A Long-Overdue Update

So, it's been about two months since my last post. I'm sorry about that. To bring you up to date:

• I returned to running in November. Jack's sickness was finally diagnosed as Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and it ultimately had to do with a lot of stress from playing trombone in the school band. With medication, a change in diet and the removal of Jack from the ensemble performances, he's gotten much better and has been pain-free for about a month and a half.
• In late November, I started running every other day again, or at least three times a week, weather permitting. Fortunately, the weather has been very mild this year, especially through much of December. I had a couple of good runs around Christmas, but the holidays derailed the routine. 
• I also wore out another pair of running shoes around Christmas, and it took a while to find a new pair. The outlet stores were all out of my style of shoe on our trip to N.J., so I didn't find them until after the first of the year. But this time, I bought TWO pairs, so that when I chew through the current pair, I will have a backup pair at the ready.
• I've also worn out the knee braces I've had for the past year and a half. Parts of them are falling out, causing them to lose support and I could feel a slight strain in my left knee on my run today. I need to get another pair from Walmart.

So, today was my first run since around Christmas, and it was GREAT! I felt strong. I ran well, and best of all it was a great day for a run. The temperatures were in the 50s, which is wonderful for early January.

For me, winters are miserable. I get depressed with the short days and the sub-zero or single-digit temps that keep me inside. To actually get out and run in January was a big boost for me, and my hope is that this will help carry me through the winter. 

We've had only a couple of days of bitterly cold weather, and my hope is that the temps stay in the 20s or 30s most of the time. If that happens, I should be able to keep running regularly. I am at the point that it feels like I can run easier when the temp is around 30. 

So long as I cover up with sweats, all I need is a couple of minutes to warm up, and then the weather feels perfect. 

For Christmas, Amy gave me a knit hat I can run in. I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but I am looking forward to it.

Sidelined

Jack's been sick for most of the month. He missed two straight weeks of school because of a stomach ache, and a lot of other days aside from that. The pain began on Oct. 2 and has stayed with him most of the time, with occasional respites here and there. But the doctors don't know what is causing this yet. We keep doing tests and hope to get an answer soon.

This has thrown off my schedule for running because when he is home sick I don't like the idea of leaving him alone. Sure, he could always call me on the cell phone, but if I'm half an hour into the run and he needs me suddenly, I wouldn't be able to get home any sooner than half an hour.

So, I've missed a couple of weeks of running so far.

Except today I finally got myself out for a half-hour run. Amy was home anyway, so it was OK. The run felt good. I felt strong and I feel that I could get back to running an hour every other day if I can schedule it.

Jack was back at school for four days this week, and I'm hoping he'll be able to got back on Monday. If he can keep going to school -- and it really seems to be a good idea because it helps him manage his pain -- I think I can get back to my running routine.

But the concern is that this could be a chronic problem, which will permanently change the rhythm of our lives. Even so, with a new reality, I still should be able to keep running. And I need to keep running so that I can stay healthy and help everyone else cope with whatever lies ahead.

The good news?

The good news is that even though I had not run for a couple of weeks -- and I swear I felt like I was putting on pounds -- I found out today that I had not gained any weight. I am still at 235.

That's very good news because it means my calorie intake is probably even with my energy output even when I am not running. So there is nothing in the way of the running taking off the pounds.

Operation Butterfly

The other day, I outran a mail truck. It was not a superhuman feat. It's just that mail trucks have to stop at every mailbox to make their deliveries. It was a day that I noticed a lot of public service and delivery activity on my run.

I was running strong on Wygant when a state trooper pulled over two women in a van in front of me. I wondered what they could have done to get pulled over, but I'd have no way of knowing. A few minutes later, I was on Oriole Drive in Birdland when I came across a UPS, FedEx and U.S. mail truck one after the other.

I was aiming to run 45 minutes, so I turned around at 22:30 on Redwing Drive. My primary goal was to get home before Liam got off his bus.

As I came back on Oriole, I could see the mail truck was way down on the other end. It disappeared around the corner. As I turned the corner onto Wygant, I saw it in front of me. I realized that with a little burst of speed I could get ahead of it.

I ran on the grass to get by him. I nodded to the carrier as put the mail in the box, then I kept going. When I got more than two stops beyond him I started running in the road again.

I got back home at exactly 45 minutes.

The new every-other-day schedule seems to work better for me than trying to run five days in a row. The runs seem more productive and enjoyable. I can achieve more with them if I have that rest in between the runs. But I need to make sure I use the exercise bike on the off days. The good thing about the bike is that it allows you to multi-task. You can read or watch TV during the workout. Anyway, I am hopeful that I will be able to maintain this through the winter.

Winter running will require some adjustments, figuring out what kind of gear to wear and how to manage the conditions. I may be forced to stop altogether when major snowstorms hit. That's when I need to make sure I keep using the bike.

My hope is that as I bundle up for the winter runs, I will continue to drop pounds. So, by the springtime I will be a whole new person, emerging like a butterfly from a cocoon.

I checked my weight recently. I am down to 235! Woo-hoo!

Amy and I have decided that when I get to 230 I can reward myself with a trip to Aniello's Pizza in Corning for one of their meatball subs.

Paying off

I had one of the best payoffs for all the running last week. I was getting dressed for church and spotted a pair of light tan pants in my closet. "These will work," I said as I shrugged.

When I came out to the kitchen, Amy was beaming when she saw me in the pants. She knew what I hadn't realized. These were my old 42s, which I had not worn in years. They fit!

Later on, I tried on my old 42-inch jeans. Even better! They were more comfortable than the tan pants, which still seemed to crimp on my stomach when I sit down.

All week, I've had a little more pride in myself as I walk around in my 42s. It's given me even more of an incentive to keep running. Now, I'm wondering if I will be able to manager to run in the winter. Maybe at least on days when the roads are clear?

The other day, I headed out for an hour run, but started to feel raindrops at about the 24 minute mark. I decided to turn around and head back early. But I still got caught out in a steady rain for the second half of the run. However, I managed to not melt. My hat kept the rain off my glasses, and it was not such an uncomfortable run.

So, maybe I may be a big whiner about my "not running in the rain" policy. Heavy rain and T-storms I will still avoid, but a light rain should be OK. I think.

I'm noticing very, very slight knee pain on some runs. I need to increase the use of the exercise bike.

Getting some good runs in

Let me just say, that as much as I love the summer, I am now thrilled to have cooler fall weather. It is just much easier to run.

Yes, I've had two good runs this week. On Wednesday and today (Saturday) I ran for a full hour for a reasonably good distance and each time I got back a few seconds faster than I went out. I was about 10 seconds early on Wednesday and about 15 seconds early today. So, what I did each time was to keep running down the street until I hit the full hour.  On Thursday, it was raining, so I skipped the day. On Friday, I had a schedule twitch and didn't get to run in time before Liam came home, so I used the exercise bike for 45 minutes instead.

On today's run, a squirrel ran along side me for a while on Oriole Drive. It was only for about 20 feet, but it was kind of funny. I ran along on the left edge of the road and it ran along on the right edge. Then when it got to some bushes, it jumped off.

But I am happy for the cooler weather. For one, it allows me to run at any time during the daylight. During the height of the summer heat, I would get up at 6 a.m. and start running by 6:30 to catch the coolest part of the day.

However, when I got home, I was so drenched in sweat that not only was my shirt and shorts soaked through, but when I changed into a new shirt that one would be soaked through within an hour. Then I would change again, and shirt No. 3 would only be moderately wet. Only then was I able to take a shower. It didn't make sense to shower before my body cooled down and my sweat glands shut off.

My plan had been to stop running in early November. I've decided I will try to keep running at least through November, depending on how the weather goes. We'll see.

OK, gotta go.

A good run today

This morning, I ran for an hour. I didn't get near the five-mile mark, but it was a respectable distance. It was probably the best run I've had in a couple of weeks.

Again, I'm not going to stress about covering five miles in an hour. I figure that as I lose weight, I will gain fitness and be able to run faster.

In other news, I had a dream the other night about doing chin-ups. Perhaps my body is telling me it's time to start working on my upper body again.

I suppose I really don't know how well I'm doing on a run until the second half of it. If I can keep up the energy on the return trip, I'm doing well. This time, I actually got back a few seconds early, so I ran several feet past the finish line until I hit the official 1-hour mark.

My strategy of not letting myself take it easy on my first run after a lay-off paid off.

I'm not sure what I'll be doing tomorrow. Either 48 minutes or an hour.

My Achilles Heel

My achilles heel -- the figurative one, not the actual one -- is the rain.

Ever since I started running again, it has been my kryptonite. As a 17-year-old cross country and track runner, I never let anything stop me. I ran in the rain, in major snowstorms. I ran in the remnants of hurricanes that sometimes visited the Jersey Shore. When I was sick and had to stay home, I would run up and down the stairs for as long as I could. Sometimes I would go to the basement, put my hands against the wall or the staircase and run in place as hard as I could.

But those days are behind me.

As a 46-year-old trying to regain my health, I have different rules. I don't run in the rain because it is difficult to see through the raindrops on my glasses. It's a safety issue and to a smaller extent, an annoyance. I didn't used to need my glasses to run, but now I do. If I can't see the traffic and environment around me, I don't feel safe.

If I ran to regain my health and then got run over by a car that I couldn't see in the rain, that would be called an ironic death.

So, anyway. I don't run in the rain.

Remember Labor Day? It rained. I didn't run.

But the next day, Tuesday, ... it rained, and I didn't run.

Wednesday was the first day of school. It rained, and I didn't run.

By Thursday, the region was being inundated with water. The constant rain had filled up rivers and reservoirs. Binghamton was flooded. Broome County was evacuating. Bridges were washed out in Pennsylvania.

I had no idea how bad it was until Jack came back from the bus stop. The bus was late. I told him to go back and wait for it. If it didn't come at all, I would drive him to school.

He came back a little while later and told me someone had driven by and said the school was on two-hour delay.

I checked the TV. WETM had no scroll on the bottom announcing school closings. But then Amy noticed the time it was posting: 5:19 a.m.

They had a technical problem and were re-running the broadcast from earlier in the morning. When we flipped over to WENY, we finally saw the school closings.

So, anyway, on Thursday I didn't run.

By Friday, I had every intention of running, but found that I couldn't. I was tired and unmotivated. My rhythm was thrown off by the rain and the new schedule.

I get up with Jack at 6:30 so that he can catch his bus at 7 a.m. Liam gets up a little later to catch his bus at 7:50. My thought had been to go for my runs after Liam got on his bus, but it didn't work out that way on Friday. I learned that I needed to blend my pre-run routines with the rhythm of getting the kids out the door. I needed to psych myself up for the run.

On Saturday, about a week since my last run, I was determined to have a good workout. I set out to run 48 minutes, and although the 24-minute outward board trip was OK, getting back was another matter.

As I made the turn back onto Oriole Drive, with dogs barking at me on all sides, I just felt all the energy sap out of me. It's happened before, especially after a long lay-off.

Usually what happens is I walk home.

Not this time.

This time, I realized that if I started walking, it would make it harder and take longer to get back to the level I need to be, which is to run for 1-hour, five days a week.

So, I forced myself to keep running. That worked for a while, but then on Wygant, the energy drained out of me again. I lost all momentum and found myself walking.

Fine, I said to myself. Walk for a minute, then run for a minute.

I did, and when I started running again, I told myself that after a minute of running I'll try running two minutes.

After two minutes, I tried for three. I kept going like that. I wasn't going to set a record, but at least I was moving again.

I kept running like that -- except for another very brief stop on Greenridge -- until I got home. I made it in about 50 minutes.

I tried running with the boys, but Liam had some leg pain, so I didn't push him. Jack, however, ran on his own and I think he did a mile in under 11 minutes. I'm not sure because I stopped my watch when Liam stopped and then restarted when I realized Jack didn't have a watch. But it was a good run for him. He's making progress.

Liam seems to be having trouble with foot and leg pain. I suspect it may be because he has the weak ankles and feet that I inherited. I will be teaching him some of my foot therapy exercises to see if that helps.

On Monday, I kept up a good mental focus and psyched myself up to run. I got out and stretched and prepared myself to run a full hour. Unfortunately, when I reached Greenridge Drive, a couple of blocks away, I noticed some knee pain. It didn't go away, so I followed my cardinal rule for running as middle-aged man: When I feel pain, I stop.

Knee pain for me means I need to work on the exercise bike. I admit I didn't do that on my layoff, and I should have. So, I put in about 50 minutes on it Monday morning.

I figured I would have been ready to run today, Tuesday, but Liam is home sick today with a stomach bug. So, I'm staying home, but I plan to try again Wednesday.

So long as I keep trying, I figure I'm doing something right.

1 hour run

I'm getting back in the groove, and I had a good run for about an hour. I am not covering as much distance as I did in June, but I'm making progress.

The whole time I was running, I was thinking about this story I read about Kevin Smith on CNN.com just before I hit the road:
http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/25/kevin-smith-ill-always-owe-tiger-woods/?iref=allsearch


The man is so fat that he needs two seats on an airplane. I checked and some reports put his weight at close to 340 pounds. I don't know how true that is, but either way the guy needs to take responsibility for his health.


I'm a big fan of his movie, "Dogma" and as a fellow New Jersey native, I would simply like to tell Kevin Smith the following:


"Kevin, it doesn't have to be this way. I am also obese, but I'm turning it around. It's taken more than a year, but I've lost almost 20 pounds and in another year I'll lose more than that. It really is simple. No fad diets, no fancy health club memberships needed, just eat less and exercise more. Also, get to a doctor so you can do it safely.


"OK, maybe you need a health club membership because you're a celebrity and you need to be able to exercise without being harassed. But again, it doesn't have to be this way. The key is to find some form of exercise you can love. For me, it was running. For you it may be something else. Just give it a try.


"I know you've said you have a limited number of movies you plan to make, and you talk about wrapping up your career, but if you take care of yourself who knows what else you can achieve.


"Also, look at this way, you have done something that most think is impossible. You make movies and you've shown others that they can make movies too. Right now, losing the weight may seem impossible, but if you can conquer Hollywood, you can beat this.


"Go for it!"

BTW, my weight as of Sunday was 238. I haven't weighed myself today yet.

Still haven't given up

Although the past two weeks have kept me from blogging, the running continues. Once again, I had to deal with stomach aches and sleepless nights on top of the transfer of my website to a new server, which became an ordeal until I finally outwitted the Internet and found a shortcut that saved me a lot of headaches.

The trouble with the website was worrisome for me. For years, my site, www.edbond.com, has been a source of information about a treatment for canine distemper and it continues to be a main portal through which people now find the Kind Hearts In Action site.

But the server was recently hacked, and long story short, I had to make a move. When the discussion board didn't make the transfer, I was beside myself. A lot of personal stories about people's fight with distemper and advice on how to care for dogs could have been lost.

But it's back now!

Anyway, the computer trouble left me with no desire to spend any more time than necessary typing in front of a screen. So, I let the running blog slide. Sorry.

But the actual running continued. It was a week ago Wednesday that I finally got back to one-hour runs. The earlier layoff was still holding me back. I don't seem to run with the same energy as I did back in June. But I'm running. I decided to not stress about finishing more distance in less time and just be glad to get a good one-hour workout.

Amy had sent me a column on running that pointed out that getting an hour of exercise was key because at that amount you've raised your metabolism to a level that will stay elevated all day.

I've been alternating between 1-hour runs and 48-minute runs. On days when I run for 48 minutes, I try to run a mile with the boys and sometimes with Romeo. But a few of those had been truncated because the boys might complain about various aches and pains. Especially with Liam, at 7-years-old, I see no reason to make him run through pain. At that age and even at Jack's age, I think pain should be taken as a warning to stop and take a break.

Liam's time in the mile has been improving dramatically. He's dropped from 18 minutes to 17 minutes to 16:26 and then 16:06. On his last run, he finished in 15:19 and he beat everyone, including me and Romeo. Jack was dealing with stomach pain and knee pain and finished last.

They both need to keep up the running. They've both started practice for fall sports, Liam for soccer and Jack for baseball. Liam's soccer field will be larger this year, so he will have a lot more running to do.

As for me, I like my running routine, especially the tiny little adventures that happen on my route. I noticed the other day that a house on Redwing with a Green Bay Packers mailbox was next to a house with a Steelers mailbox. And the Steelers mailbox was right across the street from a Patriot's mailbox. I bet that neighborhood has some great arguments during football season.

The other day I got chased by a dog on Meadowlark. It came off its front lawn and crossed the road after me. I kept running in the same direction I was, didn't even change my pace until the dog finally gave up and went home. You'd think after my adventure in helping to save Rusty back in July that the dogs in the neighborhood would have gotten word that I was an OK guy. I guess not.

Oh well, the dog is doing what it believes to be right. It may need training, but dogs are innocent. It is the owners and how the owners treat their dogs that are responsible for their behavior. The dogs look to us for everything, and when we bring a dog into our lives as our pet, we make a promise to do whatever we can to give them a good life.

That is one of the reasons why I work so hard on the issue of canine distemper. It is because I know that dogs do not need to die of this disease. If you like, please check out our Kind Hearts In Action site to find out why we think that.

It is a belief that goes against the doctrine of the mainstream veterinary community, and I guess I'm pretty stubborn if I'm going to stand against the opinions of so many important people. The bottom line is I'm trying to prove that the impossible is possible.

For the past few years, I had considered a return to running impossible. My weight had gotten so out of control there was little hope of getting back into fitness. But then it occurred to me -- I'm very stubborn guy and I don't like giving up. If I wasn't going to give up on dogs, then I shouldn't give up on myself.

That was when I decided to start running again.

August 9 to 16, 2011

Sorry, I have not been blogging.  I have actually been running, just not blogging about the running. But I know people like to know that I am actually running. So, here we go.

Let me give a roundup so we can all be up to speed.

Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2011

I had trouble sleeping that Monday night, and by 4 a.m. Tuesday I knew there was no way I'd be able to get up at 6 a.m. I shut off my alarm. I did actually get up at 6:30 just in case anyone really did want to join my running club. I then went back to bed.

I had it in my mind that I would try to go for a run with the boys later, but then it was raining.

Ok, so I definitely slacked off.

Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2011

I went on a 48-minute run at my usual time. Some unusual sights from the run:

Someone had scattered playing cards all over Greenridge Drive.

Coming back on Wygant, I spotted Amy's Great Uncle Glenn on the way out to get his morning newspaper. I waved at him, and he recognized me. He raised his hand at me.

"Can I come along with you?" said this 90-something year old man.

"Sure," I said, "Come along."

He very gently waved off the idea. "I don't think I could," he said.

Then, back on Greenridge Drive, just as I was reaching Ridge Road, I see my nephew Bradley driving his car, making the turn from Middle Road onto Ridge. He'd been visiting his friend's house up the road.

Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011

I ran a mile with the boys, but with a twist. This time, Romeo joined us. He'd been whining while we were stretching in the front yard. The thought occurred to me that maybe he should come along. But while I was stretching -- with my back to the house -- I was watching Jack at the tree swings. Something startled Jack and he hurt himself slightly on the swing.

What startled him was the sight of Romeo bounding through the front door. We quickly grabbed him and put him inside, but when we were done stretching, I went back in and got Romeo.

He ran with just, usually just in front of Liam. The interesting thing about that is it was similar to the Wii Fit running program where your character runs by following a puppy. Liam liked that.

Jack did not finish his run. He had some pain in the right side of his chest, so I had him stop. Liam finished the run in 16:26 which would be a new record for him, until his next run. He finished ahead of Romeo, who was clearly "doggin' it" by the end.

After the run with the boys, I did a 40-minute run on my own.

Friday, Aug. 12, 2011

I started out the run with lots of optimism and energy, intending to run for a full hour for the first time in a while. Unfortunately, I just completely ran out of steam at about 20 minutes. I felt not just tired, but shaky. I decided I had not eaten enough pasta recently. I walked home, so my 20-minute run was followed by a 30-minute walk.

I felt tired and shaky for most of the day.

Saturday, Aug. 13, 2011

I ran a mile with the boys again. Romeo did not join us this time. But Jack had the chest pain trouble again, and it reminds me that I need to get him in for his annual checkup at the doctor's soon. To give you a heads up, he did not feel this pain on Monday. But he did get himself overheated.

Anyway, Liam ran well. He finished his mile in 16:06, another record.

Afterwards, I ran 48 minutes on my own. I am still not covering as much ground as I did a month ago, but I'm slowly making improvements. The week that I laid off is still affecting me.

On Sunday, I did not run, which I had planned on. However, I ate too much at the breakfast with Amy's family at the American Legion. So, I walked home to help burn that off. That was about a mile and a half.

But then Sunday night, I had a stomach ache. I do not know if it was related to what I ate earlier. But I still felt discomfort in my stomach on Monday morning, so I did not run Monday.

Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2011

I ran 51:31 on my own. I ran out for 24 minutes and came back much slower than I went out. Oh well, I seem to remember reading somewhere that it is on the very slow jogs that you actually burn off more fat. So, either way it was good for me.

When I got back, I took the boys and Romeo on the mile run. But Jack got overheated. He did not drink enough water beforehand. And this time Liam complained of pain that he felt in his foot, and then his knee, and then his other knee. So, no one finished the mile run today.

The moving pain that Liam describes reminds me of what it was like to have Lyme Disease. I woke up every day with pain in a different joint. But I would be overreacting to think Lyme Disease. It is more likely that he hurt his foot slightly, then by favoring that foot, he strained his knee, them his other knee.

He seems fine now, so this is not a long-term problem.

Sorry for the lay-off in writing. I'll be posting more often now.

40-minute run

I'm still getting back to my groove. I had planned to go for a full hour this morning, but I was slow to get up and get ready. I got out on the front steps late and by then could feel the gravity pulling me back to bed. I was so tempted to not run today, but I made myself. I didn't have time for the full hour, so I opted for a 40-minute run. But I did better this time than my last 40-minute run.

I think I missed having someone to run with. But at least writing this blog is a way to make the runs a social event. I was grateful this morning to read Stephanie's blog about inspiration and how we all inspire each other if we see the good in ourselves and each other. It's all a chain reaction that we make happen.

So, I'm very glad I was able to talk myself into running this morning. Had I not won that argument, I would  not have enjoyed Stephanie's blog nearly as much.

Meanwhile, I'd like to start a running group. Anyone who wants to join, just be outside my house at 6:30 a.m.

;-)

Thanks to our special guest celebrity runner

I had one of my best runs in a while on Saturday thanks to former Race for the Cure colleague Stephanie Tanguay, who was in town with her son, Jonathan, while they checked out colleges in upstate New York.

We went for a four-mile run at about 6:30 Saturday morning. I really needed this run because my previous two runs had been very lackluster 40-minute affairs. I had been off my stride because I had taken a week off from running while waiting for the new pair of shoes.

It made for an interesting match up. While I am used to longer, slower runs, Stephanie is more accustomed to shorter faster runs of 3 miles. I ended up running faster than I'm used to. She ran longer than she was used to.

I took Stephanie on my usual route onto Greenridge Drive. I pointed out the quarter-mile mark without looking at my watch, but when we reached the half-mile mark I was stunned: 5:50.

I usually hit a half-mile somewhere between 6 and 6:30.

It's Stephanie's fault. She's in much better shape than I am.

We followed Greenridge Drive to Wygant and then to Meadowlark -- at the entrance to Birdland -- and I checked our time at the mile mark.

Holy Cow! 11:20.

We'd actually got faster since the half-mile mark.

In the back of my mind, I'm thinking, "I don't know if I'm going to make it all the way." I still felt good, but wondered if I was going to suddenly fade on the return trip.

We started to slow a little by the 1.5 mile mark on Whipporwill, but as we approached the end of Redwing Drive, we were still way ahead of schedule. Now, we had a choice to make because I am not sure where the two-mile mark is.

If you believe Google maps, it's at the end of Redwing Drive. If you believe my car's odometer, it's a bit further down at the intersection of Veteran Hill and Empire Drive.

Stephanie tells me she has a similar problem with the two-mile mark on her run at home.

Anyway, although I was still feeling good and we were still covering a lot of distance and may have easily made it to Empire Drive, I tell Stephanie, "I think discretion is the better part of valor." And we turned around at the end of Redwing Drive.

We now had tons of time to get back before the deadline I had in my head: 48 minutes. We reached the three mile mark at around 32 minutes, but as we got onto Wygant I let Stephanie go ahead of me so we could be in a single file along this busy road.

That's when I started to fade a bit. The space between us opened up more and more and I dropped back. But I fought to get back to her as we turned onto Greenridge.

At 3.5 miles, I was barely keeping up with her, just off her elbow and a little behind.

"This is when Jonathan's football coach would say, 'It's the fourth quarter. Just finish."

So we hung on and finished at 44:12.

Wow! Personal best. Thanks Stephanie!

I then followed this run with a mile jog with the boys. Liam and I did a mile in 17:01, a personal best for him. Jack was a couple of minutes ahead of us. I think he was still sluggish because they had been laying off running recently. It was a return to the routine for them too.

My plan tonight is to put in some time on the exercise bike and try to run 5 miles on Monday. The boys and I will run again on Tuesday.

My weight is at 241.5, just slightly up because of the lay off. It could have been much worse.

I'm back! 40-minute run

So, my new running shoes finally arrived Wednesday afternoon. They were waiting for me on the front steps after I came in from showing Jack how to drive the riding mower for the first time. (He did fine.) The new shoes are the Nike Structure Triax+ 14  And for comparison with my old shoes (below), here's a picture of the sole after my first 40-minute run with them.

But I didn't need to run with these to know how important a new pair of shoes could be. As soon as I put them on, I felt immediate relief. Then, it became clear to me that my old pair had fallen apart to the point that I was under a constant strain. I just didn't notice because it had built up gradually.

Here's my concern, tho. Although I had my old pair for about a year, I really did not start intensively running with them until some time in April. I had started jogging with Jack in June/July 2010, but only with very light runs, alternating telephone poles to build up to a mile. Then I slowly built up from a mile to two miles before the weather started getting nasty in November.

So, really, I didn't start putting miles on until about four months ago, and the old pair got torn apart very quickly. I'm going to need to keep an eye on this new pair and see how long they will last.

This morning's run was just an easy 40-minute run. 20 out and back.

But I am back in the saddle again.

All worn out

Yes, I'm all worn out.

Actually, my shoes are.

Sorry that I haven't posted recently. To bring you up to speed, I ended up running three days last week. It was an awkward schedule because Liam had to be at Cub Scout camp by 8 a.m. Monday through Thursday, and that meant I had to get up at 5:30.

So, I was able to do that on Monday. I ran close to five miles in 1 hour and 2 minutes. On Tuesday, I ran about four miles in 48:47, and on Wednesday I ran 1 hour exactly.

But on Thursday morning -- the fourth day in a row of getting up at 5:30 -- my body just said "No way!" As I've said before, it seems like I need to keep everything in balance so that I can run. Getting up too early, too many days in a row, just threw off my stride.

Not only was I tired and sleepy, but it was the kind of tired that was difficult to get any rest -- if you know what I mean? Too tired to sleep.

On Friday, I was able to sleep in a little, but it was raining when I stepped outside. I checked the radar and saw thunderstorms were coming in, so I skipped that day too. But then I also took a good look at the soles of my shoes and wondered about the slowly building foot pain.

Take a look:

I have to say that these look as bad as they might if I'd been training for the marathon with 20-mile runs. I bought these only a year ago.

Why have they worn out so fast? Because of my weight. All those extra pounds slamming into the road over and over again wore out the rubber.

Amy and I spent Saturday morning trying to decide which store to go to buy a new pair. After a few phone calls and searches of the Internet, I settled on getting the next generation of my current shoes: The Nike Structure Triax. Mine are No. 12 in that style, which are just about all off the shelves. So, the ones I need are the Structure Triax 14, but those are not in all the stores yet.

So, I ordered them online, the first time I bought a pair of shoes over the Internet. I'm hoping they will fit and be comfortable. But I've had good luck with Nike and with this style, so I'm hopeful. I also signed up as a member so I can get a free return if needed.

Now, I am waiting for my shoes to arrive. In the meantime, I'm scaling back and limiting myself to either the regular bike or the exercise bike until they get here.

I'll keep you up to date. I promise. This is just a pause, not a complete stop.

4.8 miles in 1:02:11

My shoes are falling apart. I'll need to get a new pair soon. This may have been part of the reason I've sometimes felt foot pain on runs that go more than an hour.

Today, I ran my five-mile route, but I stopped a block from home because I didn't want to push myself too far over the 1-hour mark.

There was a loose dog on Whipporwill, but when I stopped to try to talk to it, it got spooked and ran away. I think I saw it back in its own yard when I came through on my return trip.

My weight this morning was 239.5.

Catching up

So, I was sick, and then I went to N.J. last week to help my mom after she went through some surgery. She had her eye removed, and it is actually a good thing. It had given her trouble for a long time, and now she is finally free of the pain and can see better with the one remaining eye than she could with the two eyes.

Anyway, I ended up taking almost a week off from exercise, but I brought my bike with me down to N.J., and it really came in handy.

Mom had her surgery on Tuesday, and she sent me home. She said it was easier for her if I was not hanging around the hospital. I stayed until she was settled in with the surgery nurses, and I left with "Here's mud in your eye."

So, Tuesday night, I had an hour bike ride along Ocean Avenue in Avon, Belmar and Spring Lake. I made it to the southern pavilion in Spring Lake before I turned around. I really needed that bike ride because my knees were really bothering me.

Wednesday morning was the beginning of the heat wave in N.J. I ran for only a half hour on the boardwalk because of the heat, because it was my first run in a week, and also because I didn't want to be too late getting back and miss any phone calls from the hospital.

Mom's surgery had  gone well, and she was doing much better when I picked her up from the hospital. She was dressed and waiting for me. As soon as I got there, she said "I'm ready to go" and we walked right out of the hospital. She moved so fast, she didn't even officially check out. I had to go back to sign her discharge papers later that day.

Wednesday evening I tried to ride the bike again, but it was so humid it was misting, and even more so along the beach. It didn't seem like ideal conditions, so I cut the ride short.

Thursday morning I got up and ran a full hour between 7 and 8 a.m. The heat and humidity were already so high that it felt like I was trying to run through a hot, wet blanket. I made it as far as Monroe Avenue in Spring Lake before turning around, and the total run was only about 4.4 miles. I was still a couple blocks short of my mom's house when I hit the 1 hour mark, and I stopped right there. Given the heat and humidity, I did not want to push myself beyond an hour.

I opted not to ride my bike on Thursday, and on Friday the heat was so bad I couldn't imagine running in it. So, I gave myself a good long ride on the bike Friday morning, going through Avon, Belmar and to the south end of Spring Lake and then followed a route along what I think is called Wreck Pond, if I am reading Google maps properly.

I drove home Friday afternoon after it seemed mom was well enough recovered from surgery. While driving I-287 in N.J., the thermometer in my car read 109 degrees.

Saturday morning I got up at 6:30 and ran about 3.8 miles in 48:59. I enjoyed the run much better because of the lack of stifling humidity at the shore. I didn't cover as much distance as in the past, but that's expected because of the time I took off. Every run that I finish is still a victory to me.

Today, I am taking as a day off, and I plan to start running again on Monday. My weight was at 240.5 as of Saturday morning.

The Big Announcement

OK, here it is. Drum roll please.

My weight this morning was 239.5.

I have not had a run since Wednesday, mostly because of what was probably a mild diverticulitis attack, but the good news about that is my appetite was down anyway. So, the milestone I had been trying to reach was to be under 240 pounds. I made that last week, and then I waited a week before announcing the actual weight. I wanted to make sure it was no discrepancy in the scale, and that I was not going to bounce higher all of a sudden. I didn't. This is for real.

This is where I am ashamed to say where I had actually been at my worst one year ago. I was probably in the upper 250s. So, I've lost at least 15 pounds since then.

I feel much better now that I have lost that weight, but I have a long way to go. My hope is that I will lose at least five pounds a month. That would mean dropping another 20 pounds by the time late fall rolls around when I'll probably stop running for the year. I just don't like running in the nasty winter weather.

In the meantime, I need to get back to running now, but I am heading to N.J. on Tuesday because my mom is having surgery. Perhaps I will be able to get some runs in on the boardwalk. I'll try to keep posting while I'm away.

No run today

No run today. I started to feel discomfort late Wednesday afternoon, and it sharpened  to a distinct pain in my lower left abdomen by the evening. It was still there this morning.

From the location, it may be diverticulitis. I'm just going to take it easy and see whether it will settle down on its own. If it's not better by tomorrow, I may be going to see my doctor.

Sorry for a less-than-inspirational posting.

5 miles in 1:04:05

It's become clear that Google maps and my car's odometer disagree about how far away things are. While I do have a potential tie-breaker -- a pedometer I just bought for $4 -- for now I've decided to go with what my car tells me rather than Google maps.

I'm siding with my car because its measurement of five miles is longer than what Google maps tells me, and I'd rather make sure I am actually running five miles. Also, there is a recently built road that does not exist on Google maps, and I'd like to use that road for a loop in my run.

But with the new measurements, I was getting to the checkpoints later and later. I kept pushing myself to catch up with my projected times, but when I hit the four-mile mark, I just felt all the energy drop out of me.

It felt like I had run out of fuel. I had not been eating spaghetti recently, and that may have been a factor. But I was very sluggish after I got home. I felt overheated, and I took a cool bath that perked me up a little.

I felt sleepy for most of the morning, and I did not fully recover until a nap early this afternoon. I had not been getting a full night's sleep recently, and this may be the reason. My stomach has been off all day. Let's hope that Thursday I'll feel better.

BMI is still 34.4.

3.8 miles in 48:04

OK, so the plan was to run 4 miles in about 48 minutes, and I fell a little short today. I think I was looking ahead to the walk/jog with Liam and Jack after my run. This is the first time we've done this on a day that they were also going to summer religious education, and I was concerned about getting them started, finished and ready to leave on time. We did it all in time, but it was more exciting than I thought it would be.

Just before I left on my run, I put Romeo outside on his dog run. He was fine as I stretched and warmed up, but just eight seconds after I started running, he barked. So, I stopped, turned around and brought him inside. Then I went back to my starting line.

I left the eight seconds on my watch, and maybe that had something to do with falling short of the two mile turnaround. Oh, well. Ultimately, the important thing is to get a good workout that boosts fitness. A loss of a tenth of a mile here and there will not make a big difference in the long run ... so to speak.

As I turned onto Redwing Drive, I felt slightly guilty because I remembered I had eaten two pieces of chocolate cheesecake last night. I wondered if that indulgence was slowing me down. But as I turned that corner, a lady who was probably in her 60s was walking towards me.

"You're amazing," she said. "You're very dedicated."

"Thank you,"  I said, suddenly wondering how many other residents on my route have noticed me. Hopefully, they will remember me as The Incredibly Shrinking Man, as I keep losing weight.

But it turned out to be an animal-centered morning. The minor distraction with Romeo was followed by sightings of three cats on my run. When I got back home, I found a new adventure waiting for me.

The boys were not quite ready to run the last mile with me. Jack found a mole in the bathroom. Ninja had lately been bringing these little creatures into our house to kill them, but this one was still alive. Jack was trying to capture it with a Tupperware container with no luck. Those things can move fast. I had him go get a shoe box, and after a few minutes I was able to get him into the shoebox, contained somewhat with the Tupperware.

Those suckers scream and squeak quite loudly when they are scared. I also know they bite. One bit Amy a couple of weeks ago. But this one we were able to get outside and released into the bushes in the front yard. Hopefully, it will be the last we see of him, but we've encountered pieces of dead birds and small animals in the morning before.

So, on my run with Liam -- with Jack running far ahead of us -- we spotted a baby snake in the grass, a cat, and a rabbit. It was all quite the adventure.

Jack finished his mile in 13:05. Liam finished his at 18:03. They both are improving.

I'm starting to think about a head-to-head race with just Jack, just to see how he does against me.

Oh, but the exciting news is I finally got down to a BMI of 34.4.

Take that, chocolate cheesecake!

On Wednesday, I will be trying out a slightly different five-mile route. Instead of straight out and back, I'm going to follow some loops, and according to my car's odometer, it all measures five miles.