Another Busy Weekend!

Friday evening I accomplished what I had planned and ran a quick 5k once I got home from work. I ran faster than I have in some time and finished with a time of 25:59. After my run, quick shower and dinner, I was off to play cards. I had a great time playing, unfortunately walked away with $80 less than arriving. I had a good time and as long as I don’t do that too often I can stomach the loss.

Saturday morning I was off to the doctor’s to talk about my blood test results. My numbers did not look so good so we have doubled my cholesterol medicine to 80 milligrams of Provachol. My HDL cholesterol had gone up, unfortunately not enough to counteract my LDL so my doctor confirmed my inheritance of bad genetics. He told me he could see that I was working out from a physical standpoint as well as the increase in my HDL but that is not enough in my case. Sorry to bore with the cholesterol talk but I am at my wits end and hope the increase in medicine helps without killing my liver in the process. The doctor was running a little late on Saturday (an hour and a half late) so I was surprised when they took my blood pressure and told me that it was 110/70. I would have assumed that it was through the roof as I was a little perturbed at the time frame. I understand that things can run late, but an hour and a half, give me a break.

After I got home and had lunch I went out with my wife for a run. The weather was sunny and warm (60 degrees) and I was able to wear shorts. I ended up with 7 miles and my wife kept going for her longest run of 9 miles. We spent the rest of the day running errands (oil change, car wash 2 vehicles, haircut, running shoe shopping and dinner). We had dinner before our wine/sushi party and certainly glad we did. There were other things at the party but nothing I cared to eat so my decision to eat beforehand was a good one. I was the designated driver for Saturday, so I only had a few glasses of wine throughout the evening. The party was like a wine flight with Champaign, whites and then onto reds. There were about four different types of each category and multiple bottles of each. There was also a variety of single malt scotches to try, but I was driving so stayed away. We left around midnight and I was ready for bed after the long day.

Sunday was equally as busy. I was running around doing everything from putting air in bike tires, dropping my air compressor at my sister’s, cleaning up and grocery shopping. I then put out the basketball hoop so my son could play on the driveway and proceeded to shoot around with him for a while.

Today is equally as nice, weather wise and I went for a couple mile walk at lunchtime. I am going to try for 4.5 miles after work tonight. They are predicting 70 degrees for tomorrow, so I am debating taking the day off or should I be good and go to work. I leave you with a photo of my lunchtime walk.

Busy Busy!

This week has passed by rather quickly for me. I have been busy this week at work with meetings and other work related stuff. On the running front, I have done ok, but not as well as I would have liked.

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 4.5

Wednesday: 4

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Planning on 3

Weekend: Longer runs- 7 Saturday and 5 Sunday (hopefully)

I canceled my normal Thursday night card game because a friend invited me to play tonight in a different game at his house. His kids and my son are friends and they can hang out and play while we play cards. The bonus is that I didn’t stay up late last night and got a good night’s sleep.

My wife and I were also invited to a wine & sushi party on Saturday. I don’t necessarily enjoy sushi, but I am going to go for the company anyways. I guess I should eat something before we head out.

I have the potential of a few stumbling blocks this weekend, cards on Friday and party on Saturday, to sideline my running goals for this weekend, but I will do my best to avoid the pitfalls.

Looking out my office window, the weather appears to be great and I am just itching to get out there and run. The good news is that it is still light when I get home from work and will have no problem with my planned 3 miler.

Happy Friday the 13^th and have a great weekend!

Rainy Weekend!

I didn’t run on Friday (rest day) and the weather was crappy on Saturday, it was raining since Friday night. I finally saw a break in the weather and decided to run. About a mile into my run, it started to drizzle. I thought no big deal and continued on my way. The drizzle was no problem, until it started coming down a little heavier. I am sure you know what happened next, it soon was pouring and I was miles from home. My headphones must have gotten wet and they didn’t work after a while. I was concerned that my phone and MP3 would also get damaged so I covered them up the best I could. Needless to say my run was shorter than anticipated, and I made a turn to head home. I was about a ½ mile from the house and my wife pulled up to alongside me, apparently she was out driving around looking for me to check if I was ok. I told her thanks, but I would just see her at the house since I came this far, was already soaked and so close to home. I changed out of my wet clothes and took a hot shower to warm up. I guess I should have seen it coming, but I really didn’t want to get on the treadmill.

Since I only did 4.5 miles of my planned 7 miler on Saturday, I decided to hit it again on Sunday. It was still raining on Sunday, actually had not stopped since Saturday, so I chose the treadmill. I put in a Netflix movie (Wanted) and started my run. I only did 3 miles; I just couldn’t get into it. After my run and finishing my movie, it was time to go to my son’s All Star game for basketball. After b-ball we headed shopping. My wife had a 30% coupon for Kohl’s where I picked up a few new running shirts and then we headed home.

Total miles for last week:

18.1. A little less than I hoped for, but will work on it this week.

Today is looking so much nicer, the rain has stopped, the sun is peaking through the clouds and temps are in the 40’s. I plan on running outside, now that it will be light out, when I get home tonight.

Bad Genetics!

Friday is upon finally upon us, what a long week. I played cards last night (Didn’t win) and had a great evening anyways. Prior to cards, I went out for a quick run, as I promised myself. I did a quick (for me) 3 miler at 26:26. The weather last night was awesome, I was able to wear shorts and no jacket required.

I went to bed at 11:45 last night and as I sit here I am feeling a little tired, but happy to have had a night out to spend with friends. I think I need to get a café Americano at Starbucks. They seem to have a Starbucks on every corner in Chicago.

Oh Joy! I just received word from my doctor regarding my blood test results from Saturday. I have to say I am a little disappointed in my numbers:

Cholesterol 224

HDL 42

LDL 139

Triglycerides 214

I am actually more than disappointed, I am pissed off that I have been busting my ass with exercise lately, last month I ran 84 miles. Shouldn’t that help these numbers? Maybe I am just blessed with horrible genetics. I need to go in next week to my doc and discuss increasing my current cholesterol meds. At least my liver function is normal so I can handle an increase of meds. This sucks!!!!!

I guess I can’t wallow too long about things I can’t control. I can control my diet and exercise, which I am doing. Anything beyond that is out of my hands. No more negativity, I promise. I just got back from a nice long walk (2 miles) at lunch today and seemed to have calmed down a bit over my #’s. The weather is gorgeous again today and in the 60’s. I am trying to appreciate the positive things and not dwell on things I can’t control.

Have a great weekend!

Feild Trip!

Well its Thursday and that means poker night again. I am promising myself to get a good run in tonight before any shenanigans begin, no really, I mean it. I managed to get out last night (in the dark) for a 4.4 miler. The temps were around 40 degrees last night and I think I overdressed for the run. I had a long sleeve shirt, ¼ zip pullover, lightweight jacket and gloves. In hindsight, I should have lost the jacket. Oh well, at least I was able to get outside and off the treadmill.

Chicago is blessed again with mild temps (60 degrees) today and I can’t help but be in a great mood. Work allowed me to be out and about the city today and I snapped a few pictures of Chicago, which I thought I would share. I even managed to get a couple miles of walking in while I was out and about. I like taking field trips away from the office when the weather is good, funny how field trips get planned to coincide with nicer weather.

I plan on a long run for Saturday morning and then we are off to a ST. Patrick's Day parade in St. Charles to meet up with some old friends. I took my son last year and we froze our tails off. The weather forecast isn't bad for Saturday, just a chance of rain. I can handle rain rather than freezing temps.

Well I hope I win big tonight at cards and get plenty of rest for Friday (we will see).

Warm up Wednesday!

The sun is shining and temps are climbing in Chicagoland today. I feel the warm sun on me as I sit at my computer typing this blog. I feel positive energy of the day and I am so ready for spring.

I took Sunday and Monday off from running to recover from my long run on Saturday. However, I jumped back on the treadmill last night for a 3.5 mile run and finished my workout with push ups. As I sit here, I am getting anxious to get home and run outside today in the 40 degree temps we are expecting. I tell you this work thing is such a nuisance.

Seriously, I am grateful to be gainfully employed, especially in these turbulent times. I try not to take anything for granted; it’s just that work interferes with my desire to run in the daylight. I guess I will have to hold out a little while longer and quit my bitchin. I am exited and anxiously awaiting the time change happening this weekend.

With spring approaching I am also looking forward to being able to cross train with my bike. I bought a new hybrid (GT Transeo 4.0) at the end of last year and didn’t get many opportunities to use it before it got cold. I am hoping to be able to get out and ride with my wife and son this year. I need to get a bike rack to mount in the hitch of my SUV so we can drive out to trails that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to get to by riding.

I hope everyone has a great day and that the temps and sun in your neck of the woods are as energizing as they are here.

Going the Distance!

Saturday morning I went to the lab to get a blood test so I could see how my cholesterol, triglyceride and liver function is. I am on medication for blood pressure and cholesterol so I periodically monitor these things to know where my levels are at. After the test, I headed out the door for a run. My plan was to possibly do an 8 miler but would have been happy with 7.

As soon as I got outside, the wind hit me in the face and combined with the 18 degree temperature, I questioned my sanity. Nonetheless, I trudged on, after returning to get some hand warmers and face mask. The temps seemed to be a distant nuisance as I trotted on my merry way. The funny thing is I didn’t even see another soul out there, I think I was one of the nut jobs that people comment on when they drive by in their cars. I was feeling pretty good still around mile 6 and thought that I might try to go for a longer run than anticipated, so I took some Jelly Belly sports beans. I have never used these or any other types of aid, as I normally don’t do long enough runs that require this. I have to say, they went down easy and seemed to not bother my stomach, as I have read as a common problem from others. I am proud to say that I ran 13.1 miles in 2:14. I was pretty exited, I have only accomplished this once before on my treadmill. I wanted to see what it would feel like actually running outside. I think I may be ahead of my training schedule for the Madison ½ Marathon in May but feel a little relieved that I ran it and can now focus on other things like improving my form and increasing my speed.

Just this past month, I started to keep track of my runs online. My total for February is 17 runs for a total of 84.2 miles.

I took Sunday off as a much needed rest day and will see how I feel tonight when I get home from work to determine if I will run or not.