What a great race!

I can't say it enough: I had a blast at the Hot Pursuit 5k on Saturday! First off, my wife and I left our two year old with his grandmother and we headed to Shreveport on Friday night so it was nice to have a mini-vacation. We had dinner at Saltgrass after shopping at the Nike Factory Outlet Store. It was a wonderful, relaxing evening.

The next day, we woke up early and got to the race site. After getting checked-in, there was about an hour wait before the race started, but it seemed to go by quickly. As far as SWAG (stuff we all get), every pre-registered runner got a Hot Pursuit logo t-shirt, Nike gym bag and a Nike Factory Store water bottle. Not bad for the $15 entrance fee!

Finally, they told the runners/walkers to gather at the starting line. We prayed, played the National Anthem and then we were off. Everything went pretty smooth as far as the run was concerned. I made it a point to purposefully start out slow so I wouldn't run out of energy (no pun intended). During the second quarter of the race, I began determining specific people I wanted to beat.

There was a hydration station at the halfway point and I was unfortunately given a Propel Enhanced Water instead of regular water which I had intended on pouring over my head. Doing so with the Propel would have caused a sticky mess, but I was able to drink about half of it before discarding it.

The final half of the race was all uphill and I was able to beat three of the people I had targeted as people I wanted to beat, so I was happy with that. I finished with a time of 40:08 which is around a 13 minute mile. Not bad for a fat boy and a recovering couch potato! After the race, I hate half of a banana and drank some water and Gatorade. My wife and I stayed around for the awards ceremony before heading back to the hotel.

All in all it was a wonderful experience and I'm looking forward to planning my next 5k!

Tomorrow we race

The big day is upon us...almost. By this time tomorrow, I'll be on the second mile of my 5k. I am so pumped and excited! There's a tinge of nervousness too, but I think that's to be expected. I'm really trying to prepare myself mentally today. I'm trying not to overexert myself. I'm really watching my calories. I'm trying to stay overly hydrated. I'm sending my wife to the local sports shop for another McDavid Calf Sleeve. I already have one and it does a good job of relieving pain from calf strains and shin splints.

I just can't wait to get out there and prove to myself that I can do this. I also that running with others will be a good way to spur myself on. If I can continually look ahead and find a runner that I want to catch up to, I'll keep my competitive edge.

So send up a prayer as you think about it tomorrow!

3.1 in the heat

I decided to break from routine a little by substituting my Friday morning run at the gym for a Saturday morning run outside since I felt I needed a little practice in the elements. It was probably a wise decision since I now have a better idea of what I'll be up against for next Saturday's race.

As far as the run was concerned, I felt mentally out of it. I didn't have a plan for when I was going to start running, pace, etc. So all in all it wasn't a good run. I finished it, but I realized that I'm going to have to be mentally composed with a plan in place for Saturday.

Strategery

I have to use a little strategery in my running for the next week since my first 5k is a mere eight days away! I mapped out a course near my house that's 3.1 miles long and I plan on running it tomorrow morning. This will be only my third run outside in the heat, so I hope all goes well. It shouldn't be too hot in the morning, but it will be plenty warm. Then next week I'll run Monday, swim/lift weights on Tuesday, run Wednesday, swim/lift weights on Thursday and then take Friday off since race day is Saturday. I really didn't think rest would play such a significant role in running, but it does. Earlier this week, I ran two days in a row and noticed more fatigue than usual. So hopefully with this schedule, I'll still get plenty of training in but also be rested up for the race!

Good resource

I have learned quite a bit since I've started running and would like to pass along a valuable resource for new runners. I spend a lot of time at Runner's World reading up on everything from shoes to diet to book recommendations to...well...you get the point. I even signed up for a magazine subscription which you can do for like $15/year. So I guess that makes it official: I'm a runner! Plus, they don't really have a Couch Potato World magazine (since Couch Potatos are too lazy to create a magazine), so I there's that.

So go! Browse! Learn! Enjoy.

Deviation from the Couch to 5k plan

The Couch to 5k plan I'm using calls for me to run three times a week. Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings work best for me, but because I registered for the Hot Pursuit 5K in Shreveport yesterday (which will be held July 24) I decided to run 3.1 miles today. Now I see why all the experts harp on resting your body so much. So here's some advice for all you fat people out there: take it easy. It's probably not best to run two days in a row. Just FYI. I don't feel bad, per se, but I can tell that I haven't given my body the rest it needs to recuperate after running yesterday. The body is an amazing thing. Five weeks ago, running one mile almost killed me and took me twenty minutes. Now I can run a 5k in twice that time!

Announcement

I have just registered for my first 5k. I am anxious, nervous, excited and probably stupid. As I told my wife, my goal is not to win the race but to survive. If I finish alive, I'll consider that a positive thing. Obviously since I'm relatively new to the sport, my expectations are not too high but I want to go ahead and get a personal time on the books so that I'll have a time goal in mind for my next 5k.

From what I hear and read, there are a couple things that keep runners motivated: time goals and future competition. Thankfully, I live in an area where there are quite a few races throughout the year, so I should be able to run in at least five or six 5k's before the end of 2010.

So wish me luck. I'll sure as heck need it!

Baby steps

It's all about taking small steps in the right direction, isn't it? I used to load up my coffee with tons of cream and sugar. I mean tons. But lately I've cut back on how much I've put in and have realized that all that junk isn't really needed. Now if I could just keep the rest of my diet in check, I'd be ok. But Rome wasn't built in a day and I certainly didn't become overweight overnight. So I have to allow for the occasional setback in diet and exercise. Just as long as I'm making progress...slow as it may be.

I, Kevin, am a couch potato runner

Not really, but maybe I will be if I keep telling myself that. The reality is that I'm an out of shape husband and father in his early 30's and I'm trying to change that. I am your typical couch potato. I have an office job that keeps me on my rear more than my feet. And when I come home from work, I play with my son but that's the extent of my physical activity. By the way, he's two so it's not a brutal workout.

My story begins a few weeks ago while my wife and I were watching Losing It With Jillian. I was motivated by the story of a 50-something year old woman and her desire to lose weight. As part of the workout, Jillian (the trainer, for those who don't know) showed the woman how to train for a 5k (see the plan here). As I sat there and watched this overweight woman quite literally work her butt off, I was motivated to get out there and run...at 10 o'clock at night. So I turned to my wife and fearlessly said, "I'm going to go run a mile." Thankfully for the sake of my pride, she didn't laugh out loud. But I couldn't have blamed her if she had.

Emboldened, I downloaded an app to help me track my steps and ran a mile that night...at 10 o'clock. The whole way, my body was laughing at me. The next day it was cursing me. But over the course of the next few weeks, I began getting up early on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to run at the gym. After doing a little more investigating, I found this "Couch to 5k" app which gives you stretches, prompts you when to run/walk/etc. and allows you to listen to music on your iPod. It's amazingly simple to use which is great for people who run at 5:30am and aren't entirely awake yet (like yours truly).

So this is my story. Follow me as I try to right the wrongs of inactivity in my own life and try to chart a better, healthier course for whatever time I have left.