It's Warm Enough...

I feel as though each day we get a different season. We've managed to get up into the 50s a few times over the last few weeks and today it was 21 degrees when I woke up.

It is finally warm enough that I can start running outside again. There were a few icy patches out there, and the temperature was a little chilly. Overall, though, I don't feel uncomfortable out there. It does feel good to get outside and get some fresh air. I much more feel like I worked out when I can get outside.

Running indoors was starting to get old especially when I was trying to run more than two miles as a time. Twenty laps can be tedious and the scenery doesn't really change ;). Plus, it's easier to run indoors without all the fun elements of Wisconsin weather. I am hoping to supplement the runs with the some weight training and some core workouts.

With the stress of finishing out the year and waiting for a pastor position, the exercise will definitely do me good!

Turning Point

On Sunday, I was given the opportunity to lead the vesper service at the Evergreen Retirement Community in Oshkosh, WI. The pastor who regularly leads this service told me that it should be no longer than 30 minutes and let me know the items that I needed to include in the service. This was the first time I took an opportunity to lead a service that I put together myself.

The process of generating a sermon, the proper prayers, hymns, etc. wasn't all that bad. What concerned me as the retirement community/nursing home environment. I wasn't sure how I'd react or how I'd be received.

Everyone there was so nice and accommodating while Christa and I were there. I was most touched by a comment that a lady made as she was leaving. She said to someone next to her, "It was so nice to be able to go to church today."

She said that about something that I led. I wonder sometimes how people feel about the services that I preside over. She didn't say, "Well that wasn't very good." She acknowledged my service as a church service, just like any other she might attend. That felt really good! I am really appreciating the opportunities I have to help with churches in the community.

It has me increasingly excited for July 2009 when I will hopefully be starting my own church appointment.

Other News:

1. I will talk more about the Brewers playoffs prospects tomorrow. Needless to say, they are in after a 26 year drought. My parents had tickets for the game and were there on Sunday!
2. It felt to get out this morning and do some interval training on the track at Oshkosh North.
   

What I'm Looking Forward to This Week:

Here is a list of things I am looking forward to this week:

1. Getting preparations ready for gaming on the 4th of October. Maybe I'll finally get a post on the blog. People are curious.
2. Seeing what the Brewers can get done this week. The playoffs are still possible. Can they do it?
3. Seeing how the Packers do against the Buccaneers this Sunday. The Battle of the Bays is back! :)
4. I do my first church service at the Evergreen Retirement Community. Their vesper service is at 4:30 PM on Sunday.
5. On Thursday we are having a Staff Development which will consist of us gathering together and enjoying pizza. How fun is that!?
6. After a break today, I will get back to running. I am hopeful to keep these workouts out for the rest of 2008 and see how my fitness and weight change. I am sprinkling in a few exercise classes at the Rec. Center as well.
   

The Fox Cities Half Marathon

At 8:00 AM this morning, the gun went off for the Fox Cities Half Marathon. This is the first time I have run this course, so I wasn't sure what to expect. The first four to five miles felt good, but I thought I was going a little fast. My goal was to try and run the race in one hour and 45 minutes.

As I got to the eight mile mark, I started to feel labored and my pace fell off a little bit. By mile ten, I found a nice gentlemen who let me know my time and I realized I was pretty close to the time that I was looking for.

When I got to the last mile, I just didn't have much left in the tank. I tried to do a kick, but I only had the energy to keep my current pace going. Based on the website, it appears that my time was 1:49:50. That was the time from the gun, but I know that I didn't get past the starting line until well over a minute after the gun went off. I am curious to see if they post a different time based on the chips. We'll see.

Regardless, it is a PR for me and that is good! :) The Oshkosh Half Marathon is in April and the Green Bay Marathon is in May. I am hoping to do both events!

Tuesday Update

The University of Dubuque has some strange policies when it comes to the internet. Their software download requirements to use their internet is way too cumbersome. They also have these strange limits that they place on web usage. If the university goes over a certain amount, access to certain sites in cut off...sites like Facebook and Blogger. So, posts on here may be a little less frequent than usual. Tonight I got lucky! :)



Things are going well here in Dubuque. I am down to just two assignments left to complete. I need to write a sermon manuscript and an order of worship for a church service. For the most part, these are fun activities, but I am pretty burned out. After a full day of classes, it is hard to get motivated to keep reading and writing papers.



I have kept up my running and got a new pair of shoes while I was home. Mine are orange, not pink. They are working out great!

The Next Step

For what it's worth, I finished 321st out of field of 952.

I have decided to take the next step and register for the Fox Cities Marathon! I will have plenty of time to train as the race is not until September 23, 2007.

In the mean time, I am hoping to do a few smaller races to fill in the gap until the big event. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the races give me something to train for and they keep my motivation up.

I managed to eek out a 3-mile run this morning. My muscles were not excited about it, but it at some point I need to get back into the swing of things.

Stay tuned for pictures...they should be coming soon.

Results

I finished! I checked the website yesterday afternoon and the final time was:

1 hour, 49 minutes, 13 seconds

My goal was to run the race in under two hours, so I feel good about my pacing and my effort in the 13.1 mile event.

The secret for me was to start slow in the beginning to get warmed and as the race went on I was able to increase my pace and pick people off as I made my way through the field. I could tell that my mile splits were getting faster and faster as I went along.

It was great to have Christa and my Dad there for the race. I saw them at the 5-mile mark and at the end of the race. I saw various folks that I knew during the race including Petra, who was around mile 4.

Now I need to look for the next race in which to participate. They are great motivators!

Ten Miles...

The running craziness continues. To continue the build in the half marathon, I went out for a 10 mile run this morning. Thanks go to Eric Minix joining me on the first five mile loop. It was much appreciated. Although my body is sore, it is not as sore as it was last week for the nine mile run. We'll see if that holds up for the rest of the day. Less than a month until the half marathon.

Brief Thoughts

I have a few minutes before I move on to my next meeting...gotta love Tuesdays.

I did some interval training with Mike Chastain this morning. We ran eight sets of 400 meter strides with 200 meters rest. it was brutal, but it felt good! I am glad Mike was able to be up and keep me moving this morning.

The weightlifting continue to go well. All of my exercises have progressed in the weight i am lifting. My physical trainer is happy with the gains I am making and is pleased with the consistency that I have shown with the workouts.

I look forward to seeing the differences in my physical shape from January 1 for June 1. Should be good.

Nine Miles!

This morning I ran for nine miles! The last time I even came close to that distance was two years ago during RHD training when Bronk and I were training for the "1/2 Marathon for Kittens". The first three miles were a little rough, but once I got into a groove it started to feel good. My muscles were sore, not so much from the running but from being in a standing position for almost 90 minutes.

I continue to look forward to the half marathon.

Sub-190 Trend Weight

One of my initial goals this year was to finally get my "trend weight" under 190. I think I have mentioned this before, but my runner's log has a calculation where it takes your daily weights and creates an average so as to take into account fluctuations that may occur. This morning when I step on the scale and inputed 188.4 into program, my trend weight came up 189.9. That felt good! Now, on to the next goal, one that will probably be a little harder. I would next like to get down to a trend weight of 180.

Christa and others have commented about how it looks like I'm losing weight, but now I am beginning to see it. The "gut" that I have is still there, but it's much smaller. My muscles are beginning to become more defined and I have more energy than I have had before. I even managed to run, lift weights and eat a healthy breakfast during OPE. This is the first year I have done that.

I look forward to seeing the continued effects of exercise. I appreciate everyone's support in this endeavor.

A Running Revolution...Sorta

I am excited to hear of the growing level of participation in the upcoming Oshkosh Half Marathon on April 21. As I have mentioned before, the 2nd floor Breese CA Mike is doing it. He mentioned to me that several of his residents are interested in doing it. My goodness, this might actually turn into a hall program ;).

With a half marathon comes training, and I am also excited to hear about other folks in the building that are running. They tell me that they have run 3, 4 or 5 miles. They have started weight lifting. I can only hope that my new devotion to fitness might in some small way be rubbing off on them.

Eric Minix, the NCC/WCC for UW Oshkosh will be joining me for my runs on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. He started yesterday and I will say it is nice to have someone else along for the run. Conversation always makes the run go faster. Others are welcome to join us. The catch is that I run at 7:00 AM each morning, although by the time I get up and get dressed, it's more like 7:10 AM. I run Monday-Friday. Let me know!

The countdown to the half marathon can be found in the upper right hand corner of the blog. It's getting close. My schedule running is becoming more regular and I think my body continues to adjust to a higher level of activity. Hopefully by April it's ready. :)

Amusing Story

Thursdays are my new "long run" day on my running schedule. Today called for a 7 mile run and I mapped out a 6.83 mile run. I was making my way along the running route and was running on Main St. for quite awhile. I was looking for 20th Street, but saw a jump to 21st with no 20th. So...I ran to 24th Street hooked up with Oregon and made my way back to 20th.

It wasn't until I got to 20th that I forgot 20th stopped at Oregon; there is no Main St./20th intersection. I completed the rest of my run as mapped. When I got done, I finished the run in 73 minutes. That seemed really slow for 6.83 miles, especially given the fact that I felt really good during the run and felt my pace was pretty fast. I check the run and sure enough I only the route going to Oregon which would allow access to 20th Street.

Re-mapping the route, my run was actually 7.83 miles. That was pretty sweet.

The good news is that I felt like I could have kept running when I was done...maybe 13.1 miles is not so out of the question.

On a side note, I began my weight training yesterday. I'll keep you posted on how that's going.

A New Addition

I went out for a four-mile run this morning. My pace was faster this morning that it has been for a few weeks. I am assuming that the "warmer" temperatures are allowing we to warm up and stretch the pace out a little bit. After the run this morning, I made my way over to the Kolf Sports Center on campus and did eight 100-meter strides on the track.

If you aren't familiar with a stride, you basically take half of the 100 meters and build up to a speed that is not quite a sprint. You maintain this pace for the remaining portion of the distance. I have been waiting until I built up some mileage before I incorporated strides. It is also my intent to start building in one day of speed work each week as well. Hopefully, as the weeks go by we will see some improvement in the mile pacing.

Also concerning additions, I have added a wedding and half-marathon counter to the web page. You, too, can witness the impending doom....I mean, joy! :)

Confession/Gaming

I must start off by confessing that I did not run today. I was supposed to. There is a -35 degree wind chill out there today and I had no desire to go anywhere outside today! I promise that I will find some alternative for running tomorrow because I do not want to anything like this up.

Yesterday, I had six folks join me for a session of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. I had current residents, past residents, students from other halls, colleagues and old friends. It was an eclectic mix of folks. We played for about 4 hours, although the first hour was spent more in preparation. So, I am excited for this Sunday when we'll have four solid hours of gaming.

It had been so long since I gamed. I am excited to have a group together that will be playing consistently week to week. You can read more about the campaign at our Campaign Page.

Calling All Exercisers!

Mike Chastain (the Breese 2nd floor CA) and I were talking about running recently and he mentioned a website that would actually allow you to map out your runs and it would tell you the distance. I did a little exploring and found a website called: mapmyrun.com.

If you run, walk or bike this website will be very helpful for you. It allows you to pick a home address and you can plot courses all over the map. You can create a profile and you can save the routes that you have created.

Mike was right...this works much better than a pedometer. :)

One Month Exercise Review

Today is the last day on January. As of today, I have run 98 miles in the month of January. When I started exercising on the 1st, I weighed 200 pounds. I now way 193 with a "trend weight" of 194.7. That is a weight loss of a little more than one pound a week, which is a safe amount and something I am very happy with.

It is nice to have completed a unit of time with running...one month.I look forward to the month of February so I see if I continue the gains found thus far.

Oshkosh Half Marathon

This morning I started my fourth full week of running. Yesterday I bought a new pair of running shoes so it was nice to get them into action. I can definitely feel a difference; there is more support in the heel and ankle area. Interestingly enough, despite the benefits, I ran quite a bit slower than usual. Given the fact it was barely above freezing and that it was snowing were probably the contributing factors. Plus, it was Monday! Regardless, the 4.5 mile felt good.

Last night I also signed up for the Oshkosh Half Marathon. It is April 14, 2007. For those of you that may not know, that is a 13.1 mile run. I have also wanted to run a marathon in my lifetime; this event will be a good stepping stone to that end. The weather should be warmer and I have run 13 miles a couple times in my life. I know I can do it. I have plenty of weeks of training before the event.

What I have to fight is the fact that I have signed up for half marathons twice before and have dropped out of running before I got to them. This time I will not.

Saturday Potpourri

• Christa finished her work at Webster/Stanley. Even though she was only there three weeks, the kids there definitely responded to her teaching; they were very sad to see her go. They made many cards for her and she baked cookies for them. I could tell that Christa really enjoyed her experience; I am happy that she has found a calling and sees a clear path ahead.
• The colleges students are on break until January 28. So, I get a little R&R before the spring semester begins. My staff comes back this Thursday and I start training with them that Sunday.
• I will be taking my computer home on Tuesday and will be working with my Dad to get my computer to work again. Hopefully when I get back to Oshkosh on Wednesday evening, I can check my E-mail and write blog entries from my apartment. :)
• I finished by second straight week of running. So far, so good. I look forward to a day off tomorrow. But, even more, I am looking forward to some continuing progress. I ran 24 miles this week.
  

Running Update

So, the running continues. The more I continue running, the more I think back to my days as a track and cross country runner in high school. I am sure as this blog continues you will hear more stories about my high school running days.

I joined track in high school because most of friends wanted to do track. So, I became a distance runner even thought I wasn't all that interested. I was not a runner by any means. Our first run was short, maybe 2 miles. I remember our coach asking us to take our pulse. Mine was at about 160-180 beats a minutes...we had only run one mile. It was definitely an interesting year. My race times showed consistent improvement as I truly had to "get into shape." Three years later, I was in amazing shape, eating any food I wanted, and not even thinking about my weight. I was peeking running 40+ miles a week.

Then, I got to college and let it all go.

I haven't run consistently since the age of 18. The muscle that I gained in high school is still there, but the rest of the body has degenerated. I have next to zero cardiovascular fitness. I am considered overweight, if not close to being obese on the BMI. It will be an interesting road back to some level of running competency.

Every time I have tried to start running again, the biggest hang up has been to "get over" the mileage. What I mean by this is I get caught up in thinking, "How far have I run?" If I realize I have only run two miles, I would get discouraged. It would make the runs feel longer because I kept obsessing about how long my runs were. Now, I plan out the runs before I even head out so that I'm not thinking about the distance; I simply know how I long I will have run when I get back.

The other biggest obstacle was always trying to do too much too quickly. I would usually increase my mileage too fast and I would get injured, frustrated or tired. I have four years of doing running plans, you think I would know better. But, this time it is sticking. I know it will.

I am also appreciating the many benefits of running: weight loss, increased energy, increased matabolism, and no more feelings of being lazy. It is good, and it continues...