Words

Ever notice how Psalms are written? Often with a feeling of discord, questioning of self, at the beginning. Then there is the reminder that we follow a loving God, a God worthy to be praised no matter what goes on in life. That is how I feel right now. In a few words I feel:

Embarrassed

Unhappy

Disappointed

Stressed

"Here we go again"

Never follow through

(My eye opener) my size hindered my family vacation.....really?! It's pretty bad when you can't ride rides because dad is too big. A serious low point for me. 

Failure

Project

Start fresh

Can't do this on my own

Only with God's help

Forget the past

Look ahead

For my kids

For my wife

For my life

Changes coming soon. Be watching for a plan. 

Tomorrow night I will share. 

I know....you are thinking what I'm thinking "I've heard this before...what is different?"  I don't know but I have to try. Too much at stake. 

15 days!

The race is getting closer. I am feeling pretty good about it. Confident I can finish and hope I will beat my three hour goal. I haven't lost the weight I had hoped for, although there is a couple of weeks left. I know these last few days will go fast with all the Easter prep at church. I had to take a few days off because of a blister on the arch of my foot. It was throwing off my mechanics...a blister can do that??!! REALLY?? It is now healed. Here is the weekend plan. Today, run 5 miles and tomorrow run 12!

60 days!

I just turned down a donut. Yep, something is wrong. :) It was free even. Well, I am trying to keep my eyes on the prize. I am 60 days from my first half marathon. I will be running the Kentucky Derby Half Marathon on April 30th. I am super excited. I am getting some new shoes to break in this weekend, I feel like my workouts are back on track, and I think I have made some diet modification. Notice I said, MODIFICATION. I have to say that as I need to confess that I have had one mountain dew two days in a row. But TODAY, starts the 60 day count down.

I have always been nothing but honest and upfront with you all, so here are my current stats and goals. I ran the marathon relay last April weighing 274. I currently weigh, by my home scales, 281. So I yo-yo'ed 10lbs or so over the year. My goal is to lose about 3.3 pounds a week from here on so that I can be down to 250 by race day. THAT would make my day a win right there. My goal race time is to be under 3 hours. I think that is a 'safe' goal, so my aim high goal is to complete the race in 2:48:00, which would mean a 12 minute mile average.

Thanks for your encouragement and support. 60 days!

One Week Down......25 Left To Go!

This was my first official week training for my half marathon in the Spring. It went well. I still haven't mapped out my official plan...I am putting some plans together to form one that will fit me. But week one:

Monday-2miles
Tuesday - cross train
Wednesday 3miles
Thursday - cross train
Friday - 2 miles
Saturday 4miles
Sunday - OFF

What DID'T go well was my eating. I really didn't do anything too different to my eating habits. Next week my goal will be to do the same running/cross training schedule but eat better and drink more water. I am also working on some monthly goals to break down the 25 weeks to race time. I will post those later. For this month, I want to run the Springfield, MO Turkey Trot 5k. Last year, my time was 36:42. This year I hope to do it in 34:00.
Thanks for listening.

For Real?

Well, I have decided. I am going to run a half marathon. Training to start Monday, November 1st. HOPEFULLY, I will the weekend of April 30th off and be able to run the Kentucky Derby Half Marathon. 13.1 miles....whew! I am looking forward to the process though. The training, the runs, the diet. I think it will all work well together. I have 26 weeks before the Derby run. Should be plenty of time. I will let you know when the date is finalized and what my goals for the race will be. RIGHT NOW, my goal is to get an official race on the calendar, register, and then commit to the weeks of training. No going back, no slacking. I want to run it and say, no matter what my time, I did the best I could (okay, I will have more goals than that, but let's start there)

Sadly...

Sadly, my blog has gone as well as my training this summer. I gained a little weight back but not too much. I really wanted to use the summer to melt the pounds off but found I didn't make time. I am kick starting in the Fall.

I have set some new goals to be completed by October 14 (that was a month from when I set them a few weeks ago)

Lose 10 pounds
35 push ups
40 sit ups
running 9 miles a week
no soda
do a cleanse to kick it off

I did my juice cleanse. Nothing to eat but drank apple juice and water all day and 16oz of prune juice in the morning for three days. That will do the trick, friends. :) I lost some weight
although some came back, but that is okay.

I have ran but not 9 miles a week. I need to get on that. I have drastically cut my soda intake but can't say I did NO soda. I have probably only had it twice. I will renew that commitment and get off of it for the remainder of the time.

So not too bad. The best part is that my frame of mind is still positive and ready for action. Honestly, I'm tired of being fat. Yep, hate saying that....I didn't say overweight, obese, thin challenged...I am fat. I need to face the fact and do something about it now.

Thanks for listening.

Mindset is 90%

How you think about something is quite important. Could you actually make something that seems difficult or no fun seem enjoyable by just changing your mindset or attitude? One of my favorite quotes of all time is from a preacher by the name of A.W. Tozer. He says that, "What I believe about God is the most important thing about me." My thoughts don't change who God truly is but my thoughts of Him make a difference in regards to how I live my life for Him. How I view God is important.

Not to put running and theology on a similar plane, but making the point that our thoughts are important.

Amber and I were having a discussion the other day and I said, "I have NO hobbies." She told me that music is something I love and is a hobby. Yeah, I do and yeah it is, but it is also what I do for a vocation. I don't always want to go home and pick up a guitar and be creative. Then she said, "running is your hobby." At first I laughed, on the inside as to not laugh at her. :) But then I thought, yeah, that is right. Running can be my hobby. All the sudden it didn't seem like torture or a means to an end. It is my hobby. I might not be good at it but I am reading, reasearching, and most importantly running. It is my new hobby!