I woke up today and I didn’t feel like doing anything so I went back to sleep. I woke up a couple hours later and thank goodness it was a different story. I went to the gym and got a great workout in. I’m able to do more and more each time it seems and I love the feeling. Miami is a big place but I guess it isn’t that big. As I stand up from doing a set of bent over rows me and a friend spot each other and that was pretty cool. I hadn’t seen him since him and his team won the college football national championship in 2000. We spoke for a while and I’m glad now there will be another person at the gym that I know to workout with from time to time. Not much to speak about today, I rested my legs from the 6 miles outside today and will get back to it hopefully bright and early tomorrow morning. I’m starting to look at races later in the year and into early next year so as soon as I am ready to sign up for some I will post them here. This time around, these will get done. I am working extremely hard to make that so. Today was a very good day, we will do it again tomorrow.

Getting ready to go outside for a 5 miler and I figured I would write a little before I went out. I’m not feeling the the greatest today, I’m not sick or anything I just really miss my kids. I haven’t seen them since April and today is one of those days when being without them gets to you. I could lie here in bed all day and feel sorry for myself but I figured I would get out here and stick to my routine and continue to make myself better. Hopefully after the exercise I will be feeling a lot better. I guess we will see because I will be back to blog about it. I also want to blog about my weekend a little. I’ll be back soon…

Went outside today for a good one to lighten my spirits, well, I don’t have that down feeling I had earlier so that is a plus. Right now I am extremely tired. I set out to do 5 miles today and I ended up doing 6. I figured, why not. The people in the neighborhood are started to notice what I am doing, I was stopped today by some of them. that was pretty cool because now I feel like people are watching when I am out there so I push harder. All in all a good day outside today.

This past Sunday I met up with an old friend to support him on his sprint triathlon he was doing that morning. It was hot out there but it was fun. It was a tough one but me and a new friend I met through him gave him the support he needed to get the job done. I look forward to going to support him on the next one  and who knows maybe we can convince him soon to move up to the Olympic distance. Baby steps first, the swimming looks like a killer out there. Well done Steven.

It was a hot one today. I don’t think the temperature was hotter than the other day but this time I went out at noon and the Sun was high in the sky and none of the clouds wanted to cover it the whole time I was out there. I pushed through a tough five miles though and I feel better for it. Late night again last night and with it being Saturday today there is always room for the excuse to wait until Monday to get going again. I just felt like getting out there today though. It took a lot out of me and I knew it would because by the time I got to the first mile the heat had already taken quite a bit out of me. I just pushed on and tried to keep my mind wandering. Now for the rest of the day I will relax and recuperate, I will probably drinks tons of water throughout the rest of the day as I drank about 32 ounces since I have been back inside and my body is calling for little more. We are making progress and I can feel it getting a little easier every time I get outside. I love it.

Well hello!!!! It’s Thursday and I would say the day has started out great but the day is almost over. I took yesterday off as it was obvious to me when I woke up on Wednesday that it was needed. I relaxed most of the day today too until about 4 o’clock when i decided it was time to get my workout in for the day. I felt like I had a lot of energy when I went out today, it was still quite hot but every now and the i would get some cloud cover from the Sun. I knew at about 2.5 miles that I would do more than 3 miles today. I ended up doing a couple over that for 5 miles today and I think I am kind of starting to get used to the heat a little. I am feeling like I can do more everyday and I love the feeling. I still haven’t been able to conquer this minor insomnia (that’s what I will call it) at all so I just go to sleep when I feel like it. Last night was a little past 2 am again but I have a feeling the 5 miles today may have me sleeping like a baby in a few hours. I’m starting to wonder about races in the future. There is a month until the Marine Corps (which I am not sure I will be ready for but I’m already signed up) and I know there will be plenty of events in south Florida coming up through the end of the year and the beginning of next. I’m just thinking for now and I will see how well I come along here over the short term. It will all work out.

On another note I think I have found my place to go when I want something not totally on my diet. I found a little Colombian place last night because if I had eaten another celery stalk last night I was going to grow roots. I pulled into a parking spot in front of Subway, to go there, and this place was staring me right in the face. I can’t even remember the name of it right now but I will be going back for sure. I went in and the lady began speaking to me in Spanish then I told her my Spanish wasn’t to good and I think she figured it was good enough and kept speaking it to me. So I ended up getting some really good food (I can’t remember what it’s called but I remember where it is in the menu) all of which was not necessarily supposed to be in my diet but I figured if I am going to go off it from now on, it will be a place like that I will go to. Who am I kidding, it will be that place. It was small, quiet, and just to my liking. The food also did not make me feel like I did something wrong after I ate it. Well I figured I would tell on myself so there, I did it. I’ll give it a month then maybe I will go back.

Well I feel the soreness in my legs coming on, time to go use my foam roll. Until tomorrow.

Tuesday’s workout is done and the week has started out perfectly. Today I knocked off 3 more miles in the 1 million degree heat at noon. Other than being really hot I felt pretty strong near the end. I was tired but the weight training is really doing it’s job by keeping my muscles strong throughout my workouts. I shot some video today and I am getting ready to upload it. I’m kind of excited about that because I haven’t put up a video in a long long time, five months to be exact. This one is long overdue. It was a great day, I would love to say I am getting used to the heat but I am not sure that is really possible. I can say I am beginning to love what is happening right now. changes, changes, changes!!! I can feel it in the smallest things that I do like lying in the bed and turning over, it’s weird and I guess you have to be there to understand but please just take my word for it, don’t go there. Take care, make the rest of your day great and tomorrow we do it some more.

A great start to my second week here in Miami at the gym today. The only thing I think I need to change is putting in a few more calories into my body before I get there. I was running out of gas near the end of the workout today, Ifinished it up but I wouldn’t mind just popping up right after I am done and heading home instead of sitting for a few minutes to get my wits back. I guess that time will come. There were quite a few people in the gym when I went today but it still felt like I had the place all too myself. I do have one question. What is it with people and their cell phones in the gym? Did they come to work out or just look cool talking on the phone in the gym? It’s probably for twitter or facebook or something. i swear this one guy did like two and a half pull ups over a thirty minute span, the rest of the time he was on his phone. It was pretty funny. If it works for him, hey, Iwish him all the best. I still haven’t seen Master Luco yet, he works out at the Town & Country 24 hour fitness at 7am. I’m supposed to meet him there one of these days and I will soon that time just coincides with my outside cardio time for now. I’ll get to T&C one of these days. I’m looking forward to getting outside tomorrow morning, I know the soreness is about to set in tonight and I get to run it off tomorrow morning and it will feel good, it when feel even greater when I finish up tomorrow. It’s video time tomorrow, don’t know what I’m going to say but I am looking forward to it. It has been a long time and now that I feel like I’m fully back I am ready for it. I planned out my whole year this year and none of it went as planned but i am in a place now where they seem to have events in the area all the time so I can make up for the lost races from this year almost all year round. A friend of mine is doing a triathlon this weekend coming so I will be hanging out with them this weekend to check it out. I’m not going that far yet, I want to get the running down first. Today is great, tomorrow will be even better. Until then.

The only thing I have to say about today is WOW! The sun today was brutal, very brutal. I wanted to do a little more outside but I had to be smart about things and pack it up when I couldn’t hydrate myself fast enough. It was a great workout today and will only continue to get better from here. I am totally drained and I need a shower and probably a nap will be coming soon after that. I felt strong out there for most of the time just near the end is where I was totally sapped of any energy I had left. That let me know I worked hard out there today. The plan is to get out a little earlier tomorrow when the sun is not so high in the sky. Until then.

Alright, I hit my new gym today. It isn’t dead like the one in Phoenix but the job gets done just the same. There are plenty of people there and I like the feeling of just being lost in the shuffle there, I don’t know I felt like I was in my own world. I didn’t eat like I was supposed to before I left (oops) so by the end of my workout I was feeling a little woozy. I won’t do that again because maybe I could have done better with the weights. I feel I did great anyway, but who knows. It has been about an hour and the soreness is starting to kick in. I love the feeling of knowing you did something and this is it. So far my start to my journey in Miami has started almost perfectly, hopefully as the days and months go by it continues to get better. I love the fact I have something like this to focus on instead of getting into other things there is no need to get into. I guess sometimes things happen for a reason. Whatever the reason is for this, I really hope it is all worth it. I may not know if it is for a while but that is the chance I will take. Keeping my eyes on the prize. Tomorrow gets even better.

I made it to Miami safely and I am back in the swing of things. I have a membership at 24 hour fitness so it will never be too late or too early to work out. Today Idecided to start my cardio outside once and for all. Any other cardio at the gym will just be extra. The plan was to wake up around 6 am and get a 3 miler in, well I couldn’t sleep last night so I ended up getting up and going outside about 1pm. Yup, when it is really trying to be hot outside. It really wasn’t that bad, maybe 87 degrees the humidity was just way up there at about 70%. I can deal with the heat and apparently after today I can deal with the humidity. I was expecting much worse but Iwas strong the whole way through and that really boosted my confidence. I have to be honest though it did start sprinkling halfway through. Only in Miami can it be sunny and sprinkle at the same time. The usual aches and pains were happening also but in a normal way not in the way they used to for me. After a few minutes they went away and I felt really good. I have had a rough time sleeping the last couple nights but I am thinking tonight won’t be a problem at all. I am feeling pretty positive right now and I was this way before the workout so I know it is just how I am feeling today. In actually I really have nothing, yet I have everything. I have to say it is a weird feeling, things are almost perfect, almost. Pretty soon, I will be joining Master Luco on one of his 7 am workout sessions. I will let you guys know when I do that because it may be my last day on Earth. That is all for today because I just feel like rambling and that wouldn’t be good for you so until the next time. Be great!

Today I tried to shoot a video but I guess you could say couldn’t muster up the courage to do so. A lot has happened in my life during this year and I wanted to share it in a video today but instead I will blog it. A couple months after the half marathon last September my wife and I went through the process of getting a divorce. This was final in April 2009. She remains a great friend now and out of respect for her I will leave it at that. I moved to Phoenix, Arizona in April 2009  and a month later my job was eliminated. I have been without a job since May of this year. With that all being said I am leaving Phoenix, AZ today and heading back to my hometown of Miami, Florida. These two incidents were major things that happened to me this year and had a serious effect on me for a while. So much that my weight at one point had gone back up to 381 lbs. One day out of the blue, I came to my senses. I began to work out like never before and my diet was even better. I am proud to say that today I am in my 320’s which is the lowest weight I have been since 2001, that’s right I am getting near the 200’s again. Over the next few months I will be focusing mainly on my workout while I am in Miami. As for the workouts are concerned the stars are aligned for success when I get down there. I will also shoot my videos on a weekly basis again, even if I can’t film the workout I can at least talk to the camera. Today was supposed to be the Disneyland half marathon, however, I do not have the means to go further west then head all the way back east so I had to make the decision not to go to Disneyland this weekend. While I felt I was ready, things happen that sometimes we have no control over. As I post this message I am headed out the door on a 2400 mile trek that will hopefully be all worth it in the end. It has been a tough year but for whatever reason I am keeping my head high and finding positives out of things that may seem that way. I’m starting to think this Mr. Marathoner thing isn’t just about races but about life. See ya in about 5 days or so.