weblog
fun
Olivia Wilde Doll Hands
Jul 26th
Does anyone else think Olivia Wilde looks a little like Kristen Wiig’s character from the hilarious Lawrence Welk SNL skit?
Chia Seed Drink Recipe
May 27th
After reading the book Born to Run, I went on a hunt for Chia seeds. They are super nutritious and awesome to make sports drink alternatives out of.
Jen was able to find Chia seeds on Amazon for a decent price per pound. This, is similar to what we ordered.
There are a ton of websites out there that talk about the benefits of Chia seeds. This is one that I like. The list below is an excerpt from the linked website.
Chia seeds:
- Rich in Omega-3
- High in calcium
- Low in sodium
- Hydrates you by absorbing water
- High in antioxidants
- High in fiber
- Lowers your cholesterol
- Rich in potassium, iron, selenium
I searched online to find a good recipe to make a “sports drink” that I could use instead of Gatorade. I found a lot of recipes, but nothing in a 1-drink size, they were all bulk sized recipes, to make a pitcher or gallon of the stuff. Since I was interested in a 1-cup at a time deal, I just came up with my own, based on what I had in the kitchen.
Recipe:
- 8 ounces water
- 4 ounces orange juice
- 1 tsp sugar (or less, depending on your taste)
- 1 tablespoon Chia seeds (or slightly more)
- Stir it all up in a large glass, let it sit for 5-10 minutes. Letting it sit, gives the seeds time to soften up and absorb some of the liquid and turns the liquid to a slight gel consistency. It’s not like drinking jello or anything, you can barely tell.
- Fill another glass with ice and pour it in
- Enjoy the tasty beverage!
I don’t have a name for the drink yet, but am willing to take suggestions.
Other links:
http://kabochavore.com/2011/04/09/chia-seeds-are-the-new-gatorade/
http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/2011/01000/Omega_3_Chia_Seed_Loading_as_a_Means_of.9.aspx
http://www.flickr.com/photos/notahipster/4999199198/
1 Year Running Anniversary
May 26th
On May 25, 2010, I ran my first mile. The pace was 9:36 and I remember feeling like I wanted to die.
I started running as a part of my company’s Wellness Program. An incentivized program that rewards employees for exercise and consistent updates to the programs website. I joined a team of coworkers and we all started together. We’re a mostly remote group of people, so when I say “together”, I mean “virtually together”. Only one of the 5 people lived within driving distance to me. He and I ran our first 5K together in June 2010 at the Milwaukee County Zoo. My pace at the 5K was 9:10. I remember feeling like death for about 20 minutes after the 5K.
I ran a total of 5 races in 2010 (from June to November), each of them unique in their own way. I’ve linked each run to my DailyMile profile where I talked about each run. If you want to read my race report for the race, feel free to follow the link. It will open a new window/tab when you click it, so you can easily come back to this page just by closing the other page.
Lombardi 5K Run/Walk for Cancer: Dedicated to my mother-in-law who passed away from cancer a few years back. (I ran, wife/family walked). Ran with a friend.
Kishwauketoe Trail 5K: Local, small town nature conservatory. Entry fees went to a great, local cause. This was the race where I figured out how slow I was compared to others and how much more I needed to train. Solo run.
Storm the Bastille: Night fun run that zigzags through downtown Milwaukee. Solo run and PR’d my 5K time.
Chicago Half Marathon: Longest run ever. Felt like I was going to die afterwards. Ran with DailyMile friend, Eric (Runs4Brains). After the half marathon, I ran sporadically for about a month, recovering from the beating my body took.
Lake Geneva Turkey Trot: Trail 10K race in Lake Geneva. I PR’d my 10K time and had an awesome run. Solo run.
The turkey trot was the final race of 2010. Up next was the indoor marathon relay, in Milwaukee, in January.
InStep Indoor Marathon Relay: Team of 4 people, 1 of whom I actually knew. The other 2 were strangers, but we had fun none-the-less.
From January to May 2011, is the winter season and training for my first marathon. I signed up for the Lake Geneva marathon in early 2011 and trained through-out the blustering winter for it.
Lake Geneva Marathon: If you read my race report, it looks a bit scatter-brained. I was going to go back and reorganize my thoughts, but I decided that, that’s how my brain worked afterwards, may as well keep it that way, so I remember. This was HARD. The Lake Geneva course is known for its grueling hills and solitary running. No crowds, no fan-faire, just 26.2 miles around the awesome lake, mostly solo. Jen, my mom/dad and the kids met me at a few spots, which was nice. Hearing them cheer me on helped. Started with 2 friends, ran 99% of it solo.
Up next is the 2011 Lombardi 5K Run for Cancer on June 11. I plan on PR’ing my 5K time from last year by a lot.
After that, the Rock-n-Roll Seattle marathon, on June 25, 2011. I’m running with my cousin, Katie, who wanted to run her first marathon this year as well. She and I will hopefully start and finish together. At least, that’s the plan. Training for a 5K and a marathon at the same time is proving to be challenging. I want to run the 5K hard and the marathon easy, so finding the mix during my training runs is confusing sometimes. It’ll all work out fine, no need to stress over it.
In July, I have the Kishwauketoe Trail 5K race. After July, I don’t have any races scheduled. There are a few other 5K/10K’s in the area that I’m eyeballing, but nothing concrete just yet. Going to get through marathon #2 and the others before committing to anything else.
Also in July, I’m traveling to Alaska. I hope to get in some remote Alaska runs and get them logged on my Garmin GPS watch.
My longer term goals are:
- Improve my 5K and 10K times
- Setup/coordinate a 5K in Lake Geneva
- Keep running; regardless of if I’m training for something or not.
- Run for fun!
Thanks for reading my year in running. Here’s to another great summer and year!
Marathon Week
May 2nd
I’m running in my first marathon on May 7, 2011 in Lake Geneva, WI (see link here). I’ve been training for it since January 17, 2011. Each week I set out to run a schedule of runs. Some of which I followed exactly, others, well, not so much. Having a full time job, two kids and one very loving and understanding wife sometimes doesn’t mean I get to go running when I want/need to. Family comes first, period. I’ve skipped many runs to hang out with the family and to be a better dad/husband than a runner.
On the flip side, running has been a great stress reliever for me. When the kids are arguing or have been renamed “Tease” and “Scream” for the day, there’s nothing like a run to step away and clear the head.
Initially I had a goal of completing the marathon in a 4 hour time frame, which is about a 9:10/minute/mile pace. After running the marathon route several times during training, I’ve abandoned that time goal. My new goal is to run the marathon and enjoy myself, not kill myself. The “enjoy myself” pace doesn’t mean lolly-gagging and sightseeing, rather simply just run it and have fun. If I don’t hit the initial goal pace, that’s OK. If I do, that’s OK too.
It’s Monday, May 2, 2011 at the time of this posting and I have 3 more training runs left on the schedule. Today, 3 slow miles, tomorrow, 4 quick miles, Thursday, 3 slow miles. Very much looking forward to thesefinal 3 training runs. It’ll put a 4 month project to rest.
There are a couple unknowns that I wish I had more information about.
- The race is supposed to start at a bridge that is under construction. Where’s the “real” starting place now? Might need to make a couple phone calls to find that out.
- The extended forecast is calling for “T-Showers”. I’m game for running in the rain, but will the race be rescheduled if there’s lightening? Possible bummer. The weather report is rarely accurate, so I’m not stressing over this at all right now. It was supposed to rain all weekend (in the evening) and we didn’t get a drop of rain.
During the 4 months of training, I ran a couple 20+ milers and a TON of 10-15 milers, on the marathon course. If I’m not ready by now, I’ll never be. My body knows what to expect, though, my brain might need some adjustment mid-run.
Up next is the Rock-n-Roll Seattle Marathon on June 25, 2011 (see link here).
If you’re interested in following my training and marathon times, I use DailyMile.com to track my runs. See link here.
Here’s to Saturday, good luck to everyone!
2011 Resolutions
Jan 5th
- Run 2 marathons. Lake Geneva (May 2011) and Seattle (June 2011)
- Write a children’s book
- Improve core fitness
- Stop eating chips
- Stop eating french fries
Run Photos
Oct 29th
From the Kishwauketoe Nature Conservatory in Williams Bay, WI on 10/29/2010. Ran 3 miles around the trails, very fun.
Sam & Me
Oct 25th
Sam and I went to Target the other day. I took his picture standing in the big circle thing and he wanted to take my picture, so he did. Pretty cool that he can operate the iPhone camera now.
Chicago Half Marathon
Sep 14th
Arrived in Chicago on Saturday. Woke up at 3:30am on Sunday and made it down to Jackson Park by 5:18am. We milled around the grounds for a bit and watched them finish setting up the tents and road closures. As time progressed, more and more runners arrived and it warmed up a bit. I think it was mid-50s in the morning and high-70s in the afternoon.
Stretched and did a few laps down the starting area to loosen up a bit.
Observations:
Saw a guy in a gecko costume.
Saw two guys running barefoot.
Saw two guys running in Vibram Five Fingers.
Not much shade on the run.
LOTS of support on the run. Music, cheerleaders, medical, nice people, etc…
Met a DailyMile friend (Runs4Brains, aka Eric) at the starting line. We ran about 9 miles of the race together, although, I think he slowed down a bit to wait for me (thanks man). At around mile 9, he took off and I stayed my pace. Had some good conversation on the run. Buddy, it was great meeting you and talking for 9 miles.
Official time was 2:04:40.
I’m happy with the time, even though I was really aiming for the 2 hour mark. Was extremely happy and thrilled to see all the nice runners and spectators calling my name (since it was printed on the bib) as I ran by.
My first half marathon was a smashing success. Will I do it again? Probably in 2011. I need to figure out what’s next on the schedule. Do I immediately jump into marathon training for 2011? Do I run for fun during the winter and start marathon training in the spring? Hmmm, need to figure that out.
Thanks to all involved.
Some Information:
Originally posted this verbiage to DailyMile.
Here is the URL to the official race results.
Link to the official race photos. Note: Some of them are not pretty. :)
Mile Splits:
9:43, 9:25, 9:12, 9:17, 9:22, 9:08, 9:22, 9:16, 9:16, 9:32, 9:43, 9:59, 9:40
Photos:
Credits: Photos taken by @JenMelchi. 2 hour marker photo edited by @RuffoloPhoto
Nick & Eric @ 2 hour Marker
Bananas for 20,000 runners
Medals for 20,000 Runners
Photos from my 13.1 mile run
Aug 24th
Cows at a nice little farm.
Farm Land
Going from mile 3 into mile 4
The halfway point...
Sam after he finished running a lap by himself.