Middle-Aged-Man

As you know, this blog is about a middle-aged-man trying to get fit. Yesterday, Teri emailed me at work and asked if I would grill some steaks and could we could go running after dinner.  I said, “sure”. So, after our meal, my youngest joined us (this never happens) for a short run.

We planned to run one mile (not much, I know), but first walked a mile as a warm-up. We got to  Ave. H and 20th Street, turned around, and started running. We run on the sidewalk; the traffic is way too fast to run in the street.

Did I mention that I had my dog? He loves walking and loves running even more. However, he thinks I am too slow, so he pulls me from time to time.

When two events happen at the same time, bad things happen. Chip, my dog, jerked me a little and my left shoe found the edge of some elevated concrete. I went down without any warning. I put both of my hands out, however, my right hand found something like another sharp edge of concrete. I landed face down and rolled over to see my right-handed pinkie turned completely 90 degrees. It looked like a second thumb. I knew it was broken at the second joint and bleeding. It was weird; I put it back in place.

My family is standing over me, and I asked Hannah to take the leash, although she thought she heard me say “call the police”. I repeated it and Hannah took control of the dog. By this time,  Chip was licking my face. Teri thought I had a heart attack and collapsed.

In a few moments, they ran off while I announced that I would walk the rest of the way home. After a few steps, I decided to run because  my pinkie was going hurt either way.

Upon arriving at home, I cooled off and began icing my hand. I then left for Urgent Care. Less than two hours, I had my x-rays, finger set in a splint,  and got a tetanus shot. My finger was bleeding and I got light headed when the P.A. moved it around. I was home by 11 p.m.

Blurry and bleeding...

I walked at work and then went to church ( I work with the Freshmen guys) and when I got home at 9:00pm, I knew I had to run.  So I stretched and got on the treadmill and did 1/4 mile walk warmup followed by a run for 2.0 miles total. It started at 6.0 mph pace for the first mile and 6.2 for the next 7/8 of mile and finished the last 1/8 mile at 7.0 mph. I felt pretty good, I am always concern my calf will crap out on me. The key to running on the treadmill is to cover up the display. I stare at it all the time, making the run seem longer.

I wanted to run in this weekend’s for the Toys-for-tots 5K run at Lancaster City Park, but after tonight’s run, I hurt my right calf again. I was not running that hard and I do not know why it starting complaining at about the distance of 1.5 miles. I finished the run, and then walked three miles with my dog (it had no real pain). Later in the evening the calf was sore and tight. So, it is best to give this stupid muscle some rest. Here is my motionbase information.

I have not been posting lately, mostly out of boredom. I bore myself with my own blog! I want to share my successes but not when I am not wanting to do the workouts. I been working a lot and the last thing I want do is workout. Anyways, I did train a little to run in the 2008 Turkey Trot 1K/5K/10K Walk/Run scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 8 at Desert Sands Park in Palmdale. To be honest my heart is not in it.

I did run in the 5K and I did a personal best. I wanted to beat 29 minutes, but I finished in 29:04. That is four seconds faster than the last 5K, the Jingle Bell Jog. I plan to another 5K on Nov 29th, and I want to be in the 28 minute range (I have been in that time when I ran around the house) and run in the 27 minute range on the Jingle Bell Jog on 12/21.

Here is my Motionbase data. I forgot to pause my time when I finished, (because I was hurting trying to catch my breath).

Today, I started to feel like I was getting a cold at work. Felt really funny, took three aspirins and I felt really good. I like to run on Tuesday nights, so I was not sure if I should. I felt fine and got out and ran. My lungs are really tight from riding in last Saturday’s AV Fall Century, but my legs felt really good. The run felt good, but I want to stop with every step due to my breathing. My lungs were feeling so hurt by the cold air (54 degrees). I should have worn more clothing or something. I am really coughing a lot as I type this.

I ran the 5K in 28:55! This is the first time ever that I broke into the 28 minute mark. My best 5K was last December in the Jingle Bell Jog at 29:08.

I ran my best time at 5K since returning to running. Last Christmas in the Jingle Bell Jog, I managed to run 29:09. Tonight I ran and finished my run in 29:29. Tonight is my best time running in the neighborhood. The times were 32:17 (6:12/KM), 30:20 (06:01/KM), 29:46 (05:56/KM) and 29:29 (05:53/KM). I am aiming to get my time to 05:30 per KM before the City of Palmdale 1K,5K, 10K Run/ Walk on November 8th.

I manage not to run the Magic Mountain 5K, due to a schedule conflict, but run 5K on my own around the block. I had to walk way to many times. I limit my walking to 10 seconds. When I done, I expected my time to be so bad that I would not want to post it. But to my surprise I did it in 29:45. The best yet!

I been trying to run 5K (3.1 miles) and have found the correct distance. I run from my driveway up 20th Street West, to H1, turn right. I go to 15th Street to Avenue I, weave back to the house and run past it. Ending at Starbucks.

This run took me 30:20 or 6:01 page per KM.

I was looking today to run another 5km (matching Saturday’s run). I told Tracy that I want to knock off 30 seconds from the total time. I found a path to take that is close to a 5km. It is actually 5.2km, which included that I ran a little extra to make sure I got the distance. I ran from my garage door down my street, turn right on 20th Street west and run to H1, turn right. I make a right on 15th Street West and turn right near Avenue I, then weaver through the back way to my house. I pass my house and run to Starbucks.

My time was 6:19 per KM on Saturday and 6:12 per KM today. So that is seven second per km, I ran five, so that is 35 seconds faster then Saturday.

My church had a weekend camping event. We met at Lake Buena Vista in Bakersfield. On Saturday afternoon, I decided to go for a run, I did not sleep well being the first night. I wanted to run a 5K, but I have not run that distance in sometime. I am planning to run a couple of 5K’s coming up, so I need the distance. Since we brought our dog “Mr. Chip”, with us camping and he is a way too excited with all the people and other dogs, I decided to take him with me. I do not like to run with my dog, since on occasion he will dart in front of me and I have to slow down or stop. He was not so bad this time. I wanted him to run and hopefully be tired and that would mellow him out. BTW, It did not help him.

The run took me 31:23 to run the 5K. I wanted a slow pace and I got it. The pace was good for me. I ran the first 1/3 on a concrete path, the other 2/3’s I ran on grass and dirt. The run was not too hard and I am not sore. Tuesday night, I hope to run that distance again.