Dan York

Want to Run UP a Ski Area? The 5K Mountain Goat Scramble is Oct 8th

So this sounds like a pretty wacky local race... the "5K Mountain Goat Scramble" takes place this Saturday, October 8, 2011, at our local Granite Gorge Ski Area in Roxbury, NH (just outside of Keene).

It's a 5K race where you run up to the halfway point of the ski trails and then back down ... and DO THAT FOUR TIMES!

I have skied all the trails where the race is running and know the exact route they are doing... it's going to be tough to run that loop four times!

I'm not sure exactly what our plans are for the weekend and so I don't know whether I'll be running it myself, but it does benefit an excellent cause, the creation of a new Children's Museum here in Keene, so I do hope they get a good turnout.

Registration is open and you save $5 if you register by Tuesday, Oct 4th.

Here's the trail map for those who are curious:

Running A Half-Marathon - One Year After Starting Running!

I did it!

On September 4, 2011, I ran the 13.1 miles of the Swanzey Covered Bridges Half-Marathon!

I came in at about 2 hours, 27 minutes for an average of 11:16 per mile.

More on that in a moment, but I thought I'd mention that one driver for me to do this particular race was because the first time I recorded a run on my iPhone was September 7th, 2010. Here it was...

1.6 miles! And a year later here I am at 13.1. I'm admittedly pleased with how that has worked out!

In truth, though, I had been doing some running earlier in August 2010 using my Garmin GPS "watch", which I actually still use as a double-check with the iPhone. I was amused to see courtesy of Facebook's new "On This Day in 2010" feature this juxtaposition:

It's been quite a journey... and amazing to see what happens when you just keep on doing something day after day after day.

Now, as to this past weekend's half-marathon, it turned out to be quite a humid morning. We've had spectacular weather in recent weeks, with beautiful sunny days, temperatures in the mid-70s Fahrenheit and with almost no humidity.

Sunday was not one of those days.

I made the classic mistake of starting out WAY too fast! Caught up in the pack of people, I was running up about 8 minutes/mile, which is faster than even the fastest 5K I'd run! Not sustainable... and I dropped it back a bit... but not far enough... and the pace graphic below shows how that hit me in the last few miles:

Indeed, that red part in the upper right of the image is where I walked from the 12 mile aid station until about 12.25 miles or so when I willed myself to get back underway to finish the final mile.

The race itself was quite beautiful to run. It started off going through a covered bridge and then onto about 2 miles of trail running along an old railroad bed that's now a trail. When the course returned to the road it took us through parts of Swanzey I'd never known about and through three more covered bridges. It was admittedly fun to run through those purely because I'd never done so before.

After laughing at someone pulling out their phone and taking a picture of the first bridge, I did have to do the same for the next three:

The race had a good bit of roads through wooded areas and all in all was quite beautiful to run. There were "aid stations" set up every 2 miles or so with water and/or Gatorade and while I ran with a belt with water bottles, I also drank from all of the aid stations. They were much appreciated and some of the folks staffing the stations had fun costumes, music, etc., which was enjoyable to see.

When the race was over, I was definitely tired... and I didn't do a whole lot of walking the remainder of the day. But the next day I was back out walking a 5K with the family and have felt pretty decent since that time.

Would I do it again? Definitely. Do I have any interest in going further and running a full marathon? Not right now... although I won't rule that out. That just seems like a huge time commitment... and hard to practice for with small kids in one's life.

But I'll do another half... ;-)

P.S. Thanks go to my wife for taking these photos of me coming in to the finish area.

---

UPDATE: The race results are up on CoolRunning.com and it turns out that I was 171st out of the the 203 runners - and 24th of the 26 runners in my age range (male 40s).

Running The Swanzey Covered Bridges Half-Marathon On Sunday...

I went and did it... continuing my running adventure, I went ahead and signed up for the Swanzey Covered Bridges Half-Marathon, a.k.a. "Elijah's Race", this Sunday, September 4th, 2011. (UPDATE: The website hosting provider experienced a server crash and is still trying to get the site back up - meanwhile a cached version of the site is available.)

I've never run 13.1 miles.

In fact, if I'm honest about it, I'd never even thought about running 13.1 miles until recently.

But here I go! Farthest I've run is 11.28 miles and when I was done I still had "gas in the tank" and could have run farther... so I'm going to assume that the adrenaline of the race will pull me through those last two miles.

I thought I'd try this race because it's local... and hey, what can be more "New England" than running a race through not one, but four covered bridges!

If you want to participate, you CAN register on race-day. The race starts at 9:00am on Sunday morning at the Monadnock Regional High School on Old Homestead Highway / Route 32 (see the Google map) and registration opens up an hour or so before.

For those curious, you can see the course mapped out on Google Maps (although people who have run it tell me that it starts and ends at the same place - the high school):

We'll see how I do!

Running Over 400 Miles And Counting...

Last week I passed a milestone in this little running adventure of mine. Per the "Nike+ GPS" app I've been using on my iPhone I crossed over 400 miles total that I've run outdoors and tracked with this app.

Not bad considering that my first full run was about a year ago, September 7, 2010, for a whopping total of 1.6 miles. Prior to that I'd mixed running and walking.

And I'm still incredibly amused by it all given that as I've mentioned before, I NEVER expected to be a "runner"!

Not in a million years.

Yet here I am. Not only enjoying running... but actually craving running and starting to get twitchy if I don't get a run in at least every other day.

Strange world.

I'd note, too, that this app didn't track all the running I did indoors on a treadmill over the winter. And there have been a couple of runs where the app malfunctioned... or where my iPhone ran out of battery power.

So my actual mileage is substantially higher.

But, hey, this is a good measure of my outdoor runs... and given that I'm running 15-20 miles a week now, I should be cruising through 500 miles fairly soon.

Fun stuff to track!

P.S. And if you don't believe that I wasn't a runner, read this post about how 40-year-old fat men can get up and run. :-)

Care to Donate? I'm Running the NH/VT Komen Race for the Cure on Saturday, July 23rd

Looking for new charitable donations that you can make in 2011? (that are tax-deductible if you are in the USA?) Looking to help support efforts to fund research to find ways to end the scourge of breast cancer that will impact 1 in 8 women in their lives?

If so, I'm running in the New Hampshire / Vermont Susan G. Komen 5K Race for the Cure in 3 days on this Saturday, July 23, 2011, and I'd love your support. Courtesy of the Komen organization I've got a great donation page all ready to go:

http://www.info-komen.org/goto/danyork

My friend Chip Griffin has very nicely kicked off my fundraising with a $100 donation (Thanks, Chip!), but I'd love any donations... $5, $10, $25, $100... or even more ;-)

Last year we walked the race as a family, even our then 1-yr-old who was in a backpack I carried. But last year we didn't have a strong connection to breast cancer other than knowing some people who'd had it.

This year it has definitely hit home with my wife's breast cancer.

This year I'm running the race... and my wife and 9-yr-old daughter are both walking. (We'll be taking turns watching the 2-yr-old.) Lori's fresh off of surgery on July 1, but she's walking 4 miles every day now and ready to do the walk on Saturday.

Through the experience of Lori's cancer, we've met so many other women who have been affected by breast cancer... we've got to figure out what's going on here and find ways to make breast cancer more like just a treatable disease that can be easily cured.

If you are open to making a donation, I'd sure appreciate it. Thanks for the consideration!

P.S. If you're wondering why I'm only now talking about the race... we weren't 100% sure we were going to do the race until last week... it all came down to how well Lori's recovery was doing.

The Results From Running Keene's 2011 "4 on the 4th" Race

Two weeks ago I ran in my first official race over 3 miles... in fact, it was 4 miles in Keene's 10th Annual "4 on the 4th" race on July 4th!

Sure, last November I ran my first "5K", but sadly that turned out to NOT be a 5K (3.1 miles) coming in at only 2.5 miles. So I've been looking forward to running a race that was formally over the 5K mark.

On July 4th, 2011, there were 550+ people gathered in the "Railroad Square" area of downtown Keene. The race had both walkers and runners... and per the results at CoolRunning.com there were apparently 391 runners.

Out of that pack, I placed 224, finishing with a time of 35:39 and a fast pace for me of 9:01 minutes/mile.

I was pleased with the results given that I typically run about 10 minutes/mile, so the "race pressure" obviously pushed me to go a bit faster than normal.

The CoolRunning stats also show that I came in 28th out of 38 in my age bracket (40s). Given some of the outstanding runners in the race, I'm fine with that ranking. Consider that George Adams, the 1st runner in that age bracket - and 8th overall - ran the 4 miles in 20:44 for a pace of 5:14/mile!

It was also truly amazing to see the pack of mostly 20-something guys that led the race... they were warming up before the race began and you could see they were going to be fast. The race itself was a simple loop down and back so you did wind up passing the people coming back in the other direction. When the first guy passed me when I'd only run about 1.75 miles, I knew he was going fast... still... seeing that people came in under 5 minutes a mile was quite impressive.

All in all it was fun to run and I'm looking forward to my next race, the NH/VT Susan G. Komen for the Cure race over in Manchester, VT, this Saturday...

Fun stuff considering that a year ago I wasn't really even running!

One Year Of Exercise: 50+ Pounds Lost and Hundreds of Miles Run

One year ago today, May 30, 2010, my wife and I began a concerted effort to introduce physical exercise into our daily routines. My exercise at the time was just walking because I quite simply couldn't run even up to the end of my street - and even walking too far was a stretch. Being who I am, I opened a spreadsheet and recorded my weight at the time: 255 pounds.

Fast-forward one year to today and this morning I ran a 7-mile run with an average pace around 10 minutes/mile.

Still pretty unbelievable to me.

Along the way, I dropped 50+ pounds... my pants size is now 6 inches smaller and I've dropped in T-shirt size not just from an XL to a Large... but even down into a Medium for many shirts.[1]

That, too, I still find hard to believe.

As I outlined at some length in a post back in November 2010, Living Proof that 40-year-old Fat Men Can Get Up and Run!, I didn't start out on this journey to become a runner. That was probably the last thing on my mind. But it just kind of happened along the way...

After that post in mid-November, my wife and I continued running outside into December, pushing each other until we were up over 6 miles (with her, again, raising the bar on that one). We then bought a treadmill and both worked out religiously through the long winter. I started back outside in the cold of March, averaging 3-4 miles until May, when I started ratcheting up the mileage to where a 5-7 mile run is now my new "normal". (Alas, my wife has been dealing with medical issues this Spring that have kept her away from running until just last week.)

I've continued to be very focused on running every other day with taking an extra day off on the weekends. Admittedly I haven't been as good lately about walking on the off days, but I'm trying to change that. In fact, last week I started introducing some bicycling as the off-day activity.

Along the way, we invested in Garmin GPS watches ... and I started using iPhone apps to track my running as well. I don't have a total count of the miles I've run and walked... but the two iPhone apps I've used (Nike+GPS and Runkeeper) together show me up around close to 400 miles.

The funny - or sick - thing is that I'm actually starting to enjoy the running.

What's even more amusing - or more sick, depending upon your perspective - is that I can actually see how people run even longer. With the distance I'm running now I've already passed a "10K"... the next target would be a half-marathon at 13.1 miles... and for the first time that doesn't seem completely unattainable. (The real challenge I have is finding the time for longer runs.)

We'll see where I go next... today I'm celebrating one year of exercise ... and of burning exercise into my daily routine. (And yes, I'll probably go eat a chocolate chip cookie to celebrate... I think I've earned it! ;-) )

And let me tell you... if I can do it, so can you!

[1] I should note that running was NOT the only factor in my weight loss. I also changed my eating in one major way: I stopped taking second helpings. I simply limited myself to whatever I put on my plate the first time.

P.S. And yes, the effort at losing weight will continue... as the chart shows, I've been flirting with the 200 pound milestone for a while now, and I'm determined to break that mark... which would be the first time since probably 1990 or 1991...

---

If you found this post interesting or useful, please consider either:

• following me on Twitter;
• subscribing to my email newsletter; or
• subscribing to the RSS feed

---

Do You Carry or Wear ID When You Run, Walk or Bike?

When you go out for a run, do you carry any form of identification? or for a bike ride? kayak? swim? or even just a walk?

I didn't for a while, but the issue hit home about a year ago or so when a local realtor was struck by a car while riding his bike over in a nearby town in Vermont. He was brought to a hospital but without any ID was simply there as an unknown patient until his wife reported him as missing and was eventually connected to the hospital. I don't recall exactly all the details, but I do know that it was enough to make me change my ways.

Now both my wife and I run, walk or bike wearing a bracelet like the one I show in the photo (that is, in fact, mine). It is simply a plastic case that when you open it up contains a piece of folded paper with my name, contact info and medical info on it. Enough that were something to happen to me, someone could reach my wife or other emergency contact and also have basic info that would help in getting me care.

The particular bracelets we bought were from ID On Me, but a quick Google search will show you many options. Before this, I used to carry a photocopy of my driver's license in a fanny pack... but as I started running I stopped wearing the fanny pack, so for a while I was ID-less.

If you do carry ID while exercising, what have you found that works for you? If you don't, why not? (And could I suggest considering it?)

Beginning the Race Season...

It's Spring here in New England... or at least, it is today. Tomorrow the forecast calls for a whopping big snowstorm, but even if it blanket us in white, it won't last long.

With the warmer weather, my thinking is naturally turning to running in some races in 2011... well, "naturally" perhaps isn't the right word. This concept of being a "runner" is still something I'm trying to wrap my brain around. But I definitely am one at this point... and what's more bizarre is that I'm actually enjoying it!

With that "enjoyment", I'm starting to look at what races I'll enter... sticking to 5Ks to start... maybe working up to a 10K. I don't know that I'll get beyond that this year, but we'll see.

I'd like to run the Cheshire Medical 5K here in Keene, NH, on April 9th, but alas we have a houseful of guests that day and some other events. I will run on April 10th as part of the Automattic WorldWide WordPress 5K... but that's me running by myself here locally and then sharing that with the world. I know there's a 4 mile race on July 4th here in Keene that I'll do. Beyond that, I'm starting to look through CoolRunning.com to find out where other local races are happening.

I'm looking forward to running some races this year... and odds are that I'll turn this personal blog into a bit of a "running blog" over the next few months... one of my goals for this year was to run some races... we'll see how I do.

What about you? Are you running in any races this year?

Image credit: Tri-state Racing

Living Proof that 40-year-old Fat Men Can Get Up and Run!

Credit: Lori York

A week ago I ran my first public "5K" race. Well... it turned out the organizers goofed a bit and it was only 2.5 miles (instead of 3.1), but still, it was the first race I ever ran knowing the results would be posted on the Internet for all to see.

This morning I ran 4.2 miles over a local route I like to run. I ran 4 miles two days ago... 3.5 two days prior to that... and on and on...

Not bad for a 43-year-old guy who, only six months ago...

... couldn't run down to the end of our street without huffing and puffing and feeling like I was going to die!

I didn't set off with the goal of being a "runner". In fact, I've pretty much avoided running for most of my life. Historically I always had this bit of a smug attitude:

I'd consider running/jogging if I ever saw a runner smiling!

And so I would bike, hike, kayak/canoe, walk, ski and do many other forms of exercise... but never run or jog.

What happened to change me?

Back in the Spring I took a look at my physical health and realized I needed to make a change (which is a story for another time). As part of that, I wanted to introduce regular exercise into my daily routine. Sure, I hike and kayak and ski... but all of those are things you do occasionally... maybe once a week... maybe once a month... maybe once a season (kayaking this year for me, unfortunately). I needed to do something that I could do regularly.

At the end of May, on Memorial Day Weekend, to be precise, my wife and I kicked off a plan to go for a walk every day. With two young children in the house, we started a process where we'd take turns on weekdays... one of us would go first, then the other, leaving someone at home at all times for the morning routine with the kids. On the weekends, we tried to go on walks as a family... and generally, we stuck with it and walked most days except for those where it was pouring rain.

Over time, the walk started evolving a bit as I (and my wife) started incorporating a small bit of running. It was VERY incremental. I like to walk/run in a beautiful local cemetery that has a couple of miles of roads in it. At first my goal was to run from the entrance to a flagpole in a flat area... then from the entrance to this beautiful chapel up on a hill... then from from the entrance to the chapel and back... then to include the second attached cemetery (in parts)... then to run a continuous loop through both cemeteries and back to the street... and then to run the loop through both cemeteries twice... and now most recently my goal is to run all the side paths to come up with an even longer route inside the cemeteries...

Credit: Tri-state Racing

And so it continues... running every other day... and walking on the off days. Sometimes I might take a day off on the weekend (or walk twice) if I know my "every other day" routine is going to work better on certain days of a week... and admittedly, I don't run or walk when it's pouring rain out there... but I've been keeping at it... every... other... day...

It helps, naturally, that I have someone with whom to engage in light-hearted competition. My wife was the first to run 5K (3.1 miles) back in the summer... and she just raised the bar this past week to hit the 4-mile mark. I raised that a bit this morning... one of us will hit 4.5 miles soon... There are days when I don't want to go and do it, but the motivation of having someone else around helps.

Facebook, surprisingly, has also been a great motivator. A number of friends have been runners for a while - and a number of others are, like me, working on incorporating regular exercise into their lives. It has been motivating to see their runs and comments... and the comments from others on my runs have been motivating to me. Numerous folks have told me that my posting about runs has inspired them to get out there - which is a large part of why I continue posting there.

In any event... if you've thought about introducing regular exercise into your life, I'm living proof that it is possible to go from not being able to run down your street to being able to run a then-inconceivable distance of 4 miles!

You can do it!

How far am I going with running? I don't know... my first goal was to run a 5K and now I'm thinking that 5 miles is a good target. I don't see longer runs fitting into our lifestyle... but who knows... in the end it is all about priorities.

P.S. And, hey, along the way I've lost about 45 pounds so far... so I'm no longer the fat guy I used to be! (But exercise was not the only change I made... more on that in another story.)

P.P.S. I still haven't seen many runners smiling! :-)

---

If you found this post interesting or useful, please consider either:

• subscribing to my email newsletter;
• following me on Twitter; or
• subscribing to the RSS feed

---