Fat Kid Down - Run For Your Life or Death (Mike)

I still haven't gotten back to where I was last Sept.  Ten pounds heavier, but working back in the right direction.  I'm trying to focus on myself and block out distractions, but its difficult to suck.  I hate it.  I hate watching Matt finish in the top 20 percentile of our races while I'm back in the bottom third.  I hate that my main competitive running rivalry is with a 60 year old friend of my mom's...at least I took her down in both DC and Run For Your Life - take that Cheryl.  It's been 2 years since I quit powerlifting so it doesn't quite feel like "yeah, well I benched 400lbs" is really a relevant excuse anymore.  But, despite all my foot and ankle problems, I am getting better again.

This years Run For Your Life felt like a death march.  I pushed.  I couldn't run the entire hill; no surprise.  Once I stopped running, I tried to limit my rest break to just enough to recover and catch my breath enough to get back into a forward pace.  I normally run a 7 minute mile on the downhill...210lbs can provide quite the downhill momentum when you just let it go.  My legs were rolling so hard it actually took the wind out of me and I had to scale it back a couple times.  I'm just glad nothing blew out on me when I hit the brakes.

I ended up finishing just over 54 minutes.  Nothing really to brag about, but it is a 4 minute improvement on my previous Run For Your Life 2 years ago.

After the race, I judged at the Chili Cook-off and then we went boating.  Turns out I forgot to eat all day...stupid.  I could barely stay awake on Sunday and every part of my body was either sore or sunburnt.  I didn't manage my swim/bike double workout Monday, but hope to get something in tomorrow.  I realized I haven't completed a WV 10k as part of our goal to run a 10k in each State so I'm signed up for the Biggest Loser 10k this weekend.  No rest for the weary.

Running, Cycling, Swimming - I've seen what improvements are possible when I get my body weight down under 200lbs.  If I want to get better, I've got to get lighter.

Run For Your Life 5-miler - what doesn't kill you...well, it didn't kill me.