Big Week

Well everybody, it's official, as of this week I am an official entrant in the New Las Vegas Marathon. The promoters of the marathon had a deal going where you could get $10 off your entry fee if you signed up before Aug. 15th. So Lisa, Whitney and I made sure to sign up by then and save our $10 each. We also made our hotel reservation for our stay in Vegas. You know what all this means right? That's right, there is no turning back now. I am going to run a marathon on Sunday Dec. 10th. It's a good thing I started training a few weeks ago.

Speaking of training; yesterday I had the longest run ever in my life. And how long was that run you ask; 9 miles. That's right 9 miles! I'm getting on the same trainign schedule as Whitney and that changed called for me to up the nunmber on my long run of the week. That 9 miles consisted of starting at Cabrillo and 21st Ave. and running to the Great Hwy. (Ocean Beach), and then down the Great Hwy. to Sloat Ave. and then back. I did the run with Whitney and we made really good time. It doesn't surprise me that Whitney made great time, she's a pro, what surprises me is that I was able to keep up with her for most of the run. It wasn't until the last little bit that I had to slow it down. Of course at the end of the run I was hot, sweaty and winded but I felt really good about the whole experience. I felt like I'm going to be able to do this marathon thing.

In my last post I said I would show you a picture of my new shoes and I don't want to let you all down so I took a picture of my right foot in its new shoe and here it is.

If the picture doesn't so up it's probably because I'm lame and don't know what I'm doing. I'll try and fix it so that you can see.

Thaks for reading, I'll talk to you all soon.

What a Weekend

Hello everyone, I'm back to update you on all the happenings of the past few days because I've heard from several people that they have been holding their breath waiting for an update from me. Trust me I'm a big beliver in the importance of breathing and I don't want to be responsible for anybody passing out so I'll keep updating this thing a few times a week.

This weekend was a really good one. I had a five mile run on Saturday morning at the Marina. Whitney had a seven mile run and I'm thinking of getting on her training schedule for the weekly long run. Of course this means that my weekly long run is going to be a little longer than what my training chart says right now, but I think I can do it. On this last run I tried to do as little walking as possible and I was quite pleased with the results. Each time I get out there I'm feeling better and better, especially at the end of each run when I'm less winded.

Today was a great day. I went out on a motorcycle ride with my friend Norm and it was the best time I've had on the bike since i started riding. We rode down Highway 1 from San Francisco down to Santa Cruz. The stretch of Highway 1 known as Devil's Slide was just reopend recently so Norm and I decided to get out and enjoy it, and enjoy it we did.

Another thing I did today was get some new running shoes. For the last week and a half or so I've been thinking about what shoes to get. I've really wanted to find all black running shoes, but every kind I've seen have been all types of color combos. All that changed today when I found the Asics GT-2110. They aren't all black, they have a bit of silver in them, but they are as close as I think I'll find. They're very comfortable and very cushiony (if that is a real word I'm sure I spelled it wrong). So now I'm going to rotate between my new shoes and my old New Balances and hopefully keep my feet happy and moving. In my next post I hope to have a picture of my feet wearing my new shoes for you all to see, and as a bonus I'll even be showing a little leg; keep an eye out for the photo.

Thanks for reading, talk to you all soon.

Still Here

It's been awhile since we last spoke, hasn't it? It seems like it's been a whole weekend and a day. And what have I been doing during that time you ask? Well, like I mentioned in my previous post on Saturday i went on the longest run I've been on so far, a little more than four miles. Not too bad. I actually felt really good the whole time I was on the run, with periodic stretches of walking thrown in, and I'm looking forward to doing a very similar run this weekend. the run itself took place in the San Francisco Marina. We (myself, Lisa and Whitney) started at Fort Mason and ran along until we reached Fort Point at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge.

But before I get to another run like that one I have some smaller runs to make this week, in fact I had a little run this afternoon. This week I need to run a total of 15 miles with my longest run being five miles on Saturday.

Last night I went to a pretty good show with my good friend Norm. It was Josh of Yellow Red Sparks, Chuck formerly of Hot Water Music, and Dustin from Thrice all doing solo acoustic sets at the Swedish American Hall. It was cool because the venue was so small which made it a perfect setting for acoustic music. Dustin played some really good covers, including The Beatles "Oh Darling" and "Nebraska" by The Boss, and if you have to ask who The Boss is then I feel sorry for you.

So tomorrow I'm going to go to the gym and do some lifting for my legs and maybe a little run on the tredmill. Until I post again I want you all to rememebr that I love to party!

Thanks for reading, Talk to you all soon.

Gotta Keep Rolling Along

Yesterday and today I made the same run I told you about in Monday's post and each day I ran just a little bit more than the previous time. You know what we call that friends? We call that progress. I'm making slight improvements everyday and that's got me feeling good. It's just like my recent decision to learn how to ride a motorcycle. I made it through the rider training course just fine, but that's in a controlled environment. It wasn't until I actually got a motorcycle of my own and started riding on the streets that I really had to use my riding skills; but everytime I got on the bike and rode I made progress and now i'm at the point where stalling the bike is a very rare occurance. That's what happening with my running, I'm getting better everytime and I'm sure you all are overjoyed with receiving this news.

Well, I'm making this a short post today. Tomorrow I'm going to go to the gym and do some runnning and lifting, and then on Saturday I'm hoping to run the longest run of the week for me, four miles. I can hear your oooooohhhs and aaaaawwwws now.

Thanks for reading, talk to you all soon.

And It Begins

Last night I told you all that I was going to go to the gym and get on a tredmill after work today. Well, I've got to tell you that I didn't make it there but I did start my training today like I said I would. After work I stopped and got a new pair of running shorts and an arm band for my ipod because I have to have my music while I'm running. Once I got home I put on my new shorts, wrapped my ipod around my arm and did some stretching; and then I did it, I went out and ran a few miles. I ran from my apartment down to Ocean Beach, then up to Golden Gate Park, along the park and then back over to my apartment. In total it was about three miles.

Now, did I run the whole three miles? Ummm... no, no I didn't. I ran two miles total and walked (quickly) the other mile. So yes I know that I've got to build up my stamina if I'm going to do the whole running a marathon thing. But baby steps y'all, baby steps.

I liked getting out there and running down to the beach. There was a nice breeze that kept it from being too warm; not that being too warm is ever much of a concern here in San Francisco. If you're wondering what I was listening to on my run, it was Pearl Jam, they're pretty good to run to. This brings me to an ongoing part of my marathon training is going to be creating the ultimate marathon playlist for my ipod. As my training runs get longer and longer so to will the playlist. Song suggestions are welcome, of course I'm looking for songs that willl keep me pumped and going. One song I know that will make it on the list that may not exactly be in the keeping me pumped catagory is Belle and Sebastian's "The Loneliness of the Middle Distance Runner." This is making the list for obvious reasons.

Thanks for reading, talk to you all soon.

The First Post

So yes, this is the first post in the blog that will become the chronicle of my journey through training for and running a marathon. Wow, saying something like, "chroncile of my journy" makes this all sound so epic. But my deciding to run a marathon actually is quite epic; for those reading who know me personally, and let's face it that's 99.9% percent of you (and to the one guy who found this blog by mistake, it's cool you can still read on, enjoy yourself), you all know that I've never been much of a runner. There are some of you out there that have even heard me proclaim my disdain for running. Well, for the next four months I'm going to be running, and running a lot. By now you're probably asking yourself "So Jason, why the change of heart about running?" My answer to you is that I'm older and wiser, but that really isn't a good answer.

The real answer is that yesterday I ran my first ever 5K and actually enjoyed it. I ran it with my super awesome girlfriend Lisa and our super awesome friend Whitney and had a really great time. Now Lisa is like me, pretty much a newbie to this whole running thing. Whitney is a seasoned vetrean of the running world, she's ran two marathons before. After the 5K talk between Lisa, Whitney and I turned to other runs and then to talk of the Las Vegas Marathon. Lisa and Whitney were down for it and that sealed it for me. I love doing things with Lisa, I love doing things with Whitney and I love doing things with Lisa and Whitney, so I'm going to love doing this whole marathon thing with Lisa and Whitney. On top of all that I want to do it just to prove to myself that I can do it.

So I just mentioned that one reason I'm going to run a marathon is to prove to myslef that I can do it. One thing I did recently just to prove to myself that I could do it was grow a full beard. But one thing I learned from running the 5K is that running any kind of distance over a quarter of a mile and the sweating that comes with this kind of activity is made much worse with a full beard. for this reason I shaved the beard off completley this evening; because tomorrow the training starts.

I've been going to the gym for a little while now but I've been going without any real goal or direction. Tomorrow that all changes, I'm going to the gym with the purpose of training for a marathon and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm going to try and do three miles on the tredmill after work. I'll let you all know how it goes and I promise to make my little blog here look better with some snazzy pictures and all that stuff. But right now I'm going to get myself ready for bed and then go to work tomorrow and the gym after that.

Thanks for reading, talk to you all soon.