I actually hated running. Probably down deep, still do. Obsessed now after over 25 years. But in my mid-20’s weighing in at 225 lbs with a 42” waist and with health issues beginning to develop, I had to do something.
So I pulled out a pair of beat up sneakers. Found an old pair of sweat pants…wasn’t hard, that was my usual at-home look. Paired that with a hooded sweater over multiple t-shirts. Wasn’t cold, but with the hood up I didn’t want to be recognized as I plodded through the neighbourhood. At night.
With all the naïve optimism I could muster, I kissed the kids goodnight and headed out for my very first ‘long’ run.
Started well enough down the driveway. And thankfully the route I chose for that first run was downhill. This was not going to be so bad after all.
Until I ran out of breath. About 100 yards into my ‘long run’. Had to stop. Bent over. Gasping for breath. Dam!
Walked for a while. Breathing back to normal. Started running again. Shuffling actually. I was not going to be beaten.
Didn’t make it another 100 yards. Lungs about to explode out of my chest. Stopped again. Desperately wanted to sit down this time.
“This is a DUMB idea”.
Only kept going because if I quit then and returned home, it was going to be tough to explain this 5 minute ‘long run’.
With a combination of shuffling and walking I actually made it around my planned circle route back to the house. Sprinted…OK, shuffled faster…up the hill back to the house. Yes the one that I had so confidently headed down on the start of my first run.
Went straight to the basement to change out of the completely soaked sweats. In pain. Second day pain much worse. Didn’t go out again for a week.
Stuck with it though. Stop and start, days on, weeks off. Finally stuck when I went clothes shopping and realized I had dropped to a 38” waist. It was working!
After that it was 5 days on, 2 off.
And then the need to compete hit…
Friday, November 28, 2008
Running to stay alive
Not actually the same as Forest Gump running around the continent. I run in smaller circles.
Began running in my late 20’s. Started after I saw the scales hit 225 lbs.
Dam, I was fat!
42” waist on a 5’ 10” frame. Yuck. Did not like the self-image one bit. Knew I had to do something to ‘fix’ this. Decided on running.
That’s the quick background. I plan to share my running stories on this blog. Runs in cities, towns and country trails across the US and Canada and around the world. 10k’s: personal best achieved at age 32. My marathon: never actually finished it. Ultimately Triathlons: the best experience.
Lost the weight. Kept it off. Significantly slowed the onset of health issues.
Perhaps most importantly, learned more about myself, and how to cope with the challenges in life. Got me through the tough times.
I hope you enjoy them and share back.
Began running in my late 20’s. Started after I saw the scales hit 225 lbs.
Dam, I was fat!
42” waist on a 5’ 10” frame. Yuck. Did not like the self-image one bit. Knew I had to do something to ‘fix’ this. Decided on running.
That’s the quick background. I plan to share my running stories on this blog. Runs in cities, towns and country trails across the US and Canada and around the world. 10k’s: personal best achieved at age 32. My marathon: never actually finished it. Ultimately Triathlons: the best experience.
Lost the weight. Kept it off. Significantly slowed the onset of health issues.
Perhaps most importantly, learned more about myself, and how to cope with the challenges in life. Got me through the tough times.
I hope you enjoy them and share back.
The Gremlin
Can’t remember what year it was. Or the colour. Looking back, it doesn’t matter. It belonged to a good friend and it gave us freedom.
It was not stock!
First the exterior. Beginning at the rear. A lifter kit plus heavy-duty shocks raised the rear about 6 inches. Large oversize tires on aluminum rims were installed to give it that ‘jacked up’ look that was the rage at that time. At the front, smaller tires on similar rims replaced the stock tire/wheel combination.
The hood. Gigantic hole cut through the hood to allow for a ‘shaker scoop’. Big scoop. Blocked some forward visibility.
Side pipes. I know, I know. We disconnected the standard exhaust system from the manifold back. Installed headers and a ‘Y’ splitter to divert the exhaust to humongous side pipes below each door. Careful exiting. We never could get them sealed properly so the noise was tremendous.
The interior. Fur on the dash! It was the rage at that time. Seat covers in a similar shaggy material over the split bench seat. New shifter for the 3-speed manual transmission. No fuzzy dice…that would have been overkill.
Sound system. New aftermarket AM/FM cassette player jimmied into the dash in the hole where the factory system had been. Big speakers mounted in the rear.
The driving experience. Once inside and buckled in…and after you got over the serious downward slant of the seating position combined with the reduced forward visibility…driving the thing was actually relatively pleasant.
In a straight line.
With virtually no weight over the rear combined with the big tires, lighting them up from a stop was easy. Once hooked up, second gear came up quickly. No tach so engine sound the only guide to shifting. But you only had to do it twice.
It was not good in the twisties.
Tail happy. Never a problem to get it to step out around city streets at legal speeds. Basically you just needed to head into a corner, brake early, shift down and trounce on the gas pedal half way through the corner. The combination of tire and engine noise through a relatively easy-to-control slide was worth the price of admission.
We were young and foolish once…
It was not stock!
First the exterior. Beginning at the rear. A lifter kit plus heavy-duty shocks raised the rear about 6 inches. Large oversize tires on aluminum rims were installed to give it that ‘jacked up’ look that was the rage at that time. At the front, smaller tires on similar rims replaced the stock tire/wheel combination.
The hood. Gigantic hole cut through the hood to allow for a ‘shaker scoop’. Big scoop. Blocked some forward visibility.
Side pipes. I know, I know. We disconnected the standard exhaust system from the manifold back. Installed headers and a ‘Y’ splitter to divert the exhaust to humongous side pipes below each door. Careful exiting. We never could get them sealed properly so the noise was tremendous.
The interior. Fur on the dash! It was the rage at that time. Seat covers in a similar shaggy material over the split bench seat. New shifter for the 3-speed manual transmission. No fuzzy dice…that would have been overkill.
Sound system. New aftermarket AM/FM cassette player jimmied into the dash in the hole where the factory system had been. Big speakers mounted in the rear.
The driving experience. Once inside and buckled in…and after you got over the serious downward slant of the seating position combined with the reduced forward visibility…driving the thing was actually relatively pleasant.
In a straight line.
With virtually no weight over the rear combined with the big tires, lighting them up from a stop was easy. Once hooked up, second gear came up quickly. No tach so engine sound the only guide to shifting. But you only had to do it twice.
It was not good in the twisties.
Tail happy. Never a problem to get it to step out around city streets at legal speeds. Basically you just needed to head into a corner, brake early, shift down and trounce on the gas pedal half way through the corner. The combination of tire and engine noise through a relatively easy-to-control slide was worth the price of admission.
We were young and foolish once…
'All New' Mangled Sayings
With thanks to the person who sent these to me, below are some excellent sayings that you can add to your vocabulary immediately. Have fun!
BLAMESTORMING.
Sitting round in a group, discussing why a deadline was missed or a project failed, and who was responsible.
SEAGULL MANAGER.
A manager who flies in, makes a lot of noise, craps on everything, and then leaves.
SALMON DAY.
The experience of spending an entire day swimming upstream only to get screwed and die.
CUBE FARM.
An office filled with cubicles.
PRAIRIE DOGGING.
When someone yells or drops something loudly in a cube farm, and people's heads pop up over the walls to see what's going on.
SITCOMs.
Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage. What yuppies turn into when they have children and one of them stops working to stay home with the kids or start a "home business".
SINBAD.
Single income, no boyfriend and desperate.
PERCUSSIVE MAINTENANCE.
The fine art of whacking the crap out of an electronic device to get itto work again.
ADMINISPHERE.
The rarefied organisational layers beginning just above the rank and file. Decisions that fall from the "adminisphere" are often profoundly inappropriate or irrelevant to the problems they were designed to solve. This is often affiliated with the dreaded "administrivia" - needless paperwork and processes.
404.
Someone who's clueless. From the World Wide Web error message "404 Not Found" meaning that the requested document could not be located.
BLAMESTORMING.
Sitting round in a group, discussing why a deadline was missed or a project failed, and who was responsible.
SEAGULL MANAGER.
A manager who flies in, makes a lot of noise, craps on everything, and then leaves.
SALMON DAY.
The experience of spending an entire day swimming upstream only to get screwed and die.
CUBE FARM.
An office filled with cubicles.
PRAIRIE DOGGING.
When someone yells or drops something loudly in a cube farm, and people's heads pop up over the walls to see what's going on.
SITCOMs.
Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage. What yuppies turn into when they have children and one of them stops working to stay home with the kids or start a "home business".
SINBAD.
Single income, no boyfriend and desperate.
PERCUSSIVE MAINTENANCE.
The fine art of whacking the crap out of an electronic device to get itto work again.
ADMINISPHERE.
The rarefied organisational layers beginning just above the rank and file. Decisions that fall from the "adminisphere" are often profoundly inappropriate or irrelevant to the problems they were designed to solve. This is often affiliated with the dreaded "administrivia" - needless paperwork and processes.
404.
Someone who's clueless. From the World Wide Web error message "404 Not Found" meaning that the requested document could not be located.
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