Go Pack Go!

So since I'm addicted, and I need to get my fix when I can, I decided to run today during the only time I had.  After taking a half a day off today to get ready to take My Pal to the Packers v Chiefs preseason game this evening (Go Pack Go!), I came home, hopped back in my Brooks and hit the melting blacktop. 

Like a Ethiopian being chased by a lion across the African savanna, I took off for a run shortly after lunch.  98 degrees and sunny, with 50% humidity has got to be seriously similar to the plains of Africa right??  Well for sake of a better story we're gonna go with that logic.  Remember my blog from a few days ago?  The "Lead Boot of Humidity"?  I think today's blog could've been titled "The Energy Crushing Lava Filled Heavy Lead Boot of Humidity".  Crap it was hot!  Might not have been my best move...but I ran.

During today's run I also discovered a little bit of scientific truth.  Apparently scientists are mistaken about what powers the sun.  Truth be told, it runs on extracted human energy that it gathers through its rays!  That has to be why my ambition and running energy dwindled at such a fast pace!  Like Optimus Prime battling Megatron during the forest battle scene in Revenge of the Fallen, my spark was destroyed.  Unlike OP, who required Sam to find an ancient Cybertron wrench, all I needed was a cool shower and a sandwich.

2.21 miles, 24:12

Later

Eddie Vedder and Active Directory

So when a WG goes out to run he needs to have some tunes.  Otherwise the sounds that he makes may cause him to go back home...

Thank God for Pandora and great cell coverage in our little town.  I've tried a couple of other stations but I keep coming back to the grunge channels.  Apparently nothing keeps me running at a good pace like a little flannel and ratty jeans.  Maybe it reminds me of my younger days and a healthier man (or a better man, little Pearl Jam reference there).

Now for me, running is very helpful to clear the mind as well as focusing on certain things.  Take for instance last night's subject of contemplation.  I need to research a way to extract a list of active domain users from a client's domain server in order to allow the client to perform an audit in preparation for an Office 365 implementation... :)

Yeah thats how I talk during the day too.

Anyway,
If you run/workout/do anything athletic for fun, what's your favorite jam?

4.3 miles, 47:55

Later

I feel the need...

...the need for speed!

C'mon, you know you finished that line!

Well Monday night was not anything like Sunday.  Late night means late start.  Went for quick run, bout died.

1.31 miles, 13:06, 9:35 first mile.

Later

The Heavy Lead Boot of Humidity

Whether playing football, baseball, softball, golf, basketball, or just running during the warm August days of Kansas, you've experienced the wonderful lung-squeezing effects of humidity.  Combine that with temps in the high 80's even after the sun goes down, it makes doing anything remotely physical difficult.  Now I cant complain too much, this has been a beautiful summer this year and extremely easy to run in.  But wow, running at 40% lung capacity is a bit difficult.

So instead of starting out strong I decided to start easy and pace myself, going for distance and time rather than speed.  Thats when the music interrupting voice of my RunKeeper app comes in handy.  She keeps me on pace throughout my run.  I've used the Running Tracker app but found that I like the RunKeeper better.  Seems to use the GPS more effectively.  So what does that mean?  It means WG got his groove back!  ...uhh what I meant is that I found my "zone" tonight.  When you run and can pace yourself right, you can find that "zone".  It feels like you could run for a long time at that pace...or until the hill over on Sunset humbles you.  Here's a scientific way of explaining it  The last few runs I've been a little "ambitious".  My pace has been a bit faster than I normally run.

Now back to the humidity problem.  Before I started running, I didnt know what an electrical hazard that running in a high humidity could be!  So as you might think, one usually sweats while exerting energy during a physical activity, such as running.  And if one is compared to a large animal...say a gorilla (wheezing or not), then that person is more likely to sweat more profusely.  So add higher humidity to that equation and it equals a sweaty hot mess!  Now sweat doesnt just come from one spot on the human body, it can leak from EVERYWHERE!  Including your head...which runs down your ears....into your ear canals...and eventually into your earbuds, causing them to short out and die!  Dont believe me?  I've lost two pair in that manner.  (One was My Woman's...shhh dont tell her)  I just hope this current pair dont wind up in the headphone graveyard.

My Woman got me these Ironman Yurbud Focus model earbuds.  I never have to mess with them while running!  They are by far the best ones I've ever used.  You can read more about them here.

I may blog about earbuds later, if nothing else, just to bag on the crappy earbuds that come with iPhones and iPods.

Other than that Nothing too exciting this evening.  3 cats, 1 rabbit, 0 skunks (most importantly).

4.26 miles, 48:50
Later

NOT a morning person.

I Never have been, never will be.

So after a night off, I jumped right back in my Brooks and hit the pavement this morning!

...Ok, let's be honest, if My Baby Girl didn't have cross country practice at 8am, I'd probably still be in bed!  But I figured if she has to do it, then I can use that time to my advantage.  (good Lord I sound like my dad there). 

I usually don't run on Friday.  It's usually spent either with family or at home with the kids watching a movie and eating pizza.  Last night was the latter.  The problem was that not that there was pizza and a little popcorn, but there's this new beer I found yesterday that turned out to be pretty darn good!  So add a couple of those to my evening (2 to be exact) and the morning run becomes a physical mountain, not just a challenge! 

Now since MBG had practice in the same town as our high school, I didn't have the luxury of running in the comfort of little town's familiar streets. I dropped her off for practice and drive to the neighboring town to the north across the river.  I had to run a few errands anyway so I though i would just kill a little time before I ran.  (practice was from 8-10am). 

Well I finished my errands and thought it would be a good idea to just run in the town I was in.  They have an amazing sports complex with ballparks, football and soccer fields, and even tennis courts.  They also have this really nice concrete path all the way around it.  I've never run there but I've talked to people who have and love it. 

So since it wasn't even 9am yet, I thought I would be smart and walk one lap (about .75 of a mile) to warm up.  Now mind you, on a normal day I will have functioned for nearly 15hours before running, so my athletic juices are nowhere near the levels I need them to be for running!  First mile was great!  Sub 10 minutes.  To bad though it ruined the next 2 miles! 

I guess the important thing is I ran.  What scares the crap out of me is that they don't run many 5k's at 9 at night.

3.4 miles, 37:02

Later

Wet T-shirt Contest and Cow Manure

I guess it could happen in other places but I'm never surprised by the number of different things I see or smell as I run in our little town.  Tonight was no exception.

In recent weeks I've seen skunks, frogs, giant bugs crossing the road, bats (usually nightly, they keep the bugs down), and even traffic stops.  Tonight I was blessed to run about a mile of my route in the overwhelming aroma of cow manure. 

I can hear the farm boys laughing at my disgust.  I may have grown up in the suburbs but I have plenty of country boy in me.  I don't however enjoy what my steak smells like while it's still up mooing and grazing.  I enjoy even less what my bacon smells like prior to the smokehouse.  I understand it's a dirty business, it's just not my business.  Just keep putting it in the pretty cellophane wrapped packages in the grocery store and I'll keep grilling it to perfection.

Now the other thing witnessed during this evening's run was a single contestant wet t-shirt contest!  Sounds exciting doesn't it?! ...well...it wasn't.  My woman, who is constantly supporting me and buying me running gear to feed my habit, bought me yet another running shirt.  It's a really nice Nike brand dry-fit running shirt, something I would never buy myself.  It fits a little more snugly than my other running shirts but apparently that's the way they're supposed to.  Well it did not occur to me what it might look like when this wheezing gorilla becomes a sweaty wheezing gorilla running in a thin WHITE pretty much see-through running shirt!!  I want to apologize to our friend and neighbor who happened to drive right toward me on her way home when her high beams cast a spotlight on all this (waving my hands in a circular motion around my chest and stomach).  No one needs subjected to that. 

As far as my actual run?  Not bad but not as good as I've been doing.  Some nights are better than others.  Would've been better had I not stopped to try and take a pic of the moon tonight.  Still trying to figure out which 5k to run before 40.  Only have a few weeks left.  Doesn't help that My Pal (what I call my son) starts football in a few weeks on Saturdays in the morning.  The same time that many 5k's are run. 

3.15 miles, 34:06

Later

What is a Wheezing Gorilla?

So after reading the title of this first post you might be asking yourself that very question.  Well to put it simply, I'm a 39 yr old fat man who decided it would be a good idea to take up running.  And the only way I can describe what I must look like when I run is that of a wheezing gorilla! 

See, I'm not the most slender of individuals and I have to turn my running music up loud enough so that I can't hear my own breathing!  So to poke a little fun at myself and that's the name I came up with. 

This blog is not meant to impress you with my creative abilities or humor (although that will happen quite often), but rather a place I can write about my attempt to become a world class distance runner!  Or at least good enough to run in a local 5k.   I'm hopeful that it will become a place where I can provide others with some inspiration, perspiration, humor, and encouragement.  It won't be for everyone, it may just wind up being for me!

With that said let me give you some history...

This is not my first attempt at running, it's actually my fourth.  See I've tried this running thing twice before in the last 2 years and once about 5 years ago. 

The first time I started I had to quit because the treadmill that I had been running on sounded like it was going to come through the second floor of our 100 yr old 2 story house.  Wheezing Gorilla was more like Earthquake Causing Gorilla back then. 

Then when my wife, who I call My Woman, and I (yes I call her my woman, I'm a gorilla what do you expect??) moved or little family to a new home in a small town I decided that running in the great outdoors was the way to go!  And there for a while, I did alright.  Wheezing Gorilla version 1.0 was born.  Well it doesn't take long before life makes you too busy and it becomes easy to say "I'll do it tomorrow".  This of course is code for "I'm not disciplined, I'm just lazy".  It's the reason so many exercise resolutions wind up dying.  So life got too busy and I quit.

The second go round of Wheezing Gorilla started last summer when I thought it would be a great idea to start running right at the end of the hottest summer in recent history!  IKR?  (That's "I know, right?" in teen texting language for all you who don't understand the way kids text these days!)  So again, I felt I was doing good, think I was even up over 2 miles average after a month or so.  Then just like an Axel Rose solo, the cold November rain came and told my lungs "Hey!  You can't run in the cold air!"  Unfortunately my lungs agreed.  Wheezing Gorilla 2.0 took to the couch in a cloud of despair and banana peels.

So that brings us to This year's model of the Wheezing Gorilla!  Starting in spring of this year, I decided that my decline into the slug-life had to stop.  Pants were a little tighter than I remembered.  I would get winded watching football and have to take a nap!  My woman accused me of snoring more (or so she says, I didn't hear anything!)  So I laced up the old New Balance and hit the pavement!  Wheezing Gorilla 3.0 had arrived!

This time around I have set new records.  I've increased my longest run to 5.15 miles in 1 hour.  I've been averaging around 3 miles recently.  And I'm also planning to run my first 5k before that magic age of 40!

My Woman has really been one of my biggest fans in this most recent attempt.  To her defense she's been a bit busy with a full time class schedule these past few years.  But she has bought me new running shirts, phone arm band, light band (I run mainly at night) and a new pair of Brooks running shoes (there will be a separate post dedicated to my Brooks).  I guess with all this gear I owe it to her to stick with it.

I also need to thank my Aunt Sonya.  Aunt Sonya has been a running inspiration to me.  10 years my senior, she has been a consistent runner for quite a few years now.  She has run everything from a 5k to a half marathon!  And before she turns 50 she's planning to run a full!  As My Baby Girl (my daughter) said when I told her what Aunt Sonya wanted to do "That woman cray cray".  Love my Aunt Sonya

I really wished I would have started this blog before now.  But like they say, there's no time like the present.  I'm hoping that this blog will help me be accountable to a consistent running lifestyle.  I'll pretty it up in time, but more importantly I'll add posts of my running experiences.

Later