My Last Post on Blogger

Hi everyone! I wanted to thank everyone who has read and followed this blog, who has stuck with me even when I didn't post for days and weeks on end. I have enjoyed using blogger and have had this blog since 1996, but it is time for me to move on to another blog. I am moving to using my own website on my own domain, EricDickey.Com. I am more than happy to be doing this, as this has been a long time coming for me. I have more control over it and this allows me to add several things I have been wanting to add for a long time. So please follow me over to EricDickey.Com and have a look. I will be blogging as well as writing about running and fitness, posting pictures in the gallery section, and showing off my beautiful family. Once again, thank you for reading, and for following. I'll be leaving this blog up for historical reasons, as well as a pointer to my new site. Regards, Eric Dickey

Form Follows Fitness 5K

 

This past Saturday I ran my first 5K after completely recovering from my grade 2 calf sprain in my right leg.

The 5K race I ran was the second annual Form Follows Fitness 5K, held in Downtown Dallas.  What made this race really fun was that I was given the opportunity to organize a team from my work to run with and with only three days notice, I was able to put together a team of 11 people to run with.  Now, once the race started, it was every person for themselves, so we didn't all finish together, but we all finished, including four who had not competed in a 5K before!

Part of our 11 member team.  I am on the far left.

It was 34 degrees at race time, and there were about 1200 people or so who raced, so it was a nice event to run.  I think it could have been a larger event had the Ft. Worth's Cowtown Marathon not been happening at the same time.

The course itself was relatively easy, with a nice downhill start that allowed everyone to build up steam.  It was the last 800 or so feet that was the biggest pain.  All uphill with what I am guessing was a 15 to 20 degree incline!  It was at that point that I started slowing down.

I wasn't sure what I would run as far as time goes in this race, but I had set a goal of 24 minutes right before the start.  After the runs I had the week leading up to this race, I knew I'd be able to run close to the pace I'd need to set, but I wasn't sure if I would be able to sustain that pace.

But I did maintain close to that pace the entire race!

Now the only thing wrong with this picture is that it shows me going 3.17 miles, because I started the tracking app on my phone when the horn sounded for the race.  I was way behind the starting gate, so I am going by the time the gps tracking app shows me at 3.10 miles, and not the official results.

Here is what I believe I ran:

 Yes, that is a 5K distance in 24 minutes and 26 seconds, which is 4 minutes and 58 seconds better than my previous PR of  29:24. set at the Turkey Trot held in Dallas on Thanksgiving Day, 2012.  That is a new PR!

Here are the official results for me from the race:

So, overall a great race for me.  I am now 100 percent fully healed and I appear to be faster than ever.  I am really looking forward to pushing myself even more.

Thanks for reading.  Have a great rest of the day!

The Hotcake Hustle 5K -- Running for Pride

This past Saturday I ran the Hotcake Hustle 5K in Addison, TX.  Normally this wouldn't be such a big deal to me, since this would be my fifth 5K race in the past 4 months, but this was one race I absolutely had to run.  You see, I was running hurt in this race. 

The Wednesday before was rainy and I decided to do a run on the treadmill at the gym I use.  about 20 minutes into my run I felt a sharp pain in my right calf and I tried to run through it for about 30 seconds but had to stop my run.  I think what I had was either a grade I or grade II calf sprain.  Over the next two days I used the RICE method on my leg.  Resting it with no runs or exercising, Icing it every hour on the hour I was awake for 20 minutes at a time, Compressing the leg by wearing a compression bandage on it, and keeping it Elevated as much as I could.  Trust me in that I was getting strange looks at work, wearing an ice pack on my leg outside my pants, but oh, it was so worth, not feeling pain!

 When race day dawned, I dressed and headed over to the race site.  My leg felt pretty good, with no pain or twinges at all.  I did however bring a few things with me, just in case.  Ice packs, another compression bandage, and a pain patch was in a bag waiting for me after the race.  I hope I didn't need it, but I had it there, again, just in case.  The weather was interesting, to say the least.  100 percent humidity and 65 degrees!  I was so glad I didn't wear cold weather gear for this run!  There was rain in the forecast and a cold front was on its way towards us, but fortunately for us, the rain and cold held off until after the race.

Before the race started, I did test my leg.  I did more stretching than I normally do for a race, making sure I targeted the calves.  After I stretched and warmed up, I decided to run about a half mile at various paces to see how my leg would react.  Everything felt good, so I was ready to race.


The crowd in front of me.




Ready to race the Hotcake Hustle!

The crowd behind me -- 2400 strong!



The race got off to a good start and I went into this race with only one goal in mind: to finish it.  Even though this is my fifth race, I have not, and do not want to have a DNF on my record.  I have quit too many things in life and I don't want to start doing so in racing.  So I figured that I would be good with about a 10:30 to 10:45 pace and leave it at that.  I knew in my heart that I would have a slow time.  So how did I start?  I started off with an 8:20 pace, then started slowing down after that.

The course itself was easy enough, pure roadway, though crossing I think 4 railroad tracks, even inset into the road was not fun.  One good slip and there goes an ankle!  There was one bridge we crossed; I don't know the incline but it felt steep to me at the time.  I held up pretty well during the race.  I would start to push myself to go faster and then have to slow down as my right calf reminded me that I was running hurt.  It never really hobbled me, but I was reminded of it, believe me.  About 400 feet from the finish line or so, I was running side by side by this younger, fitter man and we were matching each other step for step.  That's when the competitive side of me took over and I glanced over at him and then back at the finish line and sprinted the remaining 400 or so feet, coming in ahead of him by several feet.  I know he probably didn't care, but for me it was a matter of pride.

My calf let me know about it too. 

Long story short, I am taking the next couple of weeks off from running, to let my calf hopefully heal up fully.  I finished the race with a respectable time, at least for me anyway, and I have the coffee mug given out to the ones that finished out the race.

Here is my unofficial time, as provided by my Nike iPhone app:



Here is the official results:

I'm not sure why there is such a discrepancy between the Nike app average mile pace and the official pace, but hey, with a bum leg, I'll take it.

I'll definitely run this next year, but next year, it'll be the 10K, not the 5K.

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of the day!

2013 Week One Review

Back on January 2, I posted my New Year's goals and issued a challenge to you, my readers or doing something to stay healthy and get healthy for this year.  To show you how I am doing, I plan on posting a review of each weeks activities for me this year.  This way I can be accountable to both you and myself and show how I am progressing.

Here is week one.

This was a really good week for me.  24 miles run at an average pace of 10:47 per mile with 4,270 calories burned, all from running.  One Wednesday and Friday I hit the gym, doing full body resistance training.  I did one hour on Wednesday burning 1,149 calories, and 1:30 burning 1,723 calories on Friday.  Total calories burned for the week was 7,142.

I wasn't planning on running 7 miles twice this week; the first time on Thursday just sort of happened.  I started on a easy run and basically kept on running.  Sounds funny I know, but it was a really good run and gave me an indication that I can run longer distances than I thought at this time.

I have a 5K race I am running this coming Saturday, so I'm not sure if I will be running this much next week, but I do know this, I will be running.  I hope you are staying healthy too!

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of the day!

Starting the New Year Off Right

Yesterday was New Year's Day and for my location in the Northern Dallas, TX area, it was wet and cold.  Perfect weather for running, and running is what I did.  I actually ran a 5K distance the night before; I wanted to run further, but my oldest daughter made me promise I would be back within a reasonable time since she wanted to play board games as a family and ring in the new year together.  But the quick in and out 5K was a good one.

I decided that I wanted to start the new year off with a good run and chose a 10K distance.  I wasn't sure at what pace I wanted to run, and decided that I would let my body dictate that.  I started the run at 10:12 AM with no breakfast before the run.  For some reason I tend to run better in the early morning without a full stomach.  (If you can call eight ounces full.)  The run itself was a good one and I felt I had a strong run, setting a new personal record in this distance with a time of 1:06:24.  I maintained a steady pace throughout the run, maintaining an average pace of 10:40 per mile.  I am going to keep that distance for my distance runs for now, and gradually start increasing them until I hit 14 miles.  Once I hit that distance and keep it up for a few weeks, and run my first half marathon, I'll start increasing the distance again, slowly building myself up to my first marathon.  That will not be anytime soon, but it will happen.

Here is the map from the Nike+ site I use.

Here are the split times:

I am looking to maintain approximately 21 to 25 miles a week running for now; this run was a great start.

If you get a chance, tell me how your running is going; I would love to hear from you!

Thanks for reading.  Have a great rest of the day!

New Year - New You

It's that time of the year again.  You know, the time to make resolutions that you try to keep, promises to yourself that you'll do whatever in the new year, then almost all of the time fall away from those promises?  Well, I have a few resolutions for me, and a big challenge to all who happen to read this.

Let's start with my resolutions for this year. 

• I will show a positive, loving attitude towards everyone in my family and a positive attitude to everyone I interact with everyday this year, even when I don't feel like it.
• I will run a half marathon this year.
• I will run several 10K races this year and set personal records in at least two of those races.
• I will reach my next weight goal of 225 pounds and then move on to my next weight goal.

Think that's a lot to deal with?  I don't.  Think I will make those goals?  I will.  And believe it or not, the hardest one for me will be the first one of maintaining a positive, loving attitude!  You see, I am an old bear most of the time to everyone around me, even the ones I love and I hate that.  I love my family with my whole heart, but my attitude simply stinks at times.  It's time to change that.

The other items?  Childs play for me.

I am doing a few things to make sure I hit my goals/resolutions for this year.  How, do you ask, will I do this?  Well, the first thing is how I worded the resolutions/goals.  Look at them again and see if you know what I mean by this.  Go ahead, I'll wait.

Did you see it?  First of all, instead of just saying what I am going to do, I wrote it down, and wrote it down for the entire world to see!  Second of all, notice the second word of every goal I set down.  The word you see is "will".  Not "try to", not "do my best to", nor any other word or combination of words that would allow me an escape, but I used the word "will".  This sets the goal in stone and is a powerful reminder to me that I have set my mind and heart to do this and accomplish this.  These goals are what I will do because I want to do them. 

The next thing you'll notice is that each goal is attainable and some actually build on other goals.  To lose weight and obtain my next weight goal, I will be running more.  Why am I running more?  Oh yeah, I want to run a half marathon this year.  How will I start achieving that goal?  I will be running more races, and those races (and subsequent training) will be at a 10K distance.  See what I mean?

So the next questions are: "When do I start these?" and "How can I maintain them?". 

The first question is easy.  You start now.  Not tomorrow, not next week, but now.  The longer you put something off, the easier it is to give up on it because you never started it in the first place!

The second question is a little harder to answer, but I will try.  You may have heard this said, but it is true.  It takes 21 days of doing something to make it a habit, and once you have started a habit, it is easier to maintain what you want to do.  So you start now, and then maintain that something for a minimum of 21 days.  As you go through this period, you'll notice that whatever it is you are wanting to do will become much easier as the time goes by.  Another thing to do is to keep a journal or a log book, especially if one of your goals is to do something physical.  Use one of the free websites out there, use a spreadsheet, or simply write down what it is you need to write down.  The more you log, the more committed you become to doing this.  Believe me, it really helps you when you see the progress you are making.

That's basically it in a nutshell.  That is what I do and will continue doing. As Yoda said to Luke Skywalker:

"No! Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try."

  As for the challenge I alluded to earlier, here it is:

No matter what it is you set out to do this year, I am challenging you to actually do it!   I have already set a new PR of 1:06:24 at a 10K distance this new year and have already signed up for a 5K race on the 12th of this month. I have started training for my first half marathon I will run this year! What is your one primary goal, fitness related or not for this year that you really want to do?  Take the steps I have talked about above and start already! New Year, New You! Make it happen!

Thanks for reading!  Have a great rest of the day!

My Favorite Christmas Music in Videos Day 7

This duet by Bing Crosby and David Bowie is perhaps one of the most beloved Christmas pieces of all time. I remember the first time I saw the two of them do The Little Drummer Boy (Peace on Earth) on television and I make it a habit to see it every Christmas.  I hope you enjoy it as well.  Merry Christmas!

Thanks for listening!  Have a great rest of the day!

My Favorite Christmas Music in Videos Day 6

Perhaps my all time favorite Christmas song is Silent Night.  This is the first version of that beautiful song that I will post and is the 1980 version sung by the R and B legends The Temptations.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Have a very Merry Christmas!  Thank you for listening and have a great rest of the day.

December 7, 1941. A Date, Which Will Live, in Infamy

It was on this day, 71 years ago, that the United States of America was maliciously and without provocation or warning, attacked by the Imperial Navy of Japan at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.  Over 2,400 Americans lost their lives, with 85% of the Pacific fleet destroyed or damaged.

It was the start of the war for us here in America and the thinking at the time was "We didn't start this war, but by God we will finish it!".  My grandfather fought in this war, as did my wife's grandfather and it is to men like them that we owe a great deal of gratitude and thanks.  So for all of you who have served, no matter what theater, thank you for serving your country and defending this country.

As FDR stated, this is "a date which will live in infamy" and I hope that we never, ever forget the date and what happened.

I came across this video on YouTube, about the attack and there are some interesting tidbits from Japanese citizens as they heard the news of the attack.  I think it's worth the time to watch it.

 

After you watch it, remember these words from Isoroku Yamamoto, who was a Japanese Naval Marshal Admiral and the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II, a graduate of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy.   He is quoted in the movie "Tora Tora Tora" with this saying after the Japanese planes returned from their fight:  

 "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."

Even though he orchestrated the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was greatly disturbed that it was a sneak attack and told the Japanese Admiralty that "He could run wild for six months in the Pacific. After that I have no expectation of success."

Six months later we defeated the Japanese at Midway, and from that point on, we never looked back.

Take the time out today to thank a veteran for their service.  If you know of any living survivors of World War II, shake their hand and say thank you.  Remember Freedom is never free.

Thank you for reading.  Have a great rest of the day.

My Favorite Christmas Music in Videos Day 5

Even though "We Three Kings" is not exactly biblical per se, I still love the song.  After all, the three wise men from the east came not at the birth of Christ, but later after He had been born.

I hope you enjoy this rendition of "We Three Kings" as performed by the incomparable and legendary Ella Fitzgerald.

Have a Merry Christmas and a great rest of the day!

My Favorite Christmas Music in Videos -- Day 4

Not all of my favorite Christmas music is traditional.  I discovered Trans-Siberian Orchestra by accident one day when I saw a video very similar to this on YouTube.  I had to know what the tune was and who performed it.  Turns out it wasWizards In Winter by Trans-Siberian Orchestra.  Bought their mp3s and had more Christmas music to listen to.

Hope you enjoy.  Have a Merry Christmas and a great rest of the day!

My Favorite Christmas Music in Videos -- Day 3

Two of the greatest opera tenors sing one of the greatest Christmas songs of all time.  Enjoy Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo singing O Holy Night / Cantique De Noel  from the Christmas performance filmed in Vienna 1999.

Merry Christmas!  Enjoy the rest of your day.

It Feels So Good to Be Able to Workout!

So for the first time in over two weeks, I was able to head to the gym and get a workout in and man it felt good!  I still can't do any running right now as my big toes are still healing from the in-office surgery, but I was able to get a cardio workout in on the elliptical machine.  I did 30 minutes at a 30% resistance and had an incline of 5 out of 10.  The total for that workout? 544 calories burned with a distance of 1.25 miles.  Did I mention that I really miss my road work?

After that I moved on to my resistance circuit training.  I wanted to concentrate on my upper body this session and I could tell that after two weeks of not being able to work on resistance training, I was not at my best.

Overall I did shoulders including shrugs, front and lateral raises and shoulder press.  For arms I did bicep curls and the triceps machine.  For the chest I did sets on the incline bench press, and chest flys.  The last sets I did was for the back.  This consisted of sets of seated rows on the rowing machine, rear delt flys and lat pull downs.  The last thing I did was work on the abs.

It is a short summary of a 55 minutes resistance workout and I will, in a later post this week, post my full resistance workout, but tonight is short and the morning comes fast!

For now I am happy I can work out again and will be even more happy when I can start running.

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of the day!

My Favorite Christmas Music in Videos Day 2

One of the great crooners of all time singing one of the greatest Christmas songs of all time.  Enjoy Mr. Bing Crosby singing "I'll Be Home For Christmas".

Thanks for listening.  Have a great rest of the day.   Merry Christmas!

An Update From The Bench

The last couple of weeks have been tough on me.  First the pulled muscle in my Rhomboid muscle area of my back had me out of my lifting routine for a couple of weeks.  That was okay as I could still run.

Then I went to the podiatrist a week ago tomorrow and had both of my big toenails partially removed due to chronic ingrown toenails.  I was told I could start running as soon as I felt like it.  That was before they appeared to become infected.

So I go back to the podiatrist tomorrow and hopefully in the next few days I'll be back to what I was getting good at: becoming healthy.  I miss running and I miss my resistance circuit training.  I'll be back to it soon enough, but soon enough simply can't come quick enough.

Thanks for reading.  Have a great rest of the day.

The True Meaning of Christmas

Every year I try very hard to post a video a day in December of something Christmas related.  Usually that is a video of one of my favorite Christmas songs and starting tomorrow that won't change.  But I wanted to start off my Christmas blogging tradition by showing you a clip from perhaps one of the greatest Christmas specials of all time: A Charlie Brown Christmas.  I watched this as a child and we continue to watch it every year, now with our children.  It never grows old and the truth in it remains the same.  So I hope you enjoy.  Linus explaining the true meaning of Christmas.

Have a Merry Christmas!  Thanks for reading and have  great rest of the day.

How Geno at Home Depot Saved Our Christmas This Year

On Black Friday this year, I waited up for most of the night to go to Home Depot for one specific item my wife really wanted: a Martha Stewart brand Christmas Tree.

We actually needed a tree this year to replace the one from last year.  That tree had served my wife's family, and our family for well over 15 years and to be honest I hated to see it go, but it had been dying for a number of years and last year it finally succumbed to its old age and could no longer be repaired.

So when Home Depot placed a seven and a half foot tall, pre-lit Douglass Fir style Christmas tree on sale for Black Friday for 59 dollars, I was told that this was the tree we needed to replace our last tree.  So I waited up through the night and at 4:45 AM, I drove to the Home Deport we frequently shop at and got in the line that had formed.  The store had 29 trees to sell and when the doors opened at 5:00 AM, I and a few others rushed over to the trees and started snatching them up like they were made of gold.  It was early, I was tired, but my wife would have her tree!

What the Martha Stewart Tree I purchased Black Friday looked like.

Later on in the weekend, we opened the box and assembled the tree, plugging in the lights and moving it to where it needed to go in our living room.  Everything was great, all were happy and Christmas was a joyous time!

Then the lights went out on the tree.

Not all the lights, but just the white lights.  You see, the tree had two settings for it: White Lights and Multicolored Lights.  We could turn on the multicolored lights, but when we tried the white lights, the multicolored lights would simply dim to almost dark and then nothing else would happen.  When you hit the switch again, all the lights would turn off.  Needless to say my wife wasn't happy.  Neither was I.  My wife started taking the ornaments off the tree and I called the Home Depot where I bought the tree.

The first Home Depot associate I spoke with sounded all of 20 something years old, and offered me the standard "bring it in for a refund" line after he put me on hold for a few seconds to see if they had any of the same trees in stock, which they didn't.  I'll be honest here, I wasn't really satisfied with that answer.  I shop at Home Depot a lot; almost everything I buy that is home repair related, lawn related, and gardening/landscaping related is purchased at Home Depot and I trust the brands they carry, and I trust the company itself.  So I did what I think everyone in my situation would have done and told him I would like to speak to the manager on duty please.

That brought me to Geno, who was the manager on duty that night.  Geno listened to my situation and said he'd be happy to replace the tree with a comparable one that was 150 dollars or under for the same price I had bought mine at.  I said that sounded like a winner and my wife and I went up to the store to look at what was available.

What was there was not much.  None of the trees available had the dual lighting feature, and most of the trees available were outside the 150 dollar price range Geno had mentioned.  My wife pointed this out and was upset.  Not really upset at Home Depot or Geno, but upset at the thought of having to find another tree that she liked and would be happy with.  I think Geno saw this and made another offer to us.  "I'm feeling really generous at the moment" were his exact words to my wife, and offered her whatever tree she liked right then for the same price we paid for the original defective tree!

I was floored and my wife was too.  She looked around and pointed to the Martha Stewart T-2 style tree and said that one.  A little while later after returning the defective tree and paying 59.00 dollars for the newer tree, I had loaded it in the van and driven home.  Everyone was happy, and Home Depot and Geno had saved our Christmas.

Our new Martha Stewart Christmas tree from Home Depot

So to everyone out there, a public thank you to Home Depot and Geno Specifically for their help and out of this world customer service!  I am my family greatly appreciate it very much.

Merry Christmas all!

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of the day!

A Conversation With My Nutritionist

Next month marks the sixth month anniversary of my having a sleeve gastrectomy and with that anniversary comes a couple of very important follow up visits for me.  One of them is my follow up with my surgeon, in which blood work will be done, along with certain measurements taken.  The other follow up happened today.  That follow up was with the nutritionist who works with the surgeons at the hospital I was sleeved at, Forrest Park Medical Center in Dallas, TX.

I had several questions for her that I needed answered.  Questions such as:

1. Do I need to count net carbohydrates or gross?
2. Am I eating too much?
3. What should my ideal weight be; what should I be aiming for?
4. How should I nutritionally balance my meals?
5. How should I nutritionally prepare for race days?
6. Is it okay to use fuel gels during an endurance race?
7. How should I eat to recover after a race is finished?

After going over my weight loss so far and my exercise habits, Sarah (the nutritionist) was very complimentary over what I had accomplished so far.  She told me that it normally took most sleeved patients a year or more to lose 130 pounds and that I was doing quite well for the time I had been sleeved.  She was also complementary on my running and circuit training that I do.

But onto the questions and her answers.

Q:  Do I count net calories or gross calories?  (For those who may not know the difference, Net calories are calories burned during exercise (not BMR/Sedentary burn), minus calories eaten)
A:  I need to count net calories, especially when I am on my exercise or run days.  My net calories need to be between 950 and 1200, which could put my gross calories for those days at anywhere from 1800 to 2500.

Q:  Am I eating too much?  (Please understand that my current caloric intake right now averages about 1000 to 1100 calories, and there are times when the calorie count can reach upwards of 1800 or more, even though my daily goal is 950.)
A:  No I am not.  Right now my caloric intake should be between 950 to 1200 calories on the days in which I don't run or exercise, and up to double that on the days I do run and/or exercise.

Q:  What should my ideal weight be; what weight should I actually be aiming for?
A:  According to the nutritionist, the ideal body weight for my height and body structure should be 178.  However, because I am old and decrepit, well, old enough that my skin really no longer has the elasticity it used to have, the body weight I need to shoot for would be 210.  That would also be with approximately 20 pounds of excess skin hanging on my body.
(It will be nice when I am able to have plastic surgery to have that excess skin removed, but that surgery will not happen for at least another year.)

Q:  How should I nutritionally balance my meals?
A:  Right now my nutritional balance for my meals should be be as follows:
      On days that I do not exercise:

• 80 to 100 grams of protein

• 80 to 100 grams of carbohydrates

• 30% of calories dedicated to be fat grams

      On days that I do exercise:

• 160 to 200 grams of protein

• 160 to 200 grams of protein

• 30% of calories dedicated to fat grams

Q:  How should I nutritionally prepare for race days?
A:  To nutritionally prepare for the days in which I race, whether it is a 5K, 10K, 8M, Half Marathon or Marathon, the nutritionist informed me that I need to start fueling up about three days before the race.  To fuel up properly I will need to start eating as if I had run or completed my circuit training that day, doubling up on both carbohydrates and protein and increasing my caloric intake as well, to 1800 to 2000 calories for those three days.  She also told me that it didn't matter what foods I ate for the carbohydrate count as long as it had carbohydrates.  (So I don't just have to eat pasta.)

Q:  Is it okay to use to use fuel gels during an endurance race?
A:  Absolutely.  If I am going to do endurance races longer than 10K I was encouraged by the nutritionist to make sure I use them to ensure I have the fuel to complete the race.

Q:  How should I eat to recover after a race is finished?
A:  The nutritionist told me that I needed to eat a balanced carbohydrate/protein "meal" as soon after the race as possible.  This could be anything from a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to a commercially prepared protein shake.  Usually the meal needs to be eaten within 30 minutes after the finish of the race.

So after my talk with the nutritionist, I feel confident that I have been doing and eating the right things and the right way.  I was concerned that I might have stretched out my sleeved stomach, but that is not the case.  As I continue on this journey of weight loss and healthy living, I can honestly say, so far, so good.

Thanks for reading.  Have a great rest of the day!

Review of The 45th Annual Capital One Bank Dallas YMCA Turkey Trot

I ran the Dallas Turkey Trot for the first time this past Thanksgiving and it was quite the experience.  This was my fourth race to run ever and I knew it would be a large race in terms of how many people would participate, but I am not sure I was prepared for over 30,000 people running with me. 

The scene in front of me approximately 35 minutes before the race started.

Humanity begins massing behind me to start the race.  By the time the race started, over 30,000 people had lined up.

The atmosphere of the race felt very carnival like to me with face painting, bounce houses, live music, radio stations reporting live from the race site and other family oriented activities on site.

The weather for the race was absolutely gorgeous with lots of sunshine and high clouds.  The temperatures were in the upper 50s and the wind, when blowing was very light.  A perfect day for running. 

The event had starting lines for the timed runners and depending on what you thought your average per mile time would be is where you lined up.  For me I took a chance and lined up at the 8:45 - 9:15 line and waited 35 minutes for the start to happen.  During the wait, people were loosening up by stretching, jumping in place, and hitting the occasional oversized beach ball that was floating among the crowd.  Some people even started dancing to the Village People's "YMCA" as it played during this time.

At 8:59 participants in wheelchairs were started, so that they could have a head start on those of us running behind them.  At 9:00 the horn sounded and we started filing towards the starting line.  Notice I said "filing" towards the starting line.  I estimate that between me and the official starting line, there were probably 300 people with blue racing bibs on, meaning they had paid to be timed during this race.  So when the horn sounded, you had 300 people moving to get started.  I was towards the back of the 300, so I needed to shuffle and walk to the starting gate.

When I arrived at the starting gate and started my run on Nike+ on my iPhone, I saw why it had taken me almost a minute and a half to simply move 400 feet.  The crowd had surged from the initial 300 or so to literally thousands of people ahead of me!  Everyone the announcers had asked to move to the back of the line, people with strollers, people with dogs on leashes, people with yellow race bibs on who had not paid to be timed, were in front of me!

It wasn't until I watched the race on TV Saturday that I saw why this had happened.  People who were participating in the race, regardless of how they were participating, had lined up on both sides of the street ahead of the start gate and when the timed runners started, they jumped in the front of the runners!  It took me over 2 1/2 minutes to weave my way past strollers, dogs on leashes, walkers and very slow runners, just to get to the point that I could open up my racing pace and get moving.  This is the one takeaway from this race that I was sorely disappointed in.  I firmly believe that if people like me are going to pay extra to be timed in a race event, then the organizers of the event should make a way for those paying extra to be able to start the race without interference from those who chose not to be timed.  I wonder what my time for this race would have been if I had not had to dodge and weave those first few minutes of the race.

My first mile pace?

Once I was past the slower throngs of people and animals and strollers, I caught up with the other runners and matched pace with quite a few.  I have to admit that running through Dallas' Deep Ellum District was really cool and viewing the downtown skyscrapers really made this run memorable.  

My second mile pace?

Once I hit mile two, I started getting my second wind and I hit a really good pace.  I had set the Nike+ running app to provide me with an update as to my distance and pace every minutes, so I knew about where I was distance wise, as well as how much further I had to go, and what my pace was.  With that I could calculate about when I would finish this race.  Between mile two and three, I decided to really go all out and see if I could break that 30 minute barrier I had been trying to reach.

My third mile pace?

After I hit the third mile marker, I was beginning to tire, but I made the decision to not stop, nor slow down.  I felt I could make it in under 30 minutes and I was not going to quit.  At the end I crossed the finish line strong, then slowed down and stopped to catch my breath.  I have to admit the last two tenths of a mile where the hardest.

But I did it.  I crossed the finish line officially at 29:25 for my fourth Personal Record in a row. 

I'll be honest here; I really think that I could have crossed the finish around 27 minutes or so, but for having to dodge the crowd at the beginning.  Nonetheless, I'm happy with the results.  Next year I'll know where to place myself to start the race.  Next year I'll be faster.  Next year I'll be running the eight mile race.

My race results from the Turkey Trot

Overall this is a fun race with lots of activities for the entire family.  It is a race that I will bring the family to next year, and one that I highly encourage all of you to attend in one way or another.

Happy Thanksgiving 2012!

Happy Thanksgiving Day to each and everyone of you!  Yes, this is a day early (it's Wednesday, November 21, 2012) but tomorrow, with the exception of the Dallas Turkey Trot I am running in, will be devoted to family and friends.

Please take the time out to remember what you are thankful for and don't forget to give thanks to the One who is our provider and savior, Jesus Christ.

 So from us here at Dad To 2 (Eric, Angela, Chloe and Morgan) we wish all of you a happy and safe Thanksgiving!