• Challenge,  running

    Thank You Everyone!!!

    Thanks for the Congratulations… Very very much appreciated. And yes, this was it for marathons for me. Accomplished the goal, now I’m going to keep running, but stick with the fun 5K, 10K, and half marathons that are more fun and don’t do the damage a marathon does. The charity runs, mostly. They keep me in shape as well. Update today. Not a pretty sight me walking. Kris bandaged my bad heel again, but the rest of the damage is bruising and blood blisters and really sore leg muscles and knees. And Advil is in my future shortly this morning. And a lot of time in this chair and on…

  • Challenge,  running

    Well, I Did It… 26.2 Miles…

    In My 70th Year on the Planet… I completed the Revel Mt. Charleston Limited Edition Marathon. Picture of my medal below. And sometime this week the race will post pictures from the run and I will post some here. As I said, I completed it, but not well. For years I had been working toward a marathon in November when I would turn 70. But all my great planning went out the window like so much other stuff last April with Covid. I did not dare go to a gym to run at my advanced age and the summer here in Vegas was the hottest ever recorded in the history…

  • Challenge,  running

    Exercise Update

    Marathon is 4 Weeks Away… I did not have a good last two weeks since I set this goal. Most of it was the record heat still (we are still in the 90s here… how stupid is that?) And I am not going to a gym. First week I planned to do 49 miles, did just under 40. This week I am about the same pace, but running a live 5K tomorrow evening, the first live run since this pandemic started. So that should be fun. Next week I ramp up the milage and the running, see how that goes. So my goal is still the same. Get to the…

  • Challenge,  running

    An Exercise Goal…

    Granted, A Stupid One… I just heard from a marathon run (26.2 miles) that I had sighed up for a few months back that it will actually happen on November 14th. Shocked, I say. Shocked. I signed up just not believing it would happen, but they figured out a way to do it to get the state to approve it. Now I am in decent shape, but not marathon shape, and still about ten pounds overweight to try that distance. But I have six weeks. When I am not injured, which I am not at the moment, I average about 40 miles per week of a little running and a…

  • Challenge,  running

    Friday Night and Exercise

    Talking Exercise for a Minute… Since it is Friday night and even the streets of Vegas are mostly empty, I figured it might be time for me to talk about what I promised a while back, and that is regularly blogging here about exercise and weight loss. It has been brutally hard to do either this last month. Vegas has had the hottest August on record EVER! Think that through. Las Vegas, known for heat, just broke all records. Oh, joy, which made going outside impossible unless you are out and moving at dawn, and even then some of those temperatures this month would have taken a long time to…

  • Challenge,  running

    Goals…

    Setting Goals In an Uncertain Time… Many, many writers I know, me included, are goal focused. I can work to deadline when the deadline is real. I can set goals out a month, six months, a year, and longer, and once set, I can stick with them. But the times, at the moment, are uncertain. (Duh…) We are all (mostly) staying at home and in place to keep the virus from just flattening our hospitals and killing a ton more people than it needs to. And the reopening is going to be slow and painful for some time to come. I’m doing fine on the writing and the publishing because…

  • Challenge,  running

    What a 69-Year-Old Does On A Nice Fall Day…

    Runs Six Miles… Kris, Val, and Steph did the 5K, I went for the 10K. Needed to see if my time would allow me to run the marathon next Sunday. Well, it was a good test. The first three miles was all uphill. Steep between mile 2 and 3. Then it was downhill back. Did the first three miles in a run/walk in about 45 minutes (mostly walking), did the next three miles back down the hill in just about 35 minutes. 1 hour, 20 minutes, and got third in my age category of 60-69 so got another medal for that. But not fast enough to run the marathon. I…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  running

    The Promised Pictures

    Completed the 10K… (6.2 mile run) It wasn’t pretty, but I did it. Actually, the course turned out to be 3.1 miles uphill to start, and it turned out to be a ton warmer than I expected. All desert and concrete. So I got overheated, which for a person with my heat history, is not a good thing. And the hill made it harder for a person like me who is still too heavy. I managed to stay hydrated just fine and slowed down some to even walking and running, so didn’t hit the time I was hoping for. But finished alive and without heatstroke. Win. So here are some…

  • Challenge,  running

    A Good Run

    Vegas Strong 5K… Basically three miles. Started on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas, went for about a mile on Las Vegas Blvd toward the Strip, then headed out into the neighborhoods, ending up back on Fremont Street. About 2,500 people ran or walked for a great cause. This was to honor and help all those killed and injured in the mass shooting on October 1st two years ago. This city is amazing in how it has dealt with that. It started at 8 am, so we left our condo at 7:30 and walked to the race. Very early. For me, this was the first timed run of the fall…

  • Challenge,  running

    Losing Weight

    Might Be The Hardest Challenge I Have Ever Done… Now, granted, I am being successful at it. Frighteningly slowly and certainly not in a straight down line. But it dawned on me this week that this might be simply the hardest challenge I have ever taken on, and I’ve tackled some big challenges over the years. For three years now I have aimed at a marathon here in Las Vegas. For a year before I moved and also last year. Both previous times (and maybe one other a few years earlier) flat didn’t work because I couldn’t get the weight down fast enough to ramp up the running in time.…