• Challenge,  running

    I Gave Up…

    After Over Two Years of Fighting It… I am now working to get up around dawn. I still have not figured out the writing parts, but I need to do this for the exercise, so the writing will follow. I am starting two things next week that I just could not figure out how to do with the heat. I will be joining a running group that starts once a week at 6 am to train for a marathon, so once a week I was going to basically lose a day anyway by getting up so early. And all races start very early in the morning anyway. And I have…

  • 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

    Went Running Again

    Pride Run at the Springs Preserve here in downtown Las Vegas. Running around a desert in the middle of the city starting at 7 am. The Preserve is a fantastic place and Kris and I support it by being yearly members. But 7 am??? I went to bed at 2:30 am, got up at 6 am. Picture below of me trying to pin my bib on as the sun comes up. Yeah, that was fun. Sharp-pointy-things and no sleep go well together. My hip is feeling better, so thought I would give the 5K a try. I did fine. I actually stayed with the leaders of the 5k for about…

  • 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.…

  • Challenge,  running

    Running On Hot Pavement…

    Yeah, That’s a Good Idea… But for a good cause and we raised some money for it, so we did it. The course was around and through a mall and its parking lot. The race started late and it was over eighty degrees and bright sun when we finally started. I ran most of the first mile, then settled into a plan. I would run in the sun, walk the shade. So I ended up around 40 minutes or so. I think. Pretty good pace and I didn’t push myself at all. So fun. And here are some pictures of me and Kris. And yes, Gavin, our cat really is…

  • Challenge,  News

    Going Running

    And the Season Starts… Tomorrow morning, at some amazingly early hour, Kris and I are headed off to do a charity 5k run. We are doing about ten of these charity runs around town before the end of the year. All for great causes. (Tomorrow is St Jude’s Children’s Hospital.) The high temperature tomorrow will be 102 here, more than likely one of the last hot days of the summer. We have promised ourselves that if it is too warm when the race starts, we will just walk. I’m sure we’ll both start off running, knowing us. (grin) I am working toward a marathon in the middle of November, and…

  • Challenge,  On Writing

    Day Four of Ramp Up

    Finally Hit All Parts… I managed a bunch of words this morning, made 12,000 steps for the second day in a row, and am down five pounds this week (clearly a lot of that was surface weight.) The weight loss will level at 2 pounds a week going forward. Plus today I actually ran a mile. (In parts, 1/8th of a mile at a time) but a mile anyway. Basically doing intervals, some fast, some medium. For an old fat guy, I still have amazing speed when I kick it on. Surprised me, actually. I am behind on my challenge reading, but should catch that up this weekend without a…

  • Challenge,  Misc

    Tomorrow Starts…

    Ramp Up On Exercise… Going to hit it hard. I kind of let my steps and other stuff slip after the Licensing Expo. So tomorrow I ramp for the summer. Going to 12,000 steps a day and try to keep that as a streak and no more than 1,200-1,500 calories a day intake on most days. That will drop two pounds a week, a top line on healthy weight loss. It’s a famous diet I am using. Eat Less and Move Around More. I’ve lost over 60 pounds doing that so far, and I got a marathon to run this fall. Marathon running weight is exactly 25 pounds under where…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  running

    Slightly late posting on this one…

    Wanted to See If Pictures Appeared… From the run yesterday on the run web site, but they are not up yet, so only picture I got is one Kris took as I came across the finish line. Yes, Kris was that far ahead of me that she could finish, get out her camera, and get set to take pictures of me finishing. Actually my time wasn’t that bad. I had been walking/running regularly for the first two plus miles, staying ahead of Kris and then she would pass me while I was walking. Then the course went across a couple parking lots (very hot) and along a very shadeless sidewalk…