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.

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.

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.

Five miles in 1 hour

The five-mile run.

Today, I finally hit my goal of running five miles in an hour.

But to back up, just a bit, I do want to report that despite a canceled run on Friday morning because of thunderstorms, I did run four miles in 49:11 by myself on Saturday, followed by a mile walk/jog with Liam. Jack ran a mile, mostly on his own. At one point early on, Liam actually caught up and passed him. But then he was exhausted and had to rest. So, I spent some time working on pacing with him. Jack's time for the mile was 13:07, about a half a minute faster than before.

I also rode my bike for about an hour on Sunday. It really helps the knees.

So, anyway, back to this morning's run.

I woke up at 6 a.m. and as usual dozed for about five minutes before actually getting up. What usually motivates me is thinking about all the reasons why I hate being obese.

Such as:

• It's hard to bend over and pick something off the floor. 
• I inadvertently honk the horn on my car as I get out because my cell phone hits the steering wheel. 
• I don't like exceeding the weight limits on some kinds of ladders. 
• I get the sensation that the diving board is only inches from breaking.  
• I have trouble fitting into the Go-Karts at Harris Hill, etc. 

So, anyway, I get up and go for a run.

As I went through the kitchen, I saw that the screen door was slightly open. Somehow, our little black cat, Ninja, had opened it. I closed it and went to get a cup of water. Almost immediately, Ninja was at the door, meowing to be let in. So, I did, and went out my front door to the step.

That's when I saw another black cat sitting in our front yard, by our lilac bush, staring at me. At first, I thought it was Ninja, but then thought, "No, I definitely just brought him inside." Apparently, there is another black cat in the neighborhood and he spent several minutes staring at me as I drank my cup of water and stretched. It ran off when a car spooked it.

When I started the run, I just felt really good. Perhaps the weather had something to do with it. It was cool, and I didn't sense any oppressive humidity. I also hit the checkpoints right on time, some a little earlier than usual. Some just a little slower.

I made it to the turnaround point on Valley Lane off Old Ithaca Road at the 30 minute mark. It was just about at the 2.5 mile mark, as I measured it from Google maps. Hitting that goal gave me a boost of adrenalin and I was able to run a little faster on the way back. I reached all of my checkpoints ahead of time, and when I got home it was still only 59:14. So, I kept running and stopped at the corner of Stuart and Middle Roads when the clock hit 1 hour.

There is a discrepancy here. Google maps says my turnaround was at 2.5 miles. But I later checked it with the odometer on my car, which put the turnaround a bit farther down the road on Valley Lane. But even so, I ran half a block past the finish line, which I think makes up for the shortage on the other end. So, I'm calling this my first five mile run in at least eight years.

Tomorrow, I will be running four miles by myself and another mile with the boys. I think the varying intensities of these runs help boost my speed and endurance.

BMI is 34.6

Thunderstorm

My alarm clock jarred me awake at 6 a.m.

I snapped the off button and hear the distant thunder. I want to check the radar, so I put my hand on the edge of my bed and push to get up.

But the bed collapses. A support beam snapped.

I go back to bed and we try to sleep at an angle as we listen to the thunderstorm closing in.

No run today. We'll try again Saturday.

4 miles in 51:11

Now that I've been running at either close to or more than an hour, I am starting to feel some warning signs. At the very end of these runs, I feel very mild pain, usually in either one foot or the other.

My sense is that this is just my feet feeling the strain of the run, that I am at the furthest extent I can go in a single run. This is strain, not injury, but it is the warning not to push myself beyond an hour. I think that at least until I lose more weight, a run of more than an hour could get me injured.

This morning I planned on running a mile with the boys after my solitary run. So, instead of running a full hour and then a mile with them, I cut my run to four miles, planning to run my last mile with them.

We started off well, but after about a quarter mile, Liam complained of pain in his side. So, we rested, and I had him focus on his breathing until the pain went away. I was trying to teach him a technique called "belly breathing" in which you make your stomach go out as you breathe in. It is the opposite of what you usually do, and it often relieves the pain of stitches.

But it is tricky for a 7-year-old to figure out how to do that. I don't think he really caught on to how to do it.

The pain went away, but came back as soon as we started running again. So, I had him stop for the day. You need to listen to the warnings you get from pain, especially when you are 7.

But in the meantime, Jack ran the mile route in 13:37. He seemed to like it much better this time.

So, Friday I will run a full hour, and Saturday I will just try to do a mile run with the boys. Jack and I may go for a bike ride after that.

Oh, my weight has dropped a little. According to the scale, my BMI is down to 34.5. If I can lose one more half pound and keep it dropping for another week, I will start posting my weight in pounds.

2.2 miles in 30 minutes

I felt rather sluggish today. While I was stretching, part of me wanted to climb back into bed. I started running and knew I was off pace. So, I opted for just a 30-minute run.

Tuesday's run had been the most successful in a while, and I think that my body needed a break. No need to always push myself on every run. Sometimes you need to step back and give yourself a chance to recover.

At least I resisted the urge to climb back into bed and not run at all. Therein lies the victory.

Tomorrow is another day.

4.8 miles in 1:02:08

It was Amy's first day back at work after vacation, and I needed to get the run finished before she left in the morning. So, I got up at 6, and got on the run shortly after 6:30.

For me, this is the only way to run in July. The air is still cool. In fact, I think I could see my own breath as I stretched, but perhaps that was my imagination. But the lower temperature makes it easier to run. Not as many people are out at this time, but that works for me. Fewer lost dogs and more bunnies.

I made it all the way to the end of Empire Drive and just around the corner onto Old Ithaca Road. The pacing was a little faster, but I lost some speed on the way back. I also made note of where I was at the 12 minute mark and the 24 minute mark. If I am running 12 minute miles, those marks are significant.

It turns out my 12-minute mark was the corner of Meadowlark and Wygant, and it was about 1 mile from my house.  My 24 minute mark was at about 1.9 miles. The 2-mile mark is at about the intersection of Redwing Lane and Veteran Hill Road.

To run the full five miles, it looks like I have to run to the end of Empire Drive, turn left onto Old Ithaca Road, then make the next left on Valley Lane and turn around at the first house that faces the road on Valley Lane.

Can I reach this mark by the end of the week?

Tune in next time.

BMI is 34.8.