Today was the first time I went running in the dark. I work most every morning at 7 a.m., which means I have to wake up around 4:30 to run before work. For those of you paying attention, that means I'm running roughly 4-5 miles before the sun even begins to rise. I know its more of a mental thing, but when the metaphor for how early it is surrounds you, its a little much.
Outside of the darkness, it had rained the night before. In order for non-Huntington, WV residents to appreciate exactly what this means, I need to explain the horrible drainage system in Huntington. There are places on Huntington sidewalks that are like geographic anomalies. They appear to be the same level as the rest of the sidewalk, and yet, there's a huge puddle there. How exactly does that happen?
With that said, in the dark, these puddle are like snipers. There's no way I can see them coming and then they get me. My feet get wet, it splashes up to my clothes, its not a good time for anybody.
However, for all the bad that come with running before the sun rises, there's a lot of good. There's something about being the only one awake in town that causes you to lose any inhibitions. There were so many times throughout my morning run that I felt like I were performing the songs in my headphones, which made the run go by so much faster.
Also, there is literally nothing better to give you energy in the morning then some cardio and a shower. For the first time in months, I really felt like I was ready for my day when I left my house. Hear that coffee, we're through!
In conclusion, I'm going to continue running before work, provided I can get up early enough, but it is not going to be every day. I'm going to savor the days I can sleep in and run with the sun shining down on me. It's also nice to know that my sleeping habits have evolved so much that sleeping until 9 a.m. is considered "sleeping in" to me.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
It Gets Challenging
After a few discussions with my running friends, I've decided that for the beginning stages of my marathon training, I'll be running 3-5 miles a day. I've always ran sorta casually, 2-3 times a week whenever I had time or felt like it, but I've never ran on consecutive days.
Today was day four of my training. It was my hardest day yet. First things first, my legs are getting really sore. This is something I expected, but I didn't expect it to be quite this discouraging. I've been sore after running before, but never this sore.
Secondly, I've decided to change to a healthy diet on Monday, but until then I'm gorging for my junk food swan song. With that said, last night I ate a whole container of two-bite brownies from Kroger, almost a half-gallon of milk and an entire frozen pizza. This was a horrible idea. My stomach was beyond upset this morning and it only accelerated when I ran. As early as the half mile mark I felt like I was going to throw up, it was horrible.
Finally, it was raining this morning. I've never ran in the rain before, this was a new experience. It really wasn't so bad, but on top of all the other stuff, it felt like the universe was against me. It was so hard to stay driven with so much going against me. I had planned on running four miles today. I didn't make it that far, however I was able to run my typical three mile course.
Now, I get that the junk food thing was totally my fault. In fact, I was pretty sure this is the way it would turn out. Honestly, as hard as today was, I'm glad I went through it. I know now why I should never, ever, ever eat this way and I know that I can still run three miles even when I don't feel like it.
To get to the parts that aren't entirely my fault, do any runners out there know any ways around sore legs? It makes me wonder, are runners legs sore all the time? I'd appreciate any advice/tips about this.
Today was day four of my training. It was my hardest day yet. First things first, my legs are getting really sore. This is something I expected, but I didn't expect it to be quite this discouraging. I've been sore after running before, but never this sore.
Secondly, I've decided to change to a healthy diet on Monday, but until then I'm gorging for my junk food swan song. With that said, last night I ate a whole container of two-bite brownies from Kroger, almost a half-gallon of milk and an entire frozen pizza. This was a horrible idea. My stomach was beyond upset this morning and it only accelerated when I ran. As early as the half mile mark I felt like I was going to throw up, it was horrible.
Finally, it was raining this morning. I've never ran in the rain before, this was a new experience. It really wasn't so bad, but on top of all the other stuff, it felt like the universe was against me. It was so hard to stay driven with so much going against me. I had planned on running four miles today. I didn't make it that far, however I was able to run my typical three mile course.
Now, I get that the junk food thing was totally my fault. In fact, I was pretty sure this is the way it would turn out. Honestly, as hard as today was, I'm glad I went through it. I know now why I should never, ever, ever eat this way and I know that I can still run three miles even when I don't feel like it.
To get to the parts that aren't entirely my fault, do any runners out there know any ways around sore legs? It makes me wonder, are runners legs sore all the time? I'd appreciate any advice/tips about this.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
The Beginning
My name is Terry Bartley and I am a runner. I am now anyway. This is a new thing for me, I've actually never been too big on the whole "exercise" thing. But now, I aspire to be a marathon runner.
I realize all of this sounds like an episode of MTV's Made. The kid that was always overweight in school spent his days looking up to the runner's dedication and feels that if maybe he could be like them he could take on the world. This isn't exactly like that.
Honestly, I never thought of my weight as a huge problem. I hid it well enough. I was pretty drastically overweight, but I was surprised at the number of people that told me things such as, "I never thought you were that overweight," after I dropped 40 pounds. I pretty much always knew I could take on the world, what I didn't know was just how easy it was to motivate myself.
I was a journalism major at Marshall University with a penchant for all this "New Media" stuff, one day I had an idea to make a reality podcast about myself losing weight. I ate healthy, played Dance, Dance Revolution pretty heavily and before I knew it, got in pretty decent shape. The podcast never actually happened, but whatever. That's when it hit me. If I can convince myself I'm doing something to entertain others, I can get myself to do pretty much anything.
That brings me to now. I've slacked a ton on healthy eating and exercise, but have somehow managed to maintain my somewhat reasonable weight. I realize, however, that this isn't good enough. I want to actually be healthy, not just appear as such. So I devised a new scheme, I would set a new goal: Run a marathon by the end of the year. Which brings me to this blog. I'll be documenting everything I learn about the relatively-foreign-to-me world of running, and hopefully teach all of you things along the way.
This blog is for anyone curious about running, any established runners that would love to point out exactly what I'm doing wrong from time to time and of course, those that love to hear of others in pain, because I'm also sure I'll be going through tons of that. Wish me luck blogosphere, here I go.
I realize all of this sounds like an episode of MTV's Made. The kid that was always overweight in school spent his days looking up to the runner's dedication and feels that if maybe he could be like them he could take on the world. This isn't exactly like that.
Honestly, I never thought of my weight as a huge problem. I hid it well enough. I was pretty drastically overweight, but I was surprised at the number of people that told me things such as, "I never thought you were that overweight," after I dropped 40 pounds. I pretty much always knew I could take on the world, what I didn't know was just how easy it was to motivate myself.
I was a journalism major at Marshall University with a penchant for all this "New Media" stuff, one day I had an idea to make a reality podcast about myself losing weight. I ate healthy, played Dance, Dance Revolution pretty heavily and before I knew it, got in pretty decent shape. The podcast never actually happened, but whatever. That's when it hit me. If I can convince myself I'm doing something to entertain others, I can get myself to do pretty much anything.
That brings me to now. I've slacked a ton on healthy eating and exercise, but have somehow managed to maintain my somewhat reasonable weight. I realize, however, that this isn't good enough. I want to actually be healthy, not just appear as such. So I devised a new scheme, I would set a new goal: Run a marathon by the end of the year. Which brings me to this blog. I'll be documenting everything I learn about the relatively-foreign-to-me world of running, and hopefully teach all of you things along the way.
This blog is for anyone curious about running, any established runners that would love to point out exactly what I'm doing wrong from time to time and of course, those that love to hear of others in pain, because I'm also sure I'll be going through tons of that. Wish me luck blogosphere, here I go.
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