Posts Tagged ‘Jenny’

Happy New Year!

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

Okay, so I am late with this post, but I have been enjoying the time with my family over the holidays and things have been hectic!

I will take some ideas from Melissa for an “end of year” post and reflect back on 2009 and then focus on what I am planning for 2010.

Family Changes

2009 marked the 3rd birthday of my oldest daughter, Mia.  She is a wonderful girl who has me completely wrapped around her fingers.  The year also marked the 1st birthday of my youngest, Sadie.  She is an independent spirit who will be giving Mia hell in the coming years, I am sure.  Parents turn the other cheek when it is payback, you know.  My wife, Jenn, and I celebrated our 5 year Anniversary.  My sister, Jenny, and her husband, Chuck,  had their first baby, a boy named Cai and he is so adorable!  See Melissa’s post on her experience being there with them.

Weight Loss

In the beginning of 2009, I started my weight loss journey.  At the peak, I had lost about 40 pounds, but have slipped off since.  During marathon training I actually saw a weight gain, which I have heard can happen.  For the entire year, I lost about 30 pounds.

Running/Triathlon

In January 2009, I could not run a mile.  I started the Couch 2 5K program from PodRunner Intervals and ran my first 5K with Melissa in February.  I was hooked.  I went on to run a 4.1 mile race in April, my first triathlon in May, a 10K in June, off-road triathlon in July, international distance triathlon in August, a 211 mile relay run in the mountains of North Carolina in September and a Marathon in December.

Hiking/Camping

2009 was a bit of a slow year in this department.  I did manage to make the MitchellWinter trip with Melissa, Jeff and Chris.  I also got up to the Linville Gorge for a weekend with Andrew and Chad.  I was able to incorporate camping before a couple of triathlons.  I hope that as the kids get older, I will be able to take them places that I haven’t yet been able to.

Special Places

You have followed some of my new special places this year, and I appreciate you all bearing with my strange sense of humor!

2010

I hope to continue the weight loss journey in 2010 and to increase my physical ability.  I have already signed up for 4 triathlons including a Half Ironman in November.  This will be my biggest physical challenge of my life and I have a long way to get prepared for it.  I also look forward to another year of milestones with my wonderful girls and my beautiful wife!

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Posted in Hiking/Camping, Introduction, Random Thoughts, Triathlon Training, Weight Management, marathon training, mitchell winter | 3 Comments »

I did it!

Monday, December 14th, 2009

I ran my first marathon on Saturday.  I wanted to get this posted yesterday, but I didn’t the mental or physical energy to get it out.  I don’t have all of the photos I want to share loaded yet, but I want to get it started.  So I will add photos to this post, or I may create a new one with photos that Jeff took and perhaps some videos that Jenn and Crystal captured for me.

First, let me say that this was an amazing experience.  I don’t know if the next thing that I accomplish will have the exact same feeling, but I hope it is close.  I am not one to get too emotional to the point of tears, but after I crossed that finish line after high fiving most of my friends and family that came to see me, I was just overcome.  I don’t think I actually cried, but I felt like it and my eyes did water, but it could have been because I was freezing too.

For those that want more details, here are the events as they happened:

Friday night, Jenn and I drove to Charlotte to check into the hotel that Colleen works at and hooked us up with a good rate and free parking, the Crowne Plaza.  When we got there, I called Jeff and when he answered, he sounded just like the guy we could hear in the next room, in fact, he was the guy in the next room, and Melissa was on the other side of him.  We went over and spoke to them for a bit and then Jenn and I went to the Convention Center to pick up my race packet and to get some dinner.  Jenn wanted Fuel pizza, but I had planned on not eating that late.  Well, once I smelled pizza, I wanted some.  We brought it back to the hotel and I managed to only eat half a piece and water.  I went to bed around 10:00.  I tossed and turned all night and maybe got 2 hours of actual sleep.  I finally got up around 5:00 and jumped in the shower.  After the shower I went ahead and got dressed for the race and then went to Melissa’s room to see how she was doing.  Chris went out to find coffee and came back with extra hotel coffee packs.  Not the best, but caffeine none the less.

We walked to the start area and Melissa went to the bathroom in the convention center.  She must not have realized what time it was or how long the lines were going to be because I finally left and went to the start line at about 7:46.  I joined a mass of people and waited for the start.  They were a few minutes late, but when they said go, I started my watch timer and stood there and waited for almost 2 minutes before I could actually move.  There were more people than I could have imagined.  I saw Jeff as I ran by him and he snapped a picture.  At that point, I figured Melissa had gotten to the start and would eventually catch me.  She did for the record, but neither of us saw the other!

I was feeling very good for the first half of the race.  Pace was spot on and my body felt great.  The second half started fine, but around miles 19 – 21, my body started to say, “what the hell are you doing!?”  My calves started to cramp and my knees were sore.  My feet hurt and ankles too.  I stopped and stretched a few times, but when I did it almost made them cramp more.  I walked through a few water stops, but the last several miles went from 10 min/mile in the first part of the race down to 12 – 13 minute miles.  I had to quickly abandon my 4:30 goal time.  Now I was aiming for 4:45.  When the 4:45 pace group passed me, I tried to keep up, but the cramping returned.  When the 5:00 pace group passed, I was determined to stay with them.  I had about 3.5 miles to go.  We hit a tough hill and I had to stop and stretch again.  My legs were just toast.  they continued on and I thought to myself, “well at this point I know I can finish.  That’s what matters now.”  And that’s what I did.

Highlights of the race:

The guy leaning on a car holding a wooden paddle that said “smile if you need a spanking”

The guy who ran the entire marathon in a Santa suit.

Seeing Crystal, her husband, Ryan and her mom, Karen just before mile 18, cheering me on, holding signs that said “Go Kevin!” & “Keep TTP’n”  The second sign, I am told, was Brandi’s idea, but she couldn’t be there because she was sick.  Hope you are better, Brandi!

Seeing a vacant port-a-john right after mile 18 when I had to pee.

Running through the “wall” in NoDa.

Seeing the sign that said “Sign of Encouragement” next to a sign that said “The End is Near”

Giving high fives to kids on the side of the road that came out to cheer us on.

Seeing my other sister, Jenny, running towards me about a mile from the finish.  She kept me company as I finished.

Seeing Karen, Ryan, Crystal, Jeff, Chris, my Mom and Dad, Colleen, Jenn, and to my surprise, Mia and Jenn’s parents as I approached the finish line.  Truly a feeling of elation.

As I said, I will get pictures and video up on my next post when I can.

Read Melissa’s post here.

This picture from Melissa's post captures my feeling pretty closely

This picture from Melissa's post captures my feeling pretty closely

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Posted in marathon training | 6 Comments »

injuries stink

Monday, October 5th, 2009

My shin is still in some pain, but shows some minor improvement.  I have been wearing compression sleeves, icing and resting trying like hell to speed up the healing process any way I know how.  My sister, Jenny, said that the creaking sound made in my lower shin when I move my foot is most likely a fluid buildup from the swelling.  That has mostly gone away today, so I will take that as a good sign.

I was able to ride my bike late last week.  I rode to work and back home on Friday and although my shin was pretty stiff when I got home, the pain was not any worse than doing nothing, so at least I can get some workouts in while I wait to be able to run again. 

I also rode some with Melissa last night while she is getting used to her new bike.  It must have been comical when I was showing her how to properly un-clip from the pedals and I lost my balance and fell over!  I now have a bruised left elbow and sternum (where the bike saddle landed).  In an effort to protect the bike, I threw myself onto the concrete to keep the bike from landing.  No damage to the bike.  You gotta save the carbon!

I am worried that several weeks of no running during the middle of marathon training will hurt me in the long run, but let me tell you this: one way or another I will get my body through 26.2 miles on December 12th!

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Posted in marathon training | 7 Comments »

the beginning of marathon training

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

So Melissa, Chris and I started our 18 week training program for Charlotte’s Thunder Road Marathon on 12/12/09 this week.  Melissa is in Greenville this week with our sister Jenny.  She has been getting her runs in there and I have gotten a couple of runs in after recovering from all of last weekend’s tough runs.

Wednesday night I went on a run with Jenn and I pushed the stroller with Mia and Sadie.  We went a little more than 2 miles and it is amazing how much harder it is to run while pushing two kids!  See the run here.

This morning, I managed to drag myself out of bed for another run.  I ran about 4.3 miles and it felt great.  I kept a good pace (for me) and was also able to keep my heart rate down which I guess mean I am improving.  It is easy running in Fort Mill, SC after you run in Barnardsville, NC!

I think I will allow myself to sleep in tomorrow morning, which is a scheduled rest day, but I might throw in 3 miles at lunch as long as my legs feel good.  Then it is 6 miles on Saturday morning to complete the first of 18 weeks of training.  Wish me luck!

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Posted in marathon training | 3 Comments »

Happy Father’s Day

Sunday, June 21st, 2009

I had every reason to skip my workouts this weekend.  Yesterday, I travelled to Greenville, SC with Mia, my Dad and Melissa to visit Jenny and Chuck.  We left pretty much first thing in the morning and I let Jenn get a run in before we left.  Melissa and I had tentatively planned to run while we were in Greenville, but the temperature was to flirt with 100 degrees and it would be the hottest part of the day when we would have had time to run – nap time.  Plus, Chuck had said he wanted to get a round of disc golf in with me and after not playing for several months, I was looking forward to that.

We ended up going to play the game of disc golf since it was so hot.  It was a lot of fun and I shot 12 over and Chuck (semi-professional if you ask me) shot 6 under.  Now you may say 12 over is really bad, but I haven’t thrown a disc in 3 months and even then I usually was happy with bogey golf, or 18 over playing 18 holes.  So I was pleased with a 12 over score, especially since this is rated an “intermediate-advanced level course” and a “difficult par 54″ on the PDGA website.  We played at Century Park Disc Golf Course in Greer, SC.  I greatly enjoyed the course and would recommend it to anyone in the area.

Mia and I didn’t get back home until about 7:00, just in time to see Sadie before she went to bed.  We couldn’t get Mia to sleep until a little after 9:oo as she was wound up from the busy day.  I was too tired after all of that to do anything but sit and watch some TV.

Jenn had to work 12 hours on Sunday, so she went to bed early.  I stayed up just a little bit and watched some of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, as aired on PBS a few months ago.  I decided that I would wake up early enough to get a run in before Jenn had to leave for work at 6:00.  This meant I had to wake up at 4:45 at the latest to do that.  I wanted to run 6 miles and knew that I would need at least 1:15 to get ready and run that distance.  So I went to bed.

I woke up at about 4:50 and threw on clothes, stretched, went to the bathroom and leashed up Althea.  We told Diego goodbye and we headed out.  I decided that since there was not much traffic at 5:00 on Sunday morning that we would run down the normally busy road that has no sidewalks (seriously, come on Town of Fort Mill, get with the program and put sidewalks and bike lanes in!) and run through the town.  It seems that the majority of cars that are out this early on Sundays are police officers.  At least I could wave one down if I had a problem!

We turned around at about 5:30 because I knew I had to be back by 6:00 so Jenn could leave for work.  This cut the distance to 5 miles, but it still felt great and around mile 4 I felt the “runner’s high” but it didn’t last very long.  Those of you that have run a good bit probably know what I am talking about.  It is kind of a fuzzy feeling, but I like the feeling and I take it as my body’s way of saying, “thanks for all the exercise, now I can live a little longer!”

Here are the stats as recorded by the Forerunner GPS.

Now I get to enjoy my Father’s Day with my two girls.  I only wish that I didn’t have to work tomorrow and that Jenn could spend the day with us too.  Oh well, not everything is perfect, but it is close.

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Posted in Disc Golf, Triathlon Training | No Comments »

Another Humid Morning

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

I was able to force myself out of bed at 5:00 again this morning.  I was disappointed in this because I needed to get up no later than 4:45 to get the run in that I wanted to.  My wife had to leave the house for work at 5:55, so I needed to be back home by then in case the girls woke up.

I did my usual routine: toilet, clothes, shoes, stretch.  Then I went to see the dogs and let Diego in the house and got the leash on Althea.  This always takes longer than you would think.  After a 5 minute warm up walk, I started running at 5:31.  This meant it was going to be a shorter run than I wanted.  So I decided to try to run a fast pace.

The idea was all well and good, but then I started to think about the weather man I heard on TV while I was stretching.  “It is already warm at 71 degrees and it is much more humid than this time yesterday.  When you walk outside this morning it will be like a slap in the face.”  I thought, “shit, just what I need!” 

So I decided to do the best with what I had and I ran 2.35 miles in about 21 minutes.  That comes to a pace of 8:57/mile.  Not a bad pace, but certainly not my best.  You can see all the stats here.

I will attempt the swim at 5:30 tomorrow morning and then bike to/from work.  I am looking forward to that.  This Saturday Mia and I are traveling with my dad and Melissa to see our sister, Jenny, and her husband, Chuck.  I am super excited about this because I haven’t seen my dad in quite some time (my parents live in Dallas, TX) and it has been several weeks since I have seen Jenny and Chuck. 

Jenny is 8 months pregnant and completed her first marathon with Chuck last December (while she was pregnant by the way).  We ran in a race together with Melissa and although she was pregnant she still smoked us.  See Melissa’s blog post about that race here.  I wonder if I could beat her now?  She is the one who used to trick me into exercising with her when we were kids.  “Come on, race me!  I will give you a head start and a sticker when we finish!”  She would still beat me and I think you owe me some stickers Jenny.  It wasn’t until high school when I started running track that I could beat her at a short sprint.  By this time she was running much farther than me, but I have to hold on to something, right?  Maybe we can run a marathon (or at least the Cooper River Bridge run 10K) together next year and I can see how far I’ve come.  Melissa, Jenny how about a little sibling rivalry next year?

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Posted in Triathlon Training | 6 Comments »

Sunday Morning Workout

Sunday, May 17th, 2009

I ran 13.1 miles (half marathon distance) this morning for the first time.  I did it with my dog, Althea and my sister, Melissa.  I am super excited and can’t wait to go farther!  I never thought for a second that I would be as excited about running as I am right now.  And it seems to be growing as I up the distance.

Check out the run here.

Rewind about a year.  My brother in law, Chuck, and my sister, Jenny, were about to start training for a marathon.  Whenever the topic of running came up, I was always the guy who said, “You know, I ran 2 miles once.  And hated every step.”  That is truly how I felt.  I ran track in high school, just because that was the only team I could get on and the coaches trained us so hard that it took every ounce of fun out of it.  I compare that to reading.  When you are in school, the teachers have you read these “classics” for the curriculum.  I am sure these are great works of literature, but if you aren’t interested in reading that (what typical high school kid is), then you won’t get what the author intended its readership to get.  This is why I hated to read until a few years ago when I actually read something I enjoyed.  Running is a lot like that.  When you do it for fun and exercise, and you see improvements and results, then it is fun.  Not being able to walk up the stairs after track practice is not fun.

I was the guy who commented on my sister’s blog last April when she said that “Next year, I pledge to run the whole way – not walk! – and do it in less than an hour. Oh, and we’re dragging my brother along too, whether he knows it or not …” and I commented, “Wait a second… don’t you guys know that I HATE running???”  Read it here for proof!

So, I now have to eat crow.  I was completely wrong in my opinion of running.  It is hard at times, yes, but when you do it because you want to get into shape and improve your health and fitness, it can be wonderful!

My next event is the Lake Wylie Splash Dash 10K.  My goal will be to complete in less than 1 hour.  You may think “10K, in 1 hour?  That’s not that fast.”  But this course is very hilly, so I will be happy with 1 hour!  Until then, I need more workouts.  It is back to swimming this week after taking a week off after the triathlon.

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Posted in Triathlon Training | 1 Comment »