When can I run?

The year started off with great anticipation and motivation to get back in shape and run more.  Then work happened.  Then poor weather happened.  Then Run Disney Marathon week happened and all my excuses have been shoved out the door.  I got in a couple of runs and a walk with a friend.  I made it a goal to drop the added weight I gained over the past year and stick to the method of how I lost it last time, drinking more water and getting off my butt.

I lost my motivation as I wasn't planning on running events.  To cut back on expenses and save some money, I didn't sign up for local races or Disney's main event.  Over the past year by running the races, I lost the fun of just getting outside and running, sweating and losing the weight years of inactivity brought.  I was running to be consistent for the next race instead of improving my abilities.  I wasn't running for me, but for the 'bling' and the destination.  If I didn't have an upcoming event, I wouldn't be as concerned about missing a training day.   Well, I have decided to get back in action.  That didn't mean I wasn't going to join others in organized events, it just means I needed to re-focus why I enjoyed the running that led me to enter the events.

In doing so, I've committed to a few upcoming events that posted early registration entries for over half off. (We the runners on July 4th, Jeff Galloway 13.1). In the next couple of weeks, I'll be running a local Half-marathon, Locomotive Half, that I ran last year after Dopey Challenge.  I noticed in each of my last long running events after Dopey, I was getting slower and not trying as hard.  I'm recommitting to not just easy go it, but give it my best efforts to improve.  I made a list of races I wanted to join and decided to make a goal of running Dopey again, knowing that to avoid injury and to actually enjoy it next year, I had to improve from where I am now.  I have to lose the weight and get my endurance back.  By committing to the races and going back to the beginning, I hope to make it a permanent lifestyle change.

The key to this whole decision, will be consistency and not giving up when roadblocks come along.  Thank you to my My Fitness Pal friends who have been keeping me in check and encouraging me to keep going!

2015 - Looking forward

It is now well into January 2015.  Christmas Decorations are packed and stored.  My wife's birthday has been celebrated with me at home, and not with me at Disney World running the Dopey Challenge.  It was a compromise. Susan thought I had spent too much money running coast to coast last year.  So the past few days I've been monitoring social media updates from friends and running group members participating in the Disney events.  I even watched the start and finish via live stream that Disney set up for those of us who couldn't make it.  Wishing I could be there, got me thinking about what to look forward to in the upcoming year and how to plan to run Disney again in the year after.  

Looking forward into the New Year and upcoming goals:

It has been a month since I last run and I have committed to run a the first local Half Marathon in February.  Less than 30 days, and I'll be running the Locomotive Half Marathon in Kennesaw, GA.  I enjoyed this event last year as it was well directed.  I was also amused that after Disney's Marathon week with hundreds, if not thousand, port-a-johns, the Locomotive race had only a couple.  Folks were still in line when the race started.  

Two weeks later, it will be the Guns & Hoses 5k.  It's a local run for charity with proceeds going to either the Sheriff's Office designated charity or Fire Department's charity depending on how many register a preference.  The two different sides have different colored shirts to designate their support.  Traditionally the race has always been freezing.  

 My main goal is to get back on track health wise to lose the weight I gained back from inactivity.  Susan has found several projects around the house to keep me from travelling and keep me moving;  Remodeling a bathroom, building a new back deck, and several more.  My 'runcations' will be closely scrutinized this year.  She is encouraging me to find some local races to keep me motivated.   

A couple of weeks ago, I was given a challenge by Frank Pizarro to answer some questions.  Well, here it goes:

Four movies I've watched more than once:

1. Pirates of the Caribbean

2. National Treasure

3. 'Marvel movies' (Iron Man, Avengers, X-men, Captain America, Thor)

4. Jason Bourne series

Four Book I'd Recommend: 

1. The Ezekiel Option by Joel C Rosenberg

2. Steve Berry's Cotton Malone series " The Lincoln Myth"

3. Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins

4.  This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti

Four Places I've Been:*Outside the US

1. Canada (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Montreal)

2. Bahamas (*favorite isle, Castaway Cay)

3. Mexico (Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, Costa Maya)

4. Caribbean (Grenada, Turks & Caicos)

Four Things I Don't Eat:

1. Broccoli (unless it is chopped extra fine/unrecognizable and covered in melted Cheddar Cheese as a dip)

2. Cauliflower (looks like albino broccoli)

3. Brussels Sprouts

4. Artichokes

Four of my Favorite Foods:

1. Pizza

2. Bacon & Eggs (breakfast)

3. Chili

4. Steak, Grilled Zucchini & Squash, Baked Potato

Four TV Shows I Watch:

1. NCIS

2. DR Who

3. Grimm

4. Once Upon a Time

Four Things I'm Looking Forward to This Year:

1. Building new back deck/porch

2. Possible new work schedule that will open all my weekends

3. Side jobs to earn money for running events

4. Twentieth Wedding Anniversary

Four Sayings I'm Always Saying:  My family couldn't agree on four common sayings.  

1.Usually it's just a sarcastic remark when getting cut off while driving when someone doesn't use the turn signal,  "Love that blinker".  

2.The other is usually directed to my girls when there competitive streak overcomes them during game night, "If you don't quit arguing, I'm out of here".  

3. I thought I say, "sounds good" , when I agree with someone, but they couldn't agree on it.

4. Being in public safety, I tell my wife everyday, " I love you", just in case it's the one day I don't come home.  I don't want a day to go by without her hearing me tell her, whether a whisper or loud proclamation, "I love you".  It doesn't grow old because she knows I mean it.