Twitter

I am a little behind in my posting here at the blog! Working on a few new projects that are keeping me busy!

When I get busy, like I am now, twitter keeps me in touch with some amazing people! I use twitter quite a bit. For my new running life, I use @only1percent. I follow a few people and organizations that post positive, uplifting and/or informative posts about running or just staying fit in general.

Sometimes I feel like I am a fake on there, being that I am SO FAR away from them and being fit! That said, I post right on my profile what I am doing and what I want to accomplish. I suppose the word "fake" is not the right word. Hopefully you understand what I mean.

Anyway, follow me on twitter @only1percent if you are on there as well. Say hello! And get involved!

I think twitter and all those I am following there ROCK!

www.twitter.com

1st real workout in awhile

The sunshine is back and the ice and snow are gone...THANK GOODNESS!

So I got out there again today. I went 4.6 miles in 51 minutes, by far the most I have done so far.

All the Texas weather caused my Race to be postponed, but March is fine too! Decided to look for race #2 even though race #1 is not until spring!

I will keep you posted!

I am not even sure if I believe this article, but here it is, makes me feel pretty pathetic LOL

365 Marathons in ONE YEAR?!?!?!?!

The dude ran 365 marathons in ONE YEAR!!!

My goal suddenly seems small!

1%

My 1st race.....in snow?

My 1st ever race is scheduled tomorrow. I have my bib. 

But....

It has been an interesting weather week so I was doubting the event would go on. Then, we get hit with 6 inches of snow over night!!!

The event has been cancelled! They are rescheduling it for Saturday, March 12.

Ice and Ice and Ice and Ice

Woke up really wanting to brave the cold and get in a couple miles....but, the storm has hit and the ground is ice!!!

This So Cal boy can barely walk to the car, jogging or even walking the neighborhood isn't happening!!!

I hear it will not get above freezing for at least 3 days and that is nuts!!!!

Southern California I miss you!!!!

Just a walk...and some weather on the way!

I was not at my home ballpark today, but I still got out for a decent walk.

Not sure about the next few days....the Dallas Fort Worth area is about to get slammed with a Winter Storm. And just in time for the Super Bowl!!!

This will be my 1st real winter storm EVER! I am a Southern California boy who is unhappy whenever I am not in shorts and a tee shirt....

I am still planning on a run....but I hear that I may not be able too.

We shall see...

1%

More Pre-Run Stretches!

Pre-Run Stretching

Good stuff

Weekend of Rest & Incoming Weather

No workout yesterday, none today either.

Doing some reading, I may post some neat stuff here later.

More importantly the weather people are saying we are getting some weather here soon. Cold weather. Ice, maybe snow. This will be a challenge...

I have been REALLY tight and even pretty uncomfortable lately so I decided to do some research on stretching. I clearly need too! I will post what I found and I will start doing them.

Have a super weekend my friends!

Two workouts today

A Tale of Two Workouts

Workout #1 this morning was NOT real fun! Tightness that was very uncomfortable slowed down workout #1 big time. Still got in 2 miles but it sucked!'

Workout #2 was AWESOME! After taking the family to dinner I was lucky enough to have a hottie walk with me....my wife!!! It was nice, it was a gorgeous night and I loved it!

This is the end of week 2. I will not lie, this is hard. I feel fat, most likely because I am. I want to press the fast forward button!

I can not find it....guess I will keep going!

1%

Shopping? No thanks

As my wife and kids decided to shop I decided to walk.

I did NOT have my running shoes but I had some old tennis shoes on so I walked the parking lot.

It was good, way better than shopping and that 325 calories is gone forever!

1%

3746

I am pretty proud of this!

26.2? no not yet.


13.1??? Not quite?


10K???  Nope


5K???  Ummmm, no!


Next Saturday I am running in my 1st race since high school! It is NOT my marathon....but is is race #1 in my new career.


I went in to a local store and paid my entry fees. The young, fit 20-something cashier was clearly in amazing shape. Her jeans fit...very VERY well! I was a 290 when this journey began, all of less than 10 days ago! Yeah I am happy to say I am at 284 haha. Hey, its better than plus 6!


Anyway, I told her I recently decided to run a marathon, half expecting her to crack up! She said "That's GREAT!" 


I paid my fees and got this neat bib. It will go on my wall.


The event is the "Just for the Heck of it XI" Here is the link.


Just for the Heck of it XI


I love the name! I love that it is only a mile! I love that it will be my 1st!


Will I win? No. Will I finish? YES! Will I outweigh the rest of the field? Most likely! Will I be happy? Bet you already know the answer to that one!


#3746....1%

30/70 Today

Today I made sure I jogged .15 miles for every .5 miles. I wanted to make sure I jogged 30% of my 2 miles today.

Using my Droid app Cardio Trainer I just made sure I ran 15% of every half mile and walked the other 35%. Ok, that may sound silly but it made it easy for me to break up the workout into smaller attainable goals. And best of all it would ensure I jogged 30% of my workout today.

I know this may sound silly and sad even, but I weight 285! Baby steps!

1%

Here is a link to a review on the Cardio Trainer app for Droid

Cardio Trainer app review

A picture is worth HOW MANY WORDS???

Posted this pic on twitter (@only1percent by the way, you should follow me!) and made it my profile pic at Dailymile.com so I figured I should post it here too.

As a rule, the pictures are always VASTLY better when my wife is the one being shot and not doing the shotting!

It was taken at a nice little park and if it does not look cold trust me it WAS! 39 degrees!!!

www.dailymile.com

Being Sick, a mini Whine and Moving On

I hate negative and I hate whining so after this next line I am done....

I am sick!

OK, that is it!

Today's walk/jog was a little rough. Started out jogging and at about 3/4 of a mile WOW did it hit me! I got some uncomfortable tightness at the very top of my left thigh. Both thighs got tight but the left one was pissed!!!!

The remainder of my workout was 90% walking but my original goal was the 1st 26.2 I would walk 100% so I am beating that goal.

Did my 2 miles pretty slowly, over 30 minutes, but again my original idea was walk 26.2, walk fast the next 26.2, slowly jog the 3rd 26.2, and so on and so on.

I am doing some reading (can I call it research?) about STARTING a running program. Mostly I am looking for recovery ideas and how often to run. Do runners run daily, every other day? Truly at this moment I am clueless about it. we shall see what I can find.

I bet the 1% whine less than the 99%

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Week #2 Begins!

After taking a weekend break more out of necessity than choice, getting back out there today was good and I am exponentially LESS sore today.

Started off walking with one of my daughters, but she decided the swings looked more fun so from then on I was jogging 25%. walking 75%. My overall pace including my walking with my daughter was a little slower than Friday but I am ok with that. I will always include my kiddos when I can!

The track was really nice. I was in a park and the trail was about a 3/4 mile loop along and around a creek. I wish I would have taken a few pics. Next time I will.

Making some nice connections on twitter, lots of experts, motivators and stuff. I am enjoying it quite a bit. Follow me @only1percent

That is it for today, plan for tomorrow is 2 miles.

1%

Tomorrow is a travel day again but I scheduled some time so I should get some time in.

Still VERY EARLY in this journey but I am happy to have started to climb this mountain!!!

Break Day and a Race!

Had to travel a little today so I didn't get in a workout. I have read that you should run/walk every other day but I am so far from where I want to be that I was not planning on taking this approach. But with travel plans up in the air for now and into the near future I guess I will just take a break day when I am forced too.

I did however find a local race to enter. It is called JUST FOR THE HECK OF IT XI

Here is the link.

Just for the Heck of it XI

It is good to have a goal that is closer on the calendar, I am happy to have it as my first event!

I am excited!!! 1%

9 miles and counting and some new gadgets

Freezing cold out there and my legs are KILLING me!!!

I guess both of those things are something I either need to get used to or shut up!

Went 2.3 miles this morning. Pace was a little quicker.

26.2 is such an intimidating figure! All week and I am not even at half that distance TOTAL yet! Crazy. That is why less than 1% do this I guess.

Installed CardioTrainer on my Droid, It is a really nice app. I even found a widget for my phone that constantly has my calories burned for the week on my screen. Kinda hardto NOT remember to et out there with that staring at me! Also I am now using Dailymile.com

Dailymile

If you use it too add me, I am Northtexas F

Also as I told you before I am on twitter now. 5 followers so far and some nice, encouraging words!
Follow me there too @only1percent.

My butt and legs are screaming at me! I am gonna ignore them.

2 Miles

26.2 is a long ways away.

Today's goal was 2. 2 miles. PERIOD. Not a sprint, heck, not even a jog! 

I would say 80/20 walk/jog.

1%

Felt better today. Felt really good to not feel like I might die jogging, actually feels like I can MAYBE do this.

I decided last night to break up the long range goal. I do NOT want the goal to be to complete a marathon. I want to complete it and feel like I can do another one in 6 months. So the goal IS NOT to complete a marathon. The goal is to get myself to be able to run marathons.

1%

I am a big believer in goals. That DOES NOT MEAN I think setting goals is a good thing. I think ACHIEVING goals is a good thing. Setting goals are the ladder. I like to think my goals are a stair step. 

At the end of my journey up this ladder I want to be a marathoner.

1%

I will have a ton of mini goals along the way. Today's was 2 miles. Ladder rungs are more like achievements. Places along the road to have a mini-celebration. That first ladder rung will be completing a 5K.

1%

Twitter

Follow us @only1percent

Signed up on twitter today.

If you are on twitter too please follow me. You know you wanna see if a 290 pound 41 year old can run a marathon.

Heck, I wanna see if he can too! 1%!

@only1percent

Today's Progress: Day 1

GOTTA START SOMEWHWERE!

Read an article last night about starting to be a runner, what to do, starting from scratch.

It basically said run 10 seconds, walk until you are breathing normally, then run again.

I decided that is a good start.

I walked 90%, jogged 10%

1.12 miles 19:51

1%

Shopping at Walmart

On Monday evenings my wife and I often drive our 2 oldest daughters to their youth group at our church. Its a decent drive so we stay there until the youth group event is done for the night.

Sometimes we go to dinner, sometimes we shop, last night we walked around Walmart.

Now walking around Walmart usually means ending up in the fabric area or the toy area or some other area where time seems to stand still and bore me to death. So to combat this I now often will head over to the magazine aisle and grab something to look through while we decide what looks better, purple or yellow or green.

1%

I saw all the sports magazines but I had just bought those stupid running shoes, so "Runner's World" stood out. I am a very confident (ok arrogant, whatever!) guy but I actually thought how silly I would look walking around Walmart reading "Runner's World." I look NOTHING like a runner. I can just picture ME on the "Walmart People" emails going around the web with my stomach and reading Runner's World!

I got over it and found the wife and 2 youngest in the fabric section. How they can be so happy looking at fabric...well, whatever. Of course my youngest needed to go....so I took her over to the restrooms with my magazine in hand, every now and then peeking up to make sure no camera's were hiding around the corner waiting to snap a "Walmart Freak" pic of me.

As I am waiting outside the restrooms reading the magazine, folded over on itself of course to hide the cover, a young lady emerges from the restroom before my daughters do. As the door opens I hold the magazine a little tighter just to insure this potential "Walmart Freaks" photographer can't make out the cover. She is a twenty-something young lady with a pleasant smile, can NOT be taller than 5 foot 3 and clearly outweighs me.

1%

What is it about running that has me so messed up inside my head? I am now laughing at myself a little. Another young lady walks out of the restrooms and me make eye contact. I am probably smiling because inside I am laughing at my own silliness and she asks me if the 2 young girls in the restroom are mine.

"Yes they are!" I say overly enthusistically back at here.

"They are just adorable!" she says to me!

As I thank her they pop out holding thankfully freshly cleaned, damp hands smiling at life.

How bad can running be? How good can life be?

1%

’The Biggest Loser’ makes the marathon more accessible to the masses - National marathon | Examiner.com

I do not watch a lot of TV. Well let me rephrase that. I do not watch a lot of SHOWS!

That said, I had seen episodes of lots of shows and one show that I have seen a few times is The Biggest Loser. I enjoy watching people reach goals, overcome obstacles, all the stuff that makes this show a good show!

So a couple weeks ago I caught the very end, perhaps the final 10 minutes, of an episode in which some contestants ran a marathon.

I know a few people who have run a marathon, and both started out training for the event in MUCH better shape than these contestants, and they both trained a lot longer than a couple months on a show!

All that said, it made me wonder.

1%

’The Biggest Loser’ makes the marathon more accessible to the masses - National marathon | Examiner.com

Ready....Set....

This is how it starts

1%

I hear that only 1% of Americans have finished a marathon.

1%

In high school I was an athlete. In college I was athletic.

1%

In high school I remember our baseball coach PUNISHING us with a run. We were a little extra dumb on the bus ride home. He was mad and needed to teach us a lesson. So we ran a mile around the track when the bus finally returned to the school. This was his way of punishing us, by making us RUN!

1%

And it worked! I hated running. I was not slow. I ran the football pretty well on Friday nights during football season. I stole a few bases in the spring. But even in high school I had developed a hatred for running.

1%

I mocked the cross country team. One of my best friends was on the team back in high school and over 20 years later I still joke with him about it! Something was ingrained in me about running. Something negative.

1%

Now here I am in my 40's vastly overweight with NO COMPETITION! NONE! I did the slow pitch softball thing, I found a few other outlets. Tennis was fun for awhile. But what athletic goal is really out there now for someone like me?

1%

At this moment I can not run a quarter mile. I remember running it in 52 seconds many, many, MANY years ago.

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Today I tagged along with my wife and kids on a shopping trip. We stopped in Salvation Army. I found there running shoes that looked in great shape and fit me. $9.00

1%

I wonder if I can.

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