My First Half Marathon

Late February I took my first painful steps to a healthier life, got my shoes on and went for a very slow mile, "ran" the first few feet thinking I would do one quick mile then go home , but my body decided to only go for about 30 seconds then came to a sudden stop.

I looked back towards my house wanting to go back, hacking and gasping for air I flailed my arms about and kept walking hoping that would make it look more like a scheduled stop in my warm up routine , after a few minutes I took off again , this time a lot slower and a lot more aware of all the extra me jiggling and bouncing with every step, 24 minutes later I was back home, humbled and ashamed I noted my time for that first mile and took a shower.

The next day I went out again and again but my knees were killing me after that first week, I was running on very flat sneakers , after some browsing online I found out about the barefoot movement , I live in dirty Downtown so barefoot is not really an option for me but saw an add for Vibram shoes and looked them up , I got a pair the next week and felt the difference almost immediately.

I walk barefoot in my house all the time, My wife is a strictly no shoes in the house type of girl and well, whatever she says goes ;) so no shoes  indoors for me for the past 5 years but turns out , it came pretty handy making the transition to the Vff's , I wore them for a whole mile the first time and never looked back, month later I ran a 5k on them then a few weeks later I went 4 miles,  last week I did a 10k and felt great so then yesterday I went out for a full 13.1 miles

of course I am aware of the  "only increase your distance 10% at a time... but .. anyway

I went the first 8 miles just amazed at the fact that I was doing it, around  the 9th mile, Pacific coast Hwy. looses the sidewalk and I was forced to go on a dirt trail and it felt pretty good I was almost all the way back to were the sidewalk starts again when I kicked up some dirt and picked up a small, tiny, tiny , tiny pebble, it was tiny but it went straight into my shoe and  I felt it poking and rubbing around the ball of my foot until it went between my toes, by then I knew there was going to be a blister coming out soon and by mile 10 there it was , right on time to give me a decent excuse to quit but I was almost to the end and I was doing a good time and I figured I was going to be in pain today either way so I kept going, I got up the steep incline to the beach path and a lady coming down yelled at me " keep it up, you almost there" delirious or just wanting to tell someone how far I've gone I yelled back " this is my 11th mile 2 more 2 more ! she opened her eyes wide open and yelled as she passed me " way to go , you got this !!".

Oh man , that gave me that extra boost i needed and made it all the way to my road marker, but i didnt want to go home and find out I only ran 12.something so I went an extra 10 minutes, then called my wife to come pick me up hehehe . 

when we got home I went on racekeeper and plotted my run , it came out to 13.48 , I am calling it a half a marathon and this will be my base  

13.1 miles  in 3 hours 

Halle Berry

HEY PHOTOGRAPHER DUDE !!!
YOU ARE POINTING IT THE WRONG WAY

Nat and I ran the 5k this saturday at the Revlon Run/Walk for Women .
We had a great time and finished it in a great time. 

I ran at slower pace for Nat since it was her first time but she did great I am so proud of my wife !!

I felt great and I think I am ready for the 10k next month and then another in July AND THEN a half marathon in August !!! I am so going to qualify for boston in December woooo hooooo !!!!!


Oh yeah I forgot We both  wore our Vibram fivefingers and got stopped a lot before and after the race,  everyone wanted to know about the shoes , We of course love running on those funny shoes

Love Mynat

A couple of days ago I put in a couple miles and felt great , second time or third time I completed my run without any walking breaks it was awesome and by far the greatest run ever!! .. but then this morning my wife joined me for a dash around the block just to break in her new Vff shoes and we did a slow paced jog with some walking and some stopping and half way thru i checked my watch and realized I didn't care about time or breathing or calories burned , it was just me and my babe side by side and that always makes everything ten times better .

My first medal

Got 2nd place! 

The Last mile caught me by surprise . I was surprised there was anything left in me.  I dug deep and finished strong , kept my head straight , put the biggest smile on my face for the finish line photogs 

"great form", " nice finish" , " good show", "hey what are those shoes?",. people are going to say when they see all those finish line photos but the picture I like the most is the one my wife took of me once I got my medal

By the way , I am making that my official lucky race shirt ;)

In my dreams I am Kenyan

Got my number yesterday, is about midnight right now . will try to update this as the night goes on. 

The race is at 8am

 I am sorta just looking to get it over with, I want to be on the other side of the finish line already , my only goal really is to be able to finish it in under one hour. there is no doubt in my mind that I will finish it.

30 minutes later..... kinda getting nervous..

maybe 5 weeks of "training" to go from no physical activity at all to a race is not enough, well, I do live in the 3rd floor and there is no elevator so I do get some exercise, just don't ask my wife or she will tell you about the time I waited all day for her to get home from work so she could stop across the street to get me a soda, but in my defense I was lazy before 

1 hour later.

maybe staying up all night wasn't such a good idea, My average total sleep for last 7 days was less than 4 hours a day split in 2 to 3 hrs in the morning followed by an hour nap before working all night .. oh one day I got like 5 hours all in a row , it was glorious! but they do say to not make any drastic changes and this has been my sleeping habits for the past decade so awake I stay half asleep I run!

hey shirt ideas!

-SLEEPwalker RUNNER 

-RUN LIKE A CRAZY PERSON

-"FUN RUN" 

-Y U NO RUN FASTER? on the back of my shirt .. granted I would have to get way better to pull it off

-WAIT FOR ME (probably more appropriate for my fitness level)

-I'M SLOW BUT STEADY

1 hour later

I'm thinking of making up some pre-race rituals, being this is my first race some of them might be counterproductive but hey, how would I know.. right?

¡¡¡¡¡IN-n-OUT pre-race burger !!!!!

LUCKY SOCKS!!!

Just kidding  This is what am running on  

I know they look funny but they are quite comfortable and my knees hurt a lot less after .

1hr later.

ooooh Am getting nervous .

I will not poop my pants .

I will not throw up.

I will keep my own pace

I will finish  and it will be an epic finish!

I gotta work on my playlist 

15 songs 58 minutes.