With school behind me I knew I wanted to try harder to get back in shape. My friend in the program Marcus Skeem convinced me to sign up for a half marathon race he was planning on running. Well, given that I hadn't run a mile, much less 13.1, I was hesitant but in the end I did sign up. I even tried pretty hard to train.
I had just started to train when my neighbor Kirt Melling invited me to join him in Burley Idaho for the Spudman Triathlon to compete as his runner. So, thinking he would swim and bike I agreed. Turns out he wasn't planning on swimming either...so in the end I did the mile swim (thank goodness it was in a river with a current) and the 10k run for our Spudman team of two. Our goal was to beat 3 hours and we totally killed that with a time of 2 hours and 40 minutes. My times weren't great, but I felt I did just fine for a guy who doesn't swim and who hadn't tried running in over 3 years.
The Spudman was just the motivation I needed and my training went much better after that for my race (the hobblecreek half marathon). Of course, the morning of August 25th when my alarm went off at 5 am I really felt like bagging the whole idea. I didn't though and fought through the cold morning air.
The race was very crowded and was not a timing chip race. I was a little disappointed because it seemed to take forever just to get to the starting line. Once I got going I did prett
y well (fortunately a lot of the race is downhill). I was feeling great until about mile marker 12 and then I could barely move at all. Fortunately, before long there was Jamie, Tyler and little Marcus cheering me on. What an adrenaline boost. I nearly cried, but also found new legs and was able to get to the finish on a good stride.
y well (fortunately a lot of the race is downhill). I was feeling great until about mile marker 12 and then I could barely move at all. Fortunately, before long there was Jamie, Tyler and little Marcus cheering me on. What an adrenaline boost. I nearly cried, but also found new legs and was able to get to the finish on a good stride.After I crossed the finish line I saw a young lady handing out medals to everyone. I was pretty excited because I realized that I must have made the top 100. They only give medals to the top 100. Of course, as I stepped up to her she just turned around and left. That night when the official results were posted sure enough I was Mr. 101. Jamie thinks that makes a great nickname.
It feels weird to blog about your own events. I'm much better blogging about Jamie or Tyler or Marcus. However, my time was one I was happy with: 1:36 almost even. It comes out to about a 7:20 pace per mile average.
Okay, the best part of all of this is that between Jamie's triathlon in May and my race in August, Tyler is always talking about wanting to be in a race. Then Jamie started the Family Fitness Challenge and he has seen us exercising more (well Jamie more, me at all) and has really become quite the little exercise fan. We love it. (See video which is mostly because Tyler was so jealous that Marcus had a "computer video" and Tyler didn't).
3 comments:
Once again thanks for my morning treat of seeing my grandsons (of course I watched both video's multiple times). It was nice to read about your successes and I am sorry you weren't #100. Take care and thanks for the everything. Love Renae
Wow, my little brother is turning into quite the Ironman. Glad to see you are staying in shape, that's an area I need to improve in.
I'm a LONG ways from being an Ironman, I'm just trying to get away from being a GUMBY (soft-plastic stickman).
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