Let's talk about earbuds

I am pretty sure this is what it is going to come to.  I have mentioned before that I prefer to have music when I run.  This, of course means that I have to wear some sort of headphones or earbuds.  I have tried a whole bunch of them.

The Apple earbuds that come with the older iPhones/iPods were terrible.


The ones that come with the newer iPhones/iPads are better, but they also come out of your ears when you are running.











I have a set of Bose noise cancellation earbuds and they stay in my ears nicely, but they are wired and there is a big, bulky piece, presumably for the noise cancellation that has to be managed somehow.

And, they are not made for sweating.  I have used them on many runs and they are about toast now.  I called Bose and they basically laughed at me for trying to use them for running.


I have a set of Skull Candy XTFree wireless earbuds and I generally like Skull Candy.  They are comfortable in my ears.  These are supposed to be designed for sports, but when my ears sweat, they fall out... over and over and over.  It is exhausting.  

So, I am now looking at the Bose earbuds that are designed for sports.

Although they look a little bulky.  One set has a heart monitor... like I need another heart monitor.  (Read my previous blog about gadgets).

I had to remove my earbuds today during my run.  I was sweating pretty good.  It is humid today, and my skull candy XTFrees kept falling out.  So, I just removed them.  I was breathing heavy and panting as usual, but I realized today that not only do I pant heavily, I also wheeze.   It was so pathetic.  I NEED MUSIC.

Or Maybe I will jut go with the Lil Wayne version... the diamond studded Beats.  Heck I could even get a grill to go along with them.  Anybody know of a good dentist?  LOL

What exactly ARE you trying to tell me?

Those of you who know me are already aware, and those who don't really know me have likely not had any difficulty figuring out that I believe in God,  Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.  I believe that He is my Creator, my Savior, and my Intercessor.  I believe that He is watching out for me and guiding me and directing me.  I do not believe in coincidences.  I believe that it is all according to His perfect plan.

I believe there are times when we are held up by what we consider an inconvenience and find out later there was a major accident that we may well have avoided as a result of being held up.  I was told once, and I do not know how biblical it is, but I was told that if you are in a conversation with someone and you keep trying to say something, but you keep getting interrupted, or the conversation keeps getting redirected to another topic rendering your comment irrelevant, this is a sign that you should just drop it and not say the thing you were trying to say.  Again, I am not certain of the biblical accuracy of such a situation, but that little tidbit has served me well several times, when I think of it.

Anyway, I find it amazing and wonderful that God would care enough about me to orchestrate even the most minute details of my life, although there are times when I struggle to discern the meaning behind some of the events that happen.  For instance, have you ever noticed that EVERY TIME you are running and crossing the street or crossing an entry or exit to a commercial building, there is ALWAYS a car coming.  They are almost NEVER paying attention to you.  They always seem to pull into your way.  Every time I run on a public street, cars come out of nowhere.  The ones that don't see me, which is the vast majority of them, pull right into the sidewalk lane, forcing me to run around their car, behind them.  Then they notice me, and instead of continuing to pull up so I don't have to run a mile around their car, they then stop, forcing me to GO... ALL.. THE... WAY... AROUND.  It probably sounds like a small thing, but it is exhausting.  Breaking rhythm and stride to basically stop and turn and stop and turn and stop and turn again, just to get around their car.  Then, they take off and leave you gasping for air in their exhaust.  If it were to happen once or twice a run, it would not be too big of a deal, but I swear it happens over and over again, like 10 times every time I run.  And the few cars that actually DO see me, they are just as bad, trying to be friendly.  They pull up, then see me, then slow down, then go a little, then stop, then pull up some, then stop, then pull up and wave you on.  Stop, start, stop, start, stop, no you go, no you go, ok. go ahead, no you go.  It is like stoping to dance with them in the middle of your run.  And those are just the ones that are pulling into or out of a commercial building.  The cars that are trying to drive through the intersection are even worse, because they get all peeved that they have to slow down to accommodate the stupid runner -- WHO HAS THE RIGHT OF WAY!!!.  And those are the ones that even care if they are obeying the traffic laws or not.  There are some that seem to believe that they are gonna get extra points if they actually run you over.


I make an effort to obey the traffic laws so I can carry on the illusion of safety.  I sure do hate to stop at the traffic light though.  Whenever I am forced to stop, I look around at the drivers in the cars and am always amazed.  Normally they are all driving and looking at their phone, but when the runner has to stop at the light, they put their phones down and stare at the runner.  Who knows what they are thinking or wondering, but they cannot stop staring at the strange runner on the side of the road who is not running.  Now, let me clarify, I am not one of those runners who continues to run in place at the light.  That is just strange, and I admit to looking at those people strangely myself.  I just stand there trying to catch my breath and wait for the little white light walking man to show up on the screen, indicating that I can resume my run, feeling the eyes boring a hole in me.

I hate to stop at the light so much, that I sometimes redirect my run.  If the light is green and I can just keep going, then I do, but if not, I might take a right, wherever right might take me.  If I am at the cross-walk and I can make it, legally, across, and then the other cross street signal gives me the go, I might just cross that one too, because I can without stopping.  It makes it interesting sometimes because I end up in these odd places with no sidewalks, or I get redirected back early.  Which leads me to my question.  What exactly is He trying to tell me when these things happen?  Does this mean that He does not want me to run, or He wants me to go home early, or stay off the main streets?  I should run through the neighbors grass, or into a forest or a field, or maybe He would rather I run on a treadmill at the gym?  One of the problems that I have with running, is I have WAY too much time to think.  Although I don't seem to spend too much time thinking about anything important.  I am WAY TOO TIRED FOR THAT!  I think about inane, little things, like how do I get across this intersection before the light turns red, or what if I turn here, will that give me the best way to get in my miles and still get me back home?

Oh, and while I am on a rant... the pedestrians are even worse than the drivers.  The other day I was running and I saw a man riding his bike toward me.  He had his helmet on riding 0.01 mph, very safety conscious.  I saw him, literally a mile away.  He was headed toward me and I was headed toward him.  I was going maybe twice or three times his speed.  As we got directly in front of each other, he SWERVED over toward me and forced me into a ditch.  He yelled, "Oh... Sorry."  Are you drunk or something?  Where can I get me some of those drugs you are on?  How is it even possible that you did not see me... for a mile.  AND WHY??  WHY in the world did you have to swerve over at that exact moment?  Yesterday, a lady was walking toward me with her two children.  She saw me and moved over.  As she moved over, her child was uncomfortable that she was now crowded, so she jumped out into what she thought would be clean air, directly in front of me.  I had to hurdle her.  And those are the ones that see you coming.  Are the rest of them all deaf?  I mean seriously hard of hearing?  Every time I come up behind someone, they jump and scream as if I jumped out at them in the middle of the night in a dark alley with a bloody knife.  It does not matter if I say, "on your left" or "excuse me" or run in the grass or whatever I do.  And they always seem to NEED to "change lanes" right at the moment I am coming by.  It is not like I am a stealthy ninja runner.  I am clomping my feet and panting so loudly, one kid thought I was practicing for my audition as a beat box for the local rap group.

And don't even get me started on the dogs, well more like their owners, and then I could go on for days about 4-way stops.  What exactly is He trying to tell me?  I may never know.

BTW... I signed up for a local 5K, here in Brandon next Sunday. http://www.brandonrunning.com/brandon-half-marathon--5k-race-information.html
if anyone is interested in joining me.  I was wanting to run a quick (for me) 5k that weekend anyway. The next (half marathon) race is the next weekend in Kiawah Island, SC.

Stir crazy

Having never run hills before, (Florida is pretty flat) I was not expecting to be as sore as I am.  The hills in Tulsa were no joke (for me) to run on.  I believe that I have reconciled that the reason my IT band was so problematic was because of the downhill sections.  I was being passed so much on the uphill sections, I made an effort to really lengthen my stride on the downhill and "coast" down faster.  I did actually pass a few people on the downhill portions, but I think the stress and pounding of those segments is what aggravated the ITBS (Iliotibial Band Syndrome).  Anyway, that is my theory.  Also, my calves and quads are still sore.  Today is Wednesday and I am still sore.  I have not run.  I have not even exercised in any form.  I am, as the title will suggest, going stir crazy.  As I know I have mentioned multiple times, I don't like to run, but I am also aware that I do not like when I cannot exercise.  That has always been a problem for me.  I have to be out doing something or I begin to feel sluggish and frumpy.

I think it is even worse when you are in between races.  You have tapered a bit before the last race, rested a bit, and carb-loaded.  I did not run on Friday or Saturday.  Granted, I ran on Sunday, but now have not run on Monday or Tuesday and my legs are still sore on Wednesday.  I want to make sure that I rest and "heal" so that I can compete in 16 days in South Carolina, but I am feeling like I am stuck/trapped, and also like I am gaining weight at the sight of food.  I am also not sleeping well.  I am incredibly tired at the end of the day, to the point where I have fallen asleep in my chair at 8:30-9:00pm.  Then I go to sleep and wake up at 2:30am or 4:00am and just cannot get back to sleep.  I guess my body just does not know what to do.  Then to make matters worse, Monday was our 18th wedding anniversary.  Happy Anniversary Valerie!!!  These have been wonderful years because of you!  Thank YOU!!
We went out to The Melting Pot... and of course, I over-indulged with the cheese and chocolate.  Then tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  I believe I will just become a big blob of fatty fattiness that is unable to move from the couch if I keep this up.

I HAVE to get out and do SOMETHING.  I think I might go for a light run after work today to see how I feel, but I just don't want to injure myself.  My IT band is feeling better, but it is still there.  I am imagining that a light run will make it hurt again.  Of course, rest, and ice and stretching and massage are recommended, I have done none of those things... except for the resting.  I think if I "rest" anymore, I might just croak right there where I am "resting". Wish me luck.  

Now that I think about it, it is probably all about balance.  Balance between resting and training.  Balance between doing too much and doing too little.  I have to tell you, and you probably already knew this about me, but I have NEVER been very good at the whole balance thing.  Yet another one of my many personality flaws I guess.  So, I don't know how I am going to figure out how to balance in this area.  I guess I'll let ya know after my run today.

Oklahoma -- Check

Oklahoma 

I have now completed 2 races in two states.  Not too difficult (for me) to see that this is not going to be easy.  Oklahoma was much more difficult than Florida -- for several reasons.

1.  I live in Florida and did not have to travel to another state
2.  I stayed at my mom's house in Cocoa Beach -- I have no family in Oklahoma
3.  Travel was much easier to drive to my mom's
4.  I had family support in Florida
5.  It was much less expensive to drive than to fly
6.  There are no hills in Florida
7.  It was 32 degrees in Oklahoma

I think you get the picture.  Let me focus here on points 7 and 8, because those were the real killers.  The race was scheduled to start at 8:00am.  I ended up getting moved into corral A based on my estimated finish time, so I would actually start at 8:00am.  I walked over to the start from my airbnb rental, not exactly sure how long it would take me to get there.  I was 30 minutes early, wearing a pair of shorts and a wicking shirt, little tiny socks and my running shoes.  It was 32 degrees.

I have lived in Florida since I was 3 years old.  I do not like the cold.  I know people want seasons and want to be able to wear their sweaters and drink hot chocolate and see their breath and build a fire.  I don't need any of that.  I am perfectly content in a pair of shorts and flip-flops.  I can travel to Colorado and go snow skiing for a week or two and that will give me all of the cold that I need.  Needless to say, I was freezing.  Waiting for a half an hour for the race to start.  I was afraid of being penalized because my nose started running before I did.

As you can see, there were not many people there.  They were all much smarter than me apparently.  They all filled in relatively quickly and the corral was filled up and we were ready to go.  We stood for the National Anthem and a couple of other local traditions, no prayer though.  They let the wheel chair athletes go 2 minutes prior to the gun, and then we are off... finally.  I just remember thanking God that we were finally moving, then wondering why I could not feel my hands or my toes.  The very start ran into the rising sun, then a left turn downhill.  Most, if not all of mile one was downhill -- steeply.  Now that SOUNDS great, but if you start downhill, guess what is gonna happen the rest of the race???  Yup... you guessed it -- UPHILL.  It sure seemed like the entire race was uphill.  I kept thinking that it is not possible for the entire race to be uphill, there must be some downhill portion coming.  Well, upon reflection, there were some downhill sections, but they were much smaller than the uphill sections.  It was uphill, uphill, uphill, uphill, downhill, uphill, uphill, uphill, uphill, downhill, uphill.... You get the idea.  

Not being accustomed to running hills, I was dying.  I kept watching all of these people pass me on the uphill sections and thinking, "How in the heck can you get up these hills so fast?"  My legs just would not move any faster.  My first half was much faster than my second half.  I was gassing out.  I just did not have anything left.  Even the finish was uphill.

In all, I am happy with my performance.  I was REALLY shooting for 1:45:00 and I really thought I was gonna make it, but my last few miles killed me.  

This race did not come without its consequences though.  When the race was over, I sat down for a minute,  When I got up to walk back to my room, I noticed that the back of my left knee was "on fire".  I was unable to bend it without significant pain.  I limped back to my room 1.5 miles.  I do not remember hurting this much after the first one.  Even my left deltoid was hurting.  I guess I was tense struggling up those hills as everyone was passing me.  Today, my left Iliotibial band is painful and I have a sharp pain on my right knee that I have not figured out yet, my quads hurt and I am just plain tired.  I am starting to wonder if I am going to be able to pull this off without injury.  Time will tell.

Off to Tulsa today

Just a quick update today as I am sitting in the airport awaiting boarding for my flight to Atlanta then to Tulsa. I am feeling a bit better today. Still coughing every few seconds, but he cough is unproductive. Hopefully this will pass by tomorrow and not be a problem. My nose on the other hand has already started running. I hope I do not get penalized for that.

I feel quite certain that I ate too much yesterday. I am feeling sluggish and frumpy. (Which my autocorrect just changed to grumpy -- not too far off either).  My calf cramped yesterday as I was getting up out of my chair. Still hurts today.  I did wear my calf sleeves today for a couple of hours, so that should fix it... right?!?  I am looking forward to getting to Tulsa and get in a light run this afternoon. Maybe that will make me feel better.

The weather is supposed to be low of 41 and high of 62. I would prefer the 62 over the 41, but that is just me.

Ready to board my flight. I will update as I am able. Hope you all have a great weekend.

Carb day!!

The older I get, the more I am surprised by the things that get me excited.  I don't get excited about much anymore.  I have any number of personality flaws.  Lack of enthusiasm may well be just one of the many.  I have found, though that I do get excited about Carb Day.  As I  mentioned earlier, I do not do everything right.  Maybe it is true that very few of the things that I do, do I do right.   (Lot of do do in that sentence).  There is so much information floating around out there, it truly is difficult to weed through the swamp of data and decipher any of it to make sense of it for your situation.  I am sure you understand what I mean as I am sure you have heard things like, fat is bad, fat is good, butter is bad, butter is good, no carbs, all carbs, green vegetables only.  Milk does the body good, right?  It is good for teeth and bones and hair, right?  Or was that a clever marketing strategy?  Dr. Atkins died of injuries related to a head injury, but was known to have a history of heart disease.  So, what is right?  Is one thing right for everyone? Or could one protocol be good for some and bad for others?  Such murky water and cloudy science.  How does one make a decision about what to do?  I certainly don't know.  You may notice that I raise more questions here than I answer.

The Carb intake and the hydration piece are two things that I do believe have some benefit.  I am not deluded to believe that doing these things will make me run faster, but I do think that these techniques could help me to avoid "hitting the wall."  My routine, right, wrong, or indifferent, is to hydrate heavily (for me) 48 hours prior to race day, and hydrate moderately (for me) the day before the race.  I do not like water.  I hardly ever drink water.  I KNOW it is good for me, but I don't like it.  I am told that a colonoscopy is good for me too.  Most days, I don't drink much of anything.  A glass or two of juice will work just fine.  I have a glass of milk once or twice a week.  I used to love milk, but it is loosing it's appeal... particularly since I was drinking non-fat milk which is much like white colored water.  Valerie and I started drinking one glass of red wine per day for the tannins and the heart health.   Other than that, I don't drink much of anything.  After a workout, I will drink water.  I almost never drink while I am running.  I cannot force myself to carry a bottle of water.  You may recall that I have too many gadgets to carry around as it is.

During race week though, my routine is different.  48 hours prior to the race, I drink 8-10 glasses of water.  24 hours prior I drink 4-8 glasses of water.  My carb intake is normally fairly low.... well, since August anyway.  But during race week, I eat more carbs.  48 hours prior, I try to eat 50% carbs and 24 hours prior I try to eat 70% carbs.  By the way, my race day diet, so far has consisted of 2 fried eggs and a glass of water.  I am working on changing that to something else, but I have not decided what yet.

As an aside, I mentioned that my carb intake has been pretty low since August.  We went to Nicaragua in August on a mission trip.  We have been before and knew what to expect, and we got exactly what we expected.  The meals consisted mainly of rice and beans and vegetables and fruit.  That is what I ate for a week.  I was very careful with my eating, because I am aware of how easy it is to get sick while you are in a third world country.  Valerie got very sick one year and had to sit out for the day with an IV fluid drip as her only companion.  What I did not plan on was Chikungunya.  A mosquito spread virus that causes nausea, fever, GI distress.  I got all of those.  So for another  two weeks, I was not able to eat much and what I did eat escaped quickly.  After I got over that, I just was not as hungry as I used to be and began to cut my portion size to around half and cut many carbs that were very filling.  I would simply get full quickly.  So, as a side benefit of the Chikingunya and the running, I have now lost 26 pounds.  We do not even own a scale (except the Wii Fit), so I almost never weigh myself, but today I weighed 189 lbs which would be 27 lbs loss since August.  I am not really counting that though, because I was not feeling well yesterday and ate very little and I was a bit dehydrated.  Either way, I have lost a bunch of weight -- and yes, my Mii character is smaller, but the silly machine insists on displaying that I am OVERWEIGHT -- no longer obese, but overweight is displayed prominently.

And today is carb day.  At least 50% carb day anyway.  I forgot to eat breakfast, but when I came home for lunch I was VERY excited for carb day.  I had a half a sub sandwich that my wife bought for me.  I ate the turkey AND the bun.  It was so good.  I thought it would be a good idea to have some more carbs, so I indulged with a giant marshmallow that I stuffed with Nutella and peanut butter.  You have NO IDEA how good that is.  Oh my.  That was about three hours ago and I am still stuffed... but it was worth it.  Now, I recognize that is probably not the right way to get my carbs, but to heck with the right way... my way was way more fun.  mmmmm..... delish!!!

I am looking forward to 70% carb day tomorrow as I get to the airport and off to Tulsa.

Another aside.  I found out today that I am scheduled to be in corral D... the last corral.  They organize the start of these larger races to put the faster racers in the front, let them go, wait 5 min and then let the next group go.  Corral D will be at least 20 minutes behind the first group.  I got put in corral D based on when I registered for the race.  All participants who registered after Oct. 9 automatically get put in corral D.  I am not pleased about this.  I won't get there in time to change my corral assignment either.  Oh well.  I guess I will just have to pass all of those slower runners over the 13 mile stretch.  Wish me luck.  Here I come Route 66.

The best laid plans

I certainly do not pretend that I do everything right, or even have tried to do everything right when it comes to running these races.  I am certain that any number of you could easily show me where I have gone wrong on many levels and in many steps along the way.  Although, I have paid attention to some stuff and made every effort to stay healthy.  There is the whole eating thing, and the whole stretching thing and the tapering thing and resting and hydrating and training.  OK, so I don't stretch or warm-up, but those other things I have made an effort.  I have not run a whole lot this week and I have not run real hard when I did.  That is my idea of tapering.  I have taken days off.  Basically running every other day or so, depending how I feel.  That is my idea of resting.  I have eaten three meals a day, which is not really normal for me.  I don't often eat breakfast, but I am trying to be good.  I have plans to eat 50% carbs two days before the race and hydrate adequately.  I also have a plan to stay loose and warm the day before the race, so that I do not get stiff.  I have even been eating some Goo ( I am told it is spelled Gu... I checked, Tommy was right, it is Gu) while running so that I can get some nutrients and test how my body deals with this protocol.

So, maybe I don't do everything right, but I have made a pretty good effort.  Yesterday I went for a light run.  Pretty easy... 3.37 miles, negative splits, at a 7:45 per minute average pace.  8:02, then 7:46, then 7:36 and the last .37 at 7:16.  I do not plan on running today or Friday.  The race is Sunday morning.  I felt good.  I ate some Gu after mile one.  Just testing it out to see how I do.  Eating while running is not so easy for me.  I am breathing heavy and now I have to swallow something with substance.  Then my mouth gets all full of thick, viscous saliva.  Meanwhile I am still breathing heavy.  I was pretty sure that I sucked in some saliva and started to cough a little bit.  No big deal, but coughing every minute or so trying to clear it from my lungs.  After the run, I continued to cough for the rest of the evening and figured my throat was sore and I created a "tickle".  No big deal, should be fine in the morning.

Well, guess what?!?  It is not gone.  I have a sore throat, more snot in my sinus, dripping down my throat than I care to discuss at the moment and I seem to have the typical "head cold" type symptoms.  How the heck did this happen?  Ain't nobody got time for this.

Yes, I went to work.  No, I am not a typical woosy man that cannot function when he has a little sniffle. Sorry, guys, but the stereotype is often true.  I am still going to Tulsa and I am still going to run, but this is a little disappointing.  I don't enjoy being sick (who does?), and I am imagining that this is going to affect my performance.  Could it even, potentially prevent me from finishing?  I am going to say NO.  The only good news is today is Thursday and the race is not until Sunday, so I may have time enough to get well before the race.  The only thing that concerns me is that I relatively never get sick.  When I do get sick it is usually one of those things that starts small, like a sore throat and then gets pretty bad where I am laid up in the bed for a few days.  I don't generally need a nurse or nursemaid or anything.  Truth is, when I feel bad, I would prefer to be left alone.



My son, Noble just had his tonsils out a few minutes ago.  He is 11 years old and a good boy.  So, I think I am just developing a sore throat as a sympathy for him.  I imagine that he will have a sore throat for several days after he wakes from the anesthesia.  Surely I am not sick.  It is only for Noble's sake, right?  Poor guy.  We would covet your prayers for his healing.  As I am told, the surgery went well and he is in the recovery room dreaming about the ice-cream that he is planning on eating.



Lord, let Noble heal quickly. and uneventfully.  Amen.

Goals

I mentioned in a previous posting that I NEED a goal.  Without a goal, I struggle with thoughts of:
"Why am I doing this?"
"What is the purpose?"
"How is this helping me?"
"How is this helping others?"
"Do I really need to do this or that?"
"What does it matter if I were to quit?"
"Who cares?" etc...

And many times I just give up and do something else, or nothing at all.  Don't get me wrong, sometimes nothing at all is a good thing, but the few times in my life that I have done nothing at all, feelings of boredom and even some level of depression started to take over.  Without some purpose to the things that I do, they end up empty and void and meaningless.

I believe that God has a plan for me.  Plans to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me hope and a future.  Of course many of you will recognize this from Jeremiah 29:11.  I have no intention of giving a bible study here, but suffice it to say that God has a plan for me.  This gives me purpose.  It gives meaning to the things that I do.  I have a purpose on this earth.  Whether or not the things that I do (my goals) are God's will for my life is another entire blog or book, but I try to be in God's will and fulfill His purpose for my life.

So, you see goals are important.  I have now set this goal of running these silly half marathons all over the country, and I have gone so far as to make my goal public, so I am kinda stuck at this point.  But that is not even the half of it.  Now I have to figure out what are my other goals in this process?  Do I intend to better my finishing time every event?  Am I intending to finish under 1:40:00?  Will I focus on simply finishing each race?  Is my goal just to not get injured?  Am I trying to make some statement?  Do I intend to become a competitive runner?  Make a name for myself?  Quit my job?  Increase to full marathons? Or ultra marathons?  Am I in it for the bling? (the medals given to finishers).  Is it all about the travel and seeing the country?  Are there specific places I want to see?  Will I support a charity and accept donations for this charity and allow the running and blogging to help create awareness?  So many questions.

This is no easy venture.  Running a half-marathon is not really all that difficult.  (Although I look like I am about to pass out in the above picture.) It is the logistics of trying to go to 50 states in 50 months.  This is why this was such a hard sell for my wife.  Consider this.  A plane ticket, round trip to every state.  Let's just say $500.  Every month.  A hotel room for at least one night, say $200 every month.  A race entry every month ~$100.   And that is just the money.  It becomes even more complicated when you start talking about going away, leaving the family every month.  The good news is that most of these races are on the weekend, Saturday or Sunday.  It is still somewhat difficult.  Keeley has gymnastics meets on many weekends.  Noble has cross country meets on many weekends.  Play dates, sleep-overs, birthday parties, etc.  For instance, Noble is having his tonsils out tomorrow.  He will be recovering this weekend and I will be in Tulsa.  This is not the most popular choice for my family.  Then, if you can get past all of that, you still have to choose the races.  There are so many.  Some of them are themed and some on trails and some at night.  Some are in fun venues, others are local races to support some local charity or event.  There are bucket list races, and must-do races.  Many of these races are at the same time.  One race that I am considering is in Alaska in June.  One of my friends (yes, I have some friends) just asked me if I would consider another race in June in another state.  How do you choose.  I was thinking of running a Disneyland race (California) in January.  This is a themed race, a StarWars race with characters, etc.  I thought the kids would love to go to that one and maybe even run the 5k.  But they cannot go this year, so I am off to Arizona in January instead.  Maybe we can do the StarWars race 2018.  It is exhausting logistically.  It would also be nice if the family could go to all the races, but they have too many things to do.  I would even enjoy having my mom ride her bike along with me at every race for support, but she has a life.

So, back to my point.  I need goals for this.  It is not cheap, it is not easy, it is not quick, nor painless, so what am I doing this for and what am I trying to accomplish?  I am not sure I have the answers to these questions formulated yet.  I can tell you that I do not know God's will for my life, but I do know that He can use it all for His glory.  I NEED a goal, and apparently a series of goals within the main goal.  I have found that this is the only thing that will keep me focused and pushing through the part when it gets hard... and it WILL ALWAYS GET HARD!  You might have guessed that I am not just talking about running anymore, but all of life.   What are your goals?  Are you actively working toward those goals?  Is whatever you are doing on a regular basis progressing you toward your goals.  If not, then you are moving farther away from them.  I pray that God will use me in this journey and use this journey to further His kingdom.  I also pray that He will help you in a similar way with your goals.  Now I gotta go run.

So many gadgets

If there is some appeal to running for me, it is that it is simple and pure, easy.  Throw on some shoes and just run.  (of course, when I ran in Cocoa Beach, there was a guy who ran the entire 13.1 miles barefoot.  In fact, he was wearing a pair of shorts and nothing else.)... so you see, you don't even need shoes.  Just decide you want to run and well... run.

As I look at my arsenal and try to figure out what is the best combination of all of this paraphernalia, I am struck by how complicated it all is.  I have my iPhone 6 plus that contains MapMyRun and Strava and Runkeeper and RockMy Run and Garmin Connect.  It has all of my music and Pandora and the Health App.  I have my Apple Watch Series 1 that syncs with my phone and all of those above listed apps.  The watch measures my run time and split time and heart rate and Lord knows what else.  I have the new (to me) Garmin Forerunnner 920XT with the heart rate monitor.  This little gadget gives me Average Pace, Average Moving Pace, Best Pace, Avg. Speed, Avg. Moving Speed, Max Speed, Total Time, Moving Time, Elapsed Time, Avg. Heart Rate, Max Heart Rate, Training Effect, Avg. Run Cadence, Max Run Cadence, Avg. Stride Length, Avg Vertical Ratio, Avg. Vertical Oscillation, Avg, GC Time Balance, Avg Ground Contact Time, Elevation Gain, Elevation Loss, Min Elevation, Max Elevation, Calories Burned.  It tells me the last book I read, the number of negative thoughts I have about others, sins committed, food cravings, and regulates my bowel movements... and those are just the stats on the running portion.

 
I have ear buds everywhere.  I have wired earbuds that came with the phone,  I have wireless earbuds that connect with Bluetooth.  I have noise cancellation ear buds.

I have arm bands and wires and clips and monitors and gadgets, gadgets, gadgets.  I am not even sure what most of it does or how I would utilize the data?  Are any of you impressed when I boast that my average vertical oscillation is 10cm or that my training effect of my last run last night is a whopping 5?  My heart rate during my run was 147 bpm on average.  What does that tell me?  My heart was beating.  I guess that is good.  It was beating faster than normal.  I suppose that is normal.  I was, after all running.

When did it get so complicated?  And is this data important for a novice like me?

I bought a $70 pair of running shorts recently.  It has pockets for energy gel packets.  I was custom fitted for a pair of running shoes.  They were $120.  I can no longer wear cotton socks. Heck, I now own and wear compression sleeves for my calves.  I have any number of wicking shirts and wicking shorts and wicking socks and wicking calf sleeves.  Everything is wicking.  Where does all of the sweat go when it is wicked off?

That reminds me of an old Saturday Night Live sketch with Roseanne Roseannadanna that used to crack me up.  I tried to find the video and embed it here, but I could not find it, so it won't be nearly as funny to you as it was to me.  She talks about picking her nose and getting a booger and rolling it around and around in her fingers until it disappears.  Where does it go?

Anyway, all of these gadgets are crazy.  I want it simple.  I want to just go out and run.  If I get tired, I slow down or stop.  If my heart starts beating too fast, I slow down or stop or maybe die.  Would one of you please pick me up and take me to the hospital or morgue or something?  Of course, I do this to myself.  I say that I want it simple.  I COULD be like the guy at the Cocoa Beach run. I COULD just go out and run naked... but I DO have certain things that I want when I am running.  Maybe one of you really smart people could invent this for me.  I want music.  I HATE to hear myself pant.  It makes me tired.  If I can play the music really loudly, then I drown out my panting and gasping for air and I do not get as tired.  I also want to know how fast I am going.  But not in mph,  How does that help me?  Then I would have to do the math, and I don't know about you, but my math skills are less than stellar when I am oxygen and nutrient deprived.  Also, I need for my mile times and split times to be given to me audibly.  I am getting old and my arms are getting shorter.  I can no longer see in the dark or when I am tired.  My eyes cannot read the tiny, little, dark fine print, and I am not about to start wearing my cheaters while I am running.  And the last thing I want.  I want to have all of these things without having to cart my phone around.   I don't think I am asking too much.  I have all of this very expensive, fancy gadgetry that tells me all of this incredible and useless data.  It seems pretty simple to me.  Why can I not have a watch that plays Pandora or some music list through my wireless Bluetooth earbuds and give me my split times audibly through the same ear buds and not have to carry around my phone that is the size of many people's tablets?  Or am I missing something?  Maybe it would be a good idea to have my phone with me in case I wanted or needed to call an Uber or an ambulance.

A little background

Why in the world would I (or really anyone) want to run 50 half marathons in 50 states in 50 months? Well, I cannot answer for any of the other looney tunes out there... and you know who you are... but I will give you a little background so that you might better understand why I might do such a thing.  Then, once you figure it out, maybe you could tell me, 'cause I have no clue why I would want to do such a thing.

I have always been fairly athletic.  Played multiple sports and primarily football from the time I was 5 years old.  I dropped most of the other sports when I started high school and concentrated on football, although I lettered in track and weight lifting at some point in there.  Then went on to play football at Alabama and Memphis, before moving on to dental school.  I was never the best athlete.  I was never the fastest, never the strongest, never the biggest, or smartest, but I had this habit of setting goals and doing whatever I needed to do to accomplish them.  I also had a habit of doing everything at full-tilt.  That is to say, there was no half-speed.  Would you believe that I still have some of those same habits?  I remember one time getting in trouble with one of my coaches at Alabama.  In one drill at practice one day, we were supposed to go half-speed and just run through the drill attempting to ensure that no one got injured.  Needless to say, I got reprimanded for practicing too hard.  My strength coach, Rich Wingo told me a similar story when he played for Bear Bryant. Coach Wingo had gotten thrown out of drills and practices many times because he did not have a half-speed.  At one point he told Bear Bryant, "Coach, if you do not want me to go full-speed, then do not put me in the drill."  Of course, Rich Wingo was an all-American and he could get away with talking to Bear like that.  I, on the other hand, was an all-scrub team... so, I simply said, "yes, sir." and tried to stay out of trouble.  Anyway, these words and events have a way of shaping a young and impressionable kid.  Going all out or full-tilt is just the way I roll now.  That mentality can serve a guy well in sports and in certain areas of life... but not so much in golf.  Picture Happy Gilmore.  And not so much in marriage, and other areas that require finesse and tact.  I am a work in progress.  The full-tilt mentality has worked well enough for me to help me to excel in areas where I was not the biggest, fastest, strongest, or smartest, but often the hardest worker.

Another lesson I learned while playing football.  There was a freshman recruit at Alabama, who I will not name.  He was super talented.  I watched him throw a football, on his heels, without taking a step, 70 yards with almost no arc.  He was a big kid with natural ability.  He was fast, he was strong, he was agile.  Probably the best athlete that I have ever played with or against... but he was lazy.  HE NEVER PLAYED A DOWN.  He had so much talent that he relied on his ability and never practiced deliberately to get better, and he never got better.  All of the other quarterbacks were not as big, strong, fast, agile, or talented, but they worked hard to improve and eventually they were better quarterbacks.

Tim Tebow talks about this in his books.  He basically writes, and I am paraphrasing... I may not be the best, but no one will ever out work me.

OK, so that is some background, maybe too far back.  Skip forward to having children and trying to figure out how to remain part of their lives and be an involved  parent.  I told the kids if they got serious about a sport, then I would train with them.  Was this a mistake?  Maybe.  Keeley got serious about gymnastics.  Did I get lucky or unlucky?  I am definitely NOT stretchy... and well gymnastics is just plain dangerous.  But alas, they will not allow me out on the gym floor with her, so I cannot train with her in that sport... but it is not my fault - off the hook.

Noble takes an interest in football, so now I can go train with him and teach him everything that I know.  We can run and hit and tackle and throw and catch.  But he gravitates more to individual sports.  He takes an interest in Karate and wrestling and MMA.  Still, I can train for these with him.  I was never a wrestler myself, but I can still do the rough and tumble aspect of those sports.  At the very least, he could have someone that he could spar with and beat up on.  Then he comes home one day and says he wants to run cross country.  Where do they come up with this stuff?

Now I have to run?   Have I mentioned that I am not a runner?  I hate running.  He loves it.  The more he runs, the better he loves it.  And he continues to get faster.  I begin training with him and I find out very quickly that I am not in as good of shape as I once was.  How did that happen?  Is that a donut I smell?  So, I figured out that I needed to train more so that I could have enough stamina to compete with him.  So sad to admit, but I had to work out to be in good enough shape to train with my 11 year old son.  This is depressing.  He finally joined a middle school cross country team and runs with them at 7:00am on the weekdays.  Did I get lucky or unlucky again?  I start seeing patients at 7:00am on weekdays, so I am not able to train with him, but now he is getting faster and stronger and I am getting older, so I have to train some more, just to keep up.

A funny side story.  We have a Wii video game.  It comes with WiiFit.  Basically it is a scale and a balance beam.  You use it like it is a skateboard or a balance beam or a movement simulator.  The premise is to get you moving instead of sitting on your duff.  If you are playing a game and the game is forcing you to move, then you are active and more fit than laying on the couch only moving your thumbs.  Each person in the family is supposed to create a Mii, that is a virtual you, a little video character that you can personalize to look like you.  It is cute.  When you develop your Mii character, the game asks you to enter your height and then asks you to step on the scale.  After the scale measures you, the computer gives you statistical data, a BMI and a weight, then proceeds to ADJUST the size over your Mii.  My little Mii character, went from normal looking to obese, and the little Mii looks around like, "What the heck just happened".  The computer tells me that I am on the line between overweight and obese.  WHAT?!?!?!  Obese????  I have NEVER considered myself fat.  I have never weighed more than 216 lbs.  Even when I was actively trying to gain weight.  Apparently, according to statistical data and height and weight charts, a 46 year old 6'0'' tall man that weighs 216 is obese.  This silly computer tells me that my optimal weight is 160-180 lbs.  I have not weighed 160 since my sophomore year in high school.  That is crazy.  Also motivation.

So, I started running.  I ran a couple of 5k's and I would run around the neighborhood from time to time, but I never really had a goal other than to keep up with Noble.

I noticed there was a half marathon in a couple of weeks that went right past my mom's house in Cocoa Beach.  I joked about signing up for it.  It was a joke because I had no time to train for such a race.  I had never run more 6 miles at once, so I would have to train, right?  Well, on a whim I found the web site and contacted the race manager (because the registration was closed).  I found out there were a few race entries that could be purchased the day before the race at the expo.  My mom went down there and signed me up, so I went ahead and drove over there to run the race.  Just to see if I could do it.  I was not expecting to run well.  I fully expected to walk part of it.  But as it turned out, I finished my first 13.1 miles in 1:49:45.  That is a 8:22 per mile pace.  Not too bad.  I was secretly hoping for 1:40:00.  I don't know why, but that just seemed like a good time.  I fell short of that, but I am not unhappy with the performance.  My mom rode her bike with me the entire way.  She had water and energy packs and food and a towel for me.  That was nice, and a huge support.

So, somewhere in there, when my brain was all foggy, I got this crazy idea to run more of these races.  I had not even finished my first one, but now I am concocting a crazy plan to run more of these?  What exactly was in those energy drinks anyway?

Over the next few days, I began to look at some races in different places and I came up with a goal.  I NEED a goal.  Without a goal I will be bored and fat and lazy and apparently obese.  So, now I have a goal... But how in the world do I convince my wife that this is a good idea?

50 in 50 in 50... What does that mean?

So many possible titles for a blog...

I'm Not A Runner
I'm Not A Blogger
Geez I Am Getting Old
               (Funny side note.  Apparently geez is not a word.  When I just typed Geez above, a red squiggly line appeared beneath Geez.  This, as I understand it, suggests, "Hey, dummy, you either don't know how to spell or how to type, likely both, but let me help you!  You need it!"  So, I clicked the word hoping to see that I misspelled Geeze, and the computer would correct it for me.  I had to LOL  when the suggestion listed after clicking the misspelling was geezer.  I thought that would also be appropriate to the theme of this blog).
~ And now we are back.

I Just Felt Like Running -- although this one is likely terribly overused at this point.
What Are You Doing?
What Are You Trying To Accomplish?
Who Are You Trying To Impress?
Have You Lost Your Mind?
What Is A BHAG?  (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal)

And the list could go on forev... well, for a bit longer. But, I won't bore you.  -- Not with that anyway.

For the record, I have settled on 50 in 50 in 50.



Skipping forward, but imagining that I will double back, likely more than once, here is what that means.

I am going to attempt to run 50 half marathons in 50 states in 50 months.  Notice that I said attempt.  So far I have run a grand total of... 1.  Yes, one.  In fact, before I ran this one, I had never run more than 6 miles at one time, whether I was being chased or not.

This is a picture of me suffering through mile 11 on Cocoa Beach at the I Dream of Jeannie Half, with my mom riding along for support.

You see, I am not a runner.  I do not believe that I was built for running.  I have certainly run plenty in my life time, but mostly short distances.  Playing football my entire life, there was never really any reason to run more than 100 yards at a time.  The end zone, after-all was never more than ~100 yards away.  So, the idea was to run as fast as you could for as long as you could up to ~100 yards.  In this scenario there were always multiple people chasing me, trying to knock me down and take something from me -- a football.  If I was lucky enough to run faster than the people chasing me, and able to hold on to the oblong pigskin, and have enough agility to maneuver around those chasing me, and have enough stamina to run ~100 yards or less, then I would score a touch down, which meant that I could stop running and celebrate.  If I was unsuccessful in all or any of the aforementioned areas, then I could stop running even sooner and at least rest before having to run again.  So, as you can see or read, as if you didn't already know, in football, one really only has to run for short periods, short bursts.

I believe that it takes a different body type and muscle development to run short distance than long distance.  I am not a doctor, or maybe I am, but this is not my specialty, so I will defer all of the medical science to those smarter than me.  I will simply say that I believe that some body types are better suited for certain activities than others.  This does not mean that one could not train and develop aspects of their bodies to help them to perform better in activities that they are not best suited for, I believe that is possible, but the point remains that their God-given, God-gifted body type is best suited for some activities over others.  I believe that my body type is better suited for shorter distances than distance running.

So, the point that I am making is that I do not believe that I am designed nor best suited to be a distance runner, but regardless, I have decided to attempt... attempt to run 50 half marathons in 50 states in 50 months.  When I thought of it -- while I was running -- I am pretty sure my judgement was clouded -- I thought it was a unique thing to do.  As it turns out, not unique at all.  There are lots of crazy people and clubs dedicated to doing this very thing.  Crazy loons are everywhere.  One guy I saw on the internet ran 50 FULL marathons in 50 states in 50 DAYS.  WHAT?!?!?????  I do not think I will be attempting anything like that any time soon.

In the posts to follow, I will try to document some of my thoughts, training, difficulties, and maybe even post some of the medals, bling.  Hope you enjoy.

~Jeff