I feel great…now. I made a small mistake today, I slept in. This gave time for the Sun to come up and steam everything. So needless to say, at least I know I can take a little bit of uncomfortableness, if that is a word? I have a long road ahead of me but my day will be here quicker than I could imagine. I have a brand new farmer’s tan. A reminder to wake up before the Sun comes out tomorrow. I’m thinking 5am? Hip pain? A little. More of it is before and after I do anything. I will say this it keeps me stretching throughout the day. Maybe that is a good thing. We’ll see.

9:00 pm – Just realized I wasn’t supposed to go out today…Nice. Don’t tell anyone…

Great day today, I woke up a little stiff, okay really stiff but that is what stretching is for. I am getting back into the swing of things as my sleeping habits are perfect for a pre-dawn workout. I look to keep it that way. Not much to write about except that things are beginning to go as planned. Oh, it is about time for some new shoes. Until tomorrow, be great!!!

I’ve been away for a while and this week, we are back to it. I spent some time to myself and did a lot of thinking. I would love to say my hip is 100% better but it isn’t. I have a feeling it will continue to get better though. Either I have a super high pain tolerance or there really isn’t that much pain when I workout. I will be shooting a lot of video but there will be much more blogging before I begin posting up videos. Gonna accumulate some videos and then begin posting them over the next couple months or so. That is just for me as it takes the pressure of putting up a video on a certain day every week. I will put them together and have them at the ready  and when the times comes, well, it comes. Here goes nothing. Be great!!!

So where do I start? Let’s go back to May 11, 2010. I received a call with the news that I would have to drive alone. No problem there I was willing to do whatever it took to get to Green Bay for the race. I can’t say I would have flown if I would have known earlier. I really hate to fly. Well, I left on the 12th on a trip of about 1600 miles by myself. I have to say it was quite relaxing that first day, I was in the car for about 12 hours or so when I finally decided to stop. I felt I would get a good sleep and sleep in until my body told me it was time to wake up and that is just what I did. When I woke up I felt pretty good and I went on my way again this time for a bout 9-10 hours. I was going to try to push it through to get to Green Bay but I was kind of exhausted at that point so a rest was in order. On comes the third day which is Friday and I drove the final stretch into Green Bay. I made it at about 4:30pm and I went straight to the YMCA. I had a shorter than I thought run and I did some weights since I missed them the day before. I figured I would try to do my normal routine. I needed a room! I found one. I pretty much relaxed all night and on Saturday I was coached to do nothing (which I think may have saved me on Sunday) so I spent time with my kids and that was pretty amazing in itself. I went to bed that night around 10:30 and I think I woke up every hour on the hour. Finally, at 4am I got up. I figured there was no use sleeping any longer. I wasn’t tired or anything and I actually felt fine. Except for the fact that if given the chance I would go back to bed and try to go back to sleep, but who wouldn’t at 4am? A friend met me at my hotel and we went to the stadium. Time passed and the race started. Now when I crossed the start line I did my best to keep my pace, not everyone else’s pace. That could get me in trouble. I did that and I felt fine I even actually started noticing how I was passing people who were walking where as in the last half I finished when I was jogging I was getting passed by people walking so for a few minutes my confidence began to grow. Then out of nowhere my right hip just locked up on me and slowed me way down, when I tried to jog it was too painful, so I couldn’t. At that point I knew it was going to be a long race. I wasn’t going to let it stop me though. I did this race to get the monkey of failing the two previous to this off of my back. I wasn’t going to drop three in a row. Besides in my mind there were personal reasons as to why I couldn’t finish those. This one, if I had to roll, was going to be completed. After the initial disappointment of knowing I wasn’t going to put in the times I set out for myself to hit I moved on. By about mile 3 I knew I would finish, I tried to jog again, nope. I pushed on. I crossed the finish line with even more of a hunger to work harder and be prepared for that race on Halloween. I have plenty of work to do and I look forward to putting in that work. The monkey is off my back and that bad taste no longer exist so I am glad for that. I have video but I am having some technical difficulties with the software that I use for my videos. Hopefully I am able to put together my video soon. I am leaving town again now to see some other parts of the country. Cool thing there is I should have a lot of video in quite a few different states. That will be interesting too. After my vacation I have a strict regiment planned for the next 5 months. Things are about to get interesting. Be great!!!

Excellent news, the race was a success. I have a lot to tell and a lot of video to post up. It was exciting, and I am glad to have this monkey off of my back, now it is time to continue to work hard and make it an excellent summer to get ready for October 31. I will be blogging about the race in a few days and will finally get some new video up. Be great!!!

So I am about 1300 miles into my road trip and I have only 300 miles or so left. Perfect!!! The best part about it is I woke up this morning still an hour ahead so here I am thinking it was about to be 10am but it is really only about to be 9. That just about made my day. I will tell you what, I am in serious need of a workout. When I get into Green Bay this afternoon I will be getting off whatever exit that is in Allouez and stopping at the YMCA before anything else. It is the YMCA I used to go to when I could only do 7 minutes on the treadmill, when I get there I will do 6 miles. Then I will hit the weights. I’m pretty sure I will be super tired after sitting in the car for another five or six hours but I didn’t drive all the way up here by myself to make excuses. Workout this afternoon and a short run Saturday morning before I go pick up my packet and all that good stuff. Depending on where I am I may do my Saturday morning run outside. Today will be the first time I have been on a treadmill since last summer when something inside me clicked again around July. I had gone back up to the 390 lb range and it seemed like everything was crumbling, I didn’t let it. Can you tell I am fired up this morning?

I did the Cellcom in 2008 at 380 lbs. This year I will be almost 100 lbs lighter. I am definitely not satisfied though, I have a lot of work left to do. There is nothing like the people in Green Bay so I look forward to having them cheer me on. After the race I drive back home then a week from there I am on the road again. This time I know for a fact I won’t be alone so there will be plenty of footage. It’s going to be pretty cool getting video in places like Nevada, California, and who knows where else. If we go along as planned I will hit 22 states, 6 of them I have never been to. It will be just what I need to fuel me for the summer I have planned for myself. Stay tuned…

It’s time for me to get back on the road, be great!!!

I drove about 12 hours or so yesterday and I am feeling the effects of that this morning. I wouldn’t be able to go do a race at this very moment if you paid me. Well, maybe I could. I am hoping to make it later tonight that way I can sleep in on Friday and get a good workout, then Saturday get my short run in. If anything, I can stop tonight and make it there on Friday afternoon and get a workout in then. I don’t want to over do it. On the road again, be great!!!

Leaving for Green Bay in a few minutes. The race is Sunday, time to get the bad taste of a couple of these other races out of my mouth. I’m driving up, I had someone to drive with me but they backed out at the last minute so I will make the trip solo. Gotta do what you gotta do! Not much to say but I will have more than enough to say in the upcoming days. Be great!!!

Another Thursday and Friday complete as we head into the weekend, and what a weekend it should be. I have a pretty long run to do and it should let me know what I am all about as the race is just a few weeks away. I have video footage but I kind of want to get my long run in the video this week. The long run video is one I have been trying to shoot for over a month now. I think this weeks will be different though. Anyway, let’s talk about my workouts the last couple of days. As for the weights yesterday, I like to switch up what I do for each body part and it seems to keep my body guessing. I have been pretty sore since late evening yesterday, it is fantastic. As for my run it was 6 miles. I’m beginning to think six miles is never going to feel short to me like three miles does. I don’t know, maybe one day but not right now. I have to be honest, my body feels good and beat up but it is a good beat up. I’m looking forward to checking my time on the long run this weekend and seeing where I stand, it should be fun. tomorrow I have a four miler though so I will take care of that business first. Be great!!!

I have to say I feel pretty good. Mentally and physically that is. 10.5 miles over the last 2 days and a weight regiment coming up tomorrow that will keep my body strong. I’m for sure starting to feel my body really respond to what I am doing. I will say the weather, even before the Sun comes up in the morning isn’t as nippy as it used to be. As a matter of fact I can feel a lot more humidity in the air. Hey, at least it makes me feel like I am working hard. I have such a good vibe around me now it is amazing. I can’t explain to you the confidence I feel with everything. Come race day I have to make sure I use all this energy up, it will be fun. Be great!!!