Thank you

To you and you and you......

Can't believe this chapter of my life is over. Seems like it is just beginning. That is because it really is just beginning. All that is ending is the more public part of my running life. And with the end of my Local Joe run I need to thank a few people.

I must start with the Prairie Fire Marathon, the Wichita Sports Commission, Bob Hanson and Lacy Hansen. Without them picking me as a Local Joe this year, everything that I have accomplished this year would not have been possible. I have had the desire to run a marathon for many years (or half marathon), but never had the push to get started. They are the ones who helped me get started on the road of accomplishing this goal.  I will never probably know why they picked me to be a Local Joe, but I am happy they did. As I told Bob last Sunday night (and tonight), thank you for changing my life and I will always be there to help the PFM and the Wichita Sports Commission when needed.

Big thank you to Go Run/Fleet Feet for all the training and support. They are the ones who kept us on our feet and on schedule. Joel and Renine Stansloski have been awesome and very supportive. Thank you for providing us with all those water stops on all our great training runs. If you ever thought about running, I suggest looking into one of their Start 2 Finish groups. They will get you to the finish line.

To Coach Natalie, thank you for the constant support! I didn't know what this whole group running thing was going to be like or if I could even run in a group. Your constant support kept me showing up every Saturday morning at 6:45; Even on those long drives to the far west side of Wichita. Your cheering made those 10 mile runs on those humid mornings a little more bearable. Thank you for being our coach this Summer.

To everyone in the H3/STFU group: thank you! You made this running newbie feel very welcomed. As I said above, I was very worried about the whole group running thing. I am proud of each one of us and how we grew as runners. Thank you for sharing your running expertise with me, as it has helped me greatly. I can't wait to see us all cross the finish line on Sunday.

To my fellow Local Joe's: Congratulations! This has been a journey that seemed to fly by way too fast. Then again back in the middle of August when it was still 90 degrees at 9PM, it seemed it would never end. Happy we all got to the end of the journey. None of us gave up. We all had injuries or sickness,  and maybe even some thoughts of "why the hell did I sign up for this!", but we never gave up. I am happy that we all got to meet, run as a team and support each other. Lisa, I know you will cross the finish line in the Spring! Hopefully many of us will be there running with you.

To my family: thank you! This hasn't only been rough on me but you all too. Thank you for the support and constant words of encouragement. I know there were many nights I made us change our plans just so I could get my training runs done. I know how that frustrated you at times. Thank you for letting me do this. And please understand, it might never end.  :)

To all the friends and random strangers who followed me on the journey, thank you for following me. I know I probably filled your Facebook feeds with all my training runs, and at times you probably rolled your eyes when you saw a new one show up. Yet you continued to give me great words of encouragement. I now promise to keep my running updates to one or two a month, maybe.

As this journey comes to an end, I am reminded why I started the journey: to show people that no matter how busy you think your life is,  you always can find time to run and get fit. I hope I did this and I hope I got one person encouraged to run and maybe even sign-up for the Prairie Fire races.

Thank you,

Justin

Highs and Lows.....

I have learned, when training for a race for over 5 months, there are many highs and lows. There are the good runs that get your spirits up; And the bad runs that make you want to give up. The good runs that make you think you can do anything; And the bad runs that make you doubt your ability to run 13.1 miles come race day. The good runs that trick you into thinking you can do a full marathon; And the bad runs that make every inch of your body hurt.

I have had many highs since that first "official" training run back in June. They seem, at times, to out number the highs. I finally learned to never let them get me down. At one point this summer, I felt it was over a month before I had a good run. I am just too hard on myself,  I know that. I just have to remember for every bad run, I know at some point there will be a good run. It might not be tomorrow, or even this week. But somewhere down the road, there will be a great run that blows you away. Always keep going and never give up.

Then there are the highs. That time when I went out for a simple two mile run, yet my legs felt so good that I went a full five miles. Or that time when our Start 2 Finish group ran 8 miles for the first time. The last two weeks have been full of highs. I completed two 5K races with finishing times under 26:30. Before last weekend, I had never completed a 5K under 30 minutes. Today I was able to finish third in my age group, something I never thought was possible. Yesterday was the Prairie Fire Marathon Half Marathon course preview day. The Start 2 Finish groups ran the first 12 miles of the 13.1 miles. Many of us decided to save that last mile for race day. I feel this will be an emotional finish for many of us. So many highs that make you feel great.

Air Capital Quarter Marathon........

was ran today. Just like many things in life, I go into every race with a goal in mind. When I ran my first ever 5K back in 2013, my goal was under 30 minutes (it didn't happen and still hasn't happened in an official race). Today's race was 6.55 miles, or a quarter marathon. My goal today was 1 hour and 5 minutes. My thinking was simple: If I can do this for a quarter, I hope I can carry this time to the Prairie Fire Half Marathon in a few weeks.

I woke up feeling good, just a little sleepy. Made the 45 minute drive over to race. Ran into many friends before the race, some I haven't seen in a year or so.

Me and Tegan

Race started and like always, I start in the back. I think I need to re-think this strategy. I had to pass too many people, many I had to jump up on the grass to safely pass. The legs felt great for much of the race. I think way too much when running. In my head I know how far I have ran and how much I have left. I wish I could just float away to a happy spot when running. But that doesn't happen and when I get to the final miles of a run, I feel I let my head tell me I am tired, when I am probably still good to go.

As I made it back to 13th Street for the final stretch, I tried to push myself. It wasn't until I was about a quarter-mile from the finish line did my legs really kick in. For the last half mile of the race, I was on pace for a 9:14 mile, pretty good for me. As I crossed the finish line all I wanted was water.  I stopped my Garmin watch and saw the time: 1 hour 4 minutes and 36 seconds. Unofficially I had meet my goal. I just had to wait for the official time to be posted. Now give me that water! Water had never tasted so good. 

I am 5th down

Officially I was 2 seconds faster than my watch. I was happy with my time. I wasn't happy with my splits. I wanted to make each mile faster than the previous mile. That didn't happen today. That is something I will work on in the next few weeks. 

Ran into more friends after the race. I stayed for over an hour after I was done to talk with everyone. Always great to see the friendly faces. Everyone did great. A few of the Local Joe's won/placed in their age groups. All of us that started the race finished the race, which is always good. 

Karolina, Jeanie, Me, Kevin, Gray, and Tony

Big thank you to Fleet Feet/Go Run for putting on the race. Thank you to all the volunteers who help to keep us on the right path, give us water, or just cheer us on (I need more cowbell!!!!). A huge thank you to the Wichita Police Department for stopping traffic and keep us safe today and everyday.

Just 35 more days until Oct 11 and the Prairie Fire Half Marathon!

How to Upload from Garmin Watch to Daily Mile.......

Probably an easier way to do this, but this is how I do it. I did a Google search and seems like the synch feature between Garmin and Daily Mile broke about a year or so ago.

I sync my Garmin to the Garmin Connect app on my iPhone. This places the activity onto the Garmin Connect servers.
I then login to the Garmin Connect website from my laptop.
I click on the most recent activity.

Then in the upper right hand corner, there is a gear wheel.

I click on that and download the TCX file. 

Go to Daily Mile and click on Sync. 

Click on upload TCX file, then "Choose File". Pick the file you just downloaded and upload it. It could take a few seconds to upload.

Once uploaded, click on "Import". Once you import, it will give you options to edit the work out, add notes, and add gear.

Injury......

was the one thing that worried me the most when I took on this entire endeavour. And for about ten weeks I was able to avoid injury. Then I woke up on Sunday morning with soreness in my left heel. Not sure how it happened or why, but it did. I've taken the last few days off from running. Not what I wanted to do, but I rather take a few days off than staying hurt for weeks. Tonight will be my first run in a few days. I hope all goes well and the pain stays away. 

Week 1.....

is done and in the books. How did it go? It went. There were ups and downs this week. We started with our first group run of the Start 2 Finish training. Luck for us Local Joe's, we receive this training as part of our package. This is a great program for anyone looking to get into running a road race. Be it a 5K or a full marathon, hit up Joel at Go Run.

Some of the other Local Joe's

The rest of the week on was on my own. Trying to find time with coaching, city council, work and family, well, it is not always easy. Friday night I had to tell friends that we couldn't go out with them for dinner as I still needed to run. Today (Sunday), I needed to do two separate runs to make up for a missed run on Saturday. It would be easy to miss my scheduled runs. There are many excuses a person could use to not run. But if you are serious about completing your goal, you must work past those excuses. Anyone can find the time to run. You might need to get up an hour earlier than you are use to. Or you might have to put off plans for an hour or two to get that run in. It can be done.

High note of the week: Friday night running 5 miles non-stop. Never have done that before in my 37 years on this great planet.
Low note of the week: Soreness in my knees. Not sure why, but it is there.

They Want Selfies, They Get A Selfie

How did Forest do it?????

I kept asking myself that today as I ran my 2.64 miles. Forest Gump ran across this great country 5 times. I was just running 2.64 miles. Man, Forest Gump was a heck of an athlete. Then I come across this: Guy to Recreate Forest Gump Run. Really? This guy is going to run from California to Maine? I tip my hat to this guy. 30 miles per day for 100 days. Ouch. And yes, he will be in Kansas at some point on the "jog". Project Gump is where you can get more information about him and his "jog".

Soreness: Some of you might have seen my Daily Mile updates. One issue I am having is getting my legs to go longer distances. My lungs are having no problem. I'm not out of breath when I run. My legs though are killing me. My knees hated me today. My quads, when I run, are hating me about a mile into any run. I'm guessing this will get better over time. I hope. Andrea, I did try to keep my arms moving faster. It did help.

Treadmill running: I still haven't tried this yet. I'm not sure I will????? I use Plot A Route to mark my routes before I run to give me an estimate on how far my run will take me. I like to run in a circle. I hate going back over a road I just ran down. I will probably just use Plot A Route when I'm in a hotel to map out runs in strange cities. Probably will end up in Compton by accident.