Dear Diary,
For the first time in 7 years I have a goal.
It takes a lot to get me motivated. I am the demotivation queen. The princess of laziness. In 2006, I had a goal. Finish an Ironman. I barely finished Ironman Lousiville. Annoyed by my +17 hour finish, I vowed to finish another Ironman. Faster. I had a goal.
In 2008, I finished Ironman Coeur d-Arlane about an hour faster.
In 2011 I had another goal: Complete a double-double. I trained to complete four marathons in 9 days. I completed The Flying Pigg and Nashville Marathons the first weekend, returned, went to work, and then completed the Wisconsin marathon and Kalamazoo marathons the following weekend. The Wisconsin marathon was my personal best, about 4:45. For me, that's blazing fast.
I weighed 155 pounds. I was 46 years old. I felt great. After that, but after that...I have a hard time feeling motivated about anything.
in 2015, I started feeling motivated again. I was working on getting 30,000 steps per day, which amounts to about 4-5 miles of running and 5-6 miles of walking, every day. I was doing great. I was getting back into shape. And then the coughing started, and It's taken 3 years to get back on top of that. My times have gone up, along with my weight. It takes me 6 hours to finish a marathon now. More if there's hills.
Today, Himself the Baboo was picked in the lottery for the Hardrock 100. He's been entering the bleeding lottery for 7 years. He's aged 7 years. So have I. This year, he was picked.
And now, I have a goal. I will pace him to the finish. I'm ready. I'm motivated.
I'm 25 pounds heavier. Certainly slower.
My tools are two IOS apps on my phone:
Zen Labs "26.2". I've used the C25k before. It's well done. Right now, it's crazy cold in the foohills behind my house, so I'm doing a lot on my treadmill in the garage. During the week, the running plan. On the weekends, I'll be doing a long power walk with Himself throughout the hills of east Albuquerque.
NOOM. It's not free. It uses a lot of cognitive behavioral methods to address eating issues and problems. I started it last week, and it's working for me so far. Despite myself, I find my diet changing. It's not necessarily a calorie restriction. It's more like retraining me to get the most nutrient dense foods I can get into me. Frustrating, it's app-based. I can't use a web browser to access it. It's also not cheap. In addition, I completed a series of webinars at work this fall on the Mediterranean diet. I find myself eating more whole foods higher in potassium and other nutrients.
Current stats: 178.2 lbs, this morning. Goal: 155.
53.8 years old. Not much to change that.
current marathon time: about 5:45 to 6 hours, if it's flat. Goal: 5 hours.
Current 50K time: about 9 hours. Goal: 8 hours.
So...here we go!
...