Archive for November, 2009

What I’m doing

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

So I am testing out speech recognition on the computer and this is my first blog post that will be completely dictated.  How cool is that?  It is learning my voice so that it can more accurately determine what I’m saying. 

Tomorrow I will attempt to squeeze in a run in the afternoon.  I will try for six miles.  I may even run with Jenn and the girls. 

It may take some time for the computer to get used to this, or possibly I need to get used to it.  So far it has taken longer to dictate this post than would have to type it!  Still pretty cool though.

I have also decided to run 12 miles on Saturday so as not to possibly injure myself.  At this point I don’t think that I could train anymore that would be beneficial and not risk injury.

Now I’ll start talking in a normal voice and see what it types.

Style really know what I’m going to say you’re a winner notice: rock I will even remember what I said in an mv be very very very very strange and am watching a-commercial right now and it’s not run again by and saw and it’s always someone, in eNews 20 funny find funny funny, funny funding of us know

OK that is enough.

17 miles!!!

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

This past Saturday, Melissa and I got up early and drove to Charlotte for the second marathon preview run.  I am not a coffee drinker, but caffeine was needed.  We stopped at Starbucks and got 2 coffees since Mountain Dew is probably not the best thing to drink before a run.  I actually seemed to like the coffee, so this might be something I do now.  We got to the YMCA at about 6:30, signed in and went looking for a toilet.  The YMCA doesn’t open until 7:30 and last week we found a porta-potty in the parking lot across the street.  However, it was not there this week!  So here you have 500 runners about to run at least 13 miles and no bathrooms?  Come on Run For Your Life, you guys should know better.  We finally found a construction site with a few porta-potties about 2 blocks away.  We used them and got back with little time to stretch before the run started at 7:00.  This not being a race, we just took our time and left a little late, at about 7:10.  My heart rate was registering high on the Garmin, but I determined that the chest strap must not be accurate when it is cold.  I put my hands over the strap and my heart rate immediately went down.  It said at one point it was at 220!  I would be dying!  I settled into a comfortable pace and started to catch up to the slower runners.  Around mile 7, after holding it for a few miles, I needed to pee bad.  This may be the only bad thing about the coffee.  I ran into a gas station only to find that the restroom was out of order!  I ran back out and decided that I could probably go on the side of the building without anyone noticing.  I was nervous because there was a cop in the parking lot and I was pretty sure urinating on the side of a building breaks some kind of law.  It took forever to get all the pee out, but I did and unnoticed.  Back to running.  I was able to maintain a 10:06 pace for 17 miles including the pee break and one stretch break.  So super excited to run this far.  Now, the question is, do I taper for the next 2 weeks like Melissa, or do I try to get a 20 mile run in this Saturday?  What do you all think?

Crystal’s Bucket List

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

My bucket list is on Kevin’s blog because I don’t have a blog and can not start one up at work.

Things I would like to do:

The most important thing I want to do in life is to help other people. Something I feel most passionate about is organ donation. I pray that whatever happens to me in life or how I die, that every single piece of my organs and body will be able to go to someone and help change or save a life. I guess this wouldn’t be on my life list since I will not be alive when it happens, but that is a huge desire of mine. I have been thinking lately about bone marrow donation and/or kidney donation, which you can do while you’re alive and be ok. If you have any questions or concerns about organ donation, just ask me. If I don’t know the answer, I will find out. I have strong stories about the miracles it creates. Now on to my list which is in no particular order and I add to it often. Sometimes, I add stuff I did that wasn’t on the list just because it’s so freakin’ cool I don’t know why I didn’t have it on the list to begin with.

1.) Meet Ellen Degeneres, attend her show taping

2.) Learn Ballroom dancing

3.) Visit as many Hard Rock Cafes as possible: Already been to New York City, Key West, Gatlinburg, Myrtle Beach, Atlantic City, Orlando, Cancun, Puerto      Vallarta, Jamaica, Cabo San Lucas, Las Vegas (I passed the one in Philly, but didn’t stop and eat there)

4.) Go bungee jumping

5.) Run the Cooper River Bridge Run (completed in 2008)

6.) Run the Cooper River Bridge Run in under an hour

7.) Run a 1/2 marathon

8.) Run a marathon

9.) Run in Central Park

10.) Take a hot air balloon ride

11.) Watch the ball drop in NYC, actually be there in Time Square

12.) Go the Macy’s Day parade

13.) Go to the Mall of America

14.) Memorize all of the Presidents of the US

15.) Go somewhere new on vacation each year ( So far so good since 2003, Key West, Cancun, Orlando, Puerto Vallarta, Jamaica, Cabo San Lucas, Bermuda )

16.) Go skydiving (completed on June 22, 2005 with my mom in Chester)

17.) Swim with the dolphins (completed in Cancun, August 2004)

18.) Get married (completed :) August 21, 2004)

ryan & cc wedding

19.) Have kids

20.) Go on a canopy tour, where you slide down zip lines ( completed in Puerto Vallarta September 2006 )

21.) Jump off a waterfall ( completed in Puerto Vallarta September 2006, it was small but a waterfall )

22.) Buy a truck for Ryan ( completed June 2009 )

23.) Build my own house with Ryan

24.) Hike up a mountain ( completed in 2005, it was a small Mt in Hot Springs, NC, but a mountain none-the-less, and we were tired hiking up the trail)

25.) Visit a planetarium

26.) Learn to play tennis

27.) Learn to play golf with Ryan

28.) Take Ryan to a Philadelphia Eagles game

29.) Visit all the stadiums in SEC (visited Neyland Stadium, TN)

30.) Go on a real safari

31.) Swim with sharks (me in a cage)

Places I would like to go:

1.) Go to Paris with my mom

2.) NYC, see the Empire State Building, Ground Zero, Statue of Liberty, Central Park, Rockefeller Center and the Christmas Tree, see a Broadway show, see the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes (completed in December of 2005)

3.) Jamaica (completed August 2007)

4.) Hollywood

5.) San Francisco

6.) Hawaii

7.) St. Lucia

8.) Fiji

9.) Tahiti & Bora Bora

10.) Grand Turks & Caicos Islands

11.) Mexico (Cancun August 2004 on our honeymoon, Puerto Vallarta September 2006 with great friends, Cabo San Lucas 2008)

12.) Chicago

13.) Visit the little NC cities in the Nichalos Sparks books

14.) Niagra Falls

15.) The Grand Canyon, and walk out onto the skywalk (completed Feb. 2008)

16.) Las Vegas (completed in Feb. 2008)

17.) Mt Rushmore

18.) New Orleans

19.) I would like to visit all 50 states at least once. (I know this covers lots of those up there, but those are specific sites/places.)

20.) Aruba

another random rant

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

This idea came from Crystal, but I have thought this as well:

Why are people so lazy that they feel it is okay to leave a shopping cart in the middle of a parking lot or just prop the front wheels up on the curb?

I have actually driven into a parking lot only to see a runaway cart heading for a nice car.  Not really caring about my paint, I took one for the team.  Someone did see and thanked me, but that’s not the point.  It should not have happened in the first place.  Stores provide cart collection areas all over the parking lot and usually there is one a few feet away.  If people are in such a hurry that they don’t have time to store their cart properly, they should not have stopped at the store.  Seriously, time yourself the next time you take a cart to the proper area.  A minute, maybe, if you walk real slow.  Is that really worth being a jerk and not looking out for your fellow man?  And if is a case of laziness, that person is precisely the person that needs to walk a few extra steps.  It might just extend their life a bit.

news-grocerycart

13.1 miles down. Now I have to figure out how to double that!

Saturday, November 14th, 2009

I ran the first half of the Thunder Road Marathon course with Melissa this morning.  We started out well, but less than a mile in, I thought there was a problem: shin pain!  I tried to run through it for a bit, changed my stride focusing on correct form, but it seemed to do little.  I finally mentioned to Melissa that my shins were hurting and finally caved and stopped to walk and stretch a bit.  This helped some, but I didn’t get much relief until something that I never thought would bring me relief: an uphill section.  It somehow stretched out my lower shins and although was more taxing on my quads, felt good to my shins.  We continued on at a comfortable pace with a few walk/potty stops until I completed the 13.1 miles in 2:26:32, technically a new PR for a half marathon for me, but this wasn’t a for real race, just a preview run.  Melissa actually ran on to complete 15 miles which was what her training schedule called for today.  I will attempt the 15 miles next Saturday and she will run 20!  She will then taper for the marathon, but I will go on one more long run: 18 miles the following Saturday.  As long as I don’t injure myself doing this, I should be able to complete the marathon.  Fingers crossed!

Also, some of you are wondering where my weekly weigh in was.  I truly was just strapped for time and frankly forgot.  I might move the day to Saturday, when I should have more time.  So I weighed myself on the Wii today and I came in at 159.1 pounds.

PR for 10K and a race from a new perspective

Sunday, November 8th, 2009

I PR’d my 10K race time on Saturday at the Run Like a Nut race in Florence, SC.  It was a fun event, but mostly because I ran it with 4 other friends.  The event staff and volunteers were less than “fun”.  I should say that all I needed to be entertained was the boy at one of the turns that was ”dancing” the left turn indicator and the lady giving out pecans (it was a part of Florence’s annual pecan festival) from in front of her house.

The best thing was giving a good effort, relatively pain free (a little sore in my right knee) and finishing with a 10K PR of 55:35.

The crew - ready to rock!

The crew (Brandi, Karen, Ryan, Crystal and I) - ready to rock!

Crystal & Brandi before start

Crystal & Brandi before startBrandi bringing it home!

Brandi rockin' her first 5K!

Brandi rockin' her first 5K!

First 5K in 30 minutes!  You go girl!

First 5K in 30 minutes! You go girl!

Karen heading to the line!

Karen heading to the line!

All smiles!

All smiles!

Great job Karen!

Great job Karen!

Me heading in!

Me heading in!

I was trying to pass this guy the whole race!

I was trying to pass this guy the whole race!

He took off in a sprint and I couldn't catch him!

He took off in a sprint and I couldn't catch him!

It's all good, still a PR!

It's all good, still a PR!

Ryan & Crystal (she's behind him) about to fight it out

Ryan & Crystal (she's behind him) about to fight it out

Ryan & Crystal starting full out sprint!

Ryan & Crystal starting full out sprint!

Ryan blocked her out to take it!

Ryan blocked her out to take it!

Karen & Brandi after race

Karen & Brandi after race

Group after race

Group after race

Group after race photo by London (Brandi's 3 year old daughter)

Group after race photo by London (Brandi's 3 year old daughter)

Brandi London & Crystal after race

Brandi London & Crystal after race

After the race in the car minus Karen

After the race in the car minus Karen

Crytal in the car on the way home

Crystal in the car on the way to the race and wearing $400 sunglasses!

Ryan & Crystal

Ryan & Crystal

Karen & Crystal

Karen & Crystal

Also, this weekend, I was fortunate enough to be able to give back to my fellow runner/multi-sport athlete community and volunteer at a local event.  It was the Inaugural Recon Double Trouble Off Road Duathlon at Anne Springs Close Greenway.  I had a blast working the event, but it takes just that – work.  There were several volunteers and they could have used more.  To all of those that compete in these types of events: volunteer all you can.  It makes the event not only more enjoyable, but even possible.  I hope I helped out with some great photos as I became a sort of unofficial event photographer and even helped hand out awards at the finish.  I provided all 1275 photos that I took of the event to the race director, Marcus Barton, so that he could use at his discretion.

I wanted so bad to race this event, but given the injuries I sustained after the BRR and Cane Creek, I have decided to keep my races to running only in an effort to continue on and finish my first marathon in December.  The next two Saturdays are preview runs so I will see what I am up against!

weekly weigh-in 11/4/09

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

I weighed myself this morning, but did not have time to use the Wii system due to Mia waking up early and requiring a cartoon to allow me to get a shower before work.  I had to use the cheap bathroom scale that we have.  It appeared to read between 159 and 160, so I will go with 159.5.  This was a pleasant surprise for me considering I have not weighed myself in several months.  I weighed 194 pounds when I started the weight loss journey in January.  The last time I weighed myself, August I think, I weighed 154 pounds.  Considering I have not followed a healthy diet in almost 3 months, 5.5 pounds gained is not too bad.  I would like to lose about 10 pounds though and stay around 150, which would calculate my BMI around 22, a healthy number.

On a running note, I ran 4 miles at lunch yesterday, but I felt extremely tired.  I don’t know if it was the 10 mile run on Sunday or if it was just an off day, but I hope to feel better tomorrow.  Have a great Wednesday everyone!

PR for 5K and start of diet

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

I ran in the Great Pumpkin 5K on Saturday morning and since it was Halloween, I decided to run in a costume.  I wanted it to be funny, so I decided on dressing as a beer bottle.  I figured this would slow me some, and it did, but I still managed to set a new PR for 5K at 25:42.  My previous PR was at the Concord Bunny run in April and my time there was 26:55.  It was a fun event and my brother-in-law, Alex, placed 1st in his age group!  The costume slowed me a bit and it wasn’t the most comfortable thing to run in, but it was still fun to do, especially with everyone cheering me in with “Hooray Beer!”  After the 5K, they had a 1 mile fun run for the kids and Mia attempted to run and did run for a while, but not the whole way.  She earned a medal anyway though!  As always, it was great to have Jenn, Mia and Sadie at the finish line to cheer me in.

Almost there!

Almost there!

Hooray Beer!!!

Hooray Beer!!!

On Sunday, I decided it was time to test my shin on a long run.  I set out to run at least 7 miles, but I ended up running 10 miles in 1:48:45, a nice and easy pace with a few walk breaks.  My legs were tired, but the shin still feels okay.  Hopefully this means I will be able to work my mileage up to be able to still run the marathon.

And today is the day I resume the “Daryl Diet.”  I have decided to do as Tyler does and post a weekly weigh in on Wednesdays.  See you then!