Still Going

I just wanna report with no fan-fare that I ran the entire outside loop of Wash Park tonight without stopping and it felt ... pretty GOOD! Steph and Lisa were my compadres in crime. Mom ... was at yoga. I am a runner. Say it again: I AM a runner. One more time: I am a RUNNER!

Bartender? A house Cabernet please. Yes, boxed wine is fine.

Cross Training

After dropping dad off at the airport for his trip to Nashville for the APSE (Association of Presbyterian Educators or something like that) and to visit Bee I arrived back home to the delight of Deacon and Isabelle and as I was eating my bowl of Kashi U cereal saw the perfect headline in the Fitness section of the Denver Post!

"Stretching to scrum - Ruby team cross-trains with yoga to stay flexible and mentally focused" EXACTLY! And my point is . . . (I am sure you are asking yourself at this point) although Rugby and Running are not exactly the same sport I can assure you that some days running is as scary to me as involving myself in one mean scrum. So, I am exuberant over several things this cold Monday morning.

1. We have until the end of April or first of May to be running 3 miles easily/comfortably
2. Yoga is officially recognized by fitness experts as the perfect cross training for flexibility and mental focus
3. I go to yoga at least 5 to 6 times per week and LOVE it.
4. I can scrapbook every night this week after yoga and not risk injury! : )

Well ...

Well, it's been cold and kinda gross here in Denver. Unusual weather for us. We all wish it would turn colder and snow or clear up and warm up. It's been very windy too.

So ... I have been running on the treadmill at 24 Hour Fitness. Running a mile, walking a half mile. Running a mile, walking a half mile. I can EASILY run 2-3 miles at this point. I am starting to feel good and, as promised, I am starting to look forward to it and ENJOY it.

The important thing for me is to go slow and ENJOY it. If I manage to lose weight, my speed will come down. But until then, I am just going to enjoy an 11-12 minute per mile training pace. For the actual race, I'd love to get my time down to 10 minutes a mile. But that's a stretch.

Mom had a set back when she realized how far ahead of our formal training schedule we actually are. I think she calculated that we have until the 1st or 2nd week of May before we must be running at least 3 miles at a comfortable, regular clip. She was VERY excited about this, so she has not run in this yucky weather. She HAS, however, gone to yoga almost every day.

I am starting to FEEL IT. Oh yeah, un huh. Bring it on!

Good Day

Today I ran for 30 minutes, even though everything was conspiring against me. The park was still wet, the weather wasn't great, I didn't have anyone to run with me, and my right knee is now the size of a watermelon... So I consider 30 minutes a huge SUCCESS! I must say Sexyback pushed me to finish strong. How are you doing parents??? Have the little darlings been out for round two?

Treading Lightly!

Okay everybody - now that I am back in Denver after being in Phoenix for 6 long days for ODP Championships I am able to post my "progress." Our hotel was sort of out in the burbs and a run in the neighborhood by myself was most definitely not advised. So . . . that left me with the sad option of the treadmill and/or elliptical machine in the hotel fitness room. I can report with a small level of pride that I did manage to log 3 miles on the treadmill 3 separate days and 2 miles on the elliptical (when the one treadmill in the exercise room was being used). I tried to run "light" on the treadmill so my knees wouldn't hurt but, that proved extremely difficult and I ended up swallowing all of the advil liquid gels that I took with me. Fortunately I did manage to pack enough scrapbooking supplies that when I had some down time between games I could occupy myself and be productive! We can do this family - we just have to "get out of the door!"

Ditto

Ditto to dad's post.

Enthusiasm has faded, and my body seems to have already taken a toll.  Knees hurt.  Foot hurts.  Back aches...

Do I have it in me?

I hope so!

I took the past two days off in hopes that my knees would stop aching.  They haven't.  So I just walked a long while today with Bacon Face.  He's out of shape too, so he was more than content with that decision.

Long, Long Road Ahead

The initial enthusiasm has faded.

I ran today.

I am an old, fat, tired man, and I have a long way to go.

I can do this.

I will.

John and the Terrible, Horrible, Very Bad Day

I write this post only so that my daughters will know that some days are like this.

It's Saturday. I am home alone. I read a Patricia Cornwell book until about noon. I went into my office and piddled on my sermon for about an hour.

Then, I got in the car and drove to the park. (The dogs bark constantly if we walk out the front door without them, so we have to fool them by driving to the park.)

It was a beautiful day. Sunny. Warm for January. Maybe mid-50's. I went to the track at South High, intending to run a variety of short, speedy runs: 100's, 400's and 800's. I walked out on the track, walked about 100 yards and decided it was too muddy to run on.

I got in my car. Drove across the parking lot to park adjacent to the park. I walked the entire inner loop. The place was packed! People everywhere like ants. Dogs galore.

After I walked one lap, I started to jog. I foolishly started my jog going up a hill. The sun was in my eyes. I was over-dressed and hot. I had to dodge people. There was goose poop everywhere.

I wasn't feeling it. I ran about 200 yards.

Stopped. Turned around. Walked to the car. And came home.

And some days are like that. I don't know why. They just are.

The important thing in life is to get up and try again tomorrow!

DOG TIRED!

I knew from the start that today was going to be a rough day... Megan was already sore from the day before and was sure to let me know that. The darling dog had problems from the start. So I thought it would be a great idea to let megs decide (well I gave her two options) what to do. I said you can choose how long we are going to run, the options 20 minutes in 5 minute intervals or 15 in 7:30.
She looked at me and said that 15 because it would be over sooner! Well after the first four minutes of our run Megan changed her mind. But she pushed through all 20 minutes and made me proud yet again! As for the dog he was far behind during the running portion and prancing ahead while we walked.
Ok... I must admit some fault in todays run. I thought since yesterday was a VERY difficult day megs and I should bring out i-pods to get us going during the running portion and it did just that! We ran much quicker than our usual pace. But go team another day under our belt!

2.3, Baby!

Erin Andrews: Dr. Bell? John? Sir? Erin Andrews, ESPN. May I have a minute of your time?

JB: Sure. Make it quick.

EA: How was your run?

JB: How the hell do you think my run was? It was hard. (starts walking to the car)

EA: One more question? How far did you run?

JB: Well, I walked a full inner loop - that's about 2.3, and then I ran a full inner loop.

EA: You ran a full inner loop? All 2.3?

JB: (Raises hands in celebration, swings head back and forth) Uh huh. Oh yeah! That's me!

EA: What was your time?

JB: (Mumbles something and coughs) I am in training. I can't give away my training tips. Suffice it to say that I completed the entire 2.3 track in one afternoon. That's all no more questions. It's almost cocktail hour.

EA: It's only 2:30?

JB: It's 5:00 somewhere, Erin. Do you want me to sign anything for you?

Hello?

Hi family,

Are you there?  How's your training going?

The Young Bells have now trained five days, almost consecutively.  Yesterday around five pm we walked for ten, ran for five, walked for five, ran for five, walked for five, ran for five and walked for ten.  That's a total of running fifteen minutes.  Not bad, eh?

(We've been mixing it up and drove to Piedmont Park so we could run more actually in the park, as opposed to making it to the park and it already being time to turn around and go home.)

Today, our goal: to run twelve and a half minutes consecutively.  Secretly, I was hoping to make it to fifteen.  HA!  My body finally caught up with me, and we ended up going with Plan B: walk for fifteen, run for ten without stopping, then walk for five and run for another five.  Meh, I'll take it.

I'm definitely noticing "cardio progress."  Progress... slowly... very slowly... but surely?!

Cheers!

My first mile?

It's Training Day 3, consecutive Day 2.  If you do the math, you'll realize we missed a day or two or three somewhere in there. But you can't very well go running on an ice skating rink?  Alas, the ice has started to melt away and the sidewalks are once again visible.

Yesterday, we walked for fifteen minutes (which will probably be a habit - our warm-up), ran for five, walked for five, ran for five, walked allll the way home.  It went well, although the last 45 seconds of our second run, did notsomuch.  I thought I wasn't going to make it.  But my Personal Trainer (aka Katie) pushed me through and helped me make it to our goal.

Today, our goal was to run 8 minutes consecutively.  We were thrilled that it was a warm forty plus degrees, as opposed to the recent temperatures in the teens.  So, we walked for fifteen and ran for TEN (and eighteen seconds to be exact)!  I know how pathetic that may seem, but running for ten consecutive minutes felt like a small little victory.  I can't wait for the day I can get a full cardio workout and run for thirty...

Day 2

So today was a beautiful Colorado Sunday and after one of those famous "drool on the pillow-deep REM sleep Sunday afternoon naps" we decided we really should get in our second day of training. The sun was rapidly setting and the temperatures (which actually almost reached 50 today) were beginning to drop like a rocket so we made the crucial decision to not include Deacon and Isabelle. This meant that we had to "sneak" out the back door and actually drive to the park to run so they would not have their feelings hurt that they were not invited. Having to cheat on your dogs is really sad . . . they so love the concept of running with us . . . it is just so hard to be the one on the other end of the leash dragging, cajoling, encouraging, and even bribing 200 plus pounds of chuncky clunky rottweiler to keep going!

Anyway - we drove to Wash Park and began with a brisk 15 minute walk to warm-up and then ran 20 minutes (yes, without stopping) on the inner loop - which brought us back to our car - how convenient. It actually felt great and even the heavy burden of guilt for not including our beloved rotties was lifted by the joy of checking day #2 off the LIST!

Day One for Old Bells

At exactly 2:12 pm on Saturday, January 9, John and Margaret started their training. It was 42 degrees, snow on the ground in the park and very sunny. We took the dogs, which was wise, because ultimately they were the ones to say "Enough! Stop!"

Since time in on our side, we decided to start run/walking from our house and around the inner loop at Washington Park. The whole trip from our house is about 2.7 miles-ish. We ran 5 minutes or so and walked, ran and walked. After the 3rd or 4th run, the dogs said, "This is nuts." It's not easy to drag or carry two Rottweilers home, so we walked home from the park.

I think it will be their first and last run of this training stretch.

Day Two?

I am just curious. Mildly. Was there a Day Two?

Mom and I are starting "this weekend."

The important thing to do is return to the point at which you started. For example, walk out the door to your apartment and run out 2 1/2 minutes and run back 2 1/2 minutes to your apartment. This is the key to success in my opinion.

The Beginning

Today marked the beginning of our 1/2 marathon training. It was a very successful first day, I already learned the trick of getting my sister out of bed... I bribe her with breakfast. I made smoothies this morning before we left, I feel that I know my sister well enough to know that food is going to be a good motivation.
As we began the journey today she reminded me over and over how it has been over six years since she has run and over a year since she has "worked out". This could be a rough road!
But today she made me proud! Her goal was to run two minutes at a time and seeing as I had the watch I wanted to see how far she could go. When she looked at me and asked how many minutes it had been I was hesitant to reply four because I thought she would call it quits but she said lets go to five!
So congrats Meg you made it, but it starts all over again tomorrow!

Day 1

Today, at approx. 8:37am (thirty seven minutes after our scheduled time of departure), Katie and I set out on our first "run."  I use the word "run" verrrry loosely, well, because this concept is very foreign to me and metaphorically speaking, just mentioning the word makes me want to walk swiftly the other way.

It has been roughly SIX years since my last run, and even then, as the Captain of the cross country team in high school, I may or may not have been "too injured" to actually run on the team.  That is neither here nor there.

Running is something I had crossed off of my life's to-do list.  I had come to terms with the fact that it was not for me (a previous ballerina).  It hurts.  I can substitute with the elliptical!  It's no fun.  It's just not in my genes...

Au contraire mon frere! (well, the genes part).

I was raised in a very athletic family.  My sister, a recent D-1 full-scholarship athlete... My dad, a life-long (?) runner himself... and my Mom, the yogi, who had a "break-out year athletically" as my dad said in the family Christmas newsletter - as she ran two 5ks, one 10 mile race and two 1/2 marathons in 2009.

I was cordially invited (forced, whining and complaining) to join their ranks, when someone came up with the genius idea to run a half marathon! together! as a family! all FOUR of us!

Ahem.

Well, this brings me to Day 1.  After being gifted a new pair of running shoes and promised a "fun" half marathon (the Chicago Rock n' Roll on August 1st), I willingly decided to start training... for a 5k.  Cause you gotta start somewhere.

So, Katie, aka My Personal Trainer, and I walked for fifteen minutes to warm up, ran for five minutes (half a mile, or 1/26 of a half marathon, but who's counting?!) without stopping, and walked the rest of the way home for a "cool down" (although if you ask me, we weren't cooling anything down, seeing as though it was fuuuhreezing this morning - of course we chose to start training the day it SNOWS in Atlanta.  Yes, I repeat, SNOWING IN ATLANTA.  That's hell freezing over, my friends... because I RAN).

Anyway, all of this is to say, it went well.  All five minutes of it.  We'll be back at it tomorrow.

And, for good measure, this was my fortune cookie at lunch today:

Marathons are about tenacity as much as talent.
John "the Penguin" Bingham

From Runner'sWorld.com Daily Kick in the Butt

"Who's your MAMA?"

My cell phone rang at 7:37am MST this morning and alas . . . a chipper little voice said, "is Dad with you right now? repeat exactly what I say!" Of course being the obedient mother that I am I did only to be told by official trainer daughter #2 that the 1/2 marathon training has officially begun and daughter #1 has already shown her over achiever stripes and surpassed the first run-without-stopping goal of 2 minutes and ran 5 minutes without-stopping AND without complaining! And to that I say, "WHO IS YOUR MAMA?" Oh yeah - that's right - that would be extremely proud ME.