Running Resolutions: Vlog 2019-01

Oh baby, it's still cold outside, but I've gotta get my plans in order for the first half of the year.



Running objectives go! Looks like I'm committed to running in a couple of local distance races in March and April, then my first full marathon in Fargo, don't ya know.

Another Running Milestone! Vlog 2018-44

I came back to the first 5K race I'd ever ran, this time with a buddy. Adventure Girl had been training for this since the week after I ran my half-marathon, and she thought she was ready.


She was, mostly. She came out of the gate a little fast, and had some trouble in the final third of the race, but she finished strong, and can tell her friends that she ran a 5k race now.

Pre-race photo. Did I mention it was a costume run?

We'll see what she wants to do next year, and if she can drag Mini-Me into racing with her as well.

Perseverance and Direction

I’ve been thinking a bit lately about perseverance and direction. Without getting into too many details, it’s fair to say that it feels like we (meaning my family unit) have been treading water financially for what feels like quite a while. Sometimes we slip back a bit, sometimes we move forward a bit, but it seems like the forward progress keeps getting called back, and it takes maximum effort just to get back from the slips. It’s frustrating, and since revenue generation is largely my responsibility, I really have no one I can be upset with save for the guy in the mirror.

It’s not like I don’t have a plan. Work hard, keep on the career track, and work harder to spin up the writer and streamer side businesses. They’re all making progress, but it’s so very slow. Maybe I should ditch some part of the plan and chase some other way.

I wasn't even in the top 50% of my age group, total runners, or my gender, but I wasn't last either. And for a first race, all
I wanted to do was finish.

Oh, right. That took work too. A lot of hot Sunday long runs where I didn’t want to go out, much less drag through the required distance. Boring hours on the treadmill when the weather just wouldn’t cooperate at all. Full marathons are going to be more of the same. That’s what this financial thing is, really. A full marathon. Maybe even an ultra-marathon. It’s not going to be complete in a day, or a month, or a year. It’s just a regular slog of doing the things I know I need to do to get to the well defined goals that are worth the struggle.

Thunderbird no. 6 ejection at Mt. Home airshow in 2003 [Photo by SSgt Bennie J. Davis III - Still Photographer, USAF]

On the other hand, sometimes there are reasons to bail out. There’s no reason to follow a crash into the ground if you don’t have to. Live to fly (or run, or work) another day beats riding a doomed effort down to a fireball. Are my efforts doomed to inevitable failure? I don’t believe so. Systems are still reading green, I’ve got the necessary altitude, and progress is happening. That’s not the time to pull the black and yellow handles.

Side note: the incident report that led to the above picture is well worth reading. The details that led to this very expensive incident form a multi-link accident chain that ultimately cost Captain Chris Stricklin his flying career, and the Air Force a $20 million jet. He ejected less than a second before the aircraft hit the ground, and after putting it into a slight turn to avoid endangering spectators at the airshow.

All that to say that punching out is something of a last resort. Better than the alternative, but still something that can have lasting repercussions. Best to try and break those accident chains, be they in aviation, motorcycling, or careers before they lead to incidents like this.

Monday Vlogging - Half-Marathon Completed! Now What?

Well, that's one major goal for 2018 done. Now to take stock, and plot how I'm going to do better in 2019. I know, it's time to run some full marathons!

Progress is Not A Straight Line

I've written about my fitness journey a fair bit, and I still have a ways to go, but here's a good reminder for anyone struggling with progress on a goal.

That right there, is almost three years of ups,downs, and sideways ignorance. But the real takeaway is that even when I've been focused on eating right, running, and getting my weight down, the bar graph is still a jagged sawtooth, not a straight line. But that's not the point. The point is that the trend is in the proper direction, and that it's important to not get lost in the day to day ups and downs. What's important is the goal, putting the bad days behind you, and not getting too excited by the good days.

My fitness journey still has a ways to go, but I know it's possible.

The Best Run Ever! - Vlog 2018-27

What's better than finishing a run with a free beer and making some new friends? Tough to think of a better way to end a six mile jog.



Now I just need to make a few more friends for a beer marathon.

Around The Web - Normalizing Unhealthy Behavior

A few weeks ago, VICE published an interview with April K. Quioh and Sophia Carter-Kahn, creators of the podcast “She’s All Fat” and promotors of what they call a “Fat-Positive” lifestyle.
They were soundly and justifiably mocked on Twitter, but since 280 characters really lacks in nuance, I wanted to get into it here.
According to the most recent report from the CDC, compiling mortality and health data from 2016, thirty percent of Americans are obese. Add in an additional forty percent who are overweight and you get the mind-boggling percentage that seventy percent of Americans, seven out of ten, are carrying around more weight than is healthy.
No doubt I’m aware of it, as I’m one of them. I talk a lot about fitness in my vlogs, and am finally making good progress to get back into shape, but I’ve been overweight most of my adult life. Never quite obese, but definitely not healthy.
Here’s the thing about body positivity – I’m all for it. I don’t think anyone should feel ashamed of their body, whatever size they are. Shame, anxiety, fear of what others will think, too often get used as reasons to avoid the gym, hide the treadmill, or stay away from the pool, and they shouldn’t be. I see some dude bigger than me sweating away on the treadmill, or lumbering the other way on a jogging path, and I want to give him a high-five, because he’s Doing Something!
But let’s not kid anyone, being fat is not a healthy lifestyle, any more than smoking or rampant alcoholism is a part of a vibrant long life. Weighing twice as much as a healthy person doesn’t make you part of some protected, persecuted minority any more than smoking two packs of Camels a day. I’m not saying you can’t do it, but in the same way that I don’t enjoy being in close proximity to folks who prefer to get their air through dirty little tubes that are on fire on one end, I don’t enjoy being squeezed into Seat 19C on an Airbus next to someone who literally can’t help spilling over the armrest into my space.
Recovering alcoholics go to meetings where they’re reminded that sobriety is a daily battle. They don’t gather around to tell each other that they’re just fine, everything is okay, and the world just needs to understand and accommodate their need to start drinking at 10am. Sure there are groups like that, but no one holds up college fraternities as pillars of healthy living.
Of the top ten causes of mortality in America (from the same CDC report) six are often exacerbated by obesity. That list includes heart disease (#1 killer), cancer (#2), stroke (#5), and diabetes (#7). Of the remaining four two (accidents and suicide) have nothing to do with anything. That means that in four-fifths of the leading causes of death that a person can actually do something about, simply losing weight will dramatically reduce the odds of death from that particular cause!
“Hey, easy for you to say, you privileged white guy!” I can almost here someone protesting. “You have the luxury of good nutrition, and working a 9-5 job where you can exercise after work. Some people live in food deserts where McDonalds and convenience stores are the only food options, and can’t exercise outside.”

You can lose weight based on a diet comprised largely of Twinkies and other snack foods. For someone with access to a McDonalds, even three meals off the value menus can be done on the cheap and with less than 1500 calories. Just don’t get fries, and drink water.  For anyone who isn’t morbidly obese due to some kind of disease or genetic disorder, the biggest factor for weight loss isn’t exercise, it’s diet. Exercise helps, but it’s not the critical component. And as far as exercise goes, anyone with a smartphone can download any number of apps to help get in shape, even without leaving the house. And that’s not even getting into the number of exercise videos available on streaming services, or DVDs and even VHS cassettes still lining the shelves of stores, second-hand shops, and homes all around the country.
Again, because this is a sensitive topic for a lot of people, I don’t want to be misunderstood: fat shaming is bad, and judging people based on their size is wrong. We are all God’s children, after all, and He loves us no matter what size we are. But the danger comes in twisting a positive message (you are valuable however you are) into some sort of sick encouragement to a lifestyle that shortens lifetimes, and ruins quality of life.

I Need a Mulligan - Vlog 2018-24

Sometimes, things just don't work out as planned. Whether the cause is internal or external, we can't always control our circumstances, but we can control our response.

Top Piece of Advice For Younger Developers - Vlog 2018-21

If I had just one piece of advice that I would like to give to my younger self, it would be this.



Truth be told, I don't know if I would have actually listened to myself, but the fact remains, it's a lot easier to develop healthy habits in your twenties and maintain them, then to have to get started in your mid- to late thirties.

Monday Vlogging - Beautiful Day For A Ballgame

Spring has finally arrived in South Dakota!

New Phone... Vlog 2018-18

A few likes/dislikes of the iPhone X after living with it for a few days. A bit of a fitness update too, as the second week of training comes to a close.

Clickbait Video Title - Vlog 2018-17

On Youtube, this is entitled "Last Video Ever." Which is technically true, as it's the last video ever, to be shot on my iPhone 6+. Because I've finally decided to upgrade. A short discussion of that, plus some talk about running outside, covers this week's vlog.

Why Suffer? Vlog 2018-7

A few thoughts on what makes suffering through a tough workout worth the pain.




TANSTAAFL -There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch

Monday Vlogs - One Week of Fitness Completed

Three Bodypump classes completed, a pair of days on the elliptical machine, and a couple of articles written.




Onward and upward!

Don't Puke on the Gym Floor! Vlog 2018-2

Continuing (mis)adventures in getting fit. Gotta drop that holiday weight, and get ready to start running outside when the weather warms up in a few months!




If I, as a middle-aged gamer geek, can manage this, it's definitely within the reach of any able-bodied gamer.

Road to 10k - Training Week 11

Making progress this week. I had to take a couple of extra days off because of weather and final cleanup of our rental, so my overall timetable got pushed back a couple of days, but I'm still on track for a 10k at the end of October.



Next year I'm starting my training earlier. 5k races are easy to find. 10k races a little tougher, but still not too difficult to find. But getting into the half-marathon length like I want to do next year, there's fewer of those. It's going to require a lot more training to be prepared for thirteen miles in September.

Road to 10k - Week 10 - Fastest Mile 8:23

A very good week this time. Finally powered through the next training week. The twenty-minute high intensity run turned in my fastest mile thus far at 8:23.



At the end of the week, my distance run for 4.5 miles went fairly slow, but I managed to stay under ten minutes per mile. Not bad. On to the next week of training!

Road to 10k - Week 9 - Back on Track!

Back on track! That took a couple more weeks than I would have liked, but I can finally move on to more challenging training!



The four mile run actually felt pretty decent. With an average mile pace of 10:14, it wasn't fast by any stretch of imagination, but I definitely could have pushed harder. That wasn't the point though. The point was to get the distance. Pushing faster will come later.

Road to 10K - Week 4, Failure and Redemption

Week Four of 10K training didn't go according to plan. What was supposed to happen was that after Week Three's distance run, I'd kick off the next week with a short high intensity run, follow that up with two interval sessions later in the week, and wrap up with a 4.5 mile distance run.

I got through the first two days just fine, but then I bought a house. That may have been a little distracting. Add in a full day family gathering on Saturday, and I failed my training plan for the week.



Thing is, failure is okay. Life happens. The important thing is in not letting a single bad day become a bad week, or a bad week become a bad month, etc. I got back on the trail on Sunday with my Little Running Buddy. It wasn't the 4.5 mile distance run I originally planned, and I only managed an 11:15 per mile pace (while pushing forty-five pounds of kid and stroller), but it was important to get out, run, and not make excuses for another day.

I'm planning on getting back on track this week. My 10k race timetable may slip a bit, but I'll get one in by the end of the season!

Road to 10k - Week Three

After failing out of my distance run during Week Two, my third week of training became Week Two Redux. I'm okay with this. Thanks to my Runkeeper app, I know that I ran father during my interval sessions this time than the first go around, so progress!

My final test for the week, the four mile distance run, went much better. Huge success!




I think two things helped me this week. First, the extra week of training. My times and distances were consistently faster this week over the previous week, so I know that helped. Second was reducing the time between pace updates on my Runkeeper app. Dropping down to updates ever quarter mile helped me maintain a more consistent pace and not burn myself out early like I think I did the previous week.

Progress!