So where am I taking my talents?

Definitely not South Beach.(Although Miami does host it's own 1/2 Marathon in March.)

Nope, I'm definitely going to be running in Houston on January 30, 2011. However, I'm going to be running in the Aramco Houston 1/2 Marathon with 16,000 of my other closest friends. I'm really excited about running in this race. And while I know that it's not the full marathon that I wanted to run in, it is still a 1/2 marathon, or 13.1 miles, or a 21K for you English people.

How do you feel?
I feel great! I bought these two items, a compression band for my IT band and a foam roller. I probably could of ran 10 miles last Saturday but I took it easy for the first run back in 3 weeks. I only got 6 after rolling out the night before and wearing my band, but I still felt great!

Do you want to run any other races?
Yeah I do!

These are some of the 1/2's that I want to run

• (Link) February 12, 2011 - Jail Break Run - Baytown, Texas
• (Link) February 20, 2011 - Galveston Mardi Gras 1/2 Marathon - Galveston, Texas
• (Link) March 6, 2011 - Armadillo Dash - College Station, Texas
• (Link) March 19, 2011 - Seabrook Lucky Trails - Seabrook, Texas

Where the heck have you been?

For my 8 readers, it's been a while. Last I left you I was recovering from the Houston Half Marathon. I could give you a long run down of what all's gone on there but basically I can put it down to a few bullet points.

• I got sick, couldn't run.
• I better, ran a little.
• I got sick again, finally went to the doctor, felt better, lost momentum running.
• Got well, started retraining.
• Got ready to run the 25K.
• Named deacon same morning as 25K.
• Trained more, got up to 15 miles one run.
• Started pulling up lame in runs.
• Found out what an "IT Band" is.
• Switched to 1/2 marathon instead of Full Marathon in January.
• Had some thoughts about switching.
• Found out IT Band injury isn't that bad actually.

Now I'm kind of at an impass. I have until the 19th to decide if I want to switch back to the full marathon. I need and want to do this marathon, but I won't lie, I'm not there physically yet. I'll have six weeks until the marathon if I decide to do that run.

What should I do? I could so use some help here.

Beginning the Marathon Warm Up Series

Well this weekend I ran the first of 3 races prior to the Chevron Houston Marathon in January. I ran the Koala Health & Wellness - Luke's Locker Houston 1/2 Marathon & Relay.

Race Recap: This was one whole loop. The first time that they had done that since the inception of of the "Houston Half."  I enjoyed this race and it taught me alot about who I am as a runner. I'm pretty sore right now even 2 days after the race, but I'm hoping to bounce back this weekend during my weekend run to set me up on for the 2nd leg of the Marathon Warm Up Series on November 14, 2010.

Here was the map of the race.

 These were some of my race stats.

Here is my pace chart.

Here are some of the photos from my race taken from the race company. Unfortunately I can't take the "Proof" off of them until I purchase them (which I am purchasing some.)

This first picture is me at mile marker #11. 

This picture is me at the finish line right after I finished the full 1/2 marathon.

 

This is me with my medal for finishing. We literally got them as we crossed the finish line.

Here is a link to my finish time of 2 Hours 52 Minutes. And yes I did finish 110 in my age group, and i'm proud of it!----> LINK

8 Mile Runs, Gu's, Running Watch, and Races Galore!

I've been busy, and I really do wish that it could be because I am running in getting those strides and everything in, but I'm not. I'm consumed with work right now getting everything off the ground. I'm pretty dedicated to getting at least one maintenance run in each week before we do our long runs, but I know that when we get to the further distances this is just not going to cut it. I'm going to have to either have life get less hectic, or I'm going to have to hire a stunt double. I honestly have looked into the prices, they aren't cheap!

8-Mile Runs:

What your looking at is my first 8 mile run. I surprisingly felt more alive after this run than I have after my six mile runs.

This was one of my mid week maintenance runs where I was just making sure to get out there and run. Notice the time, and yeah it was FRIGGIN hot!

Yeah, this was this past weekend's run. I really have never felt more better than after this run. I am tempted next week to get to 10 miles just for the sake of it.  I really only sag about the 4 mile mark or so when I don't have water to replenish so much of the water weight that I'm losing as well as rehydrating me. (I'm loosing close to 5 lbs a run, don't worry I gain most of it back in the next 2-3 days with normal dieting.)

Well i'm not getting the 3-4 Runs that I want to get out of the week, but despite my schedule, I'm actually quite proud of what I'm getting in, mainly because forcing myself to find time at least once a week. It will get better as soon as work calms down.

Gu's 

Well I am getting to the point that I need to replenish the calories that I am losing during my runs on Saturday so that I'm not completely drained after the run and for the rest of the day. Part of this is done through the usage of Gu's. I recently went to my local running store to pick up a pack of 6 where I could try 3 different types. I picked out Strawberry Banana, Tri-Berry, and Just Plain. First of these things are terrible tasting, they are quite possibly the most sweetest things that you have ever had. I have learned to only sip 1/2 of the 100 calorie package and I feel like I get enough of the GU that I am able to start processing it in my body so that 15 minutes later it can take effect (there is a strategy apparently.)

Running Watch:

Turns out just getting out there and running is not as simple as I thought. I needed to (it was my birthday after all) to purchase a running watch. One of the best in the business is Garmin, who make my favorite handheld GPS's for my old hobby of Geocaching. Anyway, after doing some amount of research, I located a Garmin 305 on sale on Craigs List for $100 (MSRP $225). The owner had used it a small number of times and received it from her mother and only ran indoors and had no real need for it. I really like it in that it gives me much more analytics than I had before on my Nike System. I still use the Nike+ system that I have had for a while because I like the graphs a little better than the Garmin graphs, but the garmins preciseness with how far I run is very helpful. I find that the Nike system is about a quarter mile off for every 4-5 miles ran for me.

Races Galore

My calendar is filling up, my running  calendar that is! I'm slated to run in the Marathon Warm-Up Series coming up this fall. This series of three races is 13.1, 15.5, and 18.8 miles respectively. They allow me to get ready to run a certain distance and have the raceday atmosphere and preparation that will make me ready for the Houston Marathon. 

Here is the races I'm slated to run:

October 24: 2010 Houston Half Marathon & Relay in cooperation with Koala Health & Wellness Centers and Luke’s Locker. (13.1 Miles)

November 14: 2010 Houston Masters Classical(25 K or 15.5 Miles)

December 12: 2010 Sugar Land Lake of Williams Ranch (30 K or 18.8 Miles) 

I might fit a 10k or random 5K in there from time to time but I need to be focused on longer runs on Saturday to get prepped for the Houston Marathon.

So you get in the Marathon and drop off the face of the earth....

Well, uh...yeah!


The reason for this is that it is back to school time. Which means that the classrooms that we took the better part of a month tearing down last may needed to be unboxed and put back up for the upcoming school year. To make things more interesting, Corrie got transferred to two different campuses within the first two weeks this year as part of a big district realignment with our jobs. All that too say that we have had a full month of 7 AM - 8 PM shifts of working/prepping/teaching which have led to little to no chance to run in at least the last two weeks. I have wanted to daily, but our time frame just hasn't allowed for it.

I've learned that I just can't run when I want. I have come up with 3 -4 different situations.

After School Run: This is probably going to be my best option this year for my Sub 1 1/2 hour run. I get out of school at 3:45 PM and can get in an eventual 5-7 mile run with the pace I'm running now. I like this option because I can change out of work clothes and immediately get my run in. The negative is that it puts me getting home pretty late. I'm okay with that but it means less time after picking up Cullen before he gets home and has to go to sleep.

Night Run: This is an option that I haven't really tried yet. I realize that it is going to have to be my option whenever I get to the 3-4 hour training runs. I've purchased night reflectors that I'll post about tomorrow after my run. I think these will be good, but it will mean me giving up some time in the evening or putting people to bed earlier just so that I can get in a run before it gets too late.

Morning Run: This seems like the most logical of the ideas for me, but I really don't wake up great during the school year.

YMCA Run: The YMCA is our local gym that we are members of, Corrie and Cullen can go into the Y while I run the trails and we can meet back up. We are going to try to use this option at least once a week.


And I thought this was going to be about just running 26.2 miles in less than six hours....

And the lottery officials say:

Let me explain. About two weeks ago on July 27th I entered my name in for a spot to run in the 2011 Houston Chevron Marathon. Apparently the race had sold out of all 22,000 combined marathon, half-marathon, and 5K spots in about 60 hours last year so they decided to go to a lottery system this year. I was kind of frustrated with this because I didn't want to train all summer for a race that I couldn't enter. However, I threw my name in the hat the other day for a spot and received this snippet above as part of an email. I immediately when I got home jumped on Twitter and Facebook to see if any others had the same situation, and lo and behold, they had. I then decided to go to the horses mouth and check out the Houston Marathon's website. I find this little nugget.

Note the second bolded sentence. I knew at that moment that I definitely had a spot in the race. It was an awesome feeling because now I have a new countdown to look forward too.

Saturday Walk, One Day Total,

Saturday Afternoon Walk with Corrie

So on the afternoon after my Saturday run we decided to go for a Saturday walk at Oyster Creek with Cullen and Selah. I 

One Day Total 

I ran a record one day total of 8.85 miles on Saturday. Only a 3rd of a marathon for those who need the math.

Crappy Run, Waiting Game

This weekend I got out to get ready for my Saturday run and was out the door with a great amount of time. Normally I'm rushed to get there and not get left by the group that will ultimately leave me behind anyway(I believe this is situational irony, no?). Anyway, I even had the chance to plant a water bottle at one of my turns in our 6 mile run, but I just had a terrible run today.

Crappy Run

I really don't know what else to call it. I'm still struggling to not get out the gate running fast but as you can see this still happens. I got to talking to our group leaders who run at a pace that is about 4-5 minutes faster per mile than I am right now, so when I broke away from them I was about 1 1/2 in and had not kept any rhythm but just running. As you can see about 1/2 a way into the run I just started to give out. It was a hot, humid day and to top it out I apparently didn't eat enough breakfast (read:not any at all) and it caught up with. I had an upset stomach there for the second half which made me hesitant to put on a full run or jog at all. I'm still looking forward to the first chill that comes in so that I can lower my times just because of the weather, because right now, I've got nothing. I'm consistently around the 13'30" pace which puts me finishing a marathon if I keep that pace, but just barely. I stinking dread the idea of the HPD cops pulling up the barricades when I am on mile no. 22 because they have to turn course back into a road.

Waiting Game

Have I mentioned that I'm not a fan of the Houston Marathon's lottery system. I'm verified that I'm a lottery registrant, but that still frustrates me because I have to wait 10 more days to find out whether or not I can run this marathon here in Houston. I really don't want to run it here in Sugar Land because it's a rather boring course.  

Saturday Run, Signed Up

Once again this Saturday came and I was up and ready to go for another Saturday run. Due to the fact that summer school had got out this week I wasn't able to get in a run either in the morning or evening at all this week, so I expected that my run would be a little sluggish, but it wasn't. I felt great and the wind started to blow in. I'm still not running a great pace, but I attribute it too the 90% humidity.

"Saturday Run"

If you notice this run, I'm doing a whole lot more consistent running rather than stopping and starting. I'm starting to get my running under control. I really had a rather uneventful run last Saturday, but I felt good running it and felt good afterwards. 

"Signed Up"

I officially signed up for the Chevron Houston Marathon on the 27th when registrations opened up. As I mentioned before, this is for a spot in the Lottery system that they are implementing this year. I'll find out on the 17th if I got a spot.

First injury, back on the horse, a 5K down, no exemption, and a running outfit!

It's been a while since I've blogged, mainly because it's been a while since I've run! Right after the 4th of July we went on vacation to North Carolina. I was able to get in a run there in the 50% humidity instead of the 99% we are feeling right now. It was great except for the fact that North Carolina has hills, and a lot of them. I planned to run a 10K the morning I was able to get out and only got in a 5K because the of the number of hills and the way that they were affecting muscles that did not know what HILLS were. 

"Putting on the outfit"

Anyway, I've since gotten a chance to go get officially fitted with some running shoes that help my over-pronation. Apparently my heel hits the ground and the inside of my ankle semi-buckles in (this is code for "I'm fat and have a lot of weight on these legs) so I needed some shoes that would combat that problem. I choose to get a line of shoes called Brooks which apparently after looking at my running club this last Saturday, are the running shoes of choice. I also scooped some really nice running shorts that don't hold in sweat as well as a running jersey that flushes away sweat as well. It's a pretty nice little get-up that I've purchased and I'm enjoying running with it. 

"First Injury"

I got up this past Wednesday to get in a run early in the morning before I had to go teach Summer school. I had intended on running my traditional six miles but when I got about 2 miles or so in I took a rather nasty spill. If you see the chart above you notice where my pace just drops right in the middle, that is where I fell. It was early in the morning, around 6:15 AM so I got back up so that the oncoming cars wouldn't think someone was dead on the side of the road and I started for home. It's not very comfortable to run all scraped up. My arm and leg healed pretty quick, but it messed up my back for the rest of the week, not allowing me to have the chance to get a second run in before this Saturday's weekly run with the church group. In fact I didn't really know if I needed to go out on Saturday, but I was stubborn enough that I decided to do it anyway.

"Back on the Horse"

As you can see from this Saturday, I did go out, but I was very up and down. I needed to find a better hydration system for myself because carrying water hasn't really worked that well for me. Around the 2 mile marker there is a water fountain that most of our group stops for. I didn't stop this time, but know that in the future I'll probably make sure to do so. I did however drop frozen bottle of water at mile marker no. 4 and it made a difference. If you notice the chart, you can see where my pace starts to pick back up towards the end. I think my take away from this Saturday was to provide myself with a little bit more hydration prior to racing. It's not cheating myself out of a good prep prior to the Marathon because to my knowledge they have a water station at ever mile to a mile and a half on race day.

"A 5K Down"

I had the chance 2 Saturday's ago to run a 5K at Johnson Space Center with our family friend, Abby Maegar. This was her first 5K and my 4th. Abby had been doing the "Couch to 5K" program the past 8 weeks in preperation for this 5K. She completed the 5K and her husband, family, and Corrie and I were very proud of her. We are planning on doing a 10K later in the fall. I've yet to officially do one those although I basically run one every Saturday with the church. Here are some "pirated" pictures from my run and her run.

          

"No Exemption"

As I have probably mentioned before, the Houston Chevron Marathon this year will be doing a lottery in order to get a spot. I thought I had found a loophole by signing up with the Houston Area Road Runners Association and applying for one of their exemptions. They had over 500 Marathon Spots but gave out 450 spots today from a pool of 600 spots. I didn't have anything that made me stand out so I was basically looking for a bottom of the totem pole exemption here. I got an email a few minutes ago saying that I unfortunately did not have one of those exemptions and would have to go in the lottery here later this week when it opens up. 

Saturday Run #4: 5.88 Miles Down

I got up this morning not knowing that the

Saturday Run #3: 5.73 Miles Down, almost at a 10K

I finally got out and ran today after only getting to get in a 5K last week on Tuesday. I had my Thursday run wrecked by my decision to wait in line for the iPhone 4 on June 24th when it became available. However I had gotten a ready for this week by running trying to eat a little smarter. This was supposed to be our  long run for the week. You can notice that my run was 1 hr 18min long. It's crazy that I have gotten up to runs that are that long. During my run you can notice that I had a bunch of peaks and vallies. I definitely run kept running hard and then walked and then ran hard then walked and so on and so on. The hardest part about running is keeping a steady pace. For me it seems to be a little harder because I have a longer stride because of my height. When I jog at a slow pace it almost seems easier to walk fast. However, when it's time for me to kick it into a more of a jogging pace, I almost feel like it's easier for me to just get in my running pace. Hopefully I'll be able to move this into a productive steady running pace further in the year during my training.

This was definitely my longest run of the year so far. I have to tell you that my legs are feeling pretty good right now. I am running a 13:30 pace consistently in super hot heat. I'm told that 2 minutes at least can be shed when the weather cools down just at this current level of training. Even with my 13:30 pace right now, I can finish the marathon under the 6:00 hour mark at this point. However I hope that with my training I can be more intense and get my pace down to finish this thing around 4 hr 30 min to 5 hr.  If people run with me they'll notice that I don't give up and walk away. I always finish. When I start finally getting my caloric intake in and really start shedding the poundage away this might make all of this easier.

Alright, enough babbling. I need to go to bed here soon. As you can tell I've been getting up early. Oh yeah, I also got this little notice today when I logged my milage in. Money!

Running Club: June 19

This was my third run with the group this Saturday. I knew we weren't going to just run the 3.3 miles that I did last Saturday, and I was right. When I got there the Stern's said that we could run the same route, we just needed to extend ourself and run a little longer or a little farther. I got to run with Shawna Moulton who is in my Sunday school class this weekend because we were in the same grouping as far as  ability to run. Shawna turned out to be a pretty good running partner because we were able to push each other when each of us really wanted to stop. I didn't feel like I was dragging our little group. We ran a total of 4.23 miles today, which was by far my longest run I have had since I have started training. It's brutal out there with the temperature at 7:00 AM being in the low 80's. It's hard.

Next week I'm told we are running a 6 miler. Yeah. That's a 10K. WoW.

These are my runs since I've started on the Nike+ running system with my runs. As you can see. I blew it out of the water today.

And Got a sweet little notice when I logged online to Nikeplus.com about this...

Working out with friends

I was going to do a Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday schedule this week, but that has changed as Corrie had her friend from QVE Mrs. Scott meet us at Community park to go walk/run. I started with my new marathon pacing of going 3 minutes running/ 1 minute walking and got about a mile or so in and opted to go back and meet up with Corrie and Mrs. Scott. I enjoyed my conversation with them as we completed a 5K basically in our running.

I'll adjust my running to a Monday/Wednesday/Friday/Saturday run or Monday/Wednesday/Saturday. We'll see!

First "Running Club" Run

Well this Saturday I was able to meet up at Commonwealth Elementary with our running club for our first official run together. Talk about a sloth getting to run with cheetahs! There were several people who could run the whole 4.7 scheduled miles that we were to run. I elected to take the shorter route in my run and made about 3.3 miles in the run. This was a little bit more than 5K. I ran with a lady named "Angel" who hasn't ran as much in the past year and was trying to get in shape just like I was. She was a little more in shape which made her end up coaching me not to quit towards the end of our run. I like these Saturday runs because they are challenging.

Somehow I need to be able to run 6 Miles by the end of the month in a run. I know that I can do this as far as stamina, but I can't do it in a marathon format. I need these Saturday to become my long run days and take those runs as the best I can do for right now. Hopefully next weeks long run gets a little farther. Perhaps 4.5 miles or so?

Anyway, now for some visuals.

This is was my run, notice how up and down it is, our coaches had asked me to do a 3/1 type of run where I run for 3 minutes at my current pace, then one minute on a fast walk. You probably notice that my runs were pretty fast to start as well as my walks and then tapered off. I'll get better!

This was my farthest run yet, according to my Nike+ running system.

So far my Saturday run set up my fastest 1 Mi. Pace as well as my fastest 5K.

This is my weeks efforts. I ran a total of 5 runs this week. I'll probably bring back my runs per week to 4 max, with the hardest run being Saturday during the running club. I was simply gassed by the end of the week. I ran my best run on Thursday and could of gone further if the dog wasn't getting tired.

A 5K a day....

I was able to pound out a 5K today this morning. It was great that three runs after my initial 5K to start my training I was about to get another 5K done. I would of finished in better time, but my dog was with me, and as you know, that makes us have some seriously unpredictable runs. I can be running on a great pace and then suddenly have to stop because Selah needs to pee. 

Since I reported to you that I found out that the Houston Marathon was going to a lottery system I have found several other potential replacements in the event that I don't get the spot in this years Marathon. 

Here's the list:

1. Angies Half-Crazy Half-Marathon

2. Sugar Land Marathon

3. Austin Marathon

Running with your Dog, and winning the Lottery.

First off, if you are one of my few readers to this blog let me assure you that I didn't win the Texas Lottery. Although I think that would be swell as well. First let me get to the first part of the title of this blog post.

This morning I got up to run and was guilted by Corrie to bring the dog along. Now our dog, Selah, is about a 6-7 year old Jack Russell/Rat Terrier. She's definitely not in tip top shape and frequently stops and starts. As you can see the track from my run this morning we were up and down quite often. If you notice the peak run where we ran really fast near the end of our run, that was when we ran across a Bunny and Selah had to chase it down for a while. Needless to say, she probably won't be going on every run that I do, either that or she'll have to learn to not stop as much.

The second part that I previously mentioned was the lottery. I need to win the lottery, that is with the Houston Marathon committee. Apparently this past year the Marathon sold out in 60 hours, so they wanted to give those that didn't have the ability to sign up a fair chance to sign up for the race. Sooo, they have instituted a lottery system for this years sign up process. From July 27 to April 12th I have a chance to sign up for a ticket into the lottery. I will be notified about a week after the 12th of August if I got a spot in the Marathon. What happens if I don't get a spot in the Marathon? I don't know, but I'll figure that out when I cross that bridge. I really wish they wouldn't have done that, but who knows what will happen. I'll still press on in my training, that's for sure!

Bringing Your Pet, and check your Lotto Numbers?

Not that I want

Injured Already?

I started my actual running this morning for my marathon training. I went in my neighborhood rather than going to a track just because of time issues. I want to create a routine of running in the morning that I can be on auto pilot about. I woke up at 6:30 AM and got outside around 6:42 AM. It was a rather humid morning to run, but I started anyway. I started running and got some great pacing and then my toe injury kicked in.

Now your probably thinking "Really, your hurt already from running." Well actually, no, I hurt it cleaning pool salt from the trunk of my car.  Evidently when I purchased my pool salt to get the pool ready for this summer there was a hole in the bag and I didn't realize it. I went to go clean out my car Saturday evening and took the floorboard to the trunk out of the car. I didn't realize the weight of it when I took it out the car and it landed on my left big toe. It didn't initially hurt and really doesn't hurt to walk on, but I can't put pressure on it for a long time. It will hopefully get better over the next few days and allow me to put some pace in my morning runs. As you can see on chart below I started out in my run with a pretty stark pace and once I realized that my toe wasn't going to let me go my normal pace, I had to go at a brisk walk.

Race Day Report

As you know from reading my past posts, I ran the Impact A Hero 5K here in Sugar Land, Texas on June 5, 2010.

My Race Day Report:

 As I had mentioned the day before, I seriously couldn't sleep because I was just too excited for the race. It wasn't that I felt like I was going to set a serious personal best or that I knew the conditions were apt for me to be do great, I simply was excited to start my marathon training and knew this was the first obstacle in training.

I had set all my clothes out Friday night, along with my new little gadgets that I wanted to use to keep my time and my personal things. I had chosen an all blue outfit to run with purely based on the fact that it matched, not that it would help me race better (I really can't see myself running with those skin tight running suits any time during my training).  I woke up around 5:45 and immediately jumped to go grab my clothes and gear and put it all on. I seriously was ready an hour before I had to leave, so I just left anyway. The race was at 7:25 AM and I got there at 6:10 AM when they were still setting up several of the tents. I had gotten there so early that I got a premiere parking spot and didn't have to run my own personal 5K just to get to the starting line!

After getting out and going about the grounds next to the FBISD Administration building I went back to my car to put together my On-The-Go Playlist for my iPhone while I raced. I put in GRITs, BizMarkie, DJ Kool, and a couple of others randomly so that I could have an eclectic group of stuff to listen to as I raced. If anyone knows the Nike+ Ipod system, I set my power song to be "Eye of The Tiger". Yeah I'm that cheesy.

My friend, Jose Barrera, agreed to run with me on this 5K. Let me preface to say that Jose is by far a more experienced, more in shape runner than I am, but he agreed to coach me along during my run. I don't think he fully understood how far out of shape I was compared to himself.

We positioned ourself at the middle of the pack for the starter pistol and were off. I would say that the first 3/4ths of a mile I had a pretty good pace, then I started to feel it about the mile mark and had to stop to walk some. I would intermittently walk and jog until I got to about the 1 1/2 mile mark. I definitely needed water at the first water station, primarily because I just hadn't hydrated enough/well the night before or day of. When I got to the 2 mile mark, I felt my chest start to hurt and my legs start to cramp up. I pressed on, much to the urging of Jose to keep on going. I struggled with keeping a walk and a jog that last mile because when I would start to jog the top of my leg would give out into a walk causing me to walk again. I wanted to pick up my pace so that wouldn't happen, but I was spent. I definitely should of carb loaded a little more the night before and not had those 3 cookies(I'm learning).

As we got within in sight of the finish line, probably 400 yards or so, I had my "dig deep from within" moment as I set up myself to do a 3/4th of a run. I definitely didn't have it within me but I didn't want to give up with so many people watching at the finish line. I was definitely looking pretty emaciated near the finish line, which I think aided in me getting a pretty loud response from the crowd watching the finishers.

I immediately after crossing the line started feeling light headed and wanted to sit down. Jose had me continue to walk around and keep my self moving to cool down rather than just stop. He kept feeding me water from the water tent to replenish some of my fluids lost during my run. I definitely didn't expect to feel so flush, but I did but after a while it was over and I felt a little better.

Reflection:

 I definitely have a long way to go to be ready for a marathon or half marathon. I'm not going to give up by any means, but I do have a benchmark for where I am and where I need to go over the next months in preparation for the January 2011 run.  I start bright and early on Monday morning with my bright and early runs. I wanted to start earlier but just couldn't with the end of the school year coming to a close.

Here are the official results:

Impact a Hero 5K Results

This is my Nike + Ipod system that I use with my Iphone. I forgot to turn off the workout after I crossed the finish line so the timing is a little off, but you can see the ups and downs of my pace.

Race Day Hype

I'm pretty excited for the race that I have to get up for in 4-5 hours. So much I'm up late tonight with anxiousness to get there and run.

Picked up my bib for this weekends race!

I also picked up some pretty cool gear for my run on Saturday. Big ups to my friend Jose Barrera who signed up to run with me on Saturday and will be my coach (he is a more avid runner).

Impact A Hero 5k

My running club mentioned to me that they were running the Impact A Hero 5K here in Sugar Land this weekend on Saturday. I am looking forward toward this run as it is about the easiest 5K that you can possibly run as it is a straight back and forth course and not a winding course.

My goals for this race are the following:
1. Establish a running pace that can sustain itself.
2. Be able to properly channel the race day emotions into a productive run.
3. Finish under 33 Minutes (previous 5K's were 37 minutes and 35 minutes)

You can donate to the cause through my team page that my registration set up at this LINK:http://www.active.com/donate/impactahero/heroJPortie

Welcome to my blog!

Okay, so if any of you have been following my blog at ThePortiers.com you will notice that my blog no longer has anything coming to it. As of now, I have taken it off line and deleted the account at ThePortiers.com. Primarily because when I started the blog, things like Facebook and Twitter weren't around or prevalent and so we really had to turn to people's blogs to let hem know what was going on in our lives.

That being said, as a hold over until I feel like paying for a blog again (domain & server space) I have opened up and set up a blogspot blog to help chronicle my upcoming training for a marathon.

I'm naming this blog "Run Fat Boy Run" although the web URL is SlouchCouchMarathon.BlogSpot.com.   If anyone knows me back from my days of being the athletic trainer for my Liberty Panthers Cross Country team in high school, you know that I have always enjoyed WATCHING running, and not necessarily been apt to be able to run something like that. However, my church recently started up a running club headed by some pretty stout runners who promise that they can get me in shape for at least the Aramaco Half-Marathon.

I hope to use this blog to chronicle my runs, as well as my purchases and preperations that are coming as I prepare. Be sure to check back often, and encourage me. It's not easy to get this body moving.