Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

Switching the Schedule To Daytime

October 1, 2018 /

Started Today…

To get to writing and making things possible for me to write enough hours to do this ten novel challenge, Kris and I decided I needed to switch my schedule to writing during the day. It just fit everything about living here in Vegas.

Just as writing late into the night fit everything about living on the coast.

So today I got up a little before 7 a.m. and Kris and I were going across the starting line of a 5k race at 8 a.m.  Now some of you know I have been trying to lose weight and I want to run a marathon in the middle of November.

So I am down 16 pounds since I moved here in seven weeks, but I need to drop another 12 before the marathon at least.

Today turned out almost summer hot, the last gasp of summer here, so I also needed to be very careful with the sun as well. And careful with the still extra weight pounding on my knees.

So I planned on run/walking the 5k and I hoped to finish at about 45 minutes. I figured that would be a good first start.

Kris and I have a 5k run every weekend all the way to the marathon, so as I shed weight and get stronger, I hope to have that time down to 30 minutes and under for a 5k.

I managed, getting far too hot, 40 minutes almost exactly. A good start, and I got my schedule switched as well. A few more steps to getting to the writing this coming week, but at least the schedule is switched.

Pictures of the race. It was a VegasStrong race, honoring the victims, survivors, and first responders of October 1st last year. All money went to help them and there were almost 3,000 people signed up total. It ran all over the downtown area, along Fremont Street and Up Las Vegas Blvd.

Me, standing the shade in an alley, after pouring water a few bottles of water over my head after the race.


Kris looking cool and calm and great before the race.

14 Comments

  • Angie

    October 1, 2018 at 4:36 am

    Congrats on the race time! [borrows Dayle’s pompoms to wave]

    And condolences on having to start getting up early. [shudder] I’m not a morning person either, in general, so I feel for you. Hopefully you’ll settle well into the new schedule with time.

    Angie

  • Jason M

    October 1, 2018 at 12:18 pm

    Dean, I commented on this a year ago…

    …but running a marathon is a pretty dumb idea for someone nearing seventy years of age, with bad knees, and who is a little overweight.

    I’m forty and in tremendous shape, and I wouldn’t set foot anywhere near the starting line of a marathon.

    Would like to keep you around a while yet. Try circuit training instead. It’s easier on the joints, better for fat loss.

  • D J Mills

    October 1, 2018 at 1:05 pm

    Well done on losing weight, and running 5K. And Kris looks great. I expect she looked the as cool after the race as well.

    As for writing, good luck with getting words in the mornings. I find mornings are more productive than the rest of the day, but I think I will have to shift my writing to afternoons, because of too many “life” interruptions in the mornings at the moment.

  • J. D. Brink

    October 1, 2018 at 7:41 pm

    I’m twenty years younger than you, having been “trying” to lose weight for the last couple months, and am getting nowhere. You put me to shame!

    That said, I’m kind of leaning toward Jason on this one. Having goals is great, but don’t over do it…

    • dwsmith

      October 1, 2018 at 8:58 pm

      Not sure how a marathon is overdoing it. There are people in their nineties running marathons. I got passed yesterday by a guy well into his late eighties.

      It’s all in your head, folks. sorry, Jason, J.D., luckily in my head is a belief system that allows me to do things (from exercise to writing to business) and to be honest, I think I’m going to keep that belief system.

      I feel that over the years most people’s issues is that they don’t believe they can attain something, so settle for less. Never been one to settle. I might not make this November marathon, but I will in January or March. And more after that.

      And that isn’t even the top of my exercise goals, just step one.

      • Mike

        October 2, 2018 at 7:56 am

        Agree with you on this one, Dean. There are people who literally run entire marathons EVERY DAY, consecutively, for weeks at a time.

        The thing most people miss is that the daily marathoners didn’t just wake up one morning and decide to do that. They built up to that level for years and decades until running a marathon for them was the same as a “regular” person running a few miles.

        Most people don’t consider a long time horizon of years/decades (rather than just days/weeks) when they start on something. Similar to a writing habit, if you keep going, you can’t fail. And when you look back, you’re surprised by how far you’ve gone.

        So, keep going, Dean. I think we all know you will anyway 🙂

      • Phillip McCollum

        October 2, 2018 at 9:33 am

        Agree 100% Dean. It’s the limiting mindset that keeps people from reaching their potential. Anytime my brain tells me I can’t do something, I take it as a sure sign that I better damn well do it. ?

        • dwsmith

          October 3, 2018 at 12:25 am

          Phillip, exactly. And that’s why the marathon is just a first step. I ran one when I was thirty, so figured it would be a good goal to lose the weight and get some basic lung function back.

      • Jason M

        October 2, 2018 at 6:43 pm

        Dean, your belief system is wonderful. But I think you need different exercise goals, ones that are less potentially damaging to knees, kidneys, heart, thyroid glands, feet, tendons, and respiratory system.

        Would you like me to give you some weightlifting tips? Unlike extreme cardio, resistance training will increase your bone density, build muscle tissue, and speed up your metabolism. It far more important to maintain muscle mass as we age, since it gets depleted at a faster and faster rate.

        • dwsmith

          October 3, 2018 at 12:22 am

          Jason, thanks, but I have access to a professional trainer right here that I will start using for just that after the marathon. I have to be frighteningly careful with weight lifting because of three crushed discs in my lower back due to golf and freestyle skiing. So that’s why I will have a professional with me, at my side, the moment I get near any weights. But thanks.