Archive for June, 2010

The End

Sunday, June 27th, 2010

Its time I rolled on.

Goodbye lazyplayer.com hello apolonio.com

Anyway, it was a good run, I hope you all update your RSS feeds and catch me on the new blog.

See the final report to see what I thought of this past year.

Kind of nice to finish off with a simple pushup and situp workout.

Weight: 249.6

The Run

Saturday, June 26th, 2010

Well today was awesome, I finished that 1/2 marathon that I have been training oh so long for.

What an incredible emotional run, when I crossed that finish line I covered my eyes so no one would see me cry.

Why so emotional? Well, this last event pretty much closes out this blog (See why I am ending this blog).  I journey that I found extremely interesting and rewarding, then again, most hard things are.

Don’t worry about the blog it continues in another form (http://www.apolonio.com/blog)

I have so much more to accomplish and there are so many supportive people, so I can’t quit now.

Anyway back to the Marathon,  you can see from my last post how anxious I was.  Although the physical preparation was started months ago, there was some mental and final prep things to do.

First off, I wanted to make sure my run was not stopped by a bowel movement (yeah gross but true), so I was extremely careful in what I ate over the past few days.

I wanted to make sure I was hydrated for the run so I drank a lot of fluids throughout the week, unfortunately I drank too late when I got up this morning, so when I got to the starting line I had to pee bad.  Fortunately, the lines were still relatively short (still farking long), and was able to get in there before the start.

I packed up my goodie bag and placed it in the good hands of the UPS drivers and hoped to see it again in a few hours.

Walking around a little helped alleviate the jitters, at 6:45 I drank my 5 hour energy drink.  Which may have been too early, because I started to understand the corral system.  There were about 39 sections called corrals and each section started about a minute or two after the one before it.  So by the time I hit the start line, nearly an hour went by.  We finally started and I pressed “start” on my watch before crossing the start line.

Start Line

Start Line 2010

I was worried that my “fans” were going to leave thinking they did not see me, in a way this had a side effect of getting me to run faster.

The first mile marker was reached in about 10 minutes, I was very surprised at this pace, maybe it was a mix of the adrenaline and the level road that allowed me to run this quick.

I skipped the first watering holes, because I felt well hydrated, I am not sure if this contributed to degradation in my speed towards the end.

The crowds started thinning out and I noticed I was seeing numbers from the corral groups ahead of me, so I was hoping to catch up to my coworker Alan.

While I was hitting around the 2 and 3 mile marker I noticed a familiar face keeps zipping by.  I’ll call her “J”,we were running nearly an identical pace.  Which in a way was good because I needed a “pacer”.

As I hit mile 5, I started to look for my “fans”, lo and behold, there they were.

It was the morale boost I needed.   As I passed them I bid them hello and goodbye in the space of about 2 seconds, but that was all that I needed.

To my surprise another group of “fans” were looking out for me.  That was a huge bonus and I was able to keep up the pace.

At about mile 8 I felt what was starting to be cramps in my toes, so I decided to get my first drink of this race’s version of gatorade.  I was starting to doubt my strategy of passing on water.  Also, water is pretty hard to drink from a cup when you are running.

Mile 9 was interesting, we started going up a hill and merged from a nice wide street to a narrow bike pathway.  This is the only time I walked during the race, not because I wanted to, but because it was just way too congested to run.

I came out of the congestion into the Mount Baker Tunnel, and I lost a great deal of momentum.  Also the cramping was more evident.

After a few I appeared out of the tunnel and claimed Hallelujah, its all downhill from here.

Not true… after a few hundred yards I came across another steep incline.

Sadly, this was not the last of the hills either.

At this point, the mile markers felt farther and farther apart.  But as I hit mile 11, I was thinking, “This is less than a 4+”.

I saw mile 12 downtown and in my mind I thought “this is a simple 1 lap around RTC” but cramping started setting in more frequently, if I tried to to kick and lift my legs for more speed my toes would cramp.

At mile 12.5 the last song of my long playlist ended.  But instead of looking for a new playlist I dropped the earbuds and drove on.

It was heartening to see the 26 mile marker for the Full Marathoners.  The math in my head said I only had .1 miles to go, but alas, their ending route was different from the 1/2 marathoners so it was longer then I thought.

At long last I saw the finish line, and found some gas left in the tank.  I checked my watch and saw that if I pushed, I could finish within 2 1/2 hours.

I did.

As a slowed down after the finish line I pressed “stop”.  It stopped at exactly 2:30.00, so I knew that I had a good chance of beating 2 1/2 since I pressed start before passing the start line and stop after passing the finish time.

Two Hours Thirty Minutes

Exactly 2:30.00

When I crossed the finish line, it was so emotionally overwhelming, not that I finished a 1/2 marathon, but that all the training for the past year, from struggling to run a 1/2 mile got me through this run in a time I absolutely did not expect.

After the run, I met up with my buddies at work, we all finished 13.1 that day.  I would post pictures but I feel the need to ask their permission first.  But it was all good.

I lost my beer ticket, so I thought it was fate for me not to drink, but I nice lady gave me hers, so I took it as a sign that it was OK.  I had my beer.

I could not find Alan, but afterwards I did see on the results web page that he completed the race as well.

As for “J”, she beat me by a couple seconds…. maybe next year 😉

For me, I can say I beat 2:30, but here is a screen capture as proof

My Pace Half Marathon 2010

My Pace Half Marathon 2010

My Time Half Marathon 2010

My Time Half Marathon 2010

As a final note, yeah mostly water but still Makes it a 50lb weight loss

Weight: 244.8

Pre Race Jitters

Saturday, June 26th, 2010

Doing a double (maybe more) post today, feeling nervous and felt the need to let off some steam via blog.

I did sleep well but not a full 8 hours, I went to bed at 8 and my body woke itself up at about 2:30 which is about the right time for my sleep cycle.  I did have a good sleep the prior night so I think I will be good.

Right now I am on automatic, going through all the motions and steps I have planned weeks in advance.

Weight: 251.0

Excitement in the air

Friday, June 25th, 2010

I finally got my runners packet at Qwest stadium.

There was so me energy in the air I cannot express it in words.

I am ready, I am nervous, I am scared, I am anxious.

Anyway, this is it, 1 year, this is what it adds up to.

I did a warm up walk today and some pushups and situps.  The alarm will be set for 3AM, everything is all automatic now.

I hope to see my wife and kids along the running path, it would be a great boost at a time when I will need it.  They prepared some signs at Qwest stadium.  Our neighbor Lyka may join as well, I hope so, she has an AT&T phone that will work with the tracking service I paid $5 for.

Anyway, time for dinner, and bed.

Weight: 250.4

Preparing for the run

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

I worked really late yesterday and got up early and worked some more.  But it paid off in that I could leave early.

I went home, gathered the family and took them on a tour of the route for the half marathon.  Pretty cool until we got to downtown for my packet pickup, there was a Mariner game so it was too frustrating to find parking.

We made a course change and headed to the mall instead.

After running a few more errands I went home, I did a slow job plus a walk.  More to clear my mind than the workout.  Tomorrow I think I will do another walk more to ease my nerves.

On another note, I got a lot of stuff to publish Saturday.

Weight: 249.4

Donation of Rice

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

So in preparation for the ending of this blog, I have done several things

Like prepare the next blog.  But on today’s list was to donate the rice that I have collected during the year.

Five 10# bags of rice

50 lbs of rice is a lot to haul

Donate at Fisher Plaza

I hope this will help someone not be hungry.

I little personal message… help out of you can people, you don’t have to lose 50 lbs do give away 50 lbs of rice.

Today was my last workout, it was actually pretty hard, I racked up some good sweat.

Tomorrow is a light jog, and a walk.

I think Friday I will walk just to calm my nerves.

Weight: 247.4

Maybe Every Pound Matters

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

I had a most excellent run this morning.  My feet were fleet and I am not sure why but I have my suspicions.

I think it is because I have less in my stomach.  Maybe this is the key to having a good run Saturday.  Anyway I will keep it up.

My run this morning, not a record Two Lap but darn close.

Time:23:56:22

And my weight

Weight: 247.2

Race Week

Monday, June 21st, 2010

Well today is the first day of race week.  Also the first day of summer, the first day of my new blog (ah second day but whatever).

Anyway, I did a 5k today, WOW, I had to look twice and today absolutely qualifies as a milestone.

Time: 35:05

To put that into perspective, the fastest I ran the 5k (3 laps which is more than 5k not a real 5k) prior to today was 36:37.  How the heck did I shave off over 1 and 1/2 minutes off my time.  Absolutely freaking incredible.  I bet if I could breath a little better I would have cracked 35 minutes.

Workout

Tomorrow I will run a Two Lap and do my normal chest workout.

Wednesday I will do a 30 minutes on the treadmill and try to top 500 calories.  Then some arm workouts.

Thursday evening will be an easy 1 lap, and 1 walk.

Friday will be 2 lap walk.  Plus some push ups and sits ups, and a first, meditation.

Meals

Monday
Dinner – Whatever, but limit plate size.

Tuesday
Breakfast – BPJ Sandwich, Fruit, Yogurt
Lunch – Subway Sandwich
Dinner – Chicken

Wednesday
Breakfast – Oatmeal. Cold Cereal, Fruit, Yogurt
Lunch – Subway Sandwich
Dinner – Pasta + Salad.

Thursday
Breakfast – Big Breakfast McDonalds
Lunch – Leftover Pasta
Dinner – Veggie Burger

Friday
Breakfast – Cereal, Peaches
Lunch – Ramen Noodles, w/ meat and Small Sandwich.
Dinner – Fish (light, little rice)

Saturday Race Day
Toast w/ water

Weight: 249.0

Made It 1 Year

Sunday, June 20th, 2010

Wow, I did it, today marks the 365th day of my blog.  Tomorrow is a new year. So that is the milestone.  My anniversary.

You will see couple posts, probably tomorrow, I got the Spring Report, Final Report, and maybe a future message or something to do with the Marathon.

Anyway, ran a simple lap and walked another.  Day is winding down and I feel good.

Weight: 251.0

Not getting workout.

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

I wrote off today and tomorrow as relax days.  I wanted to run a little but got busy with work.  So I feel like a lost both my relax day and my workout.

Anyway, got stuff done.

Will do pushups and situps.

Weight: 254.6