20 minutes of running

I knew I only had a bit of time. I told my wife to call me when my daughter needed to be picked up and out the door I went. I ran the loop around my home and got in 1.66 miles in 19:57 before the call came.

That puts me up to 14.76 miles for the week with two days left. I'm starting to feel my knee stiffen up between runs. Hopefully, it won't become a major issue.

This morning I weighed in at 222.5. I believe that is my low since I started running.

To the Lake

Another 5 miler to Desert Breeze lake and back. When I get to the lake I really run the loop around the baseball diamonds. tonight there was a little league team working on one and a girls softball team on the other. I'm sure they were watching the old man running on the asphalt and wondering why. The trail has two long sides where I would run hard and two short sides that I would walk on. It is about a half mile total and I did 4 loopes around. Then I ran back home. My time was 1 hour, 2 minutes and 33 seconds. A good workout.

Ran tonight. 5 miles in a little over 1 hour. The lower mileage has taken a bit of a toll on me and I've been fighting to get back to where I was at the end of last year. Tonight I felt much better and ran for longer times. I'm still taking more walk breaks than I used to, but that will change.

I mixed in some tempo runs tonight. I would run about 100 yards at a 7 or 8 minute pace (I'm guessing) and then would walk. It felt good to run at a faster pace.

That makes two runs in two days. Hopefully, my knee won't bother me when I wake up.

My Oldest Baseball Card

I've been scanning my baseball cards. I haven't looked at them in ages. It's kind of nice to relive my youth. This is my oldest card, from the 1957 season. It's not in great shape, but it's the only one I have from that year.

ARR Race #1

Between my knee hurtin' and low mileage I've been putting off running in any races. But, some deals are too good to pass on. The Arizona Road Racers have a series of 5 races during the summer in parks throughout the metro area. For $20 you get to run in all 5 races. Yeah, $20. You have to be a member, so I joined for $20. That's $8 a race. I'm running in 4 of them, so it's $10 a race for me. T-shirts are extra and I'll probably buy one of them.

I needed to run in a race. It was well organized and had a lot of runners. 494 to be exact. It was chip timed and was held at Papago Park near the zoo. I knew I was going to set any PR's, but it sure felt good to be out there in the middle of the pack.

This race had a staggered start. The older you are, the earlier you get to start. I started 12 minutes after the gun sounded and within minutes I was getting passed by all these younger runners. They had it rough because they had to weave in and out between us slower and older runners. I don't know what the hurry was about, but some of them were flying. I ran steady, but since I'm not in top form (for me) I ended up taking walk breaks. I forgot to start my Nike + and realized it about 1/4 of a mile into the race. It still helped me with my pacing. In the end I ran a 38:05 race. I could have run it a tad faster, but in the last half of the race I met up with a friend from Team In Training, Roland. We ran it in together at a leisurly pace. He started later than me and had a better time than me, but I was glad to run with him over the last 1.5 miles or so.

After the race, ARR had bagels and cream cheese, cookies, chips, water melon and sodas. The line was long and we ended up waiting 15-20 minutes to get something to eat. It was the cream cheese that slowed the line down. I offered to walk down the line with the water melon so that runners could get something right away, but the water melon cutting lady thought I was crazy. I guess she thought people should have to wait in line and suffer. I wasn't going to argue with a knife carrying lady.

I never tasted water melon so good. The next race is June 16th at the Reach 11 Horse Lover's Park. Anyone in Arizona, I highly recommend ARR races. I believe, Phil is very active with ARR.

A Good nite for a Run!

I'm having a tough time finding time to run, work, spend time with family, watch baseball and play softball. With the temps rising, I am trying to run at night, but all kinds of things get in the way at night. I'm not real big on getting up in the morning to run, but that may be the solution.

The Suns are done, so I don't have to worry about scheduling Suns games into my day. The Reds are playing horrible, so I am now watching other teams play. I really like watching the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Yankees. It would be a good year for a rematch in the World Series for those two teams.

My daughter just graduated from 8th grade and is now a high schooler. My son will be a junior and we'll have to start visiting colleges next school year.

I'm working a lot lately. That's good, because I'm a Realtor. No work and no money. So work is good. I have two clients that are moving to Glendale and El Mirage, which are on the other side of the world (metro area). 38 miles one way from my home.

Tonight, I ran 5 miles. I ran from my home to Desert Breeze Park. There's a path that goes around the lake and two baseball fields. I ran around the path a couple times and then ran back home. It's a nice run. I ran after nite fall, so it was cooler. Probably under 90 degrees.

My mileage has been low lately, but I hope to get it back up. I did sign up for the Summer Series of Races put on by the Arizona Road Runners. The first race is this Sunday in Papago Park.

I need to get more miles in and pick a half marathon to run this fall. Wish me luck.

Easton Stealth

I have my replacement. An Easton Stealth softball bat. 34 inches long, 26 ounces.

Several people mentioned that I must have really swung hard. The truth is - My orange crush was used for over 3 years for 24-62 plus games a year and used by several people on my various teams. I, also, used it in batting cages which have those harder plastic balls. In softball bat years it was over 30 years old. Let's hope my new stealth last that long.

Rest In Peace - Orange Crush

Friday was opening nite of the summer softball season. I went to the cages the night before to get some hitting practice in and take a short run. While I was at the cage I broke my bat. Not a wooden bat, but my Mizuno Orange Crush. It's $200 to replace.

We had to play without it on Friday nite. After four ininngs we were leading 7-0 and I had hopes of getting a shutout. My first one ever as a softball pitcher. But, then the wheels came off and we gave up 6 runs in the last two ininngs and barely held on for the win.

Below are pictures of my bat. Rest in Peace.

Day Dreaming Run

I got four runs in this week. Not real high mileage (11.84 miles), but I suited up and went out four times. Lately, work, watching sports and life have gotten in the way. I'm gonna change that.

Tonight I decided to get in a 5k. I ran 5 miles last night and I wanted to do a back to back. I wanted to run a bit faster too. I have been in a rut as far as my time is concerned.

So tonight in the dark I started to run. My legs have felt great the last couple weeks. No knee issues either. I don't know why but I starter thinking about my high school wrestling days. In wrestling you have to get mad, hate your opponent and want to crush him. I always had problems with that back then because I was too nice. I still like to think that I'm too nice to this day. But tonight as I ran, I thought about wrestling and some of my old teammates which lead me to day dream about wrestling and as I did I was getting an attitude. A mean attitude and I was running just a bit faster. In the end I ran the 3.1 miles in 35:04 for a pace of 11:19. I had been running at a 12 something pace, so I was happy with this. I need to get my 5k pace down near 10 minutes.

So, here's some wrestling pictures from my high school yearbook. Aiken High School, Cincinnati Ohio. Class of 1980.

The top picture is me in front of another wrestler's sign. I'm half japanese, so we felt the sign should have been for me. This was at the league tournament at Western Hills HS in 1980. The picture below is a rare shot of me with the advantage. Both shoulders have to be touching. I guess one isn't. You can see the number 185 on my back. That's my weight class. Sure would be nice to be under 185 now.

It's Marathon week!

and I'm staying home. Good luck to those that are running the Flying Pig in Cincinnati and the Whiskey Row in Presscott, AZ. Someday, I'll do both of those races. But, not this year. Three half's in the first three months of the year was quite enough.

This week I ran on Tuesday night. I could see the lighting going on over the reservation to the south of Chandler and I thought I could get a run in. I made it .67 miles before the drops started falling. I considered continueing. I've run in the rain before, but the lightening was getting closer and closer. So, I packed it in and called it a day. My time was a blistering 7 minutes and 26 seconds for a 10:59 pace. I wasn't panting and I don't think I even sweated a bit. Last June I would have been wasted by such a long run. Now, it's nothing.

On Wednesday I ran 3.07 miles in 37:26 seconds for a 12:09 pace. It seems like my first mile has been 11:21 for the past 3-4 times I've run. Is my nike+ out of whack? I'm going to have to compare it with my heart rate monitor to be sure.

Softball is starting on may 11th. I'm excited.
The Suns beat the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs. I'm pumped.
The Reds? Oh well, they're in second place. Some days are better than others for them.
I just finished reading in the Cincinnati paper that my brother is sueing a comedy club and Chad Johnson of the Bengals. Turns out my nephew won a trip to the super bowl that Chad was supposed to pay for. He never fulfilled that obligation. Then he was going to give away a Lexus at the comedy club. So, my brother bought a bunch of tickets to that show. He gave the car away to his girlfriend instead. Insteresting stuff.

We are pushing 100 degrees!

Anyday now Phoenix will reach triple digits and stay there until september. Yesterday I saw a guy running on the canal in Scottsdale in the middle of the day. I told him it was too hot for that, but it was the only time he could run. I choose to run after the sun sets. It was still 87 degrees, so I worked up a good sweat and got to add another 5 miles to my lifetime mileage.





Drum roll please. . .





I am now at 603 miles since I started counting last August. I'm up to 45 miles for the month and ran today without thinking about my knee at all. I think that problem has been shelved for awhile. Now to get my mileage up a bit more and my endurance up. I ran the 5 miles today in 1 hour and 10 seconds. I need to start thinking about my next race. Probably a 5k, but maybe a 10k.

Thursday the 19th, West USA Realty had there annual convention. I've been a Realtor their going on 10 years. Amy and I went and got to see the Cardinals Dome for the first time. I wasn't all that impressed. Not very bright. It reminded me of a Costco or Sam's Club. I guess they should have named it Costco Field. They named it 'The University of Phoenix Stadium'. You may have a UoP building in your city, their popping up everywhere. But, you have to realize that it's an internet school with no football team. So, the cardinals went from a university stadium that has a university team to a stadium named after a university that doesn't have a team. Confused?

We are the Hokies!

If you haven't read this poem, you should. God Bless everyone that was affected by this tragedy.

This is an interesting blog, too.

I won a race!

Yes. It was the innagural Baja Fresh 3/4 mile dash. It started with a warm up of 3/4 mile walk from my home with my wife and kids to Baja Fresh. Where we dined on tacos and taquitos, chips and soda. Then as we were going to start walking back home, my son said, "I'll race ya, dad."

Now my son is a couple inches taller than me, 100 pounds lighter and 16 years old. The only real exercise he gets is running to the bus stop in the morning. So, the race was on. Eventhough I just ate and I was wearing non running clothes. Thankfully, I had on an old pair of running shoes.

I ran with my phone in my pocket and a soda in my hand. I was getting strange looks from everyone I passed. My son would sprint ahead and then walk. As soon as I would catch up he would sprint ahead some more. But, each time the sprinting was getting shorter and shorter. It was the rabbit and the tortoise all over again.

We both reached a corner at the same time. He went left and I went right. I thought my route was shorter, but when I googled it they were equally about .21 miles from our front yard. I ran the whole 3/4 of a mile with a full stomach and dressed for work. When I reached our street I could see my son at the other corner. Whoever could sprint the final 1/10 of a mile was the winner. We both took off and I stepped on our lot maybe 2-3 steps ahead of him. Althought he said we tied, I know I won. We both laid on the driveway laughing. Hopefully, we can race again in the future, even if he wins.

That gives me 11.77 miles for this week. I need to start getting my mileage over 20 miles a week.

Just like the Boston Marathon

I guess the weather was a bit on the cold and windy side in Boston and Phoenix too. Amy wore a jacket while we walked about a mile and then I went out and did 5 miles in 59:58. I wanted to break an hour and I barely did. My knee felt much better. All in all, a nice run in the cool Arizona evening air.

I've been doing a much better job of stretching before my run and standing in my cold pool after the run. I need to get better about stretching after too.

Happy Birthday Pete Rose!

Yes, it's Pete's birthday today. I believe he turns 66.

I grew up in Cincinnati during the 70's watching the Big Red Machine. It's was a great time, as we got to watch a team with every position player good enough to make the all star team and 5 of them good enough for the Hall of Fame. They won the World Series Back to back in 75' and 76'. The leader of the team was none other than Pete Rose.

Pete wasn't the greatest player of his generation, but he was the best team mate to have and the hardest working player in the game. He holds two records which tell alot about him. One, he has more hits than anyone to ever play. He has this record because he hustled and never quit. Two, he has played in more winning games than any player ever. This happened because he was on great teams and he made them better.

None of us are perfect and neither is Pete Rose. But since I like to look for the good qualities in people, Pete Rose the ballplayer is one of my favorites.

On Pete's birthday I ran 5 miles in 1:01:11 for a 12:13 split. My knee felt good after the first mile or two and I enjoyed the run. Oh yes, I hustled all the way for Pete.

Would have been nice if the Reds had won, but they did not.

The Beginning of Baseball Season

I am sorry I haven't posted much lately. There's two reasons.


One. My knee has been bothering me. If I run 2-3 times in a 3-4 day time period, my knee starts hurting. It's getting better, so I am resting it. Last week I ran 15 miles over 3 days. I'm hoping I can get it calmed down so that I can get back up to the 25 miles per week I was at.

Two. It's baseball season and I love baseball. The last three nites I went to the Dbacks games against my beloved Cincinnati Reds. When I can go see the Reds, I watch them on Directv. When the Reds aren't on, I watch other teams. Right now I have the Twins-Devil Rays game on. You know you love baseball when you're watching twins/devil rays. Usually I watch Reds, Dbacks, Cardinals, national league and then american league. In that order. Below is a picture of the Reds celebrating a win over the Dbacks. The Dbacks took the first two games in the series.



So, due to the lack of running updates and the lack of time from baseball I haven't had much to write about.

Tonight I was planning to run. But, it is extremely windy. If the wind dies down, I'm runnin'.

Pat

The Mediocre Inn

Our pastor on Sunday told us of a mountain in the French Alps that has an inn half way up called "The Mediocre Inn". Mountain climbers stop their for a rest on the way to the summit. Mediocre in this instance means the halfway point. He then told us that 80% of the hikers turn around after resting at the Mediocre Inn.

I fell asleep at this point, but my wife told me that he then went on to say that far too many people settle for mediocre, instead of reaching their goals.

I think it's something good to think about when I'm out running. Don't settle for mediocre. Run past the mediocre inn and reach your goals.

That, and get more rest so I don't miss out on good sermons.

Pat

p.s. I haven't blogged for awhile, so I'm making up for it with three today.

Another Good Run

I do like running after the sun goes down. Even if it's 80 degrees. After I stretched, I ran my neighborhood route. I could feel my knee. Slight discomfort. Nothing that would make me stop doing an activity, but enough to make me wonder if I was doing damage and if it would get progressively worse. But after about 2 miles the pain went away and I was running sub 12 minute miles.

I was listening to my Ipod, running against traffic and being very aware of cars when I heard the roar of an engine. I turned around to spot the car and didn't see anything. I thought that it might have been part of the music so I listened, then turned around again. No car. Finally, I looked up and saw a Cessna or some other small plane overhead. We have a small airport and the planes circle over our neighborhood to land on the only runway.

Isn't it great that Baseball is back? I have Directv's baseball package and I've seen all or part of about a dozen games already. The Dbacks just lost a tough one. I taped the end of the Mets/Cards game, in which the Mets were winning. I can now watch it as I cool down from my run.

Oh yeah, my run was 5 miles in an hour and 2 minutes. If my knee feels fine tomorrow I'll do another 5 miler in the evening. Hope your running is going well.

Mom and Dad out for a visit.

My life gets completely turned upside down when we have relatives visit. My office at home is the guest bedroom, so I end up working all over the house and I don't get as much work done. My folks were in town from last Wednesday until this morning.

It's great to see them. They are in their 70's with some health issues. So, the routine is they get out here and we sit around the house for a week. They're not up to going sight seeing or even to a restaurant. So, no spring training, no hiking, no zoo, no restaurants, no movies, no malls, no mountians, no museums. You get the picture.

But, we had a great time. Amy did take my mom to play bingo at the Gila River Casino which they both enjoyed. I think bingo is the devils game, so I stayed home with dad. Luckily, we got to see Ohio State beat Georgetown and lose to Florida in the Championship. Not exactly the outcome we wanted, but it was fun to watch on TV. We got to see the Suns beat up on the Dallas Mavericks, we got to see the Diamondbacks beat the Rockies and we got to see our beloved Cincinnati Reds win on opening day against the Chicago Cubs. We had some great home cooking. My dad, mom and Amy all took turns cooking. My dad taught my daughter how to make his special cheesecake. It was awesome. All in all, it was a great visit.

I took them to the airport this morning. Not sure if or when they'll get to come out to Arizona again. I think they would be just as happy if we made the trip to Ohio to visit. Which we will in July.

So, today April 3rd, 2007 is the start of my 2007 Summer Training Program. A five month program to get my weight under 200 pounds, my 5k time under 29 minutes and to prepare for when the temps start to fall again.

The last two weeks have been for rest and renewal. I needed to get over the aches and pains that have built up. I tried running, but could only make it about 20 yards with pain in my left knee every time I came down on that side. I ended up walking twice for about 2 to 2.5 miles each time. On Saturday, March 31st I went for a run around 11 am. It was a beautiful day, the temps were pushing 80, so I'll have to start running at night or early in the morning until the weather breaks (read October). I started running and noticed that my left knee did not hurt and the run felt good. I ran for about a mile and then took a walking break. I did ran/walked for a total of 4.14 miles and only stopped because I didn't want to over do it. And my wife was unloading the groceries from the car with my 73 year old mother. It would have looked bad if I would have waved to them and kept on running. I helped them unload and was very happy with the run. Sunday,Monday and Today I had no pain and I am looking forward to running tonight.

The next five months I am going to:

1. Strenghten my running muscles, so that I don't have any more knee problems.
2. Get my mileage up to 25-30 miles per week.
3. Watch my diet. Eat more veggies and fruits.
4. Lose 6 pounds a month.

You Raise Me Up. . .

Back in December I gave my wife two tickets to see Josh Groban. Tonight was the night. Here's a picture of Josh with a fan (Mary). She's not a runner, but she has an interesting blog. I still need to read more of it. Anyway, my Amy had a wonderful time, the show was great and Josh finished the night singing, "You Raise Me Up". I think that's the name of the song.

As we sat in the Arena in downtown Phoenix (the Suns Arena), I was thinking about running. Wouldn't it be cool to have a race that went up and down the isles around the arena while on stage a band plays. It would be a great photo op for running, because you would be able to see hundreds of runners running all at the same time and all the runners would always be in ear shot of the band. I wonder if anyone else in the crowd was daydreaming about running?

Like I said, Amy had a wonderful time and I enjoyed watching her having a great night.

When I got on the internet tonight I checked my hometown newspaper to see what was going on. This was the top story. Glad to see it.

And on the Seventh Day he rested. . .

. . .like I have been doing all week.

After my half marathon down in Tucson, I drove back home and stopped three times on the way. Each time I crawled out of my car just to stretch my legs. Specifically my left knee. This race took more out of me than the other two half's. I made it home in one piece and decided to take a few days off to allow my knee to get better. But, on Monday my back was killing me. I haven't had any back problems since I started running. In fact, my back has responded very well to the lose of weight. So all week I have been stretching my back and slowly it is getting better. The knot is on my right side, which effects my pitching in softball. It also effects my head turning for driving and general moving around.

My few days off has turned into having the whole week off of running. Luckily, the softball tournament that was to begin last night was rained out (wet fields). So, I have another week to recuperate before the tournament and hopefully I'll be back to running in the next few days.

I guess it's a sign when at the end of the race I had a race crew member and one of the aid station staff ask me if I was all right.