9 miles! Wooooo!!

I completed 9 miles in 2 hrs 25 minutes.
I can do it!
Yes I can 'Run for India'.
Thanks to the company I had, I managed to do a lot more running this time. I felt good enough to plant the rest of my small 'rain-garden' later.

I feel good even though I am aching all over today and have been popping ibuprofen like cough drops. It still feels good. It was a good day yesterday. I went to a farewell for my friend Jim's youngest son Corey. He is going off to the Marine Corps boot camp tomorrow! That little baby is a young man now! I know he will make us proud.

Later I went to a college graduation prayer/party 70 miles in the other direction. It was for my friend Sunil's eldest son Manish. I ended up driving nearly 300 miles in the day. What a day! Started at 6 am and ended at 1 am.

9 miles tomorrow!

Thank god for dry weather! I have to run 9 miles tomorrow.

I keep telling myself "I will make it!! Yes I will!"
"Focus Arvind! You can do it."

I have to "Run for India". When I think about the poor villagers losing their homes to a new factory being built without proper compensation being given, I can keep going. Run till I just can't anymore.

8 mile mark!!

We were supposed to run 8 miles last Saturday. Well a storm created a bit of a problem. We had a huge tree down at less than a quarter mile before the turn-around point. So most of us (like yours truly) who chose not to try to climb over the tree ended up completing ~7.6 miles. Mine was again a walk/jog rather than a jog/walk. Not bad at all for me seeing that my previous best was 5 miles walking/jogging.

I am still being told by the trainers that I can make it so that I don't have to get on "The Bus of Shame" (non-finishers) at the Marine Corps Marathon. I will keep on trying. I like the way these experienced runners call that bus that picks up people who have not reached the 20 mile mark at 5 hrs "The Bus of Shame". It sure motivates one to try harder.

There will be No Bus of Shame for this old fart!
No way! I will finish.

5 mile run? Not!!

I was very excited that I had run 5 miles in the morning in 53 minutes. I had randomly added two small neighborhoods to a 3.41 mile run. Now it turns out it was only 4.43 miles. :-(

Adding the walk I took Jackson for afterwards makes it exactly 5.02 miles. Not bad, since that added only 15 minutes of slow-stopping walk to the total time. So now I know that I need to add the park to my run to make it a full 5 mile run.

I started the morning with an orange, and some water. Ended with fried egg on toast and a banana with vitamins, milk, 20 oz. bottle of Powerade and more water. I feel great!

That MapMyRun.com site is really awesome for this purpose.

This was originally written on Thursday June 11. wanted to write more then forgot to post it.

Run-Run-Run

Got to keep going. Even in this rain, I have to keep in shape.
Run-Run-Run!!

I saw this somewhere and decided to copy it here.

Change your thinking, change your future. Say
"challenge" when others would say "problem,"
"I'll be glad to" instead of "I'll have to," and
"I'm getting better at ..." rather than "I'm no good at ..."

I did it!

I did it!! I managed to get myself out of the house and run (jog) yesterday. Even though it was late when I got home, I managed to convince myself to run. I completed ~3.5 miles running nearly 75% of the way. I ran most of the uphills too. Now I really need to get my legs in better shape. I was out of breath a few times, but mostly my legs gave way.

Later I even walked my dog around the neighborhood adding ~0.6 miles. Then I even ate a very modest dinner because i felt so good. I did cheat a little, later when I could not sleep. Still it was healthy snacks -> a bitter melon vegetable sandwich on double-fiber whole grain bread and a handful of dry fruits.

I feel goooood!! na-na-na-na-na!

Run Don't Walk

Now that I am able to walk/run 5 miles, I need to run-walk the distance i.e more run than walk. I can hike more than that distance, so why do I feel so tired when I try to walk-run? I wonder if it is a mental thing. I have hiked with heavy climbing involved just recently and am sure I can do 10-12 miles of such hiking even today. Why can't I jog half the distance slowly? It must be a mental thing. I am mentally challenged when it comes to running.

Today is the day for my personal run.

5 miles!!!

This Saturday, I completed 5 miles, even though it was mainly walking. Probably ran about 1.5 miles. It was hard because I missed so many days of practice with my sinus issues. Well anyway, it felt good. I am also energized about helping AID