Silicon Valley Run

March 24-25 my wife and I were tasked with doing a 12 mile run. It was supposed to be the final weekend before our 1st half marathon, The Running of the Elk, on April 1st. We were missing our running group's scheduled long run, due to our daughters dance convention in Santa Clara, Ca. We were still committed. We searched the Internet for different routes, but none were 12miles long. We decided to map our own run. Running outside your normal community and in unfamiliar places was uncomfortable especially when traveling to the "Tech Capital" of the world. The perception was that it would be all industrial and heavy traffic. We were wrong. We found San Thomas Aquino trail and the Bay trail. Right in the heart of Silicon Valley was this wonderful trail. Unfortunately, my wife was still hurting from the previous week's 11 mile run. So we ended up walking 6 miles and saving it for the race this weekend. Next time, we will be prepared to run this beautiful trail.

Tempo Run... Check!

Week 8 of 12 for Half Marathon

So today was the weekly tempo run for 55min.  Coach Orsi set a goal for 50min running (14/22/14) 14 min easy running, 22 minutes increasing the pace and then 14 min easy running again.  I made it...and glad to get the run done.  During the run I had soreness in my left hamstring and right calf.  Not sure if it was due to my form but my coach said to listen to the body and not overdo the workout.   My last mile 13:55 was the slowest but was trying not to get hurt.   Not bad for a guy that has not run for over 15 years for this amount of time.  Now off to go play with my new best friend....... a foam roller.   I have to work out the tense muscles in both legs.
 

Running? Really?

So back in 2011, my wife, who had never ran in any running race, decided to run with some of the teachers at our elementary school.  One of the teachers decided to share his joy of running with other teachers and parents. I wanted to join them but it seemed that life : work and other priorities were more important.  My wife entered a 10k race in July 2011 and finished.   I regretted not joining them and promised myself that I too would get back in shape.   During this same time, AT&T had encouraged their employees to begin living a healthy lifestyle because "yourHealth matters".   I decided to commit to working out 30 min a week.   Yes,  just 30 min a week.  I wanted to take it easy ..ya know?    But you guessed it.....  I never got around to it. 

Fast forward to 2012....  My wife said that they were going to train for a half-marathon.  uh .. that's like 13.2 miles right?   "Can't I just run a 10k like everyone else?" was a question I asked my wife.   She assured me that we could do it so I started.  Before I started running I weighed approx 275 and could not even run for 400 yds without losing my breath.  I decided to make the commitment and try to document my progress in this first post.

You can read about my coach on his blog Story of a Barefoot Runner.  My coach has been patient and has encouraged me along the way.  When we run I am usually in the back, but I have found the joy of running.  There is a joy of being able to run without any pressure to compete.  The battle is within my own mind to continue and push forward. 

So..... 8 weeks into training ...  I have lost 20 pounds and was able to run 6.6 miles this past Sunday with my wife.  What?  What a trip?  Running .....  Really?   Here's to the rest of my training and the remaining 6 weeks until our race on April 1st at Running of the Elk Half Marathon .   During my training, I have worn Brooks shoes after getting fitted at Fleet Feet in Sacramento.  I have eaten less and since our training is going to start tracking miles, I ended up getting a Soleus GPS 1.0 watch.  You can read a couple reviews here.  Soleus 1.0 Review or DC Rainmaker Review.  Wish me luck and I post more as time permits.