Watching Time go by...

This is the new watch I picked up yesterday while grocery shopping at my local WalMart. I guess I'm just an anti-technology kinda person. For the last 15 years of my life I have not worn a watch or owned a cell phone. I picked up this watch so I would have something to use to log my times as I run now.

I still dont have a cell phone. I do see the benefits, most have camera's now so you can click a picture of a beautiful woman walking by or that car accident you come up upon. They have MP3 players so you can have a library of music at your disposal and can get that Elvis fix when you need it. Plus there is the phone factor, being able to reach out to a loved one 24/7 from almost anywhere you can receive a few bars. Then there is the internet, I could be posting cool things just as they happen to me on this blog.

I can almost see it now as I'm stuck in the twisted metal of my car on I-4, listening to The King sing "Dont be Cruel", clickin pictures of the guys using the jaws of life to free me, thinking, should I post these to the blog, seeing as it might be my last post ever or do I call the wife and tell her I love her. Personally, I would prefer to lay there in quiet knowing she knows I love her.

Quote of the Day

Life is something that happens when you can't get to sleep.

Frank Lebowitz

Jinelle's 70's Look

Here is a photo of Jinelle before Brit's party Saturday.


I'm Pondering driving to Deland for a 5k on the 10Th.
Just kinda in the mood to run another one soon and see how much I have improved in the last 30 days.
Both me and Dee did 4+ mile runs today.






Quote of the Day
Whenever I feel like exercising, I lie down until that feeling goes away.
Robert M. Hutchins

Slim Jims

Today's post is about one of my weaknesses. The venerable Slim Jim.

Not Slim Jim Phantom..The drummer for the "Stray Cats"
Not the Slim Jim lock picking device every AAA driver carries.
Not Slim Jim Baxter that Scottish Footballer.
and not the Slim Jim cocktail (2:1) Slimfast and Jim Beam
(I am guessing this is for all those fat alcoholics wanting to stay slim)

We are talking about that beef jerky snack created back during the
Great Depression by Adolph Levis in his Philly basement and now
sold by ConAgra foods.
For $3.50 at my local WalMart, I get a can of 24 of these 4in
anti-health, anti fitness, anti weight loss, sticks of simple pleasure.

I have slowly altered our household diet over the last 5 months.
A small change here, something removed there, maybe a bit healthier
brand of something common. I do these changes gradually, maybe
one change every week or so. Most have gone unnoticed and there
is no major shock to any ones system. At the end of the day we are
all eating quite a bit healthier than we were 5 months ago.

Time for my Slim Jim's to go, yes this is the change I have picked this week.
Deanna calls them (Johnny's fat sticks) One serving of Slim Jim's
are 170 calories. Of those 170 calories, 140 are fat. (Long Sigh)
If only ConAgra had made their nutrition facts smaller on the side
of the can, I might still be enjoying these.

Quote of the Day
"The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple" — Oscar Wilde

Sweet 16

Last night Brit had her party and as Melanie would say
"It was fabulous." A big horde of 15-17 year old women,
all dressed in 70's garb disco dancing the night away.
Then there was the group of 10 or so mothers working over
Melanie's liquor cabinet.

I dropped off Dee and Jinelle with the plan to steal a bit of the buffet,
have a beer with Fran and skedaddle. I ended up staying the night
(Don't think Fran wanted to be the only man around.) shooting pool,
eating, drinking and just having a good time.

Here is the only 70's song this DJ with over 30,000 songs did not have.
Yea it was my one request from him this night, If not for the beer to
bury my disappointment in ,I may have left at this point. (Just kidding)


This morning I had one of my best runs yet. (4.8 mi in one hour)
No major pains or cramps and I was feeling really good at the end.
Saw 202 on the scale this morning as well, so was doubly pleased.

Quote of the day (Just for The Comeau's)
You know your children are growing up when they stop asking you where they came from and refuse to tell you where they're going.
---- P.J.O'Rourke

Stronger, Faster...

No, I did not have most of my major muscle groups replaced with bionics.
This is the first day though in several weeks I really felt good and pain free.
Ran 4 mi this morning and felt really good after,
the hamstring pain has mostly faded finally.

Big Brittany birthday disco bash happening at Melanie's tomorrow.
The girls all went and got their 70's outfits from thrift stores today.
Mel always goes all out for party's so this should be another whopper.
Jinelle got a "Blondie" tank top, hot pink jacket and some stonewashed jeans. (I'm thinking for a bargain price of around 10 bucks total...nice!)
DJ, Disco balls and some crazy disco dance game.

Quote of the day
Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.
--Jim Ryun

The Pain..

Another Dee Circuit workout tonight. I'm still walking around
like an old man from the last one. My hamstrings are still in some
serious pain. Tonight's worked a different set of muscles at least.

She had flutter kicks in one of the circuits. The last time I did a
flutter kick was 25 years ago in the navy and I thought they had
been banned in the lower 48 states.

Quote of the day
Hockey is a sport for white men. Basketball is a sport for black men.
Golf is a sport for white men dressed like black pimps.
---Tiger Woods

Glutes

Ok, I have been running and lifting now for several months.
My body gets sore from time to time from both activities.
Last night Dee wanted to try a circuit routine of a bunch of exercises.

Oh .. my...freakin...god...am I so sore today.

I awoke this morning and could barely walk. I go to sit and
have my breakfast and my ass even hurt to sit on it. I'm sitting
(and cringing) eating my fruitloops amazed that in 42 years
I found a muscle I had never worked out before. My butt.


Todays Quote
When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.
--Henny Youngman

What is Love?

You cannot watch this video and doubt that each of them found the perfect partner. Love is wanting to do the same ridiculous shit nobody else would ever do and then doing it together.

Another Monday

I'm taking the day off from exercise. I have been running
3.25-4 miles every day.
My ankle feels fine again but I really need to give my legs a break.
I don't think I take enough rest days anymore.

Got on the scale today and saw 204 for the first time.
Now my weight fluctuates between 3-4 lbs every day,
but have never seen a 204 before. I have a little over 30 days
to hit my goal of 200 for the next race. Woot

Dee is back on the treadmill tonight. She has taken off the last week
due to her sore heel. We will see how it holds up

*Daily Quote*
Life is short... running makes it seem longer.
Baron Hansen

Another Sat Night

Watched Little Mrs Sunshine. Strange Movie. Girl Movie
im guessing seeing as Mel, Dee and Jinelle all seemed to
like it. Me..not so much.

Still got in a run today of 3.2 mi. I think my endurance
is increasing. Guess my goal for the 5k comming up is
a sub 30 min run.

Found a cute poem today I really liked.

A Lover
by Amy Lowell
If I could catch the green lantern of the firefly
I could see to write you a letter.

Feelin Fine ...untill..

Ran 4.5 miles today and the ankle felt really, really good.
Heck I felt really good as well. Finished and felt like I could
have gone some more.

(Big Mental Note Here) - Stretch when done running
and get some fluids into body.

(1 hour later) - Due to the fact I failed to umm.. stretch
and drink some water. My legs felt like I was the guy
from the movie "Alien" and the egg inside me hatched
twins and they both decided to leave my body thru my thighs.
Oh well.. was a good run none the less.

New link for the day is a poetry website. Will put it over on cool
places. Poetry Foundation

The Cycle Search

Well the Dee woman has been struggling with a hurt foot. So we are
searching for an exercise bike for her now. My search had me find the
bike that reviewers all liked, then found where in town it was located.
Seemed simple enough.

Bah, The place didnt have that version first off. The version they did
have I really didnt want plus it was expensive. So went to second option,
try second place. Same as the first place. Sigh

Mel wants to go to garage sales tomorrow so will look around there I guess.
Maybe I can come across a bargain. If not it's back to the internet.

I think Im going to have a daily quote, so I can at
least post something when I'm not really feeling like
posting anything. Todays quote is about love.

"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra
and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath.
At night, the ice weasels come. "
Matt Groening

A slow day

Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them --Joseph Heller

The Field Grows

It appears the field of competition has grown. I have heard that
Fran is now in training for the upcoming 5k. I'm pretty sure that
I heard from a friend of a friend, who use to have their yard done
by Power Cut that Fran was boasting how he was going to run Vinnie
into the ground.

Not that I would be spreading rumours or half-truths over the Internet
or anything like that for my own personal enjoyment. Maybe it was some
anonymous guy in an AOL chat room who said he was going to be at
that race and kick your butt Vinnie...I dunno.

Personally, you just better be training man...I'm coming for you. (Cough)
That is if my ankle gets feeling better.

Here is a link of some funny Star wars stuff.. check out the
video down near the bottom on this blog. Dark Roasted Blend

The Aftermath

It has been 2 days since the race and I do believe I'm left with
a ankle sprain. Tried running last night and got about half a mi
before I could go no more. Think I'm gonna rest it and just
lift weights and do Yoga for the next 3-4 days.

I guess our plan now is to enter the Port Orange YMCA 5k, Feb 23.
Deanna and Jinelle have started their 7 week training program. Both
me and Deanna are trying to lose weight before the next run.
My goal weight now is 200 lbs. I cant tell anyone Deanna's goal weight
or I will make my goal weight by tomorrow, because she will cut off
both my arms at the elbows so I can never type again.


This video is for you Vinnie :)

The Big Race (Deleon Springs 5K)

First order of business, make it to Deleon Springs. Objective complete
Second " " , staying warm. It was foggy and cold this morning.
Third " " , actually having to run 3.1 miles.

Due to the second order of business I think I did the run a lot better than
I had dared hope. I was running to get my body to warm up.
All in all, everyone seemed to have a good time.

Rundown of the mornings race.

Brittany - 29:01
She was our fastest runner, playing soccer every day
definitely put her in much better shape than the adults here.
The fact that she is too young to drink the night before the
race probably helped as well.

Chet - 32:25
Probably our best trained runner in the bunch. Having
completed several marathons I was really expecting Chet to take this
short race by the horns.
Unfortunately he is old enough to drink the night before, so I'm guessing
that between the amount of alcohol still in his blood and his lack of sleep,
this eroded this peak athletes performance.

Vinnie -31:20
I feel without Lauren there to spur him on, with her biting
whit and unjustified criticism he had nothing to run for this day.
Other than to beat me ..... bastard.

Jinelle - 39:11
Jinelle had one goal this day, not to finish last. Boo Yah
In her mind there were only 8 losers in this race of 168 people,
the 8 people behind her. The fact that a 79 year old woman
smoked her by 5 min did not set well with her tho.
On the bright side, she has 63 years to beat that woman's time.

Deanna - 39:01
Having shaved 3 Min's off her best practice run, she was euphoric.
Having finished without a kidney bursting she was elated.
Not having finished the race last she was joyous.
Having beat Jinelle by 10 seconds....Priceless

John - 33:12
Well I have found no training guide that states ,
Eat Pizza, drink alcohol, be merry and most of all for gods sake
don't sleep and you will shave 6 Min's off your best 5k time.
I do believe I have a 5K Guide to write.

5k Eve

It's the day before the big run. So I rest my weary legs to hopefully have
them recharged for tomorrows 5K.

My dinner plan on the night before the run....ummm
Dee and Jinelle ordered a couple pizzas. Dam they look good. OK I broke
and ate pizza.

Do I head to bed early seeing as I must get up at like 5:30am to be able
to get over to Deleon Springs to check in. I was planning on getting a real
good nights sleep.

Unfortunately Melanie called and wants us all to go out to a new bar
that opened just recently. I was planning on having a high carb intake
the night before the run, I just didn't intend it to come from beer.

We are home now, its late and I'm really wondering if my goal of
39 Min's is slipping away. Honestly I'm just praying we wake up at 5:30.

Alas, both the women just read this post and said screw 5:30.
They have out-voted me and it looks like we are getting up at 6:30.

Resolutions 2008

1st --- Make sure Jinelle does that damn latin project.
2nd --- Finish that damn bathroom
3rd --- Finish that damn back room.
4th --- Quit using the word "Damn" so much.
5th --- I'm sure there are quite a few more but suffice it to say
if I can complete these first 4 in the next month or so
I would be pretty happy.

Ran 4 mi today at a 6% incline, burned some mojo calories. Only 3
days till the big race. 195 people signed up for it and the half marathon now.
I do believe my 39 min goal is just within reach.

Question of the day- Why do they give out only long-sleeve shirts at 5k events?
I live in Florida, I wear long sleeve shirt's maybe 10 days a year.

5k Countdown Nutrition Plan

Two weeks... Match your caloric intake to your training with whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and potassium-rich juices for minerals lost through sweat. Drink water, and practice with the same pre-race drink you’ll use during the race to make sure it won’t upset your stomach.
----
One week... You might taper your training to rest up, so you’ll eat less, but don’t cut back on nutrition. With less activity, you might need more high-fiber foods to stay regular. Stay well hydrated.
Suggestions: bran cereal, whole wheat breads and bagels, apples, raisins, prunes, dark leafy green salads.

----

Night before... Now is not the time to make drastic changes. Don’t bother with extra vitamins or special supplements. Your energy will come from the calories in your carbohydrates. Drink water. Eat moderately.

Suggestions: sweet potatoes with salmon, pasta with vegetables, winter squash, brown rice, vegetable soup, pasta salad, baked potato, whole grain bread.
----
Three hours... Drink water and eat a low fiber, high-glycemic pre-race meal for easy digestion and to keep your glucose and glycogen levels up.
Suggestions: instant oatmeal with raisins; dry cereal with bananas; bagel with all-fruit spread; toast with honey and apple or orange slices; fig bars; fruit salad with bananas, grapes, melons.
----
Ten minutes... Drink water and possibly a sports drink a few minutes before the race for a quick energy boost and to replace electrolytes (sodium, potassium, and other minerals used for normal bodily functions). You could grab an energy bar or a high-glycemic snack that won’t upset your stomach.
Suggestions: watermelon, grapes, orange slices, energy bar.

This List from Kathy Summers at http://healthwriting.com/

The second day of...

Well we finally measured and weighed again. (It had been
3 weeks since the last time) We both lost weight (it is slow going)
and we each have gotten a bit smaller on the measurements.
(even slower going) We have seen progress tho.

As far as my training for the 5k. I'm only doing a 30 min run today.
Doing the interval training, slow, fast, etc. and lots of hills. 3-8% incline

The First Day of the rest of my life

I would post a few pictures ,but Dee wants no Chubby Monkey
pictures of us floating around the internet. We are both working
out pretty regularly now so maybe in a few months I'll post
a pic of Dee.

Ran 5k today in 38min 57 sec. Lifted before running, so that
might have had something to do with the time. Dee cut about
1.5 min off her last time.

2008 The New Year

Well the new year has arrived. Added a few food links to
the link list.
http://www.foodfit.com/
has a really nice healthy food section and recipe section.

Pretty weak training day today, just walked/ran 3.25 miles and
did it pretty slow.