Hornet Hustle 5K

I am still alive. Barely.   I haven't run in a very long time, so I haven't felt the need to blog.  This is a running blog after all.  My last 5K was about a year ago and I haven't run much since.  First it was my lingering foot injury.   I've been to the podiatrist a couple times, wore some custom inserts for awhile, and did some stretching exercises twice a day.   When it seemed like my foot was feeling better, the "Midwest Heat Wave of 2011" kicked in, and I didn't feel like doing anything but staying inside with the AC cranked drinking lemonade.   So I didn't run.   And I've gotten out of shape.  And it showed in yesterday's 5K.

My son's school does a 5K and Fun Run as a fundraiser each year, and I tried to talk my 9 year old into doing the 2 mile or 1 mile, but he wanted to tackle the 5K again.  He totally killed it. sub 30 minute 5K on a cross country course with a few rolling hills.   I didn't see him after about a mile.  I was sucking wind, had to walk-run-walk-run the whole way, and finished about 7 minutes behind him.    He was the first kid from his school to finish.   I told him afterwards that I was proud of him and that it was official---he was faster than me now.

Yesterday was a gut check and a reminder to me that I need to get out there again and run, even if it means I'll be starting over.  Hopefully that means I'll be getting back in shape and blogging again soon.

Move That Bus!

Okay, not quite yet....but, the Extreme Makeover crew with Ty Pennington is in town to build a house for a well deserving family and my wife and I took the opportunity to serve together on the project.  We were actually the very first volunteer group.  There were 20-25 of us, and it was all very secretive and hush hush so they could surprise the family. We were told to check our email at a certain time and be ready to spring into action.  And we were.  The weather was great and we had a lot of fun.  

Behind us is where they are digging the basement for the house.   The recipient is Carl Hall, a former WSU baseball player who was paralyzed from the neck down last summer in a car accident.  He has a wife and 4 kids and from what I hear he's a great guy.   Our work was mostly prep work for all the other volunteers.  We set up the barricade fencing for the spectators, built flooring in the catering, volunteer, and VIP tents, and basically did whatever set up was needed.   They expect to have the house finished next weekend.  We are going to try to volunteer again and be there for the "reveal day."

Worth the Weight

This is the story of a guy I work with.  He went from 380 lbs down to 245 through gastric bypass and exercise.  It's pretty motivational, but kind of long (8 min.)....if you're strapped for time, go to the 4:50 to 6:50 mark and check out how he got into running and took his pant size from 56 down to 38.

Slowly Thawing Out

We got hit with the Midwest winter blast and have had wintery weather the last couple weeks--- lots of snow, ice, negative wind chills, and school cancellations.  

Of course, we didn't get hit quite as bad as our neighbors in Oklahoma, or Arkansas.  I heard that in Tulsa school was closed for two weeks.  And in NW Arkansas, they set a 100-yr old state record for snowfall in a 24 hr period (23 inches).  My company totally shut down there for 2 days, as did many other businesses.

All this cold stuff always puts a damper on my running (read: no running the last couple weeks).

But fortunately, the weather finally broke over the weekend and we've climbed into the 50's.  The snow is melting.  Woo-hoo.

I got out for a 3 miler last night and it felt great.  I have lost 12 lbs in the last 5 weeks (even WITH all the valentines candy!) and it sounds weird but I could feel it in my running, I felt lighter and stronger.   Still, I have decided that my body is old enough now that it needs extra rest days between runs, so I'm going to try to be smart about that and not overdue it.

Here is a pic of the snowman my boys made over the weekend, after it warmed up and the snow packed really good.

PS--Big win for K-State Monday night.  Thank you to KU for possibly saving our season.

Giveaway Winner! And Some Purple Hot Chocolate.

Thanks to all who entered my $45 CSN Giveaway.    The lucky winner is....................

Miss Zippy!

Congrats!  I will email you with your winning code shortly.

A co-worker gave me some purple hot chocolate for Christmas.  With the wintery weather upon us, we tried it last night.   For the record, it didn't taste as cool as it looked....

pic is kind of dark, can't see the purple-ness

City Museum and Circus Debut

Last November on our way to spend Thanksgiving with family in Illinois, we decided to spend a day in St Louis.    We went to the City Museum.   We had a blast.  If you are ever in the St Louis area and have some time to kill, you should check this place out.

It's hard to describe the City Museum because it's not like any museum I've ever been to.  It's more like a huge playhouse.   My kids absolutely loved it.   We went on a weekend night when it stays open until midnight.  After 9 or 10pm, they turn off the lights in many of the areas and you can explore the building with flashlights.   We stayed until probably 11pm.   Among many other things, the museum has a huge outdoor metal sculpture you can climb around on, a maze of caves indoors you can explore, a 10 story slide, a ferris wheel on the roof, an indoor skate park, an adult sized hamster wheel, the worlds largest pencil, the world's largest underwear, and an old pipe organ that you can play.

The maze of metal sculptures you can climb on.

Notice the bus on the roof?  Yeah, you could sit in the driver's seat.

On the hamster wheel.

Exploring!

The world's largest underwear.

The museum also had a small one-man circus in a theater with about 100 people.  The absolute highlight of our time at the museum was my son getting picked to go on stage with the performer.   This was the finale of the show.  Enjoy.

Heat Wave

Okay, it's not exactly a heat wave but weather forecasters predict it's going to get up to 70 degrees today.  In late January.   In the midwest.   I love it.  It was beautiful yesterday too and we took the family for about a 3 mile walk last night.   I also love that it's starting to stay lighter longer.  Woo-hoo.

I ran on  a treadmill in Arkansas twice in addition to running outside a couple of times this week.  Haven't run more than 3 miles at a time yet.   I really want to ease back into it.   I also have lost about 11 pounds in 3 weeks with the Biggest Winner weight loss challenge through work.  Feeling pretty good about that, but I have much more to lose.

Did anyone watch the Biggest Loser this week?   First, I didn't get why Gillian felt the need to make Dan/Don (whatever his name is) use curse words.  It was like that was her whole mission, to get him mad enough to swear , and when he did it, she felt better.  Like she accomplished something.  I think she tries to psychoanalyze things too much.    Second, did anyone else think it was extremely unfair when the two green team members were pitted against all the rest of the ranch competitors in the challenge?   It was like 2 against 8 or something.   Not fair at all, even though they almost won.

Enough rambling.   Everyone have a great start to the weekend.

Why Do You Run?

So....Why do YOU run??

Anyone ever done the Expedition Everest Disney race?

We are trying to plan a Disney World trip, and one of the weekends we're looking at has a 5K race called the Expedition Everest Challenge.

It's a little pricey, but I think it sounds really fun.   It's an 5K race in Animal Kingdom after the park closes that has obstacles along the way, and then at the end there is a treasure hunt.

I would love to do it with my 8 yr old son.  Has anyone done this race?  Do you think an 8 yr old can complete it and have fun?  Or should he stick with the kids' race?  Thoughts?

One Easy To Win Giveaway! CSN

If you want to win $45, keep reading.

CSN has literally TONS of items for sale and you can use the money for anything you want from any of their sites.   Among some of their 200+ stores are luggage stores, mirror stores, and fitness equipment stores.

I am going to make this very easy to win.

Visit CSN and leave me a comment below with what item you might use the $45 to buy.

Do that, and you've earned one entry.  It's that easy.  

However, if you do want a couple of extra entries you can (one extra entry for each) you can:

1.  follow my blog and let me know

2. post about this giveaway on your blog and let me know

Contest runs until the end of the month, and then I will pick a winner.

Happy blogging and good luck!

Little People blog....

I ran across a pretty creative blog.  It's called "Little People -a tiny street art project."   Check it out.  It's pretty interesting.   He takes tiny people and puts them into interesting photographs.   Here is one of my favorites, called "Life as we know it"

The Biggest Winner

We are doing a weight loss contest at work called The Biggest Winner.   I love the logo, and we all have different colored t-shirts with the logo on it.   There are over 250 employees participating.   We are broken up into teams of 4 and the prize goes to the team with the largest percentage weight loss over the 6 week contest.  My team lost 19 lbs in week number one.  My personal goal is to lose at least 20 lbs in the 6 weeks.  I've been doing well, eating lots of fresh veggies and whole grains, and exercising at least 5-6 days a week.   I lost 8 lbs in week one, and even though I know that you usually lose the most in the first week, I am proud that I am on my way to my goal.

My sweetie is joining me in the journey, which helps.  She has been really great with getting her workouts in and eating right, too.   And of course since we are both doing this, our kids are eating healthier now too.  The other day our 10 yr old, obviously ready to get back to eating hamburgers and fries,  said "how long is this healthy eating stuff going to last?"   Of course we said "for the rest of your life."

Is anyone else that is watching Biggest Loser getting tired of "the unknowns?"  I mean seriously, show us these new trainers faces already....

Hello Running, It's Me Again....

Dear Running,

I know you won't believe me, but two words have described these last 3 months for me --- BIZ-ZEE.....

I have been super busy with work and the holidays and life in general, and even though I know that is not a good excuse, the truth is that I have not been a runner in almost 3 months.   In fact, I've been pretty lazy and put on a few extra pounds.   The only positive to not running is that I've been able to let my nagging foot injuries have extra time to heal.  

With the new year, I have decided to reintroduce myself.   I've actually run 3 times in the last 10 days.  Not far.  Not fast.  But, it's felt good to get out there and run again.  I hope you can see that I'm trying.    And I hope you'll go easy on me.

Sincerely

Oz Runner