Running

Milestones

Jul 12, 2008 8:09 am by Paul Jenkins in News, Running

Last night, as I finished up Week 4 of the One Hour Runner training program, I crossed 100 miles that I’ve run since I started running earlier this year.

Early this morning, my blog passed 23,000 views.

Yippee.

My first 5k

Jun 28, 2008 4:53 pm by Paul Jenkins in Running, Sports

Freedom 5k Running

So, today was kind of like the coronation of my journey on the Couch to 5k program that I’ve been doing since April. I actually finished the program 3 weeks ago, but today I took part in my first 5k – the Freedom Run in Oakboro, NC. If you don’t know, the C25K program is designed to get someone off the couch (non runners, in other words) and into a 5k in 3 months. My sister, Mary, also ran with me today. She followed a different couch to 5k training program. Hers was basically that she was on the couch yesterday and running a 5k today. Literally. She’s pretty fit, but she hasn’t run in years.

So, we show up at the table around 7:40 am and waited until they called us to the starting line. Then we waited for the 10 minute instructions on how the course was laid out to be finished. The more they talked about how I should go left on something and then right somewhere else and if I felt good I could jump the fence but if not maybe I would want to take the zig-zag opening in the fence beside the park, the more I kept thinking about how I should have velcroed my Garmin Nuvi 200 to my shirt so I wouldn’t get lost. At any rate, we finally got started and we had a blast!

I had a great time running with my sister – she did really well. Her goal was to run the first 2 miles before we walked, and we got close. She needed a minute walk or so around 1.75 miles. I think we walked twice, or maybe three times, but still came in right at 36 minutes (she was 55th at 36:04 and I was 56th at 36:05 – of course, I let her win *GRIN* ). Apparantly at these race things, the end is a succession of pretty rapid events. People cheer, your run a bit faster, there’s a big clock showing everyone how slow you are, you run even faster, and then when you cross the finish line they hand you a card with the place you finished. Can’t tell you how relieved I was to look down at my card and see a number. I was expecting the word “Last.”

So, now it’s onto week four of my new program, the One Hour Runner. I’ll be doing that in Mississippi while helping out with some Katrina relief. Week five will be done in West Virginia while I’m speaking to the Junior High youth camp in the Assembly of God Appalachian District. Should be swell.

It’s official! I signed up.

Jun 21, 2008 10:52 am by Paul Jenkins in Running, Sports

5k Freedom Run Oakboro Running

So, I went down to Vac & Dash yesterday and signed myself and my sister, Vance’s mom, up for the Freedom 5k in Oakboro next Saturday (June 28th). I’m excited about experiencing my very first race day. My goals are very simple.

1. Have fun with Mary
2. Finish
3. Don’t look like this guy at the end

That’s it. I’ll post the results after the race.

New training program

Jun 10, 2008 2:00 am by Paul Jenkins in 704, Running, Sports

One Hour Runner Running

I finished up the Couch to 5K program last week, so it was time to find a new challenge. I looked at quite a few that sounded good, but right now I just need to build up my base miles. So far, I’ve run a bit over 61 miles in just over 2 months. I need to get up around 15-20 miles a week, and right now I’m somewhere around 9-10. So (drumroll, please)…

…today I started the One Hour Runner (scroll down a bit to see the program). In 10 weeks, I will log a one hour run, which should be somewhere between a 5 or 6 mile run. I ran for 33 minutes tonight, which was cool, but the coolest part was what I saw during my run. To find out what it was, you’ll have to jump over to the 704 blog.

UPDATE: Couch-to-5k (end of week 9)

Jun 7, 2008 2:33 pm by Paul Jenkins in Personal, Running, Sports

Couch-to-5K Running

9 weeks ago, I started a training program that has been used by thousands of people to get them started in running. The name is “Couch to 5K” and it can be found over at the Cool Running website. It claims to take you from never running to running a 5k in 9 weeks. I was skeptical for one main reason:

I HATE RUNNING!!!!

But, there’s other things I hate more than running, like not being around for my children’s graduations, weddings, and children. I also hate the idea of becoming a fat preacher because, well, honestly, there’s already an over-abundance of those. So, as much as I hate running, I figured it beat the alternative of being dead even while I’m alive, and so I gave the program a shot. Here are the results:

Week 1, Day 1:
I ran/walked 1.2 miles in 20 minutes. Yes, that is a blistering 16:40/mile pace. I weighed 207 pounds. I’d like to think that most of that was muscle, but people know me and so it makes it hard to live with that delusion. I do have a fairly large frame, so I can carry that much weight without looking overweight. But the point is that I don’t need to carry 207 around.

Week 9, Day 3:
Today, I finished my last run of the program. I ran without walking 3.1 miles in 30:26. I won’t know how much I weigh until tomorrow morning when I step on the scales, but last Sunday I was down to 201. I’m hoping to be somewhere at or under 200 (UPDATE: I weighed in at 200 pounds, so I lost a little under a pound a week on the program).

I feel great. I didn’t die. I can play more with my kids now without breathing heavy while trying to convince them that I’m fine when they know I’m not. That alone makes it worth the trouble. I’m not sure if I can say that I still hate running. I think we’re going to date a bit and see if this relationship works out. We’ll see.