A Change of Pace

I am not a runner. I've never enjoyed pounding the pavement, or the strain it puts on my knock-knees. I'll gladly run bases on a ball field, but running for the sake of running? Not my favorite thing to do. I have run on occasion though. There was the time one of my college roommates convinced me to go run with him at the university track. There was a whole summer right after graduating college, where I ran about a mile every other day or so to get in shape for a month-long mission trip to Brazil. And then there was an event almost 4 years ago, down at Disney, called the Race for the Taste. In an attempt to spur interest in my then almost 10-yr old son in running as a physical activity, we trained for a couple of months to run a simple 3K fun run at Epcot. That was in 2009.

Today, I hit the track for the first time since that 3K race.

I am still not a runner. Back in late January, I realized to my chagrin that a change of pace was required. One random morning, I stood on the scale and discovered that I was as heavy as I had ever been in my life. Call it a mid-life revelation or whatever you want, but I realized that at my age, if I didn't start to get control of this thing, I never would. I don't know if it is really true that it is harder to get in shape and stay that way once you hit your 40s, but true or not, I resolved that something had to change. And in the back of my mind, I kept thinking about all the races my brother-in-law and sister-in-law have run, the bib numbers they wear, the pictures of runners, walkers and woggers at the finish line. But I had some work to do first before I could even think about running.

The first step was to get my eating habits under control. Taking a tip from my wife, I started tracking my food using MyFitnessPal.com. Counting calories in this fashion allowed me to see what I was eating, and to make better choices about what I ate. Like cutting way down on sodas. Giving up my twice-a-week Taco Bell habit. Going grilled instead of fried. And it seems to have worked so far, for the weight has come off. Since the beginning of February, I'm down 27 pounds. This is important, because getting this weight off makes the next phase of this current fitness kick a little easier. I also decided to take advantage of some modern technology, and got a Fitbit. The idea here was to simply track my steps. I started parking farther from the door at work or wherever I happened to be, just to burn that little bit more. The Fitbit tracks my steps and syncs to MyFitnessPal. Being confronted with the data daily has had a remarkable impact on my eating discipline. I go over my calorie goals every now and then, to be sure, but far less often than before I tracked it. And I feel better. In fact, I haven't had a serious migraine in 5 months. Hmm.

My strategy has been simple. Phase 1 - change my eating habits and get some weight off in preparation for Phase 2. Phase 2 - get in shape. Just because I weigh less doesn't mean I'm in shape. Phase 2 will involve moderate weight training (Bowflex dumbells and a bench), and yes, running. The stamina has to come from somewhere, and because I have a desk job, I need something active that keeps me in motion. I could buy a bike, I suppose, and maybe someday I will. For now, running seems the most straightforward option. Getting in shape is the goal, moreso than arriving at any particular weight. I can live with being above my so-called ideal weight if I am "in shape." But I need a marker, something to shoot for, if I'm going to be successful in Phase 2.

I'm not a runner, but that fact notwithstanding, my goal is to be well prepared to do a 5K race by early fall. To help myself train, I bought a Garmin Forerunner 10, a GPS watch that tracks my run and allows me to see the results online. To make it more fun, the Garmin also syncs to my Fitbit account and thus to MyFitnessPal. I'm hoping that being able to easily capture and see the data will help in my discipline the same way counting calories has.

So this morning, I hit the track. My objective: two miles using a run/walk approach at 1 minute intervals. It was early, about 64 degrees and a bit muggy, and I had the track to myself for most of the run. I managed 2.09 miles in 28 minutes, using the run/walk method. This was bookended by additional .25 mile warm-up and cool down laps (walking).

When I got home, I uploaded the data from the Garmin got some really interesting data.

This is actually pretty neat stuff. And what's better, I actually feel okay, post-run. I had a protein bar prior to the run, and a small bottle of Gatorade G2 to replenish electrolytes after the run.

I'm not entirely sure when the next run will be. But I imagine it will need to be soon. In the meantime, I'll be happy with today's effort. But I still attest that I am not a runner. At least, not yet.