Training day 5 towards the Rock -n- Roll marathon. I continue to follow the prescribed plan of West Coast Roadrunner Marine Corps training group, sub 10min/mi. By the numbers the run was good avg pace 10:08, avg Heart rate 169, total run time 35:18 and 3.48 mi. That is only half the story.

As I mentioned before, my right calf has been causing me pain. I believed it to be a mild case of shin splints but, now I believe I strained my right Soleus. About half way into the run the pain became localized and sharp. I stopped to stretch for a minute then stopped and started my run for another .25 miles before I felt like giving up. Then I remenbered my training from Chi Running and focused on my form. Placing my feet with focus each time. Relaxing my entire body to allow gravity to help body move forward. As I ran the muscle relaxed and I completed the run without pain. I’ll be focusing on form for the next few runs. Keeping exertion down to a minimum.

Read the book. It will change the way you run too.

Training day 2 and muscle memory is starting to kick in. I felt much better on tonight’s run. The West Coast Roarrunners – Marine Corps pace group -  goal for today is 35 min of running.  I did 37:46 with enegry to spare. The run was good and on pace at 9:38/mi for a total distance of 3.92 mi. My heart rate was even better tonight then last night at avg 172 bpm. It started to sprinkle towards the end of the run which really felt great.

Today we received a counter offer of on the home in the Mission Hills neighborhood of San Diego. I decided that I would run by the property that may be our home very soon.The most important part of the run was the thinking time.

I have tried to be a morning runner and struggled every time the alarm goes off.  The problems of the day provide fuel for my runs which makes the end of the day perfect for me to run.

The day is full of internal and external disctactions that make it hard to make time to focus on specific problems. First, I am one of those people who always has a song in my head. ALWAYS. From the moment I wake up till the moment I sleep. In addition, my head is filled with thoughts zooming in all directions about everything. EVERYTHING!  The notes from my body just won’t stop, “I’m hungry” or “gotta pee”. SHUT UP SOMETIMES.   There is never a quiet moment internally.  I find solace and peace while running.

It’s very simple. I put in the iPod so I don’t have to create my own music or think about music.  Music is just there, no effort required. My body gets specific marching orders. RUN. That is all. Yes body, you are going to feel a little pain but I don’t want to hear anything about it unless something is broken, BADLY broken. Instinct, your orders are to watch out for cars, dogs or anything that could break the body. Stay on gaurd but, I only want to hear about trouble if your are sure. DAMN SURE!

With all the lower functions zeroed in and focused on specific tasks my higher brain gets a chance to focus on the problems of the day. This is the best time for me to problem solve.  One hour of uninterrupted problem solving is a pure pleasure.  Today I created action plans for three major problems relating to the home purchase.  We shall see how they play out.

I ran my scheduled training run for the day in spite of not sleeping more then 5 hours last night. With the house hunt in full swing, waiting on the response from our preferred offer sleep has been hard to come by.

The West Coast Roadrunners training program called for a 30 min run today on a sub 10min/mi pace. I pushed it and did my 30 min at a 9:32 pace for a total of 3.15 mi with no walking break.

Following a short walking break ( 1.5 min) I finished the run home at a 10:00 pace for an additional 0.6 mi.

My body feels a little beat today. My right calf has some pain, kinda sharp at foot fall which is new.  After th 2nd mile the pain stopped. My calf is a little tender now but no major pain.

Rock -n- Roll Marathon here we come.

Please sleep come soon.

In March 2008 I began to run regularly, for fun, for the first time in my life. It started because I live 1/2 mile from Balboa Park in San Diego and running though the park sounded like a great idea. It was. For the first month I couldn’t run a whole mile without taking a walking break but, the experience thrilled me to the core.

Soon after starting at MindTouch in April 2008 I started running with  a Damien, a co-worker and began training for my first 10K. The Mission Driven Eco Run trail race. I got my ass handed to me! My time was 1:25:19. We had been training on the road in flat land downtown San Diego, not quite the same as a trail run.

I continued to run throughout 2008 and ran five races. Two 10K, Two 5K and the Silver Strand half marathon. In the Silver Strand I finished in 2:19. In 6th place in my division, the Clydesdale Division for men over 200lbs. Love the division name! It makes me feel special!

As happens with almost everybody; December killed my regular run and my body has paid the price. I ate like a glutton in December and ran 2-3 mi once a week. Not my regular 3-4 days a week of running and not nearly enough to stay in good shape. My waist is a solid 36, up from a 34, and I am tipping the scales at the generous 218, which is 15 lbs over last years “good weight”.

Last week a collegue at MindTouch, Aaron Roe Fulkerson,  aka roebot,  joined the West Coast Roadrunners. This week I joined joined too with the stated goal of running the San Diego Rock-n-Roll marathon in June this year.  Today was qualifying day to see what training group will be running with for the coming months.

I ran the 3mi route in 28:36 a 9:25 pace. That qualifies me for the Marine Core training group pace of 9-10 min/mi. I even overhead volunteers at mi 2.5 say under her breath, “He is looks good and that is a great pace”. What she did not say but, was implied “for a chubby guy.” I will be running with the group every Saturday and training with roebot during the week.

This is it. I am starting the journey to running my first full marathon. Stay tuned for updates and my training log.