I've been meaning to update my blog all week but I kept thinking I would wait until Kyle Orton was traded.  It now looks like that line of thinking would have lead me to not update my blog until next season.

In shocking (to me) news the Miami Dolphins decided to sign free agent Matt Moore rather than trade for Orton.  Matt Moore of the 22 career starts and 16 touchdowns against 17 interceptions over a guy that has averaged 20 TDs and 11 INTs over the past three years.  Don't get me wrong, I wanted Miami to take Orton to free up cap space and clear the way for Tebow in Denver, not because I care about the Dolphins record this year.  I'm also not saying that Denver will be better this year with Tebow as QB as compared to Orton.  There is no way Denver is a playoff team with either QB so why not see what we have in Tebow.  Worst case (or maybe best case) we end up with the worst record and draft Andrew Luck next year.  It's only been a few days but I'm about as tired of all the trade talk as I was with Melo.

I am, however, very excited that the lockout is over and that we'll have pro football to watch this winter!  I'm also pretty happy with the Willis McGahee signing (if it is really a done deal) because I'll be happy to have a running back that can get us into the end zone from a yard away, sorry Knowshon.

On Sunday afternoon Angie, baby girl, and I got back from a wonderful 10 day trip to Montana (more about it here.)  I'm sorry to report that I did not exercise at all during the vacation and probably added on the Turner Ten.  Similar to the Freshman Fifteen but done in 10 days rather than one full school year.  Now that I'm back home I guess I need to pick up my running again.  I recently bought the Nike+ sports kit and calibrated it on a one mile run last night.  I'm trying to decide if I want to try running one mile every night or two miles every other night.  I've been doing some reading online and most people seem to be of the opinion that if you don't run for at least 20 - 30 minutes you might as well not do it at all.  I don't see the reasoning in this.  I understand that you don't get to your target heart rate until you've been exercising for 20 minutes but how can people actually say you're better off not doing it at all?  I'm sure there are plenty of people out there that are trying to be good and get some exercise that read these articles/blogs and decide that they might as well stay on the couch and not work out at all.  In my opinion any exercise is good and I think it's great just to get off the couch, even if it's only for 10 minutes.

I'm not sure if Angie's parents read this blog but thanks for being great hosts!  We had a great time and can't wait to see you again in October (if you can make it) or December.

Marathon a Month

When I woke up on Tuesday morning (the day after my 4k) I found it very difficult to muster enough motivation to even pick a day to work out again.  I figured that since I had been running every other day for a month, minus a two day break or two, I would easily be able to keep up the pace of running six to eight miles per week.  Boy was I wrong.  Even though I was planning to use Tuesday as an off day anyway I was happy when I got an email from a friend asking if I'd play on his softball team that night.  I was happy because I knew I could use the excuse of playing softball as exercise and I could put off my day of running for another day (more on the softball game later.)  I finally got on the treadmill Thursday night figuring I'd knock out 20 - 25 minutes no problem.  I was a running expert by now right?  Let me just say that I felt like I was going to die after the first 2 minutes of running.  I ended up alternating two minutes of walking with four minutes of jogging (what is the line between jogging and running?) for a total of 26 minutes and it took all I had not to quit after 6 minutes.  I'm not sure why I had such a rough time.  Maybe it was what I had for supper, maybe it was a letdown after having a goal to train for.  Whatever the reason I was pretty sure I was done with running.

Fast forward to yesterday afternoon when I got the itch to get some exercise so I jumped on the treadmill not sure what to expect.  Amazing enough I felt great and, after one minute of walking, I ran/jogged for 20 minutes straight before finishing with two minutes of cool down walking.  Color me confused.  I'm interested to see what the next session is going to be like and I'm also interested to find out when it will be as we are leaving for Montana tomorrow night for vacation.  I hope to get out a few times during vacation but if not I'll have to go at it strong when we get back because my new goal is...a marathon a month!  OK, let me clarify what I mean.  I'm not going to actually run 26.2 miles in one day every month but rather a total of 26.2 miles (or more) per month.  While I was training for the 4k in June I ran 29.33 miles.  I think I actually ran a bit more than than because I absolutely believe that treadmills are not accurate when it comes to distance.  For example, to run an eight minute mile (as I averaged for the 4k) I would have to set the treadmill speed at 7.5.  I'm not sure about you but if I set the treadmill to that speed I will be in a dead sprint and plain dead after two minutes.  I recently bought a Nike+ sport kit so, once I get the shoelace sensor holder, I will see how accurate the treadmill really is.  

Softball.  The image that comes to my mind is a bunch of overweight, middle aged men drinking beer in a dugout arguing about who has to play the field.  Not because they want to play but because they want to sit in the dugout, out of the sun, watching the other guys boot ground balls and pull hamstrings.  Why, if this is the case, was I so nervous to sub for my friend's team on Tuesday night?  Probably because I knew that the team would be made up of athletic guys in their mid 20's who still think they should have made the major leagues even though they didn't make their high school team because the coach had something against them.  Don't get me wrong, my friend's team wasn't like that but I've played in enough leagues to know that other teams are like that.  Teams that have full uniforms including stirrups and eye back, with full time base coaches and a stat keeper.  Luckily the team we played against was at the same as us and were friendly.  I was still nervous not wanting to look like a guy that hasn't played softball in three years.  I played the field fine but my four ground balls (I did beat out the throw on three of the swinging bunts) left a lot to be desired.  I always forget how patient you have to be at the plate and couldn't help but swing before the ball even had a chance to cross the plate.  My legs were also SORE the next day.  I guess my 4k training didn't prepare me for the sprinting around the bases and outfield as well as I thought it would.  My arm and back were also sore from not throwing a ball for so long.  Getting old is not fun.

T minus 26 hours until the vacation starts!

Firecracker 4k

Well, it's finally over.  I just got back from running the firecracker 4k in Erie, CO with a time of 20 minutes and 13 seconds!  I was hoping for 22 - 23 minutes so I'm very happy with my time.  That comes out to an 8 minute 8 second mile and that includes a 40 second walk after 16 minutes.  It helped that for once my run started with a downhill so I wasn't completely dead after the first 10 minutes.  It was, however, rough to climb that hill at the end.  I sure the fact that I was running with other people helped speed up my pace more than when I run alone.

Congrats to everyone that ran the race (not that any of them would ever find themselves reading this blog) and thanks to Angie and Lauren for coming down to watch and cheer me on!

Happy 4th!

One day to go...

Well, tomorrow is the day I've been training for.  The Firecracker 4k.  Although I still have not yet run 2.5 miles without a walking break I'm pretty confident that I'll be able to beat my target time of 23 minutes.  This week I was able to run for 16 minutes before taking a one minute walk break.  Since most of my running has been outside I'm pretty happy with that because the places I've been running have been very hilly and it seems like there is always a steep incline off the bat to zap all my energy right away.  Although I've wanted to start walking sooner I've been pretty good at getting to a mile and a half before my walk break.  We'll see how it goes tomorrow.  Obviously I'd like to make it the entire 2.48 miles without walking but I won't feel disappointed in myself if I have to walk for a minute or two.

I'll do an update Tuesday morning to let you know how I did.  Happy Fourth of July!