Light and Speedy... Kind of...

October goal - 219 lbs. Actual weight this morning - 219 lbs.

Check that goal off the list! November's will be difficult with the holiday, but not impossible with a 75 mile goal! I'll be satisfied if I can reach 215 lbs by the end of the month. Anything more than that is icing on the cake that I can't eat.

Running for Candy

6 miles
55 min, 9:10 min/mile pace

You read that right. Today was all about offsetting the candy binge that thankfully never happened. After a few pieces of candy I was done. Some call it being healthy; I call it getting old. Not a bad run. Running down 24th between 91st and
Tower was difficult, but I have to break the 5 - 6 mile ceiling for long runs if I want to be prepared for the Rock n' Roll Half in February. So far so good, but I may have to break down and get some sort of hydration belt if I'm going to keep this up. Anything over 4 miles and I'm getting bad dry mouth.

Easy run tomorrow if I can. Final mileage for October was 65. Not bad for me, but its getting kicked up in November to 75 miles. That's the goal anyway. We'll see how it turns out.

10/30 Run

3.24 miles
33:30 min, 10:19 min/mile

Got up early again to knock out a few easy miles before starting the day. At least it wasn't raining today, but I had cookies for breakfast so that probably negated anything that the run did for me. Other than that there were some errands, a trip to Publix and lots of NFL on tv.

I almost made it to the driving range today, but a little twinge in my upper back made me a little apprehensive. That got pushed to sometime this week. With all the holidays coming up it's getting more important to get reps in on the practice range to get the swing plane where it needs to be, maintain touch around the greens, etc. Depending on if I get a Monday through Friday job or stay with Lowe's I will either be entering amateur qualifiers or Monday qualify for a few regional Hooters, Nationwide or PGA Tour events until the decision whether to enter Q-School or play on the NGA Hooters Tour is made later in 2012. No matter what happens, there's a lot of hours of work in the future to chase that goal.

10/29 Run

4.2ish miles
43:24 min

We woke up to rain, but as it turned out the main part of the storms had already passed and it was down to a drizzle. Still, I was a little too nervous to bring my phone with the iMapMyRun app so I had to settle for estimating based on previous runs. I did want to go out again later in the day, but prior obligations and a horrible Georgia/Florida game took up the rest of the daylight. Oh well, there's always tomorrow morning!

The Birds

Conventional knowledge states that strapping a plastic owl to a tree branch will scare the birds away and keep my car a lot better looking, assuming of course that some vindictive squirrel doesn't chew through the wire, giving me another dent I'm too lazy to repair.

Hedwig was $12.38 and sat quiet in my passenger seat like a sullen grandmother. I propped him up against the dashboard to get a picture, but after a sudden turn I looked over to see him staring out the window and into the sun.

I use to wonder what Nana stared at on our road trips to Myrtle Beach or Ocala when I was growing up. She never would say and I never figured it out until years later, but she would always find something to criticize or complain about. I have a hard time thinking that her goal in life was to find fault in things, but maybe it was. I remember one summer, a year or two after my grandfather died, her, my mom and I were constantly fighting. None of us could have remembered how it started, but it kept going on for weeks. Finally, on Mom's birthday we got the news that she booked the three of us for a week in Myrtle Beach. When we got there our room just happened to be a few doors down from the room where my grandfather died from a heart attack. We went about our vacation and nobody realized until after we got back that we were quiet the whole time. No arguments, harsh words, criticisms or outbursts from me despite being dragged to an outlet mall with no decent toy store in sight. Of course, as soon as we got back to Marietta it didn't take long for her to get back to normal, but in Myrtle Beach the years we went until high school started and baseball kept us busy all summer she was different. We all were.

"I wish I could be a real bird," he probably thought. Instead he's stuck in a box. Pretty soon he'll be out of sight and mostly out of mind, but always above us, glaring down in his angry and judgemental way, but always protecting us.

Biggest Loser

Not many people know that during my senior year at Flagler College my weight ballooned up to 265 lbs, mainly because my only exercise was sucking in my gut.  Thankfully, I carry weight well and didn't look like a disgusting blob, but everything I did either had bad results or was harder because I was heavier.  Golf was out of the question. My flexability was shot, but I was still coordinated and strong enough to compensate and keep my scores respectably in the 70's and low 80's, but cracking 70 consistently wasn't going to happen.  Running caused pain, not just soreness, in my knees, hips and back.  Going to the gym was a commitment I didn't make at that time, and as a result I had the body I deserved.

After college I worked outside at a golf course supervising the cart guys and a lot of the weight fell off.  I was also living on the beach, and even though it was embarrassing to go, I still went with different roommates almost every day.  When a business partner and I started a small construction company, my weight got down to around 210, and ever since 2003 I've fluctuated between 210 and 235.  No matter how hard I worked, visited the gym, etc, I wasn't able to shed the weight.

Last year, She Who Must Be Obeyed and I joined Gainesville Health and Fitness, began walking and occasionally running together and had a lot of success. Despite completely losing focus for months on end which resulted in problems, the least of which was weight, the focus has come back.  On May 1st, weighing 235 again, I set a goal of getting back to a respectable weight, shape and lifestyle.  I assumed that 200 would be a reasonable goal, but after reading a few bio's on PGA Tour players with my same height and body type, I realized that that was a little short sighted.  With October 31st approaching and the 219 lb goal coming fast (plateau during the summer, change in job, excuses excuses), I'm realizing the gravity of the situation.  One of my favorite shows is the Biggest Loser, admittedly because I love laughing at some of the people on there, but watching and hoping that others will succeed.  Thinking back to me at 265, then 235 and now that I'm at 219, it's amazing to think that when I reach my goal of 180 lbs, I'll be 85 lbs lighter than I was at my heaviest.  That's almost one She Who Must Be Obeyed... or it is one...  I have no concept of her weight and she'll probably keep that number with her to her grave.

I heard somewhere that there's a greater accountability when you publicly state your goals.  Over time I'm sure I'll state several goals relating to golf, running or other life related things.  As for weight, I started at 235 on 5/1.  The goal is 180 by the time the next 5/1 rolls around.  That's 55 lbs in a year, just over a pound a week.  So far, the summer heat and a plateau hurt the progress.  When 11/1 arrives I'll either be 219 or a few lbs under that, but no matter the number I'll be behind schedule.  With cool weather coming up and the prime running season here I'm expecting big things.  Gainesville Health and Fitness is just around the corner, so I may look into renewing that membership as well.  It's time to get going. 16 lbs down, 39 lbs (ish) to go.

10/26 Run - UF

4.32 Miles
40:19 min, 9:20 min/mile pace

The usual practice is to go to UF (The University of Florida for all non-Gainesville readers) after my weekly guitar lesson and run stairs at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.  Tonight I wasn't in a stairs mood so I figured to change it up a little I'd run around campus.  My route took me from the stadium parking lot on Gale Lemrand to University to a side street that runs by a the law school and golf course down to 34th.  Right when I turned off University onto the side street, some guy in a car yelled "FUCK YOU!!!".  I'm not sure why, but then I can't explain the reasons why my college roomates and I decided to egg people a few times my sophmore year.  One of these days kharma will catch up to me from all the crap we did back then.

The rest of the run down 34th, by the Rec Center and down Museum Road went well.  The hills at the end on Museum and Gale Lemrand weren't great, but it was a nice way to end the workout.  All in all, pretty uneventful, though I'm betting that if I keep going that route I'll end up dodging an egg or some passenger seat projectile at some point.  Can't blame them though. Kids being kids.  God... 32 and calling 18 year olds kids... Help...

10/24 Run

3.17 miles
28:11 minutes, 8:52 min/mile pace

Ran intervals, at least that's what I call them, along the regular loop tonight. Basically I alternated between a slow pace and a pace way above my goal race pace every time I crossed a road. To wind up with an 8:52 min/mile average tells me I didn't slow down too much between the up tempo sections.

Nothing much going on tonight. It was a nice off day even if I didn't make it out to a course or the driving range. Hopefully I'll get a chance this week if work isn't too crazy, and hopefully I'll get some news later in the week about a possible new job!

Review - Lloyd Clarke Sports

Located at 1504 NW 13th Street in Gainesville, FL, Lloyd Clarke Sports is a fixture in the local running community.  Despite larger stores such as Sports Authority, Dick's Sporting Goods and various Foot Lockers, Champs Sports, etc scattered around Gainesville and Ocala, LCS has the largest variety of running shoes for all running styles from minimalist to extreme cushioning in the area.  In addition to running shoes, they also have a wide variety of running and cycling apparel, hydration equipment from vendors such as CamelBak and Nathan, compression clothing from Zoot, Under Armour and 2XU, and an excellent inventory of baseball, softball, disc golf, volleyball and football equipment and apparel.

I realize that that sounds like anything you'd typically read in a newspaper review, but I had to get that out of the way first.  I will admit that I'm extremely biased, but I have an excellent reason.  As any man who has a shoe size over 12 or 13 will tell you, finding their size is nearly impossible.  We all understand that those sizes aren't a great seller and in the past larger sizes have collected dust for months only to be thrown on the clearance table and sold at a loss. We get that. However, because our sizes are so hard to find in anything other than basketball shoes, we as a group tend to not be the most discriminating buyers when it comes to running shoes.  I spent years wandering into a Payless and walking out with the most comfortable size 14 running shoe out of the few that I found.  While some were a great bargain, few ever fit right.

A year or so ago we walked in and were immediately greeted by a few different employees.  Seeing as how I'm not the biggest fan of being hounded by a salesperson (who is?) I was a little apprehensive.  As we made our way around the store nobody stayed on top of us or got in our way, but they were always close enough to answer any questions we may have had.  When we made our way back to the shoes, one of the girls who was working at the time asked several questions regarding our running styles, brands we've worn in the past, type of foot strike, etc and made her recomendation based on the information we gave her.  The shoes she picked out would not have been our first choice, but after walking around the store and especially after the first few runs at home, her picks turned out to be exactly right.  Yesterday was the third pair of shoes I've purchased from there, in addition to headbands, socks, 13.1 stickers and various other things over the past year, and the experience has been identical every time with every employee I've dealt with.

Recently, Lloyd Clarke Sports has installed two treadmills which allow them to examine your foot strike, gait and other key aspects of your style in order to be as accurate as possible in reccomending a shoe that fits your needs.  Despite having shoes ranging from $50 to $150+, their reccomendations are never based on price.  I don't have a rating system yet, seeing as how this is the first review for Fairways and Pavement, but if you're in the Gainesville area and you're a runner, jogger or walker, it's definitely a place to check out!

10/23 Run

3.17 miles
33:06 min, 10:26 min/mile pace

Basically crawled out of bed, into warm clothes and went for a run. We didn't get passed, but we didn't pass anybody besides walkers... Probably because it was 41 degrees out when we started.

Woke up this morning (Monday) with a little cough, which I mainly van blame on a snotty little toddler behind me at church who kept coughing right behind my head. That's what I get for skipping last night in favor of college football but hey, at least the games were good, Florida was off so they couldn't lose again and I was able to finish work early to get back home to watch it all.

Running in the Dark

3.23 miles
30:33 min, 9:28 min/mile pace

Ran at 7 pm last night, which wasn't the greatest idea since most of the regular loop is on a sidewalk that winds its way between lighted sections before diving into the woods for longer stretches. The first mile is pretty straightforward, and in the nice cool weather I covered that in around 8 minutes, but after that I had to slow down every time I went into the woods to make sure I didn't run into any trees.  The last mile was spent dodging Oktoberfest partygoers, so there went any hopes for a sub 9 min pace.  Maybe a little headlamp wouldn't be a bad idea with the days getting shorter, but how much of a nerd am I really willing to be?

If It Wasn't Attached

I would lose my head. Seriously, how do you get everything ready to go to a guitar lesson with the plan to run afterward and forget your shoes? Guess I'll be running in the morning.

On a side note, I have a lunch meeting tomorrow to go over a few job options with a local insurance company. Hopefully something will be a good fit. I'm currently commuting 40ish miles one way to work. The job is good, but the position I'm in depends on both management and coworker support. Needless to say, when you have somewhat bitter coworkers who feel like they're underpaid and undervalued you don't end up with a great ally. Add managers who have too much on their plate already and you end up with scenarios right out of 'Dilbert'. Every workplace has its problems, right?

Isabella Update

3 days in her new home so far and it's been discovered that she, or 'Torti''s in general, can be on the crazy side. She's very sweet and will probably not have too much trouble fitting in, but she does have her moments. One minute she's purring and the next she decides she's had enough and begins to growl. What I found out today is that if you ignore her she'll eventually start to purr again, although the danger of her turning to bite is still present.

Just like a woman.

Another few days and I'll try again to introduce her to her new feline companions. Tried today and yesterday, but the stress is getting a little much for them. Too much too soon, but there are a few good signs and no aggression from anyone so far.

10/17 Run

3.19 miles
28:04 min, 8:48 min/mile pace

Not a bad day. Speed work today was basically the same loop as always, just faster. The thought being that I need to do more than just put up mileage for mileage sake.

I've been scouring all the Runners World magazines lying around for more ideas, but most of what I find involves measurements in meters. I guess that means estimating using landmarks since the only track I know of is at Kanapaha and the idea of doing sprints in front of all that Tower Road traffic doesn't sound like a good time to me.

Why the Weight

May, 2011 - 235 lbs

October 15, 2011 - 219 lbs

Goal - 180-185 lbs

For any goal you're suppose to write it down somewhere. I forget why, something to do with accountability. I was tired of feeling unhealthy, tired of the guilt associated with eating what I had conditioned myself into believing was great tasting fast food only to feel bad about myself immediately afterward and tired of shoveling and junk food lying around into my mouth just because it was offered or I was bored.

So far its been going well, aside from being sidelined for most of August and September with a pulled calf/Achilles. Barring injury, I hope to be close to 200 lbs for the Rock n' Roll St. Pete Half in February. The holidays will be difficult, especially since a week and a half in December will be spent traveling in Georgia and Missouri, but a little cold never stopped anybody ... except maybe the Donner party...

Change of Pace, 10/16 Run

3.17 miles, 28:52 min
9:06 min/mile pace

I've been told in a nice way that I bounce like Tigger when I run. When I started running again in May I weighed 235 lbs, so grace was not my forte. Now, at 219 lbs, it's a little easier to work on form, which is why over the past few weeks I've been playing with stride length, tempo etc to try and make running easier on my knees until the rest of the weight comes off.

The September 2011 issue of Runners World had a short story about pace and a pretty good argument for a high cadence while maintaining a shorter stride based on research using data from the 1984 Olympics. Using that same logic and the suggested workout, reaching and maintaining the Olympic standard of 180 steps per minute is way out of my reach, but a pace in the 150's or high 140's (by my random counts) resulted in a pretty good time for me. With the 2012 Rock n' Roll St. Pete Half Marathon approaching in February, my goal pace of 9 minute miles might be a little easier to reach.

10/13 Run

4.84 miles
47:48, 9:52 min/mile pace

Slow. Legs have felt heavy lately and I had no idea why until I added up my mileage so far this month. 35 is a lot for me, so the rest of the month will be tricky to mix in speedwork and long runs while trying to keep the quality up and the junk miles to a minimum.

New Addition

Tomorrow, if all goes according to plan, Isabella will be in her new home before dinner! How the current furry residents react will determine if she stays, but we've been told to give it a few weeks at the very least because of her age, etc.

A little background - A family had her for 13 years, decided to get a dog and dropped her off at some shelter where she picked up some sort of infection. Animal People found her, placed her in a foster home to get better then set her up at the Gainesville PetSmart where she's been for a few weeks now.

No doubt there will be drama as she's getting use to her new home. Hopefully this won't result in a trip to the ER for me for stitches.

Lack of Creativity

When I sat down to create a blog it took two days to figure out the name. It's not the most creative name, but it's not the worst I've seen either. Fairways and Pavement is about me. Specifically, it's a chronicle of my hobbies, golf and running, life with, as David Feherty lovingly puts it, She Who Must Be Obeyed, our two (possibly soon to be three) cats and some completely random things found around the internet thrown in for good measure. While I can't always vouch for the maturity level, I hope I at least keep it interesting!

More to come later!