Running for my life...

Over Christmas my Sister-in-law Sara challenged me to run a Marathon with her this year. I have not committed yet, but I have committed to give her an answer by April.

We are going to try to run the St. George Marathon - registration is in April - so I figure if I can get up to 13 miles before the end of April, then I will register and try to run it in October.

I have been running for about a month now. I run four days a week, and rest three - roughly following the schedule below:

When I started, I weighed about 227 - today I weigh about 220.

My average heart rate when I started was about 179 - now its about 163.

I'm starting to feel so much better. I average 10 min. miles, and as I start to get in better shape, I'm hoping to bring that down a bit.

I wear a Garmin running watch and a heart rate monitor that tracks everything I do. On the side of my blog page I've put a little link block where I'll give you an update on each run, and a link where you can click and see all the statistics of that day's run.

I'm hoping that knowing that some of you are following what I do will help motivate me to keep on going. There are days when I really just don't want to run, but so far I have been able to get myself out and going pretty consistently... It's going to get harder as the runs get longer, and take more time. I'm not as worried about being able to run the distance as I am about carving out several hours of my day to run.

For those of you that are pro's at this - any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

Wish me luck! And health...

Cade's Pinewood Derby

Saturday was our Cub Scout Pack's Pinewood Derby.

The Cubscout Website has this cool little design feature, that lets you pick out the design you want for your car, then you can print it out. So Cade picked out his favorite car, and we went to work.

Like anything else, when I'm at a loss, I turn to the Internet for guidance and advice... I found all kinds of Websites where you could buy special axles, wheels, designs, weights, etc... that would almost guarantee you a win at your Derby. I was less concerned about winning and more concerned about not being embarrassed come race day. So, I stopped by a local Hobby Shop close to my office, and bought a few tools that I would need, and some extra weight and graphite for the axles.

Uncle Steve helped Tyler build a ROCKIN Batman car (Tyler is too young to participate in Scouts, but because his Dad is the Wolf leader, he pretty much does everything Cade and I do), and Cade and I built an AWESOME red black and yellow racer, #25 for his Mom's old basketball number.

Come race day - Cade had to race his car at least eight or nine times because of the way the brackets were set up. At the end, he came in second place overall, and first place in the Wolf Den. Which means he gets to go to the regional race, and represent our pack against all the other Pinewood Derby winners in the Tucson area. So sometime in March look for another post to see how he fares in the big leagues...

Congrats Cade! Well done my son!


The little workshop in the Garage where all the magic took place!

Cade was Super excited about his Trophy!

Second place - not bad for a Pinewood Derby Rookie...



The Father-Son Bonding time was great too!