Running in Birdland

Today's run.

4.2 miles in 55:33

I changed my route again, opting to meander through Birdland, a neighborhood in which every road is named for a bird. The new route is safer and quieter. Very little traffic, and what traffic there is drives slow.  Toy cars were sitting in a dirt hole at the end of a driveway, which means that kids can play near the road without worry.

That's much different from life on Middle Road, where drivers often ignore the speed limits and go 45 to 60 mph in a 30 mph zone.

Today was also different because I ran with my boys for the first time since last summer. I had Jack run the first half mile with me and then run back home. It took him about 14 minutes to do his mile.

Then, at the end of my run, Liam and I ran around the block. He often stopped for breaks, but he could run fast. I really had to push it at the end just to tie him at the finish. That was about 8/10s of a mile in about 13 minutes.

It will be interesting to see which one is better at running a mile by the end of the summer.

4 miles in 52:49

Mondays always seem to be a little harder. I lose a little bit from the two-day break from running. But if I were to run six or seven days in a row, I think that would be too much for my knees. The break is necessary.

So, if I can run every day this week, I should be up to running a full hour by Friday. That may be a five mile run, but only if I can get up to the right pace and stay there. Also, we'll be traveling this week, so I will need to put in the extra effort to get the runs in.

One or two of my runs will probably be on the boardwalk in New Jersey where I grew up. I'm looking forward to that. I used to put in 15 miles on the boardwalk every Saturday, and I averaged about 70 miles a week. That was a million years ago when I was in high school. The high school version of myself could run circles around me now.

Literally.

I remember my fastest time for the quarter mile was 54.9. Today, I'd be lucky to make it in three minutes.

Oh well, remember Teddy Roosevelt: "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."

BMI is 34.7.

14-mile bike ride in 1:30

I'm exploring new options for my bike route. What I've learned is that 1) I really like the Catharine Valley Trail and 2) Getting to the Catharine Valley Trail on a bike is difficult because you either have to ride on state Route 14 or go up Middle Road.

Going up Middle Road is not too bad. However, the problem is making the cut over from Middle Road over to the Millport Post Office on state Route 14. Middle Road is at a higher elevation and while there are at least three decent roads that will take you over to Route 14 -- Smith Road, Stafford Road and Burch Hill Road -- they all have steep, wicked hills.

I tried Burch Hill Road today, and worried all the time I was going to either burn out my brakes or crash. On the way back, I tried Stafford Road, and the uphill on that was so steep that I had to get off my bike and walk.

But I think that is the answer.

I could go up Middle Road, take Stafford and when the hill gets too steep, get off and walk the bike down.

Either way, the biking is definitely worth it. I can always feel my knees get stronger every time I get a good  bike ride in.

Back to running on Monday.

40-minute bike ride with Jack

Now that school's out, I'll be taking the boys on my excursions when I can. This morning Jack and I went on a 40 minute bike ride down into the village square and to the library.

It was a good distance for Jack and a short distance for me. But I'll probably go for a longer ride on Sunday. Actually that works. Instead of a day off completely from exercise, I'll do a short bike ride with Jack one day a week and still keep my longer bike ride for myself.

During the summer, the boys will be running with me in a limited way. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Jack will run the first half mile with me, then turn around and go home. When I get back from my run, Liam is supposed to be ready and waiting to run around the block with me.

We'll see if that works.

4 miles in 51 minutes

I had no idea I'd hit the four-mile goal until I plugged my route into Google maps later on. The run felt good on the way out, and slower on the way back. I'm learning not to worry about it so much because every day I am increasing the length of my runs by time and distance.

My pace today averaged out to 12:45 per mile. Well, every time I finish is a victory for me.

It showered while I was stretching before the run, so I went back inside to get a Ziplock bag for my phone. Another shower started as I began my run, but it was light and so I just tucked the rim of my hat close to my glasses and chugged on.

I don't know what I'd do if I got caught out in a heavy rain or thunderstorm. Take cover and call for Amy, I guess.

On my outbound run, I saw a sheriff's deputy standing guard as a red pickup was being towed away. Something happened there.

Going up the hill on Overlook Drive, I pass a homeowner and tell her, "Nice hill you have here."

My BMI is now down to 34.7. I am approaching one of my mileposts in weight loss. If I get the BMI down below 34.4, I will wait one more week and then I'll be discussing actual pounds.

I've decided to ignore the two days I missed earlier this week. It is more important for me to bike on Saturday because I need to keep up the strength in my knees.

Later

Oops!

I almost titled this post "Blame it on the Rain," but then remembered that my wife HATES Milli Vanilli, not just because of their fakery, but because they robbed the Indigo Girls of their chance for the Best New Artist Grammy.

And, I certainly wouldn't want to add insult to injury. I owe her a big apology this morning because I started my run much later than usual and did not leave a note. So, by the time I got back, she was very concerned and even called me on the cell while I was walking up to our mailbox while finishing my warm-down walk.

Sorry, honey. My bad. What I learned is that when the routine gets changed, there's a chain reaction of consequences that I have to adjust for. Next time will be better.

So, yeah, I started late this morning because I could hear rain on the skylight in the kitchen. I hate running in the rain because I wear glasses and the water drops obscure my vision and make it harder to run. I also worry about ruining the cell phone, but that's easily fixed by putting it in a Ziplock bag in its case.

I left a half-hour later, and it was a different experience. More joggers and walkers are out. More traffic on the roads. Ok, here's today's roundup.

3.8 miles in 49:20

The run out went very well, and it seemed like the return trip was going well, but turned out to be slower. The turnaround was much higher on the hill on Overlook Drive. I just about made it to Ridgehaven Drive, about a block past last week's best mark.

I continue to increase the distance in each run. From now on, each outward bound run will be 1 minute longer than the previous day's until I get to one hour of total running time.

I got slowed up a bit on the return because I had to wait for traffic here and there. I keep the timer running on these breaks because they give me an artificial rebound, so it all works out. It's all part of the run. Just simpler to let it keep going.

BMI is 34.9.

3.6 miles in 48 minutes

On Monday, I woke up with a mild head cold. On Tuesday, I was recovering, but still feeling too sluggish.  On both days my body was telling me I needed to rest, so I lost two days of running.

Last night was fitful because of thunderstorms that came and went all night. A couple of times they made me jump awake. At one point, I woke up and checked the clock. It was blinking at 2:25. I checked my cell phone and found it was really around 5 a.m. I got up an checked to make sure my computer made it through the power outage OK, and to check the radar. The storm had been right on top of us, but was now moving off to the east.

So, I dozed until 6 a.m., then got up for the run. All the birthday wishes -- especially those that cheered on my running -- helped get me out of bed. It's hard to sleep in when you sense that a few people will be checking on your progress. That's also how I knew I was really sick enough to stay in bed. I just felt so lousy that I didn't worry about what it would look like on the blog.

Anyway, I opted for the same run as last week. I ran out 23 minutes, turned around and came back. I wore the new running shorts and shirt that I got for my birthday, and they made a difference. The new shorts have pockets and a waistband that I can clip my cell phone on. Up until now, I had been carrying the cell phone in my hand. It is much easier to run with your arms moving freely. The arm motion is part of the running effort.

I didn't get quite as far in 23 minutes as I did last week, and I was quite a bit slower getting back. But not bad for making a comeback after laying off for a couple of days.

The next question is how I will adjust these two unplanned days off? Should I just start running 5 in a row now, and put it through the weekend? Or keep the running days on Monday through Friday?

Stay tuned.

Unexpected day off

I didn't feel well when I woke up this morning. It feels like a mild head cold. I'm shaky and tired. Today will be a day of rest, and we'll see what tomorrow brings.

13.5 mile bike ride in 1 hour, 30 minutes

I headed south for my bike ride this morning, mostly along Main Street and Lake Road in Horseheads. But I did take a side detour up Franklin Street to the Mill Street Pond and the Horseheads Post Office before I got back on the Main Road.

I ended up at Eldridge Park in Elmira and finally found the dog park there. I'd been trying to find it for a long time. It was over by the ballfields on the other side of the lake from the main pavillion. It was smaller than our backyard. But then again, we have a pretty big backyard.

Other sights from the ride: A deer popped out of the bushes near the Holding Point ... a "Free" sign on a fire hydrant ... Some young guys playing cricket ... bunnies, gophers and assorted wildlife ... a cocker spaniel at the park.

Coming back I realized I was going uphill for most of the way back. How is that possible? Coming back from a northbound ride also seems to be more uphill as well. Maybe it just feels uphill because I'm on the second half of the ride and I'm tired.

Back to running on Monday.

Happy Father's Day!

Day off

Today's my day off from running or biking. I will be trying to bike a couple of hours Sunday morning before church.

See you later.

46:04 minutes, 3.8 miles

Today's run.

On a complete whim, I decided I didn't like the Ridge Road to Old Ithaca Road route and opted instead to go my old route to Wygant via Greenridge Drive. This brought me onto Old Ithaca Road at a higher point and it eliminated the long incline coming back on Ridge Road.

The tradeoff was that by the time I hit my turnaround mark at 23 minutes, I was going up a pretty intense hill on Overlook Drive, but when I turned around, I immediately got a payoff by going back downhill.

I got back to Wygant Road about 14 seconds late and was able to regain another 10 seconds by the finish mostly because this route is relatively level, with a small downhill on Greenridge Drive.

Had I mentioned that running is a good way to build your math skills? I do a lot of addition/subtraction in my head as I run.

Anyway, I'm very happy with today's run. But with every run, I am doing more than I had in at least eight years. Each run is a test to see if knees and ankles will work with these supports, but so far no sign of trouble. BMI is still 35.2.

OH! This also concludes my third week of running five days in a row. Wahoo!

3.6 miles in 45:19

Thanks to some upgrades on Google maps, I'm able to get a more precise measurement on my runs. Today, I ran out for 22 minutes and nearly made it Wygant Road where it meets Old Ithaca Road. I was just a few feet shy when I had to turn around. But now I can grab the markers on Google maps and put them right where I turned around, so I feel confident that I made it 1.8 miles before the turn.

I got back to the corner of Ridge Road and Old Ithaca just about on time, but lost time on the uphill on Ridge Road again.

Oh well, I'm happy enough just extending the amount of time that I run. It should take another eight runs or so until I am able to run for a full hour.

The run felt good on the way out, and then I lost steam on the way back. I was 1:19 over my target time. But again, every time I finish a run is a victory for me.

My weight is exactly what it was on Wednesday. No change in BMI.

Getting back on track: 44:24, 3.4 miles

I ran better today than the past two days. It seems that to run every day, I need to keep everything else in my life in balance: how much I sleep, what I eat, how I spend my day. It helps also when the weather cooperates. For now, it seems that these runs count for about all my exercise for the day. I put everything I have into running for 40 minutes, and then I'm finished.

Today I ran for 21 minutes out, made it to Woodview Avenue and came back at 44:24. Last week, I was able to make it to Woodview in 20 minutes and back in the same time. So, I'm slower than last week, but covered more ground than this Monday and Tuesday.

Starting this week, I'm focusing more on time than distance. Each run will be 1 minute longer on the way out, and I will try to get back in the same time. So, today's was 21 minutes out, and then back. For Thursday, I will go out for 22 minutes and then return. The goal will be to increase this time to 30 minutes on the way out, and return for a total time of 1 hour.

That should put me at about 5 miles, and that is where I will stay. Five miles a day, five days a week is my goal now. I will stay there until the day I can run 5 miles in 50 minutes. So, that means going from a 12 minute mile, where I am now, to a 10 minute mile.

BMI is at 35.2, but Amy says I'm definitely getting thinner.

30 minutes

Just one of those days when you have to almost force yourself to run.

I woke up at 4:30, shortly before our 6-year-old, Liam, burst through our door announcing the cat, Ashley,  had thrown up in his bed. We let him climb into ours and told him we'd take care of it in the morning. Then the cat decided to pound on our door for the rest of the night. No way were we letting her into our room.

I dozed until my alarm went off at 6 a.m. I switched it off and heard rain against the window. Uggh!

But I got on the computer to check the radar. "Misting rain," reported the Weather Underground. And the radar showed the heavy concentration was right on top of us. That meant that by the time I was ready, it should have moved on. But the cat drama upset the cycle of the morning. Our dog, Romeo, insisted on going out first. He usually is not even up when I leave. Then the other cat, Ninja,  ran out and faked an emergency of getting caught in the tree. He wasn't. He just didn't like the rain.

Anyway, I got out on the step a little late, it was rainy and I was tired. I might have canceled the run, but decided that if I cancel for marginal conditions like this, I'd be canceling too many runs. So, I opted for a 30 -minute run, and once I started I was glad I did. I just felt sluggish and slow the whole time.

All sorts of minor factors could have contributed to that. The stomach trouble the day before, the loss of sleep, playing soccer with first graders the previous evening, not eating enough pasta. .... blah, blah blah.

At least I ran. At least I finished what I set out to do. And there will be better days of running very soon.

Sorry for the griping today. Anybody want a free cat?

30-minute run

My stomach is off today. I'm going to say it's because I didn't have enough fiber this weekend. The long and short of it is that I ended up getting out the door about 15 minutes too late. Also, my cell phone had died during the night.

These seemed to be bad omens, so I took it easy today and only ran for half an hour. Just an easy 15 minutes out and back. I didn't want to push it. I got to the mile mark around 13 minutes.

I don't like running without my phone. I'm just at that age when I may need help very quickly.

So, if things go better Tuesday, I'll try for a 41-minute run then.

Sunday, the day of rest

Today is a day off from running/biking. BTW, on Friday my knees had been hurting a little. Last night, after I recovered from the bike ride, they felt much better, much stronger. The pedaling appears to be therapeutic.

So, how can a 45/46 year old return to exercise and be able to run everyday without soreness or stiffness?

The key is stretching.

Now, I did have soreness and stiffness when I first started running, but I found a trick. I'd take a hot bath at night, followed by some stretching, focusing on my thighs and quadriceps where I usually felt most of the soreness. It really worked. The soreness went away.

So, make sure to stretch well before you run, warm down with walking and light stretching afterwards. Use  a hot bath with stretching to work out the remaining kinks.

On Monday, I shall return to running, and I will be slowly increasing my time from 40 minute runs to 1 hour runs. I haven't decided whether to increase each run by 1 minute or 2 minutes each day.

Saturday bike ride

I'm going to guess that I did about a 20-mile bike ride today. Hard to say because I rode for about about 30 minutes, about 6 or 7 miles, before I got on the Catharine Valley Trail at the Millport Post Office and then rode for another 15-20 minutes on the trail itself before I turned around. But it's hard to measure the distance because I didn't have a landmark where I turned around that I could plug into Google maps. Also, the pictures on Google maps are way outdated and don't show the newest extensions to the trail.

I really love that trail, and I hope that someday it will be extended all the way down to Horseheads. It would a great thing to hop on my bike someday and within minutes be on a protected, safe peaceful trail, rather than risking life and limb on Route 14 or on Middle Road. They are working on it, and my guess is that so far they have extended parts of it about a mile south of the Millport Post Office, but the new extension is not complete and they have signs warning people to stay away.

Anyway, I think the bike riding is important to my fitness regimen. Because of my weight, the running could be bad for my knees and ankles. (They are my achilles' heel, as it were). I am able to compensate by wearing the soft braces, but I think that although the braces allow me to run, they can also weaken my knees. So, I need the bike riding to strengthen my knees without straining them under my massive weight.

I allegedly gained a pound today. The BMI is 35.2.

Tomorrow will be a day off. Days off are also critical. I'll probably post some tips on how to manage running every day as a returning runner at my age.

40:12, 3.4 miles, Day Five!

A good week of running, and it pays off because on the last day I ran the best distance and returned close to the goal. I was only 12 seconds late getting back to the starting point, and I'll take it.

Each day was an adjustment, and today I got on target. The weather helped today. It was much cooler, and now I realize the heat and humidity had been a factor in my struggle on Thursday. It was probably also why I may have felt faint after the run. That seems obvious now.

I also now know my check points and roughly what times I need to be at as I hit each mark:

Corner of Middle Road and Ridge Road -- just under 2 minutes.
Wygant and Ridge Road -- just under/or around 5 minutes
Old Ithaca and Ridge Road -- 12 minutes (which works, because that is 1 mile from the house.)

Today, I hit the intersection with Wygant at about 4:44, a little fast and so I adjusted my speed a little. As I turned on to Old Ithaca Road -- at exactly 12 minutes -- I hit a mild headwind. So I was going against the wind and uphill at that point. It made little difference. I made it to the other side of Woodview Drive at the 20 minute mark. On the return trip, I hit Ridge Road at 28 minutes, which was about perfect, and I got to the intersection with Wygant at around 35:30. That meant I needed to finish in 4:30, and I just didn't have it in me.

So, I lost time on the uphill on Ridge Road. That's why I came in 12 seconds late, but like I said, I'll take it.

I'm starting to see the same faces at about the same point in my run. I've learned that if you wave to someone for a couple of days, they start waving back.

For Saturday, I may take a long bike ride, and then take Sunday as a day off.

BMI is 35.

41:16 Day Four

Well, the first half of the run was fun.

Run for 6/9/2011

Today, the 20 minutes on the way out got me a block and a half past Chestnut Drive, which had been my turnaround point the day before. So today I turned around between Woodview Drive and Oakview Circle on Old Ithaca Road. I could see Wygant Road just up ahead.

Google maps measures the route from my house to Woodview Drive via Ridge Road as 1.7 miles. If I put Oakview in as my destination it doesn't even give the Ridge Road route as an option. Anyway, it was at least a 3.4 mile run.

However, my total time was 41:16, which means it was a struggle on the way back. I blame the 17-year-old in my head for getting me to start out too fast. And on this route, a fast start going downhill means you will cover a lot of ground in the first half of the run. Then you have to work much harder going uphill on the way back.

I would much rather be able to cover less distance consistently than cover more distance and end up struggling at the end. If I do run farther on the way out, it doesn't fully count in my mind unless I can get back in the same time. That's where pacing comes in.

BTW, on the way back, I heard a twig snap behind me, and I knew another jogger was closing in. It turned out to be a female runner, who passed me fairly easily. Back in the XC days, I would have used that to try to run faster to keep ahead. At this point in the run, I just couldn't even keep up as she passed me. Anyway, it helps to keep the ears clear.

As a side note, I felt light-headed about a half-hour after my run. I was making the boys their lunches for school when it hit me. I felt better after I sat down and ate.

I'm not too worried about it at this point. I attribute it to how I have been eating recently. The running has  been boosting my metabolism and lowering my appetite. I'm eating less and snacking less. For dinner, I usually eat a plate of spaghetti, but to me that's just fueling up for the next day's run. It's like pulling into a gas station and filling up the tank. The spaghetti is all carbs, and it all gets burned off in the run. By the time I was making the lunches, my body was starved. That's why I felt faint, and I felt better after I ate.

So, the weight loss is not so much from the running. The weight loss is happening because of the higher metabolism and lower intake of food.

These are all things to be tinkered with as I go along.

Today the bathroom scale says I gained a pound from yesterday. BMI is at 35.1.

40-minute run, Day Three

Today, the 20-minute outward trip got me to the intersection of Chestnut Drive on Old Ithaca Road, about 250 feet longer than my run on Monday, and much further than Tuesday's run. Google maps still says it's 1.6 miles from home, but it felt great to me.

What was exciting was that on the way back, I felt a surge of energy.  I took advantage of the slight downward incline on Old Ithaca and then was able to attack the hill on Ridge Road. I ran most of Ridge Road pretty strong on the way back, but started to lose steam when I was still three blocks from home. When I hit the point where I'm usually about 2 minutes from home, I was WAY ahead of schedule, and even as my pace slowed a bit in the last block or so, I got to my starting point at 39:23.

However, since my goal was to run for 40 minutes, I decided to keep going. I kept running to the end of the block and stopped at 40:08 at the corner of Stuart Street and Middle Road. That's an extra 400 feet. Google maps says the return trip was 1.7 miles. So, this was 3.3 miles in 40:08.

What also feels good is that I can run every day now and not be sore.

Today's earworm was "Run Around" by Blues Traveler. I'd rather have an earworm than use headphones or earbuds.

You need your ears to be clear when you run. Your eyes can give you nearly 180 degree coverage of of what is happening in front of you. Your ears give you 360 degree awareness. They are a second pair of eyes, and can warn you about dangers that can come from any direction. You need your ears especially on busy roads like Old Ithaca Road, which has a lot of truck traffic. For women, having your ears free also gives you an edge over any potential attacker. (Sorry, that is a reality to deal with. My wife teaches self-defense for women, and that makes me aware of these issues.)

If my bathroom scale is to be believed (and we have our doubts), I've lost about 1.5 pounds since yesterday. My BMI is now down to 34.9.

OK, I'm am looking forward to tomorrow's run. Ciao!

How fat am I?

Fair question.

In earlier posts, I've mentioned that I am obese and that I need to lose weight. Already the pounds have started to come off, but you might be curious about where I am and how far I have to go.

As far as I can tell, just about all the extra weight has gone into my abdomen. My legs and arms look the same as they always did. I just walk around with this enormous gut. I look like I'm about 20 months pregnant, at least.

Frankly, I'm too embarrassed to post how much I weighed at my peak last year. I'm not even ready to post my current weight. But I will post my Body Mass Index, which is a means of determining the amount of body fat by comparing height with weight. A BMI of 25 to 30 is considered overweight. A BMI above 30 is obese.

At my worst last year, my BMI was 36.7. My BMI today is 35.2. So, I'm making progress. According to the online calculator I'm using, if I want to be of average weight, I need a BMI of about 27. I'll include my BMI in future posts and eventually include the poundage so you can do the math later.

Day Two of 40-minute runs

Here's today's run.

Today's run measured at 3.2 miles at 39:48, but it was also shorter in distance as well as time. Unfortunately, Google maps is not very precise, but you just need to have a rough idea of your distance. The upshot is that I did not go out quite as far as Monday. I hit the 20 minute mark one house shorter than the day before.

It's just a matter of adjusting to the new route. I'd noticed Monday that I was going more downhill on the way out and therefore more uphill on the way back. Today, I think I overcompensated by going out too easy on the way out because I knew I was going to have to work harder on the way back.

I also realized the variations in the incline. It's not all downhill on the way out, but it trends that way.

The thing to remember with hills is that if you start and finish at the same spot and come back the same way, for every hill you climb it will pay you back with momentum on the other side. When I ran cross-country a million years ago, we used that to our advantage in a races. We would try to attack the hills, not slow down, and then just as we reached the top try to accelerate, open our stride and use the downward momentum on the other side of the hill to break away from our opponent.

I don't run like that anymore. Nowadays, if someone else is out there with me, I'm more likely to see if I can keep pace with them. But stride is key. The longer your stride, the fewer steps you need to take, the more distance you can cover with less energy.

To get a sense of stride, just stand with your feet together, then take one step with one foot and leave the other foot where it was. The distance between your feet is your stride, how much distance you cover with one step. An easy way to increase your stride while running is to keep your knees up.

Earlier, when I was struggling with the three mile runs, I'd notice I was looking down at my feet. That's going to slow you down. You are literally driving yourself into the ground when you run like that. So, I kept telling myself, "Head up, stride open." It helped me finish stronger.

Cheers!

Day One

Today I ran 3.2 miles in 42 minutes flat. The plan was just to run out 20 minutes and get back in the same time, but the new route was slightly downhill on the way out, so it was slightly uphill on the way back. Therefore, I came back two minutes later than I might have. No worries. The important thing is to run and finish. Every finish is a victory.

I've decided to stay at this route for five days to see how it goes, get used to the new route and new routine, before increasing my time on it.

It was nice and cool today. I saw some tires somebody had put out on their yard with a "Free" sign, and I think I'll go back and grab them. I'd been promising Jack that I'd build him a new tire swing.

Day of rest

Today is a day off from running. I might have opted for a bike ride instead, but decided I did need a day to recover. On Saturday, I had run three miles for my fifth day in a row.

Days off are important because your muscles need the time to rest and rebuild. However, I think I've been running enough now that I feel the withdrawals from the endorphin rush caused by not running. I'm feeling run down and sluggish.

My plan is on Monday to start with a 40 minute timed run and slowly work up to being able to run a full hour. By then, I should be able to run five miles.

I understand that for fitness you need only run three miles, three times a week. If you do more than that, you are doing it for other reasons. Sure, my other reason is to lose all the extra weight I'm carrying around. As I increase the times of my runs, the weight should come off. When I get down to a reasonable weight, I may reconsider how much I run.

For now, I'll be running Monday through Friday, then taking a long bike ride on either Saturdays or Sundays.

See you tomorrow. I hope!

Advice to new and returning runners

Here's what I posted to Facebook on June 1 for National Running Day:

I've heard from a couple of people who were inspired by my running posts to start running as well. I have some thoughts to share.

1) Check with your doctor. Make sure you don't have a health problem that could be dangerous if you run.

‎2) It's hot out there. Try running in early morning or evening to avoid the direct heat of the sun. Drink fluids.

‎3) Start slow. I actually started about a year ago by alternating telephone poles. Run from one pole to the next, then walk to the next. Build up to a mile according to what you are able to do. In later runs, run two poles, walk one. Then run three, walk one, etc. Eventually you may be able to run a mile without stopping.

4) If you can get to a mile, try running according to time, not distance. So, if you can run a mile in 14 minutes, try doing a 15 minute run. Run for 7:30, then turn around and try to get home in the same time. Increase each run by 30 seconds every time you go out.

‎5) If you can get to three miles, that's the magic number. At least that's what I heard at a medical seminar on vascular health last year. People who run a minimum of three miles on a regular basis can actually have arterial plaque reverse. That's the nasty stuff that causes heart attacks. BTW, it's easy to check how far you run by using Google maps.

‎6) Wear good shoes. I have bad ankles and need lots of support. If you get injured, you can have a serious setback. I ran a marathon years ago, but wrecked my foot doing it. That started a slow decline that got me to where I am now. (Obese!) So, be careful. Don't get injured. (Easier said than done.)

7) Have fun. When you get into the right groove, the right frame of mind, it's fun to feel the wind in your hair, the sun in your face and realize you are covering distances that most people will only attempt in a car or on a bike. (But don't dis bikes. They can be a good workout, too.) OK, that's what I wanted to share for National Running Day.

BTW, a Facebook friend sent me this link for a "Couch to 5K running plan". Check it out. It might work for someone else depending on their style:

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

What if you never ran before?

The advice above works for me because I used to be a runner and I'm trying to make a return to fitness. What if someone was obese like me, but had never run before? First off, the graph on getting checked out by a doctor is now FAR more important. So, get checked out. Get checked out again, if necessary. Then, what I would do is start off just walking a mile.

if a mile is too much to walk, then walk what you can. Then, the next day try walking one extra telephone pole (or lamp post or whatever reoccurring landmark works for you). Keep adding to the distance with each walk until you can get to a mile.

Then, if you want to try jogging, start out by walking a mile and then at the halfway mark just jog from one telephone pole to the next. If that is too much for you, then go back to just walking for a week. Try it again the next week.

If it feels OK the next week, just do one telephone pole during the mile walk for a week.

The next week, do two jogs on your mile walk. This time do them at about 1/3 and 2/3s into the walk. Do that for a week.

The next week, do three jogs, this time at about the 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 marks. See how that works? Slowly add telephone poles each week, spacing them out, until you are able to jog every other telephone pole.

By then, you should be able to pick up the program I laid out above. But remember, there is nothing that says you MUST follow the progression the way I laid it out. If you are struggling at one level, just stay at that level until you are comfortable. Or take a step down and do lower intensity workouts until you feel you can push up to the next.

It doesn't matter how much you do, so long as you exercise regularly. As you walk or run, what you are doing is building up your base. Every mile you walk or run makes it possible for you to walk or run more miles. It's like building up a brick wall. You lay down one layer of bricks with your first runs. Then additional runs get added on top of the earlier runs. The more you run, the taller your wall gets. When I started training for the marathon, I used to run by a building that was just at the beginning of construction. At first they put in the foundation. Then they added the framework and walls.

That's another way of thinking about the early runs. They are laying the foundation for your longer runs that will happen down the road.

Also, if you feel chest pains, arm pain, sluggishness or inexplicable exhaustion -- for example you do a workout you should be fine with but you are strangely tired from it -- stop what you are doing and call your doctor.

Good luck. If anyone tries these out, let me know how they work for you.

It begins with Day Five

It actually started again almost a year ago, when my oldest son, Jack, announced that he wanted to play soccer that fall. He never runs, and I knew he was going to have to start running that summer if he was going to have any chance of keeping up with the other players.

And I knew he needed me to run with him.

The problem was that I had not really run in about eight years. In 2000, I ran the Los Angeles Marathon. That had also been inspired by Jack. When he was born in 1999, I said to myself  "I need to take better care of myself. I need to start running again."

When I started, I thought it'd be a good idea to join a running group. One group that was closest to me was the L.A. Roadrunners, who were training for the marathon. I said, "Sure why not?" So I trained for the marathon, and I even got Amby Burfoot at Runner's World interested in a story about me getting up off the couch to run a marathon because of my newborn son.

Here's the unpublished story, by the way, and here's pictures from that run.

Long story short, it was a VERY bad idea for me to run a marathon. Marathons are designed to destroy your body. Any weak point in your body it will find, exploit and destroy if you are not careful. I have flat feet and weak ankles. I wrecked my left foot in the marathon, and all Amby Burfoot could say was "Sorry about your foot." No surprise that Runner's World would lose interest in the story.

I tried to keep up my fitness with biking and some milder jogging. For example, I ran the Komen Race for the Cure 5K and the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life in 2003. But my heart wasn't in it. My foot had improved, but did not come back 100 percent. I was also working nights as a copy editor, and starting in 2003 I started teaching part-time during the day.

The two-job schedule squeezed out time for exercise, and I became too much a fan of the snack machine at the newspaper to keep me going through the night shift that often ended at 1:30 or 2 a.m. Yeah, I know. Excuses, excuses.

Health problems started to crop up. Chest pains in 2004 led to a heart catheter procedure that didn't find any serious problem. It got my attention, but I didn't respond with an increase in exercise.  In 2006, a clot in my liver required me to go on blood thinning medication. In 2007, kidney stones were added to the mix. The weight kept going up, and I got less interested in exercise.

Even playing with the kids in the backyard got difficult. My feet and my knees would would hurt sharply just from a few minutes of tag. "OK, that's it," I said. "I shouldn't run anymore."

One good thing was that in October 2008, the doctors took me off the blood thinners. Living on blood thinners is not easy. You have to get frequently checked to make sure you're not about to hemorrhage, and you worry that small injuries could become a big problem. Because I had plenty of bumps, bruises, scrapes and chafing issues as a runner, I had another reason for avoiding running.

The other thing about blood thinners is that you have to be very careful about alcohol. You really shouldn't drink any, and if you do drink, only drink a little. By October 2008, I really had lost the enthusiasm for drinking alcohol. That was a good thing.

Still, by July 2010  I had become obese and unmotivated. My knees and ankles hurt, but Jack wanted to play soccer. I still knew how to run, and I knew I could help him if I ran with him. One thing that did help was that I was no longer working two jobs. I have no income now, but that's another story.

So, I came up with a simple plan:

1) I bought soft braces from Walmart for my knees and ankles. They worked. I could jog without pain.

2) We started slow, jogging/walking telephone poles for a mile around the neighborhood. That's explained further in in some posts I put up on Facebook recently.

It worked. Jack built up some strength for soccer. He got better, and I got more fit. He plays baseball now, and it seems to be more his speed. But I kept jogging, and slowly increased my distance until today.

Today I met my most recent goal. I wanted to be able to run three miles for five days in a row. I made it. Today's time was 36:42, and I'm feeling better than I have in years. I have no problem getting up at 6 a.m. to run in the cool, early morning. My body seems to wake me up automatically, even if I try to sleep in. I dream about running now, and the dreams are fun and inspiring. It is as if my subconscious is applauding what I'm doing. So, I can say that I have turned a corner and really am running again. It does begin with Day Five.

There will be no marathons in my future. But there will be smaller, consistent runs, aimed at regaining fitness and losing weight. It will take me time to lose the weight, but I will get there. And I will keep posting to this blog to help stay motivated. So check in now and then to read about what I ran and what I saw each day.

To finish, let me show you where I was a year ago, and how far I have come today: