Saturday, Sunday and Monday

Saturday morning I ran Town Lake with my Marianna (my sister-in-law) and her friend Jill. They are training for a half marathon in January and are both avid bikers. They ran from the First Street bridge to IH 35 and back. I kept going when we got back to First Street and went to the Pfluger bridge loop, which is by Lamar. I found myself walking some, which I don't normally do, but I think there were 2 contributing factors. First, I was talking while running. The second factor was the terrain. The parks around the house where I run are all flat. Town Lake, however, has several hills and a few ramps to get from lake level to street level. I think for next Saturday my goal will be to start at First Street, go to IH 35, then back the other way to MoPac, then back to First Street. I will walk the hills, ramps and steps, and run the rest to MoPac, walking from MoPac to First Street.

I found a great app for my Blackberry called Roadrunner GPS. It is a running and fitness tracker which works off the GPS on my phone. This app tracks my distance, mapping out the trail, gives me the total time for the workout, what my mile time is, average mph, and calories burned. It seems to be very accurate, and it should be a great help for tracking the progress of my runs!

Yesterday I rested. Well, I rested from running, at least. I preached about Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his commitment to his faith, even being committed to death by hanging for doing what he knew was right. The scriptural basis was Luke 12:49-56. I believe there is a crisis of faith in our nation. There are many who say they are religious, but they do not practice that religion. Bonhoeffer lived his faith and died for his faith. According to the doctor that witnessed his execution, “I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer ... kneeling on the floor praying fervently to God. I was most deeply moved by the way this lovable man prayed, so devout and so certain that God heard his prayer. At the place of execution, he again said a short prayer and then climbed the few steps to the gallows, brave and composed. His death ensued after a few seconds. In the almost fifty years that I worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God.” May we all be so submissive to our God and our faith!

This morning's run was 4 miles. My goal was 3, so it was good to go past it. However, my time was way off. Maline started back to work today, so we had to get up and get going earlier then we are used to. We hit snooze a few too many times, but we finally got up and took care of business. Tomorrow we have training with Moe, then running Wednesday and Thursday.

Until next time, Live, love, laugh!

Five Miles!

I did it! I hit the 5+ mile mark today. I am not sure exactly how far I went, but I know it was between 5.25 and 5.5, based on the times of the areas I knew. I just kept running. I would pick a spot and say, "Just get to there, then turn around." Then I would get to that point and see another that was down the road, saying the same thing. I kept saying this until the road I was on dead-ended to the highway, so I ran on RM 620 for a while. When I got to the next intersection and was heading home, I realized that other then being sweaty and having sore feet, I felt good, so I made a few more side tracks and hit a few trails. I was not at all winded when I got home, and I made decent time. It just felt good!

Today I will register for the marathon, finally. Next expense, a new pair of sneakers. Anyone know anything about Asics?

The End of Slacking

Well, I have been slacking since leaving on vacation. I have not worked out as much as I would have liked. My goal was to be at 5 miles by the end of July, and it does not look like that is going to happen.

We worked with Moe Wednesday morning, and it was quite a workout. I am not sure it was any harder then we have been doing, but we just lost some of our toning while on vacation. Then I ran last night. My goal was 5 miles. Earlier in the week I could not finish 2! I went 4 and just a little over, then walked the balance of the 5 miles. I did more then I thought I could, but realized that I missed my mark and am very disappointed in myself. I will be to 5 miles by next week, though. That I promise!

We did a good cross-training workout this morning with boxing, squat jumps and push-ups. It felt good to have the discipline to do such a workout without having Moe there. Josh made smoothies for breakfast afterward, and now I feel good. Soon I will be taking kids to Austin's Park and Pizza as a reward for their participation in our summer program, and will reward myself with a slice of pizza or 2.

Tonight Josh and I will go to the ranch. I will do a lite run in the morning, just so I can know I did something. I will be registering for the marathon this week, just one more step in the commitment process.

Oh, and I've lost 2.2 pounds this week! Yay, me!

Back to the Grind

OK, so I did not do as well as I should have during vacation. I ran 3 times, worked out once, climbed one mountain and walked around museums a few days. I managed to lose a half pound during my time away, but had a very difficult time getting into a routine. So this morning I started back. Maline and I worked with our trainer for the first time since being back, and officially kicked off our "Back to the Grind" phase. The workout was tough, but good. What felt best, however, was being done with it and knowing that I could pick up where I left off.

Tomorrow I start back to the running regiment. My goal is to be to 5 miles by the end of next week. August we will start our team marathon training, which will be a tremendous help. And I look forward to a run around Town Lake Saturday morning.

By the way, I am researching best running shoes. I would live to get some feedback about possibilities.