Time On The Road……….by Donnie

Yesterday I ran 10 miles down a busy major street in my ongoing running regime.  I believe it is cruel and unusual punishment to run past so many restaurants, getting a whiff of tasty dishes cooking, as I am trying to eat right and develop healthy habits.  This regular running routine is new to me, so I am a work in progress as I process new information and learn better techniques for the best possible runs.  From what I gather, most runners run several times during the week, and have one day each week where they run their “long run”.   Right now, my long run day is Saturday.

  I have run longer distances before, but this one today seemed more difficult.  I am thinking it is the cold weather that made it more of a challenge today.  But….until if, and when I can move south, I will have to toughen up.  It is only going to get colder, and my scheduled runs are only going to get longer.  If I want to be successful in the Oz Marathon in April, I have to be ready for anything.  I am excited however about getting some cold weather running clothes; hopefully they will be more comfortable than the more bulky ones I currently wear during my cold runs.  The more comfortable I can be on long runs, the better.

I have achieved another milestone. This one is actually showing some great progress from all my walking and running. Recently, I renewed my driver’s license, and a couple of days ago, I got my new one in the mail. When I compared the picture from 6 years ago (2005), to the new one (2011), I was blown over. I think I may had even gained 10 pounds or so from when the 2005 picture was taken, until March 2010, when, the change began. No, I didn’t have a health scare, by God’s Grace I didn’t. In March of that year, I was an obese 187 pounds. Today, I am just over 150 pounds, with a few more to go. It seems things just happened, albeit slowly, to a better diet, and living a healthier lifestyle. Walking first, then walking and running. Again, at first, no real plans/goals had been made for my change in lifestyle, things just happened. I try to keep goals and plans now, especially for upcoming races, such as the marathon in April I want to run. With the obvious results seen, I hope to never go back to my disgustingly unhealthy fat self ever again. I am almost at a great weight now, I plan to stay there, and I plan to run the rest of my, hopefully, long healthy life.

I posted the comparison pictures (my license pics arent overly flattering, lol)

This is a milestone of sorts for me.  Five thousand miles.  5,000 miles that I have run or walked since May 2, 2010.  That is a further distance than from where I live in Eastern Kansas, to Paris, France.  Last January I had set a New Years resolution to reach the 5,000 mile mark by December 31.  I am happy that I reached that goal about 8 weeks early on November 9, 2011.  I hope that in a year and a half from now, I will be at 10,000 miles.  That would be 10,000 miles in three short years from when this all began.  Wouldn’t that be fantastic?

Kansas City Missouri…..  Run on October 15, 2011

It was time to quit playing and get serious about a road race. This… was when I jumped into the deep end of the pool… Yes, I ran in my first half marathon.  I began training for this race in July.  I followed a guide I found in Runner’s World magazine, where I run a certain amount of miles each week.  I wasn’t sure how I would perform, as 13.1 miles is a long ways for someone who just began running on a regular basis this year.  And.. I really didn’t know what to expect at this event, especially since there were around 11,000 runners, that is many times more than any race I had run previously.  This race had full marathon runners( 26.2 miles), the half marathon runners like myself(13.1 miles), a 5K(3.1 miles), and a marathon relay, where teams would have relay runners running different legs of the full marathon.  I believe there were around 6,000 runners for the half, with 4,500- 5,200 or so finishing.  I DID finish, around 3,400th place, not great, but not terrible.  That was somewhere near the middle.  My goal I set was to #1 just finish the race, then, if I finish, to #2, finish in under 2 hours and 30 minutes.  Well, I did finish, with a time of 2 hours 22 minutes and some change.  So, I was pleased with the results.  To be honest, I don’t remember seeing a lot of the Kansas City sites and landmarks that I passed, as I was truly focused on the race.  I only stopped once for a bathroom break.  My bladder was going with, or without me stopping.  So, I figured it was best to listen to it.  That did slow me down a bit, probably 5 minutes off my time, most of it I was waiting for an open porta potty.  This was easily the most exciting race I have run, and the coldest..  At least it was cold at start time.  I didn’t notice the cold temps once we started.  Maybe it was the adrenaline, or the mass crowd of people.  Probably some of both.  I plan many more long races in the future.  Hopefully, in April, I will run the Oz Marathon in Olathe Kansas.  If I consider the half marathon as jumping into the deep in of the pool, I suppose the full marathon would be diving off the high dive.  Happy diving!

Overland Park Kansas…..  Run on August 20, 2011

This race was a return to Corporate Woods in Overland Park Kansas.  The last time I was here was for Jazz In The Woods, which was cancelled due to weather.  So naturally I was a bit apprehensive thinking the same would happen again.  Fortunately, this wasnt the case.

I was also a bit anxious, as this is the first 10K I entered.  I wasnt sure how I would perform, but, it went well thankfully.  I was hoping the 10K would wind out of Corporate Woods unto the bike/jogging trails outside the area, as the Jazz In The Woods was to be ran.  However, they had this set up where you run the 5K twice, a major letdown for me, made the race a little boring.  From what I understand, there are several races run each year at Corporate Woods, and there seems to be a set course set up for a 5K, they just may move the start/finish point around.  I may run this in 2012 however, a nice area, and a good run.

Overland Park Kansas…..  Run on July 23, 2011

This race, got off to an uncomfortable start.  To begin with, I only got 3 hours sleep prior to the event.  Secondly, we are in a heat wave, so even at 7:00 A.M., it seemed like a scorcher running in the early morning sun.  And I love the heat, just not so much running at a fast pace when I don’t have to.  As is usual for me when I begin a race, I am like, “WHY, why am I doing this? I want to go home”.  And I want to run a half marathon? (13.1miles)  But, as I have each race thus far, I carry on.  This race began at Johnson County Community College (JUCO), and ended at The University of Kansas’ Edwards campus.  They call this race the Start 2 Finish, the ideal being; local residents can begin their studies at JUCO,
then finish at Edwards, a novel ideal, if you don’t mind being a Jayhawk.  As the race began, just running out of the JUCO lot, onto Quivira, was almost half a mile.  Then, once we entered the Edwards campus, it was near another half mile to the finish line.
But, the bulk of the race was the approximate 2.1 miles straight down Quivira Road, which connects the two campuses. I say straight, ha, that’s a laugh.  Kansas may be mostly flat in western Kansas, but it certainly didn’t feel that way running down Quivira Road. One would think that when you see the finish line in sight, you would kick it up, put your legs in top gear, but many times for me, as was today, by then, my energy is so zapped, “kicking it up” amounts to a slow craw.  This is an area I need to work on, storing energy for the finish.  I also need to find a way to shorten my run time by 3 minutes or so.  I hope to someday decrease that time even more. I’m not sure when I will run my next sanctioned 5K; maybe I will try a 10K on my next race. And, I am still shooting for a 13.1 in October, we shall see.

Overland Park Kansas…..  Run on July 8, 2011 

This is the most disappointing race I have run in to date.  I believe that logistically,many things were lacking, as several issues could have been handled better.  This race was run in a part of Overland Park KS, through busy streets, residential areas and a small business park.  The charity involved with this race was funding for colon cancer research and awareness, which, is certainly a good thing.  Several racers who had lost a loved one to colon cancer,  wore memorial shirts in their honor.  One of the several disappointing aspects of this race, they didn’t use the “chip timing” system, where  your time is accurately recorded through a computer chip worn on your shoe or bib number.  They used a more antiquated “tag timing” system, where an electronic, hand-held stopwatch is used to record each runners time.  This requires attendants at the finish line to record the finish line crossing of each and every runner.  This may be fine for a small race, where there are few runners, like perhaps the Merriam Turkey Creek Festival, which had only a couple of hundred runners total, but this race had over 600 runners, which is much too crowded, in my “humble” opinion, to use that system.  Especially as I believe du to human error, it may have cost me several seconds on my official time, and a third place finish.  I am unsure if I will run this race again.

Overland Park Kansas…..  June 25, 2011

This race was to be run through Corporate Woods in Overland Park KS, with jazz musicians throughout the trail for the enjoyment of runners.  There was a 5K (which I signed up for) and a 10K, which I believe was going to be run through a bike trail as well as Corporate Woods.  Unfortunately, due to a lighting storm that morning, the race was cancelled. I was disappointed that no refund was offered because of the
weather.  I will probably try again next year, but may wait till race day to register this time in case the weather turns bad again.  Better to spend an extra five
dollars for the race on race day, when you know it will be run, then to lose
entire registration fee by paying in advance and the race get cancelled. I think this time I will run the 10K.

Overland Park Kansas…..  Run on June 18, 2011

This race is possibly the most scenic race that I have run so far.  Beautiful Heritage Park in south Overland Park was the locale, with a wonderful trail and lake, which made the scenery here very charming.  This race is to honor Teri Mathis Zenner who was a social worker who, several years ago, was brutally murdered by one of her clients, and to raise awareness and funds for social workers to learn types of self-defense methods.  I have an ironic association with this case, as I was selected as a potential juror at the murderer’s trial.  I was not chosen, but I was among the jury pool summoned for possible service.  I
did recognize some of the family and friends of Teri at the race from my time spent during the jury selection process.

This was a fairly easy race, no difficult hills to conquer, and was quite pleasant as it weaved in some woodsy area, something I enjoy.  The most enjoyable part was the treat at the end.  Chris Cakes, a popular breakfast caterer here, known for their delicious all-you-can-eat pancakes, with sausage and Tang, was there for a nice meal after the race.  I definitely plan to run this race in 2012.

Kansas City Kansas…  Run on June 11, 2011

Ereks Run was a 5K to raise funds and awareness for the horrible disease, meningitis,
which takes way too many lives way too soon, as it did young Erek, for whom the race is named, and sponsored by his mother.

This race was a bit unusual in that it was primarily run in the parking lot of a large shopping district in Kansas City Kansas, known as The Legends.  The Legends is quite an impressive district that has built up in western Wyndotte County Kansas, just west of Kansas City MO.  What was once mostly farmland, that buffered a crime ridden Kansas City KS, has become, in the last ten years a haven of shopping, tourism and sports.  First, with the arrival of the Kansas Speedway, NASCAR makes its presence known in a big way.  There is also a new stadium for the Major League Soccer’s Sporting Kansas City
(formally the Wizards) and the Kansas City T-Bones, an independent minor league baseball team.  Nearby are two separate water amusement parks, one indoors, the other, outdoors.  This race focused on the area around the shopping district, and just to the outer
edges.  Nothing overly exciting to see, but this was an easy out and back race,
where I posted my best time to date for a 5K, and won a third place medal in my
division.  I look forward to the 2012 race.