Mark it done!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm happy to announce I've met a personal goal of mine. Today I completed the SunTrust National Half Marathon in Washington DC.

I'll go into more detail about the race when I'm not about to fall asleep, but I will tell you that I did not meet my secondary goal of running the half marathon in less than 2 hours. That is because I ran it in EXACTLY 2 hours, down to the tenth of the second. You can see the results here which show me (search for Brian Payne) coming in 2062nd place out of 4150. So exactly 2 hours was my time with an overall average pace of 9:10 per mile. The second half of the race I was faster than the first which is kinda interesting...

Anyhow, I'm very happy with the results and I also know next time I'll post an even better number. But for now I'm beat, have sore knees, and need to go to bed so I'll fill you in on the details later.

-Brian

Half Marathon getting close...

I'm at the end of week 9 of my 10 week long half marathon training. The is down in DC next Saturday the 21st of March. I'm excited about it. I'm excited because I'm looking forward to seeing if I can get under the 2 hour mark. I'm also excited because I really miss riding my bike. That's something I really haven't been able to do much, partly because of the weather but mostly because of my training. I plan to start to ride to work again the week after the run.

I found out that you can't wear headphones during the Half, which kinda sucks. That's actually the main thing I'm worried about as music really helps me not focus so much on the run and pass the time.

I have one more longer training run of 8 miles this Saturday and I plan to not wear headphones just to see how it goes. I want to mimic what it will be like the day of the race as best I can.

So yeah, back to riding my bike after the run, although I did sign up for a 10 mile Broad Street run the first week of May. That will be nice to keep me in decent running shape until then.

I like to keep myself busy and keep setting clear goals that are exercise oriented. I've found that as long as I have something to focus on that I'm interested in I'm good. It's when I'm floating around in no-mans-land, just randomly trying to stay in shape where I look back and realize I had not worked out for 2 weeks. I don't know how some people just fit in workouts when they can randomly. That would never work for me. I do know that everyone is different and you have to work with your schedule...

Lastly , about my last post; I do realize I came across a bit harsh and probably a bit like a dick, and I am sorry I seem to have offended some people, but I still stand by what I said. I only say it because I know I spent YEARS blaming my "self issues" on outside things. It wasn't until I took accountability for them that I could take control. In the end I just want everyone to know that my intentions in that post were good regardless of how they may have come across. I hate to see people fail and find themselves unhappy with themselves, especially when they know what they're capable of. I also understand everyone has their issues and there is no one formula for everyone.
Sometimes people just need a kick in the ass though. Call me insensitive or short sighted if you must.

OK, that's it, I'm blabbering. I hope everyone is well, doing what makes you happy. That is all.

Later

LIFESTYLE CHANGE, REMEMBER THAT?

I'm annoyed.

Why am I annoyed? Because I'm tired of reading about people in the same boat as me fail.

How many people lose lots of weight, then gain it all or a lot of it back?

How many people stop setting goals for themselves?

How many people stop keeping a constant monitor on their weight to keep it in acceptable range?


Lots.

Maybe most.

WHY?

What is one of the main things we always talk about when we go down this road of getting healthy?


THIS IS A LIFESTYLE CHANGE!!!

Do you know what that means? That means there is no maintain. There is no "life gets in the way". There is no crash diet. There is no make time to work out/eat better etc.

Healthy is your life now. Committed isn't even the word. When you set out to get in shape, lose weight, get healthy, you committed to be a different/better/more aware person. Healthy lifestyle is not a hobby, it's not a fleeting idea that fades. It's not an idea for a neat blog. It's what you are now.It is you.

Stop making excuses, stop blaming things on life, stop getting angry at yourself, stop trying to fit health into your busy lifestyle. Just stop.

Healthy IS YOUR LIFESTYLE. Life fits into healthy, not the other way around. This is what you are now. You own your own actions , they do not own you.

I know this comes across like a preaching email, but I'll make no apology. Make a decision as to what you are and stick with it, otherwise you're not being true to yourself.

I've used the word too, but I'm done; there is no more "maintain", there is just you. Take responsibility for your actions and use them to be the person you want to be. Do it now or die regretting it!

Feeling bad about yourself is a absolute waist of time. Erase that shit from life and just do what the hell you need to do. Everybody fails. That's normal, but when it becomes an every day pattern, you need to do something. You already know what you need to do. Do it! NOW!

Or ignore me and go back to feeling bad about yourself, but I'm done reading about it.

I have no time for people who give up, and I'm not sorry about that.

I'm done.

Recovery

Time for an update. I'm now into the last 3 weeks of my training for the Half. The bad news is that I got sick last week and missed my Thursday and Saturday run. Perfectly bad timing as the Saturday run was the pinnacle of my training and the longest run before the Half. The good news is that I'd already run that amount a few weeks ago. I tried to run on Sunday, still not recovered from being sick and wimped out after 4.5 miles. I just didnt have it in me. Then yesterday, I missed that run because we had a huge storm, my car was in the shop and I had no way to get to work to run. I worked from home, and running outside yesterday would not have been possible.

So today I'm back on the wagon, finally feeling strong again and I knocked out 4 miles this morning, making up for yesterday's miss. The race is about 2.5 weeks away. I don't feel as good about it now as I would had I not gotten sick, but I'm still comfortable that I'll be finishing the race.