THIIIIS IS HOWW WE DOO IIIT!

10K... Check! Yeah, baby! All done! I completed (without a taxi, which WAS Plan B) the Westchester Medical Center Quarter Marathon. It was an absolutely incredible experience. Where do I begin? Hmmm...

Well, Claire and I got to bed relatively early last night - pretty much after I made my previous post. Then we woke up at about 7AM. I hopped in the shower to wake myself up/ get "warmed-up" for the race. Claire was smarter than I and had a bowl of cereal, while I woofed down a handful of almonds. As I was getting dressed, I said to Claire, "Should I wear the shirt that they gave us in the registration bag?" To which she responded, "Of course! Everyone will be wearing it, but I'm going to wear my long-sleeve running shirt because it's so cold." Having received the answer I was hoping for, I suited up with the really cool running shirt the race coordinators provided us. We swung by Claire's house, picked up her running shoes, got some tea from the deli, hopped on the train, and we were on our way.

We arrived at the race location only to see that Claire's prediction about everyone else wearing the shirts was horribly wrong. I looked around, searching high and low through the crowd... I was the only herb wearing the race shirt.

...yeah. Then my wise (ass) girlfriend decided to throw this loving comment out there just to make me feel like even more of a tool: "Wow! You're like that kid who goes to a concert wearing the shirt of the band that's playing." Real nice.

Luckily, once the half-marathoners started, I was able to see a few other fellow herbs wearing the race shirt. I looked at one guy wearing it; and I squinted my eyes and nodded JUST to let him know - You are not alone, friend. After that, we got our little warm up/ stretching on. Before we knew it, it was 9AM. LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!

I had already informed Claire that I would not be keeping pace with her. So, we pretty much separated right from the start. I found a couple of people that were keeping a really comfortable pace for me. I stuck with them for about the first 2 1/2 miles. The combined total of those first two miles was 16:21.0... not too shabby. I was feeling great. I had scoped out the route a couple of times, yesterday, trying to figure out where the tough hills were and stuff. I knew that, according to the route that I had signed up for, the last 3 miles were flat and downhill. I figured that I didn't need to save too much energy for the end of the race because there wouldn't be any hills to climb. WRONG! In between the time that I registered and today, they rerouted the race. We just made a U-turn and took the north-side of the parkway back. The last 2 miles of the race were mostly incline.

My whole strategery was shot.

Not only that... Mama and Papa LazyRunner were waiting at the wrong finish line. Gosh Darnit! I apologize for using such harsh language, but that's really how I felt. I ran to some dude on the sideline and asked if I could use his phone real quick. He let me, but it was an iPhone. Therefore, it had no service.

I wasted a minute + trying to get a signal before I said, "Eff it!" and continued my run. The hills were tough... I am not even going to lie. Not only did my pace diminish, but I took frequent walk breaks. All in all, I think I walked a combined total of 3 minutes. The time for my first 3 miles was extraordinary (for me :). I finished them in 25:01.8. Boom! I knew I was getting killed on the 2nd half of the race though. I didn't even bother to look at my time, but I still tracked it. Your ready for it... Miles 4 and 5 were longer than my first 3 combined - a whopping 32:34.5. Eff my L, right? I passed the sign for the last mile and decided to finish strong, like bull. I saw the finish line and got SOOO Happy! As Emz would say, "Happy. Happy. Me. Me!" As I got closer, my enthusiasm dropped because I saw that they were making us make another U-turn; and the finish line was another quarter mile down the line. Thanks, jerks! They really know how to bring a brotha down. I still finished as strong as I could. My final time was 1:05:35.5. Claire kept her pace the whole way; and despite falling during her 5th mile, managed to catch up to me and finish within 30 seconds of my time. Luckily, she didn't hurt herself too badly with the fall. She just has a booboo on her knee. Perhaps, I should have stuck with her from the start. Maybe not... she doesn't take walk breaks EVER, and I certainly needed them.

I gots my finishing metal! My first one! And then just got really excited because I had accomplished this goal that I set for myself way back around April. Next time, I know that I could do much better. I will have to stick with my training plan and leave the bacon cheeseburgers behind. Another lesson learned is to make sure that I know the correct route. Haha! I won't let any of these things bring me down because the bottom line is that I finished, and I had fun! And technically, I PR'd. Haha!

Thanks to everyone that helped me with this.

Your posts, comments, and support really motivated and pushed me when I definitely needed it. You got this lazy guy to show up and perform on race day. I can't thank you enough.

Mama and Papa LazyRunner figured out the finish line mix-up and met us after we finished stretching. They're the best! My number 1 fans! This was the final result.

It's Go Time!

Okay, this is it. The moment we've ALL been waiting for... well, maybe not all of us; but definitely me. My first quarter-marathon is tomorrow morning. Get this... it's my first 10K on 10/10/10, and my goal is to finish the race at 10AM. Whoooaaaaa... Double Rainbow all the way. Isn't that pretty cool/ weird? Btw... if you don't get the double rainbow reference, type it into youtube and experience the adventure/ nation-wide craze of Beartop!


I am a little nervous. Last week, I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to run that distance, but I did a 5-mile run this week with a 1-mile warm up/ cool down. I ran the 5 miles in 45 minutes. It was really awesome because it was the first time that I experienced something that I hear a lot of runners talk about... that HIGH. I'm in the club now, dude!

I got high running... so high that could have run more. It was an incredible feeling! My heart, lungs, and legs were just going on cruise control. My last 2 miles were actually faster than my first 3. I stopped because I didn't want to burn out and hurt myself. It was a very cool thing to experience though. I can't wait to have more like that.

So, I know that I can run the distance. Now, I guess I just have the pre-race jitters. I have all my stuff ready... got all my shiz for the race (an awesome running shirt, a timer chip, my number, and a few other goodies). They really hooked me up at the pre-registration pick-up.

I am about to go to sleep, now... get some quality sleep. The race starts at 9AM. Hopefully, I will be giving you a full report when I am finished. PLEASE wish me luck!

PS. It's pretty clear that I offended some people with my last post. You know... the whole Backstreet Boys thing. Well, I offer this next pic as a peace offering to all those anti-BSB people that I pissed off out there... Hope this patches things up between us.

We cool?

Everybody

EverybOdayah... yeeaahhaa... rock yo bOdayah!... yeeaahhaa... EverybOdayah... rock yo bOday right... ED - IS - BACK, ALRIGHT!

By the way, I smiled just that much more while typing this because I knew what Claire would being thinking while reading this... "OMG. This is SO embarrassing!" Hahahahaha! In case you haven't figured it out, we enjoy embarrassing each other. It brings us closer together... usually to fisticuffs.

Anyhow, enough of that girlfriend talk... YUCK! Felt like I was writing a Justin Bieber song there for a second. What I really am pumped to share is that I am feeling much better! On Thursday night, the abdominal pains were pretty excruciating. At one point, I sneezed and thought I was going to die.

I actually considered going to the ER a couple of times; but kept saying to myself that if the pain is the same or worse in 30 minutes, I will go. It never lasted that long in one sitting, luckily.

That night, at the suggestion of an article I read, I took a nice hot bath. I hadn't taken a bath since I was a little kid. It was really awkward because I'm a lot different (mentally, emotionally, and physically) than I was when I was a boy.

I quickly got over the awkwardness when a fond memory from bath-time past came into my brain. When I would take baths as a little boy, my mom would make my little brother and I take them together. It was definitely easier for her to handle us together, as we were a handful. However, her attempt to make her job less frustrating did not really pay off too well considering whichever one of us would get out of the bath first would pee before getting out so that the other one would have to soak in the other one's urine while mom dried the pee-er off (usually in a P O'd manner because she knew that water wasn't yellow a second ago).

HAHAHAHAHA! I literally started laughing out loud nakedly thinking about what little jerks (but funny jerks) my little brother, Doug, and I were.

Back to present day, the hot bath knocked me out. I was asleep by 10pm that night. I woke up the next day with no pain, which convinced me that this was a muscle problem for sure... aka no hernia or appendix issues. I still have a doctor's appointment this Thursday just to make sure everything is cool, but I am pretty certain all is well. I must have just pulled a muscle there while overstretching or the complete opposite, whatever.


I waited the rest of the day on Friday, just to make sure that the pain did not come back. Then on Saturday, I hit it hard (my hitting it hard = playing in the sandbox to most of you readers). I went for a 3.5 mile hike in northern Weschester with Claire first thing in the morning. In the afternoon, I went for a 3 mile run, which I finished in less than 30 mins. Boo-yah! The hike was truly amazing. I hadn't been on good hike in a long time. The rain had stopped and left us with a beautiful isolated area where negativity was just not welcome at all.


I was going to pass on the run because we did the hike earlier, Claire had left for work, and I'm a lazy piece of sh*t. Instead, I said "NAY! I have some catching up to do!" (Nice, one-liner, right?) So, I put on my sweet ass kicks and hit the road. Three miles later, I was satisfied with my decision to bang that bad boy out.

Yesterday, I gave my body a rest and spent the day hanging out with my baby nephew and helping my dad with some work. Tonight, I will be sure to get some sort of training in. I need to make sure I take a nice bath after though so that I can heat that muscle up nicely... and hopefully, I'll have another fun trip down memory lane. Hahahaha!

Hey... I DON'T SUCK! Thanks!

Complete First 5K - Check!

HEY HEY HEY... WHAT'S GOIN ON?! We did it! Claire and I completed our first ever 5K race. It was so much fun! I think I mentioned this before, but the race was in Pound Ridge on Saturday. It was scheduled to start at 9:00AM, but it didn't start until 9:15AM. I mention that because I was such a nervous nelly waiting for the race to start. Haha! I'll get to the race itself in a minute. The night before I had made a couple of servings of pasta for dinner for Claire and me. We also had some chicken wings so that we could have our carbs and protein for the next morning. Then I laid out all the things I needed for the race, like I had read about in Runner's World magazine and other people's blogs. This really helped me from gettin all antsy in my pantsy in the morning. I got to sleep at a reasonable hour so that I got my eight hours. I woke up at about 7:00AM, had some Corn Flakes and some water (I had also been filling up with water the night before). I know it was only a 5K; but in my mind, it was a huge frickin deal because it was not only my first race but the longest I going to ever run at once.

We arrived at the location of registration, signed in, and got our numbers. After pacing back and forth, making sure I had everything I needed for the race, we met up with my parents who came to show some support. I know it's kind of corny, a 25 year old man asking his parents to come watch him race, but their support means the world to me. They are my two biggest fans, and I knew that having them there was enough to motivate me even more. And if that isn't cheese bally enough for you, get this... I even asked my mom to bring her camera so she could take some pics of us so that I could post them on the blog and keep them to remember my first race. Once we had met up with them and snapped a couple of fantastic "check me out... yeah, I'm a runner... no big deal" shots, they headed to the finish line to wait for us. I wasn't planning on setting any world records... I just wanted to finish the race. So, I told them to be ready to see us approaching the finish line between the 30th and 40th minutes. Claire and I got our stretch on and then waited for the race to start. I was so anxious... ready to GO. Claire was chill and relaxed. She kept reminding me about the Bronx River Parkway run we embarked on a few weeks ago by saying, "Now listen here, Superman... There's no need to be a hero. Make sure you pace yourself and don't burn out too early." Being the humble, open-minded, and thoughtful person I am, I responded every time with a "Yeah, yeah, yeah... I got it." Haha!

At 9:15AM, the horn was blown; and we were off. Slow and steady, Ed... Slow and steady. I stuck with Claire for about the first 50 yards and then upped my pace a little bit, leaving her a little bit further behind me. I stuck next to this 6'5" dude, thinking he was a giant and that I could probably keep a good pace with him. Scratch that... it turned out Tiny was a runner. I felt out my comfort zone and took pace next to this lady who looked like she had been around the block a few times (no pun intended). Side note: She was wearing an American flag bandana, which I thought was pretty damn cool for an old lady.

I was not familiar with the route. All I knew was that the first mile was pretty much downhill, the second mile was flat, and the third mile was mostly uphill. I kept a decent pace in the beginning to save my energy for the last mile. I had no clue where or how far along the route I was. They said that there were water stations at the 1.5 and 2.5 mile markers. This did not do me any good with knowing how far along I was considering the people of Pound Ridge were so nice that they had set up water stations outside of their houses all along the route. It was really nice of them. The only thing I could do to get an idea of the distance was look at my ipod stopwatch, which I had started when the race began. It helped me out quite a bit. The entire race was such a rush. I had my music going and just a natural high from thinking "this is so cool... running a race with all these people." There was never a point in the race where I didn't have a smile on my face (I dabble in creating rhymes like that... pretty good one, huh? Watch out, Eminem).

When I started to hit the uphill sections, I said to myself "this better be that third mile they were talking about. Otherwise, I'm screwed." It turned out, it was. After two of the bigger hills, I went into a fast-paced walk for 10-15 seconds. Then I transitioned back into my run knowing that I had almost arrived. Then I saw the park. I knew that this was the end of the race because that's what they had told us ahead of time. BOOM! I hit it hard, picking up my pace to finish the race strong. I got to the end of the grass... "FILTHY LIARS!!!" I said to myself when I did not see the finish line. It turns out that the park makes a hard right hand turn and goes about another 200 yards. I rounded the corner and saw the finish line. I looked to see if I could find my parents. I didn't see them, but I did see that I was below 30 minutes. I was like, "BOO YAH!" When I was a few steps away from the finish line, I saw my parents there cheering me on. It was so incredibly awesome! I did the famous both-hands-up as I crossed the finish line. Unfortunately, my mom did not grab the shot (bummer), but she did get a shot of me right after I finished running. VICTORY! I started walking to where the last straight-away was so that I could see Claire as she was finishing up. There she was, doin her thang. I cheered her on and ran along the side line with her. My mom got the post finish line shot of her, too. WE DID IT!!!

We walked for a bit, stretched, and got some free bagels (KEY!). We were waiting around for a bit to see if we could get our official times, but we had no such luck (at first). I had stopped my clock after I had already finished and started walking to meet Claire, and it was 29:54. So I knew I ran better than that. As we decided to call it a day, I saw some people that looked like the race "officials" and asked if they knew how we could check our times. The guy that I asked happened to be the one that recorded all the times. He found Claire's right away, which I believe was 31:28; but he could not find mine. I told him that I believe I was in the 29th minute, and he said he couldn't find it. He was in a rush. So I didn't want to bug him about it. So, I'm putting myself either in the 28th or 29th and change range. The official times will be put up on the internet on Wednesday. Once I get the actual results, I will post them along with the pictures my mama took.

Thanks to everyone who helped me out with this. The comments, suggestions, and support really helped and motivated me. I guess it just goes to show how powerful this blogging business really is. Thanks again!

Change of Date for 5K

I apologize for the lack of posting. Between camping last week and golfing and moving all my job's files, desks, chairs, etc. from NJ to CT this week, I have not had much time for anything else besides training and sleeping. I have been doing well on that end. This is not why I'm posting now though. Truth is that I do not have time to give a "quality" post right now. I just wanted to let everyone know that the 4th of July 5K that I am running was changed to the 3rd of July (aka tomorrow). I could have used the extra day to convince myself that I am ready for this bad boy, but whatever. I'm gonna do my best and, hopefully, tear it up! I will let you know how it goes. Wish me luck... PLEASE!!!

ps. A "quality" post to update you on the status of my training/fun life stuff will follow... I promise. I also need to play ketchup with reading other blog posts. Thanks!

Exercise... What's That?

It had been a week and a half since my last workout / training session, and it was not looking good. I know this feeling all too well. Maybe some of you do, too... When you get SO SO SO motivated to do something. You start out with the best intentions and all the steam you can muster, like the little engine that could. One day is missed... just one lousy, frickin day; and then the whole thing seems like an impossible feat or, at the very least, an annoying chore. And goddamn do I like to procrastinate... SLOTH in five syllables. That's me! It gets dreadful because that feeling of giving up destroys your morale while your lack of effort diminishes any progress that you've made prior to this pause.

Well, folks... I nipped that lazy crap in the butt. As I posted yesterday, I bought some fresh new running shiz. This was all the inspiration that I needed... but I actually got more. A couple of people pissed me off pretty badly to the point where I needed to do something to clear my head and release my frustrations. What did I do?... DING! DING! DING! That's right I ran! I ran my little heart out. I ran passionately, like Kevin Bacon when he had that angry, aggressive, and sexy (no homo) dancing scene in Footloose. I became one with it... until I hit the first mile... then I was tired. Luckily, I saw this guy walking down the street. Being that I had just rounded the last block to turn around and go back home, it was the second time I was seeing him. I wanted to look like this run aint no thang! So, I picked my head up and ran a block at a time, until I made it back to my apartment. It felt frickin so good to finish that run all the way through. It was a total of two miles, which I ran in about 16 minutes. The Nike Air Plus shoes and new running clothes were cool because they helped me look like a real runner as well as perform a lot better.

I'm pumped to do my next run. However, I think I'm going to hold off on that until tomorrow. Unfortunately, I did not stretch for long enough after my run, which resulted in me waking up SUPER sore. My legs feel huge and jacked, like a bodybuilder's; but they look normal and can't do too much right now. Haha! I'm playing a round of golf with some co-workers tonight. I'll probably walk the course and carry my bag to get a little exercise in along with the swinging, which there will be A LOT of. Perhaps tonight, I can get a little dumbbell action in, as well. We shall see... no promises. I will let you know how it goes (Btw... 12 more days until the 5K).

Thanks!

Keepin It Goin!

Oh man, does it feel good when I'm on the right track, even if it's just for the day. I did not get the l.5 miles in on Wednesday... instead I did something much more fun. I signed up for Big Brothers Big Sisters a few months ago. Wednesday was the first time that I got to hang out with my "little". He rules. He's smart, funny, and FILLED with energy. I think I may have gotten in the 1.5 miles just running after him. Actually... it's pretty funny because he asked me if we could run around the track for a bit. I was like, "Did someone put you up to this?" The truth is he just likes to run, which is cool. I'm already seeing that I will be getting a lot out of this relationship. We SPRINTED two laps around the track, and he is fast! And he's a tiny guy, too; so he's ducking and dodging people, running around and in between them. And I look like a frickin goofball trying to do the same thing. HAHAHA! After the track, we spent the rest of our time hanging out, throwing a ball around, and talking about all the fun things we're going to do this summer. Needless to say, Wednesday was an awesome day (and I even got a little speed workout in, too).

Yesterday, in New York, it was raining... and then it wasn't... then it was... then it wasn't... then it still wasn't... then it was... The moment I saw a gap where I could squeeze in a run after work, I took it. I ran a little more than a mile at about a 9:00 pace (I think). It was a little weird because I left my ipod at work, and I had no running partner. I tried to make due with the music on my phone, but it kept skipping. Before I threw it against a rock and smashed it into a million pieces because it's annoying as shit to listen to a song with pauses every two seconds, I shut the music off and just ran. From all the stuff I've been reading, runners say that it's good to run without music every now and then because you start to notice and recongnize things that you normally would not while listening to music - like breathing, the sounds of your foot steps, cars honking at you... you know, the good stuff.

So, I'm definitely not there, yet. I was still kind of pissed that I had no music (like a little baby) and I started to talk to myself in my head. Now, I'm not crazy (not enough to be committed anyhow). However, I do have quite a few things going on in my life. It's all good things. I'm really quite blessed, but sometimes the stack can get a little tall. I don't think it's a good time to create my schedule for the next week and a giant to-do list in my head while I'm running. One of the things that I like about my runs is that my mind goes a little blank. It's like I'm taking a mini-vacation from my normal life and going to the magical land of pacing myself while listening to music. HAHAHA! I believe I will continue to listen to my music for a while longer. Eventually, I see myself practicing doing more runs with just me, myself and I.

Today, I plan on doing an upper-body workout. I gotta get this in because I've missed it for (about) a month. I have a $10/month membership at a gym; but if I don't get up early and go before work, the gym gets so packed, like Times Square on New Years. I can't deal with a lot of people. I'm not claustrophobic by any means, but I'm easily irritated when I'm around a lot of people who just go to the gym to hang out and sit on machines. A 30-minute workout should not take two hours. I went out and bought a really good set of dumbbells for $200. I can alternate the weight on the dumbbells and everything. It's pretty sweet. I purchased these items with the best intentions. I was going to workout every other day... get myself nice and jacked before the summer. Well, summer is here; I'm not jacked; and I'm not being too nice to myself because I keep skipping my workouts. I promise to get this workout in today. I gotta throw a wrench in this routine of bailing on commitments to myself. I can probably get nice and jacked for the winter, which really comes in handy when you live in New York. I guess being jacked is overrated in the long run. It's about being healthy. I can be cool with that... a six pack would be nice though. HAHAHA! WHATEVER!!! I have a hot girlfriend that loves my love handles! BOOM!

Goals for the weekend:
Friday - Upper-body workout
Saturday - 1 mile at 9:00 pace
Sunday - 1.5 miles at 10:00 pace

I'm three weeks away from my first 5K and 18 weeks away from my first 10K. I have my training schedule from now to then finalized. I will post it sometime in the near future. Any pointers? I'm open to trying new things.

Thanks.

Too Fast Too Nauseous

Being that I'm a hot shot runner, I always like to do better than I set out to do ahead of time. My goal was to run a mile at a 8:00 pace. I figured that I can beat that... I'm such an idiot.
Why can't I just do the 8:00 mile and be happy with it? Or at least plan to beat 8:00? I'll tell you why... because if I pass the expectations, I feel better about myself... like I'm the best shit ever. If I just meet my expectation, I feel civilized, accomplished but mediocre (weird but true). And if I do not meet my expectation, I'm a stupid idiot loser that should just quit whatever it is I failed at and move into a VAN, DOWN BY THE RIVER! That's a fack, Jack!

Well... I made it to the track last night. It was a really good time to run. I went to the high school track near my apartment because it feels better on my knees, which have been kind of messed up since I was a young lad. It was dark, cool, and quiet; and not a lot of people were around. Claire came with me, unwillingly... Apparently, I was HER reliable running partner this time. We walked around a bit, stretched, and then got our groove on (that means we started to run).

TANGENT! Isn't it great to have music playing while running? It's like my own personal soundtrack. I put together a playlist of songs with great rhythm or that just motivate me, like Eye of the Tiger or that song from the Karate Kid soundtrack. Well, my playlist yesterday was great... warmed up to "Ave Maria" (beautiful, soothing, relaxing... helps get my deep breathing on); then listened to "Fire Starter" by Prodigy (audio cocaine for me... probably why I started out so fast) when I started the mile; ended with "Dead Wrong" by Biggie feat. Eminem (gets my feet moving in sync with the rhythm... a good closer). Cooled down without music... chit-chatted with the woman.

Back to the actual run... I started off way too fast. My strides were short and quick. I looked like the child version of Forrest Gump (with the stiff leg braces) trying to run to the bathroom lickitty split because he was about to make poopies in his pants. Claire hung out with me for the first lap and then fell back because she didn't want to burn out. Smart choice on her part. I'm basically a machine... so, I kept the same pace. My stride was back to normal (slower but longer); and about half way through the second lap, I realized how out of breath I was getting. I slowed it down a bit for the rest of that lap. And then dropped back to a nice smooth steady stride for the rest of my mile (Thanks Biggie!)

My ipod touch has a stop watch on it. This is really convenient because I do not have a digital watch; and I want to track my progress. After each lap, I slap my arm and Boom - time recorded. Here are my results:

Lap 1 = 1:45.9
Lap 2 = 1:50.5
Lap 3 = 2:00.7
Lap 4 = 2:01.5
Total = 7:38.6 mile

While my times were very good and better than planned, I felt really sick during my cool down. I started coughing and was sure that I was going to throw up. I'm quite familiar with the feeling since I got sick after every race I had while running high school track. I wasn't much of a runner. I played soccer throughout high school, and did track just to stay in shape for that. Regardless, I always gave it my all (usually, leaving it all on the side of the track shortly after the race). This time, I refused to stop and gag. I kept deep breaths coming in and out while power walking like a mad man so my heart rate could balance out. The sick feeling dissipated, finally. I stretched, then headed home.


Moral of the story... There's no need to be a hero during a mile training session. Ego needs to calm down, or else Ed's going to destroy himself. Easy does it... As long as I stay on track (no pun intended), I will be able to naturally work my way up to a quicker pace. While this is a great lesson, I have what is called a "built-in forgetter". So, there is no doubt in my mind that I will overdo it again. However, maybe I can take it easy on my run tonight. We shall see.

Thanks.

Awwwe HELL Yeah!!!

I did so much better this weekend than I did Memorial Day weekend. It did not look too promising at the beginning. Even though I had started off right by walking the two miles on Thursday, it did not look very good for the weekend because I didn't do my upper-body workout, which I had planned.

Usually, my upper-body workout consists of an exercise with dumbbells for each of the following: chest, shoulders, back, biceps, and triceps... I do three sets of 15 reps for each exercise. Every time I do an upper-body workout, I try to make sure that I do not repeat the same exercise that I had done last time. This would normally help "confuse" the muscles by mixing things up a bit. Well, I did not have to play such "mind games" with my muscles because I decided not to do a goddamn thing involving either weights or movement.

While I had a few things that I needed to take care of right after work on Friday, I had absolutely nothing going on that night. I mean I did laundry that night... You know that if a person does laundry on a Friday night, it's not because it's so much more fun and entertaining than going out and meeting up with friends. It means that person literally has nothing going on. It wasn't like I was counting down the days of the week at work, looking up different fabric softeners, and drying techniques in anticipation of the extravagent laundry party I had in the basement of my apartment building. NO... I had nothing going on and was down to my last pair of clean boxers. That was the predicament I found myself in on Friday.

I put the first load of laundry on, and I did not have to change it for another 40 minutes. What did I do for that 40 minutes? I went into my apartment, looked at the dumbbells, took a DEEP breath, sat down, and watched Arrested Development (Awesome show... I'd do it again in a heartbeat). This is what I did all night. It was great, but will not do if I plan on sticking with these running shenanigans. I realized this before falling asleep.

I woke up on Saturday morning really pumped to run. It was my goal to get my runs in early in the morning since I sucked so bad at squeezing them in the weekend before (Just realized I put "get my runs" and "squeezing" in the same sentence... gross but funny to me :). I went and picked up me lady, Claire; and we headed off to the park to get our run on. Since she was nice enough to agree to come with me, and I know how much she hates it when I leave her in the dust when we run together, I agreed to let her set the pace. It was slower than my norm... a 10 minute mile, but it felt good to know that I was SLOWLY getting back on track.

Sunday morning's workout was FANTASTIC! For most Sundays throughout the summer, a portion of the Bronx River Parkway is closed from 10am to 1pm so that bicyclists, rollerbladers, and badass runners (like me) can use it. I feel like this is the perfect opportunity to train because my first race (the 10K in October) is the full length of this closed off section of the parkway - Boom! Woke up as if running was the most important thing I ever had to do, picked up my best gal, and went to the parkway.

We started running a little late... about 11ish. So, the sun was out and in full effect. Since I've been training for this thing, I have yet to run in the middle of the day. It's always been in the early morning or at night. But since I'm Superman, I can do whatever I imagine in my head with nothing capable of stopping me. I told Claire I'd stick with her slow-running crap for a little bit, but it was time to do big boy stuff after the first mile. I WAS DYING by the first mile-marker. The sun was kickin my ass, and I was doing everything in my power to keep pace with Claire and look as if SHE was slowin ME down (the male ego is a frail thing that requires constant attention... like a baby bird with a broken wing). We made it to the two-mile marker, which is where we decided ahead of time to turn around and head back. Claire asked if we could walk for a bit. I made it look like, "... I guess. I mean I could definitely keep going if I wanted to, but I'm a good guy. So, I'll walk with you for a lil bit." What I was actually doing was thanking God because if I had to run another 20 feet, my face would have hit the pavement fo sho.

We walked for about a mile, then started back up running again. We got about 3/4 of a mile in, and I swallowed my pride and requested that we walk the rest of the way. I was truly shot. It was the most I'd ever ran. It felt really good when I was done... like I had accomplished something great. I'm grateful that I promised all you ONE followers (that ONE is CLAIRE!- HAHAHA!) that I was going to do better this weekend. It definitely motivated me. I am also grateful that I had a very helpful running partner.

Also, I learned not to underestimate the sun or overestimate my strength... If I had started at the pace I normally go, I would have been shot and given up before the mile marker. I gotta keep that in mind next time I go out. Anyhoot, here's my line up for the week:

Monday - Rest
Tuesday - 1 mile @ 8:00 pace
Wedesday - 1.5 miles @ 8:30 pace
Thursday - 1 mile @ 8:00 pace
Friday - Upper-body workout (I promise!)
Saturday - 1 mile @ 9:00 pace
Sunday - 2 miles @ 9:30 pace

Wish me luck!

Btw... Promised you a race... I'm signing up to run a 5K in Pound Ridge on the 4th of July... Less than a month away... Gotta get moving!

Thanks!