a mile, instead of 2! I appreciate him running with me and I enjoy his companionship and conversation on our runs. We talked about a lot of different topics, including salt intake while running. This is something I have no experience with and need to get educated and do some trial and error with it before my 50 miler on June 4th. He gave me a lot of insight, now I just need to try it on some of my long runs and get adjusted to what it does to my body and how it makes me feel. The middle of a 50 mile run is no place to try to figure something like that out.

Mid February update

Time for an update for the last 2 weeks. It has been a good couple of weeks. I have been able to run every day that I have had scheduled and have been able to put in the mileage I wanted overall. I put in 40 miles last week which is more weekly mileage than I have ran in many, many years. My weight dipped under 200 pounds this week for the first time in 16 years. I came in at 199.6. I reviewed some of my old records and I believe this is the first time I have been under 200 pounds since 1995. I am optimistic that I will continue to drop about 2 pounds a week until I get closer to my ideal weight goal. I am sure that the closer I get to that goal the slower the weight will come off.

Yesterday I needed to run 21 miles in order to get to my 40 mile goal for the week. My schedule was for 20 miles, however I ran short a mile on Thursday due to having an appointment I needed to be at and just ran out of time. It definitely felt good psychologically to put in that much mileage in a single run, but today I am very sore. I'm sure this will pass very quickly and I will be back at it tomorrow morning.

I am still very slow but am getting a little faster as I drop more weight. I feel that I should be able to start doing some speed work in a month or so to help get my time down. Right now building mileage is the most important element of my training. Once my mileage is to where I need it to be I will start doing some speed work. My work situation is still out of control. I hope it settles down very soon, right now it occupies my thoughts 24/7. During yesterdays long run all I did was think about work the entire time. I do believe that if I can get my work situation under control it will definitely help me with my training and my ability to hit my running goals.

February begins and so does the freeze!

This morning as I rolled out of bed to do my Tuesday morning run the temperature on the web for South Jordan read 18 degrees. With that in mind I wore my warmest gear and headed out the door. I did 4 miles this morning and just about froze! When I got home and explored further, with wind chill in South Jordan the temperature was 1 degree. Tonight is supposed to get down to about 0 so unfortunately I will be running on a treadmill tomorrow morning.

The last 2 weeks have gone well with my training, last week I put in 36 miles, and have also done well with sticking to my diet. Unfortunately I have not lost as much weight as I had hoped. I was shooting for being at 200 lbs today, but am at 203.5. I guess I should be happy with dropping about 2 pounds a week but with my healthy diet and mileage I expected more. Maybe as my body realizes that I really am changing how I eat my weight will start to come off a little faster. I should still easily be able to be down to 180 by June 1st but was really hoping to be there by the middle of April. We'll just have to see how it goes. Work continues to be extremely stressful and that may play a role. I am optimistic that work will improve over the next 6 weeks but right now it is all consuming.

I am shooting for 36 to 38 miles for this week and then 40 miles for next week. Hopefully that will knock off some of those extra lbs.

Getting in the routine

Since the first of the year I have been very diligent in following my training and eating schedule, with the exception of 3 days I spent in Las Vegas for work. It was very difficult to eat at regular intervals when I was going from location to location and having meeting on top of meeting in Vegas. I did not drink near enough water but did not drink any soda pop of any kind while I was there. I did okay exercising but certainly not what it should have been. My exercising consisted of running on a treadmill as I was not familiar with the area and it was predominately concrete. I hate running on a treadmill, I hate to run on concrete even more because of the harsh impact. Bottom line is that I had lost 6 pounds before I went to Vegas, but put 3 of it back on while there. I am now back in sync with my program and currently weigh in at 208.


I felt really good about my training this week. I ran all of the days I wanted to and got in the mileage I was hoping for, plus a little. I put in a couple of extra miles in the first part of the week and was about two miles short on my long run. My goal for my long run on Saturday was to stay on my feet for 3 hours. I started out with very heavy legs and was forced to both walk a half mile out of my neighborhood and a half mile back in as it was extremely slick where no salt has been applied since the snow storms of last week. After about 45 minutes into the outing I started to feel really good. I was in a good rhythm and felt great. Then at 2 hours and 10 minutes in I started to get a knot in my right calf. I have had a knot in each calf in the last 6 weeks. If they knot up all the way it takes almost a week to get them worked out, even with intense massage and using the "stick". I slowed down and stretched my calf every time I felt it tightening at all. As a result I covered about 16 miles total. I really should have been able to cover about 18 miles in 3 hours but the calf and fatigue got the best of me. If you do the math you can tell that I am very slow, I stopped twice for water and walked for a few minutes each time I ate some "Chomps". I figure that as I lose more weight and do more speed work my time will get better.


Bottom line for the week. I ran 29 miles. I was shooting for 28. My weight is at 208, down from 215. I feel good about where I am currently at especially as stressful as my work is right now. I think I have about 1 more month of extreme stress at work and then it should lighten up enough that it does not consume me 24/7. I look forward to that day!

The New Year

Here it is 2011. It is amazing how fast the last year went by. As I look back I definitely realize the need to change some things in my life for 2011 if I am ever going to run a 50 mile race this year and a 100 mile race in 2012. So here are some of the "New Years Resolutions" that I have made going into 2011.

As I stated in my previous post, I am looking to drop some serious weight over the next few months. I believe that getting my weight in line, more than anything else, will help me to achieve my running goals over the next two years. As part of that goal I have gone into 2011 with the decision to quit drinking Diet Coke. This may not seem like a big deal to most people, but most people haven't drank Diet Coke for more than 20 years and haven't been drinking about a gallon of the stuff a day. That's right, I have been drinking about a gallon of Diet Coke a day. My wife thinks that's why my hair is falling out and some people can't believe I'm still alive! So its off with the new year and now having water as my drink of choice. I have not had any DC since December 31st and so far I have not had any serious headaches (a couple of small ones). Hopefully my lack of headaches will continue and I can move forward with my new program.

I am also going to eat more healthy. Those of you who know me well know that I eat way to much junk food. I love sugar and sweets. I managed to get through the holidays this year without gaining any weight which is huge for me. Now its on to eating smaller, healthier servings 6 times a day. This along with my exercise program and no Diet Coke or carbonated drinks, will hopefully catapult me along in my weight loss quest.

My last goal is not necessarily running related. 2010 was the most chaotic, hectic, out of control year I have ever had. Things that are important to me took a back seat to work. In 2011 this will not happen again. I will definitely take the time this year to do some archery hunting and have more personal time to spend with my wife and family.

So there it is, my goals for 2011. I definitely have my work cut out for me this year.

What brought me to this point?

Today I decided it was time to begin documenting my next quest. First let me tell you a little of my history and how I got to this point.

I am a 51 year old male, and although I definitely don't feel "Over The Hill" I think most people, especially the younger generation, think that 50 is the magic mark for falling into that category. I have been married for 31 years and have 4 children, 2 boys and 2 girls ranging in age from 22 to 31. 3 of my 4 kids are married. I have no grandchildren at this point. I have been in sales as a profession for my entire adult life. I am currently one of three owners of a sales and distribution company in located in Salt Lake City.

I have been active the majority of my life and have always been involved in the outdoors and different athletic programs. During my High School days I played a lot of basketball, some football and baseball. I have always loved the mountains and over the last 7 years have really enjoyed archery hunting. I am not out there for the thrill of the kill but more for the experience, solitude, and beauty that you enjoy when you are in pursuit with a bow and arrow. I haven't hunted with a gun for almost 20 years and will probably never hunt with a gun again. One or both of my sons will often join me archery hunting. It is something that I really enjoy doing with them.

When I turned 30 in 1989 I realized that I was no longer the slim trim guy that I had been my entire life. I jumped on the scale and was at 200 pounds. At that point I made a bet with a friend to compete against each other at the July 24th 10K in Salt Lake. The loser and his wife had to take the winner and his wife to dinner at a high end restaurant. This was the beginning of my distance running adventure. I was lucky enough to beat him and we enjoyed a very nice dinner on his dime.

At the finish line of the 10K they were handing out brochures for other races, one of which was for the St. George Marathon. That was back in the day when everyone could get in to that race, to make a long story short I ran the St. George Marathon that fall, my first of 7 St. George Marathons. I have also ran the Deseret News Marathon 1 time. In 1995 my neighbor asked me to be a pacer for him at the Wasatch 100 ultra marathon mountain race. I ran from Big Mountain to Lambs Canyon with him. It was a great experience to see some of these Ultra Marathoners in action. I have ran on and off for those 21 years, mostly just to try to keep in shape. I have been dedicated at times but not at others. Over the years my weight has slowly crept up, more details on that later.

In October of 2009 my son Josh, my daughter Brittany and I made it into the St. George Marathon. Josh trained very hard and was very diligent, my daughter a little less so but did keep at it and trained regularly. I was doing great on training and right on schedule until I sprained my ankle very badly in late August up archery hunting. My running came to a screeching halt. It was so bad that I didn't run again until the actual marathon. My daughter and I both finished but at a very slow pace. Josh on the other hand finished at 3:25 which is outstanding for your first marathon. At that point Josh caught the bug. He decided he wanted to try ultra marathoning in 2010. He ran the Antelope Island 50 Miler, the Squaw Peak 50 Miler, the Speedgoat 50K and the Wasatch 100. He asked me early on if I would be his pacer on the last leg of the Wasatch 100. I of course said yes. Josh had a great race that day but injured his knee about 2/3 of the way through. I paced him from Brighton to the finish. He wanted me to go on this section with him as I have done a lot of hiking over the last few years so he knew I could handle the extreme ups and downs of the last 25 miles of the race. Josh finished the race in just under 29 hours. the last 25 miles were grueling for him with his injury but he finished, and with a good time to boot.

A few days after the race he asked me if I would ever run the Wasatch 100. It is something I have always wanted to do but I am getting up there in age and am no where near the shape I need to be in for that type of an event. I let him know that it would take me 2 years to get in good enough shape to complete the Wasatch 100, plus I would have to draw in the lottery to get in. An alternate race if I didn't get into Wasatch would be the Logan to Bear Lake 100 mile race. So the goal was set! Either the Wasatch 100 or the Bear 100.

Now comes the hard part. I am 6' 1" and currently weight 215 pounds. down from 225. My goal is to be at 180 by this coming June. The reason - I made it into the Squaw Peak 50 Miler in June. Josh also made it in. I now have about 6 months to get in the best shape of my life and then to continue on for another year to be in good enough shape for a respectable finish at one of the 100 milers.

This blog is to keep me honest and to keep you in the loop of how it is going. I am currently running a very slow 23 Miles a week and walking another 6 Miles a week. I have a long way to go but am definitely going to get there.