Running Goals: Races and Average Miles/day

Well, this goal is pretty huge for me.  It represents a significant increase in the yearly miles compared to 2012 and 2013.  In fact, it is more miles than I've logged in both of those years combined.

Some might say this represents too large of an increase in miles, but I've has many months at this level but I haven't managed to keep things going throughout the year.  For example, I've had 57 and 59 miles recorded in certain months and 4 or 8 miles in other months.  Obviously, the higher miles corresponded to times before an event for which I was training.

In 2012 I decided to train for my first half marathon.  It was called "Its about the shirt" and was at the end of September.  The course was pretty flat with minimal elevation over the first mile which was given back over the first 6 miles.  The last six miles were along the eastern shore of Mobile Bay (in Alabama) so they were at sea level.  It rained alot during the actual race but shortly after I finished the rain turned biblical.  My wife was running the full marathon and ran several miles in such a heavy downpour that she could not see 30 feet in front of her.  As far as my performance, well, let's just say I finished.  There was some confusion about the course and it was altered during the race.  My GPS claimed that I ran 14.4 miles and I finished between 2:45:00 and 2:50:00.  I had a miserable foot cramp and walk-skipped the last few miles.  After the race I intended to take several weeks off before getting into some regular routine.  I had no other races planned and those few weeks that I intended to take off turned into months.  That race was a "first annual" and didn't make it back for a second year.  

In 2013 my wife and I decided to run a half marathon together.  We picked another flat and well reviewed course in Orange Beach, AL.  The Kaiser Realty Half Marathon was the weekend after Thanksgiving.  We stayed together throughout the race and finished at 2:13:43.  Our goal was anything under 2:20:00, so I think we did great!  

Here is the Race Map and you can find more info for the 2014 race by clicking here.

As far as pictures go - There are no pictures from the first half that I ran.  Or, I should say, there was one online but it was so hideous I didn't even bother to save it.  These two pics are from the 2013 race.  You may notice to orange-red spots on my running shirt.  I'd battled some nipple issues throughout training and forgot to prep them with vasoline on the morning of the race so... yeah... that's blood.  Sorry.

I knew exactly why I had quit running after the first half marathon - I had nothing planned and no accountability.  If I took more time off, I wasn't dooming myself to a miserable race because there was no race.  So, before race day in 2013, I made sure to sign up for two half marathons in early 2014.  They are February 9th and March 2nd.  Basically, I have some time to work on my speed and hopefully shed a few pounds but not enough time to drop my training altogether.  

These upcoming races and the necessary training should also ensure that I am able to maintain my 2mile/day average goal.  As of yesterday, I was only 1 mile behind for the year and I should be putting some miles in the bank by the end of the year.  I did take a few weeks off in December as I made a transition with some medications as my doctor suggested, but now I'm back into a regular routine of 3-4 runs a week.  I can post more about my running schedule later.

Perhaps in the next post I'll cover the tools I use to track my runs and the online resources I've used to running tips and pace calculators.  

Introduction / First Post

Welcome to my 2014 fitness journal.  I plan to chronicle my fitness goals, intentions, struggles, and triumphs throughout 2014 as I try to finally end over a decade of obesity.  I'm hoping that the public forum will bring some accountability and provide an arena for the exchange of ideas that did and didn't work for me and others.  

About me:  I'm a 32 year old married(sorry ladies, and men in certain states) father of two.  I've been married over a decade and my kids are 3 and 6.  I'm 5'10" and when I graduated from high school in 1999 I was about 175lbs.  Four years later in 2003 I was getting married and I was over 250lbs.  Between then and 2011 I went as low as 215lbs.  In 2011 I was nearing the end of medical school and considered joining to Army National Guard in an attempt to offset some of the crippling loans I was accumulating.  I didn't pass the MEPS (a basic physical threshold before joining any branch of the military) because I was too fat.  I weighed in at 251lbs when I decided to join and by the time I went to MEPS I was down into the low 230s.  I was told that if I could get below 186lbs, I could join if I could also manage to get a waiver for my very poor vision.  Since then, the program I intended to join has ended but that was a wake up call that I needed to do something about my weight and my health in general.

These two mug shots are from my first day of residency in July 2012, approximately 235 lbs.  

 

I decided I needed to get active and watch what I was eating.  I had run off an on in the past and decided to use this as my primary form of exercise.  I also started going to a local gym where I routinely meet with a personal trainer.  So for the better part of two years I've been going to the gym and (admittedly off and on) running.  

Today I'm 208lbs which is a pretty significant number.  If you'll recall, my height is 5'10".  That means my BMI is 29.8 and just enough to drop me from the Obese to Overweight category.

So, what is the point of this blog?  I'll use this blog to document the final phase of my fitification.  I'm sure that's a word, don't bother looking it up.  Basically, I think documenting my intentions and updating on my progress will add some additional accountability for me.  

I've got some specific goals for myself this year.  In 2012 I ran my first half marathon.  I'd mostly run 5k and a few 10k races.  My wife was training for a full marathon and I took the approach of "whatever she can do, I can do half of that."    I ran another one in November of 2013.  I've got two half marathons scheduled for early this year and that ties into my first 2014 goal: run, on average, 2 miles per day. 

That might or might not seem like a lot of running but I assure you that compared to my previous training, it is significant.  During the height of my half marathon training, I was running more than this but that was limited to a few months.  This goal is for the entire year.  730 miles.  

Additional goals that will be expanded on in future posts:  Lose more weight - Next goal 200lbs, achieve maintenance weight, get faster, pick up some heavy stuff, make sure my kids remember me as fit and not fat, continue to use MyFitnessPal as much as possible for tracking calories in and out, and more. 

I'm also interested in how other people intend to reach their similar goals.  So, feel free to share that in the comments below.  If you've got a blog related to fitness or your own weight loss and fitness adventures, I can link to that.  

I'll try to get some good NOW photos for comparison later in the year.  

Thanks for reading, 

Stephen