It feels so good...

To be running again!

I threw my back out a few weeks ago shoveling snow--after snOwMG 2010. It was the first time in my life I hurt my lower back. I guess age is catching up with me. Anyway, I've been seeing a new Chiropractor who is also a runner. Well, he's actually a triathlete!

What a refreshing experience to visit a doctor that shares your passion! I learned of Dr. Geo Toomey at one of Greater Pittsburgh Road Runners races. I was volunteering at the race (one of my goals this year is to help out at more races) and someone mentioned that Geo is a doctor. When I found out he's a chiropractor, I decided that I would go to him the next time I needed adjusted, I like to support the folks in the organizations I belong.

Turns out Geo is a fantastic chiropractor! He had me running after 2 adjustments and is really helping me get a better understanding of what I need to do to become a better runner. He offers great advice on core exercises, strength training, intervals, and more. I never felt a friendship with a doctor as much as I have with Geo!

Training for the Pittsburgh Marathon is coming along a little slower than I had hoped (due to the back and the lack of motivation/ADHD) but it's back on track.

I've learned that I need to really concentrate on what outcomes in life I really desire and make sure my actions support what I want. I placed little stickers with 180 and 76.5 on my rear view mirror, stereo, and control panel of my Jeep. I want to weigh 180 pounds someday and the Laurel Highlands Ultra is now 76.5 miles (6 extra miles due to a detour for an unsafe bridge.) It may seem like 3 different places in my Jeep is a little extreme, but I see these little reminders often (I'm a salesman, so my Jeep is kind of my office) and remember that my decisions today will affect these goals in the future.

It's helped with my impulses so far!

Stay safe, keep your soles to the ground, and keep moving forward!
Brad

A very open blog entry!

The last few months have been HARD!

I've been making some poor decisions regarding my training, eating, and hydration habits. I've been eating on impulse, giving in to temptation, and allowing myself to eat unhealthy food WAY too often! I've bagged a few long runs because "I just didn't feel right." I've been a total training mess!

Well, thanks to the help of my therapist, I've discovered a few interesting things about myself. It seems that I've been trying to be someone I'm not. I'm trying to be the employee that I think my superiors want, the person I think my friends want me to be, the runner that I think others see when they look at me. All of this thinking has prevented me from being who my superiors hired, who my friends know, and who I want to be as a runner! I've been trying to live my life as someone I'm not.

Throughout my therapy, the therapist noticed a few traits in me and decided I should be screened for ADHD. My wife has been telling me I'm ADHD for years, but I always thought she was teasing me about a few of my idiosyncrasies! Well, I was wrong. It turns out I am ADHD--with hyperactive and impulsive traits!

OH, so that's why I fidget so much? That's why I misplace things, am unorganized, and have a hard time concentrating when there are the slightest distractions! That's why I buy things, eat things, and have other impulsive behaviors! I never thought I would be happy with a diagnosis of ADHD, but it's a real relief!

Losing my identity came from wanting everyone to like me for who I thought they want me to be and not who I really am. This caused me to forget the ways I've learned to deal with my ADHD for the last 36 years and my impulsive nature really flared up--thus the binge eating, run bagging, etc. Knowing that I have these tendencies is a real plus for my future!

So now, I'm going to have to learn to think about what I do before I actually do it. Before I make that late night bowl of cereal, I need to think about what I really want--to be a lean, fit, ultra runner. When I'm out for a run and decide I need to pick up my pace, I need to think about how it's going to affect my overall run (will I tucker out early, is this a hard run day, what's the focus for today's training?) My therapist and I are working on strategies to help me with everyday things that I've struggled with forever--losing things (like my keys a few days a week,) keeping focused on finishing tasks, and a few more.

I think knowing about my ADHD is going to help me use my "problem" areas as strengths. I can focus on who I really am, what I really want, and how I'm going to get there. I just may need to make some things conscious for myself that others may do automatically.

I hope this all made sense. It's an eye opener for me. I need to live by a modified version of Isaak Newton's Third Law of Motion, "for every action I take, is the consequence what I want?"

Stay safe, keep your soles to the ground, and keep moving forward!
Brad

Snow, Snow, and more Snow!

We've been pummeled with snow here in South Western Pennsylvania. Not as much as some of the country received, but 24 inches Friday into Saturday and another 5 or so inches today.

I love winter and a LITTLE snow. I don't mind 3 feet of snow if it comes in a week, but 2 feet overnight is killer. Plus, it took out our power for 4 days and 5 nights! My back had enough with the shoveling, but sleeping on the recliner in the family room (the only room with heat,) and carrying firewood for 4 days did it in! I'm having a hard time standing up straight--and I'm only 36 years old! Hopefully Dr. Toomey will take care of me tomorrow!

With all this snow leading to a very sore back, I haven't been able to run for a week. Good news for my Planters Fasciitis; bad news for my mind! I'm going threw some serious running withdrawals! Hopefully, I'll be back and running by Saturday!

The Mingo Mingle FA 50k was postponed indefinitely. Snow has the park shut down. Plus, the idea was to get a lot of folks together for a fun and exciting time on the trails--the snow would have kept the number of runners at a very small number.

BUT, we have power! And right now it feels like a luxury!

Stay safe, keep your soles to the ground, and keep moving forward!
Brad

Finally...

After 2 years of working on raising my good cholesterol, I finally managed to pull out a 42! My doc wants it 40 or higher, so I'm good for now! Bad cholesterol is 92 with triglycerides coming in at 66. Blood work is looking good!

I've been exhausted for the last few days and actually bagged a long run on Sunday. I felt that bad! This week I've managed to keep up with the marathon training schedule. Seems as though running is the only thing pulling me out of a funk.

I'm loving the YMCA. I've decided that I'm going to make the ETR (Express Training Room) my strength training workout 2 days a week. It's taking me WAY to long to get a workout in the Wellness center.

The ETR has 12 Strive machines. The idea is that you complete 3 sets on each machine with around a 30 second rest between sets. Maximum amount of time on each machine is 3 minutes. Combine the quick time on the machine with the lack of a crowd, I should be able to get a full body workout in less than 40 minutes. Looking forward to giving it a whirl!

Stay safe, keep your soles to the ground, and keep moving forward!
Brad

Been a bit since I posted last....

I'm not sure where the time has gone since my last entry?

I ran the "Recover from the Holidays FA 50K" on January 2nd, ran 22 miles of the loops. Had a great time. My planters fasciitis was killing me at the end and it was the beginning of a bad bout of arch pain.

Kept up the trail running--about once a week--at a local park and continued running my marathon training program for Pittsburgh. My left foot kept ticking away until I decided to take a week off!

Yesterday I ran the "Get Together 15K" and had a blast. It was my first run in a week and led to MAJOR arch pain last night. I hydrated, stretched, iced, and stretched some more in hopes I would be able to meet up with the Elite Runner Trail Running Team (ERTR) this morning for a 4 mile trail loop.

After the first 4 mile loop, I decided that I was feeling good and it was time to end today's run! More stretching, hydrating, and icing throughout the day and I think I'm making some progress!

I WILL SURVIVE THIS!

Stay safe, keep your soles to the ground, and keep moving forward!

Brad

Mud, Ice, and Kahuna!

What a great vacation it's been so far! I've been off of work since Christmas Eve and am off until January 4th. It's always a welcome time off--even if the weather isn't very nice.

We had a nice white Christmas this year. Started the Holiday season out with a 4 mile run with my friends from the Uno Fish Running Club, then Dawn and I spent Christmas Eve at my parents house and Christmas day at her parents. It's always great to watch the kids open their gifts (niece and nephew, none of our own.) Dawn and I didn't buy for each other this year after our $4800 plumbing repair two weeks ago.

Saturday was also a great day. Ran with Luau (AKA the Big Kahuna) in the morning (my Uno Fish buddies slept in!) and then went to her parents in the afternoon for "left-over" lunch. I love cold turkey and stuffing! And we capped off the evening with dinner out and gift exchange with friends--a great 2010 Running Log and a Super University of Pittsburgh sweatshirt came home with me!

And the vacation kept getting better today! I planned on taking Luau to the trails early today while Dawn went with friends and practised with the dogs (she runs them in AKC Agility competitions.) BUT, instead, I spent a lazy day relaxing around the house. I did make it to Mingo Creek Park and run for a few hours on the trail. It was a great afternoon to be out.

Weather was in the high 30's with a slight breeze. I left the shorts at home today and opted for tights in the shade of the trees. Since trails are relatively new to me, I'm still exploring the possible loops at Mingo. Today we started on the horse trail at the south east horse trailer parking and made our way. I was planning on spending around 2 hours running; at the hour mark, we popped out of the woods onto a gravel road and I knew where we were. I decided to make make take the "cut across" trail and finish the run on a part of the trail I've run before. Turned out to make almost a perfect 2 hour jaunt. We only covered 6.88 miles, but we stopped for pictures, to get out bearings, and had to slow down the pace for a few steep slick down hills!

Here are a few pictures from today:

Luau at the first "water crossing!" More like a muddy run off!

There's still a fair amount of snow left along the trail. Here's Luau leading the way. At least this section of the trail didn't have ice on it!

Just a beautiful forest to be in!

Entering into the pines. I love running on the soft bed of pine needles.

A shot inside the pines.Snow through this valley.Luau getting a drink out of Mingo Creek. We crossed the creek here. He loved it, I found it to be VERY, VERY cold! We got to the top of "Generator Hill" just in time to see the sun setting. We ran along the ridge in the distance at the beginning. Just about a half mile to go before we get back to the Jeep.

How lucky am I?

Stay safe, keep your soles to the ground, and keep moving forward!

Running with the ERTR

That's Elite Runners Trail Runners!!!

Some of the local trail runners decided to put together a trail running "team" to promote trail running in and around the Pittsburgh Area. My favorite running store, Elite Runners and Walkers, and my favorite running shoes, Brooks, are sponsoring the team. I attended an informational meeting yesterday and decided to become a "Full Time Racer!"

There are 3 different levels of membership you can belong to: Full Time Racer, Part Time Racer, and Part Time Racer without the Brooks deals. Each level has it's own membership dues and has different benefits and requirements. My level cost $25 and comes with discounts on Brooks merchandise, 10% off everything in the store throughout the year, and a few other perks. I need to volunteer at a couple races and wear Brooks shoes and ERTR shirts to major trail races.

I'm really excited about this group! As a budding trail runner who lost his best friend and training partner to a career relocation (which was SO GOOD for her!!!) I'm looking for as many experienced folks to run with as possible. And to have a group dedicated to running trails and helping each other out is just fantastic!

Today was our first group run. We met at 10 am and planned on running at least a 4 mile trail loop. As you can see from this picture, it snowed here this weekend.

We headed off along the side of a golf course to catch the trail through about 4-5 inches of fresh snow. This was my first time to run in snow like this and it added a little bit of a challenge. Each step brought a small "slip" backwards, and by the end of the run, I could really feel my quads!

Carl brought Bella, his Australian Shepherd. I had some dog treats in my Jeep and Bella and I became close friends right away. Here they are running through the snow!

Here's a shot of today's group. Wayne (on the left in the gray) just finished a deca Iron Man and was pour guide today. If you don't know, a deca Iron Man is 10 straight days of Iron Man competitions--WOW!

It was a great run and I managed to keep up with the group. It was nice to meet new friends and learn about trail running. I love to listen to peoples stories of races, training runs, and pacing.

I'm really going to enjoy being a member of the ERTR!

Stay safe, keep your soles to the ground, and keep moving forward!