Music City Half-Marathon

    What a run! Last weekend I participated in the Music City Half Marathon, and man was it tough.  I mean it could have been the fact that I haven't ran over 3 miles since December.  Even then I think the most I had ran was 6 miles, but I knew I could push myself to finish.  Which I did!  My goal was to finish without stopping and I succeeded.  The race had many hills, they weren't very steep, but gradual hills are just as horrid on a long run, 13.1 miles to be exact.  This race was definitely harder to finish than the Navy Seal Extreme Off-Road Challenge, probably because we really just tried to have fun on that race, but I pushed for pride on this one.  I had been told that my legs tiring out would be the worst aspect of the race, and I assumed that since I had been working my leg strength up since I was 10 that it wouldn't be a problem for me.  Wow, was I wrong; by the end it felt like I had just finished about 5 P90X leg workouts in a row!  Around mile 7 my legs started to burn like no other, and those dreadful hills didn't help much either.  But, about every mile or so there was a water and Cytomax (kind of like Gatorade) station, and if it weren't for those little drinks to give me the extra burst of energy & an intense adrenaline pumping song along the way, I might not have been able to reach my goal.  I finished in 2:01:23 according to the website and came in 4003 out of approximately 32000.  It truly was an experience I'll never forget, running with that many people, but it will be awhile before I compete in anymore races.


"A lot of people run a race to see who's the fastest. I run to see who has the most guts."
      - Steve Prefontaine

Boredom

    So I was bored the other day and decided to mess around with my webcam. I thought the pictures looked funny so I showed them to Samantha and she came up with this montage. Enjoy! :-)

 

(  . . . Hey is that aliens . . .? )

(  Holy Crap it's aliens! )

(  I better just kill myself now . . . )

 

( No. . . I must stand and fight! Take that aliens! )

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind"

          - Dr. Seuss

Post - Navy Seal Extreme Challenge

    So last weekend was the race, and man was it awesome! It was absolutely the funnest race I have ever competed in. When we arrived Friday to set up camp we met Dan, the leader of the Smoky Mountain Endeavors Organization & a 20 year Navy Seal Veteran; he was a really cool and surprisingly laid back guy. There was 1 team already there and about an hour later the next team rolled in. We never talked much to the team that arrived before we did, but we sat around the campfire and ate hot dogs with the other team; they were a team of 4 with 3 of their friends there supporting them.

    When we woke up the next morning there was already nearly 50 people there. Luckily we had one of the camping areas higher up and away from the parking.  As the race progressed we climbed several near vertical hills (the first two being a 600 ft altitude change within .3 miles), completed the uphill obstacle course, ran some more hills, crossed through an ice-cold water tank (body of water), went creek slogging (running along a creek bed w/ flowing water), & completed a practically vertical rope climb.  Me and Cory were in fairly good shape for this race, so we had a lot of fun with it, however we talked Scott into competing a week before the race, so he was not in as good of shape. For the short length of time he had to train, he did well, but he did throw up twice.  I give him props for pushing himself through it though, however, since we had to cross the finish line as a team, we were there supporting him throughout the event!  We finished 4th as a team and were very pleased.  Here are some of the pictures from the race, some aren't of us, but in order to show more aspects of the coarse I had to put in some of other people hope you enjoy. :-)

"Pain is temporary.  Quitting lasts forever."

      - Lance Armstrong

The Navy Seal Extreme Off-Road Challenge!

    So a couple weeks ago my friend Cory found this race online called the Navy Seal Extreme Off-Road Challenge. After visiting the website and viewing the coarse trail it sounded like a nice challenge so I talked Scott into doing it with me and Cory. And with that our team "Two Zoomies and a Civ" was born, zoomies standing for someone in the Aif Force.

    The coarse is very difficult, it is around a 5.6 k, has a 2400' elevation change throughout, slogging (running through small bodies of water), an obstacle coarse, and a near vertical rope climb! Now at the time this sounded like a nice difficult challenge, but still manageable. However, yesterday I looked at a few of the emails that past runners had sent to the man that organizes it.  To my surprise I found that many of the runners had more difficulty with this race than with races like the Big South Fork 17.5 mile trail run and the half-Ironman Triathlon! So you can see how I am now trying to train like crazy for this, but I know I have the will-power to succeed, I will just have to dig down deep and strive for the finish.  I will be uploading pictures as soon as I receive them after the race. :-)


"I wouldn't say anything is impossible. I think that everything is possible as long as you put your mind to it and put the work and time into it."
         -  Michael Phelps

Spring Fever

    Yes, finally. . . Warm weather! I was getting so annoyed with snow and bone-chilling wind.  With this new warm weather comes a lot more outdoor activities as well.  Scott, Ethan and I have been going to the fit lately on Thursdays to play racket ball, set in the sauna, and swim some.  We get the same results as if we would have done Kenpo X, since they are both purely cardio.  However, now that it's warm out we can go to the park and ride the long trail, which ends up being a fairly hardcore leg workout; and not to mention the awesome frisbee golf coarse they have there.

    My friend Cory and I went to Knoxville yesterday to buy some running shoes from Fleet Feet.  They are amazing! I've never had running shoes feel so comfortable, however I've never went through such an in-depth process to pick my shoes either.  The skilled employees measure your foot sitting down, standing up, watch you walk barefoot, and watch you run in slow motion on a treadmill with your possible shoes.  The result for me was some awesome Nike's and for Cory some Saucony's.

    The whole reason we went to get new running shoes was because Cory is running in a half-marathon this Sunday.  I would have, if I didn't have to work.  But, we are thinking about participating in a race called the Navy Seal Ultimate Challenge in the Smoky Mountains.  It is a 5k with hills, obstacles, water crossings, and rope climbs, and all with a 2400' elevation change.  It would be fun, however, we also want to run the Music City Half-Marathon 2 weeks after that, and I'm just not sure I will be ready and recovered within that short time span, but we shall see when the time comes.

"If someone says, 'Hey, I ran 100 miles this week. How far did you run?' Ignore him! What the hell difference does it make? . . . The magic is in the man, not the 100 miles.
      - Bill Bowerman

A Quick Survey

    Hey all my loyal followers, here is a survey I am conducting for a paper I am writing. If you have a couple minutes, it would really help me out if you would participate in it. Thanks :-) and here's the link:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dDVBT1dvY3JqYXJQTFAwS2Rabk9YZ3c6MA

What an Awesome Weekend

    So last weekend was Super-Cross, and man was it awesome.  Samantha, Cory, and I left Friday morning around 11 and arrived in Atlanta a few hours later.  We rode in Cory's new Tacoma, man I have to get one of those someday, but anyways we dropped Samantha off at her sister's house to see her newborn niece. Then me and Cory went on to the Showcase, or the event that Super-Cross holds for all the dealers to showcase their newest products.  It was pretty cool, we got awesome free tickets in the lower section right in front of the "monster quad," the largest jump on the track.  We had taco's to eat, but as soon as we got back to Dee and Tatia's house, Samantha's aunts, Tatia had some food waiting for us.

    We ended up playing poker again, just like last year, and also just like last year lady luck was with me and I won the pot.  Since we all only put in $15 it was a $75 pot, which was still enough to pay for Samantha and me an event shirt and still come home with some extra. :-)

    We woke up around 10 a.m. the next morning, and Tatia cooked us some awesome omelette's and fruit smoothies.  Around 2 p.m. Dee dropped us off at the Georgia Dome and we headed to the Pitt party and had lunch at the Parts Unlimited Booth for Dealers.  After walking around looking at all the booths and such Samantha was able to get her picture with Kevin Windham.  Lets just say, she could have left after that and would have still been satisfied for the rest of the weekend.

    The race started around 7 p.m. and man was the intro for some of the riders awesome, there was great light shows, fireworks, videos, tricks, and music.  The preliminary races were first, but when the main event races began everyone was on the end of their chairs.  Christophe Pourcel came out with the win in the lites section after a very dramatic, epic race.  In the 450 section Dungey won with a good lead over the rest, however if it weren't for a few unfortunate wrecks he might have had a run for his money with several of the riders.

   After the race we went back to Dee and Tatia's and watched t.v. for awhile before finally hitting the hay.  The next day we left around 1 p.m. but before leaving we went to eat at Bella's Pizzeria, and man was it delicious. Dee and Tatia paid for our meal and we started our trip back home, listening to old CD's I had found in my car from about 5 years ago.  All in all a great weekend, I  really didn't want to leave, but I knew I had to.  We're all thinking about going back when it warms up.  As far as my workout went, I did what I could but it was mainly a weekend to relax, then I went back into the regular routine full force when I got back.  Actually due to the rest and relaxation over the weekend I was able to really push myself and strive for perfection when I started back working out.  So my advice for today, live life in happiness, always view the glass half full and take breaks, if you miss a workout don't fret just relax and enjoy the time off then give it your all when you return.

* One of my favorite quotes! *

"The body does not want you to do this. As you run, it tells you to stop but the mind must be strong. You always go too far for your body. You must handle the pain with strategy...It is not age; it is not diet. It is the will to succeed."
                - Jacqueline Gareau, 1980 Boston Marathon champ

Super-Cross and a Bit of Fitness

    So this coming weekend, Feb. 26-28 I am going to Atlanta for Super-Cross. :-) My friend Cory, Samantha, and I went last year and it was quite a trip.  We are staying with some of Samantha's family, and more than likely will be playing poker Friday and possibly Saturday night.  Last year I won 100 dollars!  Maybe lady luck will be with me again. 

  

    This year will be another good race since Bubba Stewart and Chad Reed, two of the best riders, due to misfortunes have no chance at placing. Which will give the younger riders a chance to stand up and take the throne.  Last time I checked Dungey and Hill were tied for first, but with the wide range of experience in the standings; it should be a very interesting season.

    By the way the P90X recovery drink came in the mail, and it is like everyone says it is. . . it tastes like an orange creamsicle. However, if you use tap water instead of purified water it has a strange tinge to it. Overall it tasted good, but I would recommend using very cold water.  As for the Recovery aspect of it, it worked wonders! I used NOXplode to help my body push itself to it's limits, and using the Peak Performance Recovery drink definitely helped, I wan't sore at all the next morning.

"You must begin to think of yourself as becoming the person you want to be."

       -David Viscott

Competition

    My friends Scott and Ethan recently started the P90X workout with me.  We have been working out at Scott's place since his apartment has a concrete base and doesn't shake when we jump or if we accidentally drop weights.  Plus he has a lot more space for the three of us to exercise.  Today is Yoga X, it's Scott's second time and Ethan's possible first if he gets to come try it.  It's definitely not a walk in the park, some might think yoga is something only women do, but when I can out-run, out-play, and just perform better overall than those that think that we'll see who's laughing :-). It's an hour and a half workout and holding those poses will make the sweat run like a rushing river!

    I enjoy working out and/or running with friends because I am a very competitive person.  If they are starting to lift more, run faster, or outperform me; I push myself to keep up or surpass them.  That's why I love doing P90X with Scott and Ethan, because I really push for those extra reps and good form.  Scott and I also split the cost of the Peak Performance Drink that supplements the P90X workout.  From the reviews, it supposedly tastes like an orange creamsicle and is great for recovery and muscle building.  I'll let you all know how it works when it gets delivered, hopefully sometime this week.

"Rome was not built in a day, and neither was your body."
     - Tony Horton

Winter Adventures

    So last week when it began snowing I had no idea it would snow hard enough in one day to prevent me from returning home for the weekend.  I walked out to my car the next morning and noticed the 3-5 inches of snow on my car so Samantha and I spent nearly 30 minutes scraping all the ice and snow off it.  Then come to find out that it wouldn't budge more than about 5 inches in my parking lot.  So we decided to walk back to her apartment, which is only around a mile or so away.  It was quite an adventure, I felt like a nomad travelling in a desolate new land.

   As I pulled into the Commuter parking lot that next Monday I realized that it was a sheet of ice covered in snow, so everyone ended up guessing where the parking spots were.  Later on we all found out that we were parking everywhere except in the parking spots.  While walking to class I heard a few stories of people building a 10 foot tall snowman, a giant igloo, and throwing some epic snowball fights.  As for me I just spent the weekend relaxing, playing some cards, and of coarse keeping up with my P90X workout.

    The workouts are getting easier, I mean they're still tough, but I'm not getting near as sore as when I first started.  I recently began phase 2 of the workout which changes two of the disks out for two new ones.  The first one was "Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps" . . . and man was it tough.  I definitely felt that one for the next couple days.  The second new disk was "Back and Biceps", it wasn't terribly hard since I'm used to working those areas but it was still a pretty intense disk! Well who am I kidding . . . every disk is intense, but it's like the old saying goes, "No pain, No gain!"


"If we had no Winter, the Spring would not be so pleasant: If we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."
   - Anne Bradstreet

Chill-ax People

    So today definitely had it's ups and downs! So it all started when I woke up this morning, my friend Cory was coming up from Crossville and me, him, and my other friend Scott, which I go to school with, were all going to the park to play some frisbee golf.  Which considering the circumstances, since it was snowing like a blizzard outside, made us look like hard ass, dedicated, talented players. . . lol minus the talent, however, I actually was playing well today. We only played the first 9 holes due to the weather, but I finished with only 4 over par!

    After the game we dropped Scott back off at his apartment and headed back to my place to workout.  Yes day # 26 of the P90X, Core Synergistics.  Cory had done a few workouts in the past with me so it wasn't anything new for him, but here's where the bad part of the day began.

    As me and him were getting ready to start the work-out, I heard a knock on my door. . . It was my landlord.  Yeah that's never a good sign when your landlord pays you a personal visit!  Apparently he'd recieved a complaint that I was shaking the entire apartment when I exercised.  Well first off, if your going to complain, man up and say it to me first, instead of going straight to the head honcho.  This had been a problem before with Plyometrics and I could understand that, I mean it's jump training.  So I rearanged my routine to where I did that workout on weekends at my parents house in Crossville.  Anyway back to the current story. So I showed my landlord what my workout consisted of and he saw no issues in it.  He told me, "I have no problems with it, and as long as I have no problems then you have no problems to worry about."

    So based on his anwer, Cory and I went ahead and started the workout.  And around 30 minutes into the workout I got another knock on my door.  It was my next door neighbor, aparently he was the one who called the landlord. He was also the one who spoke to me about Plyometrics the first time.  He told me that everyone in the apartment, even the people across the hall and on the second floor have been complaining.  He also said that he had to take his tv off the wall because he was afraid it was going to fall, since I had been shaking the walls so much.  I find that very hard to believe since the majority of the shaking would be in my room and I have a tack holding up my clock that hasn't budged at all!

    Now I like my neighbor, he's a nice guy, so I didn't feel like arguing with him, and I just told him I would try and ease up on the jumping a bit, even though I barely do any at all.  My main point out of all of this is for people just to chill-ax (chill-relax) everyone gets so tense over things these days, just chill people :-) atleast you're still alive!  I mean my neighbors shake my walls daily and I just look at it as life. Life isn't perfect, things are going to bother you once in a while, but just look on the optomistic side of things, it could always be worse. But I've gotta go, my girlfriend Samantha, and friends Ethan and Guliani are heading over to play some Poker! Wish me luck and feel free to post comments on what you think of this posting.
  
    Oh and things I learned from my workout today (Core Synergistics): When exercising do not forget to focus!  When doing squats for example, don't forget to keep your abs flexed, back straight, and breath with each movement!  You will reduce risk of injury and results. :-)

"When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere."
   -Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Getting Started

    Well lets get you caught up to speed . . . When I was younger, I'll admit it, I was quite chunky.  Over the summers I would do nothing but eat, sleep, and play video games.  This all changed when I was encouraged to play on my friend's recreational soccer team.  I was very out of shape, but had strong legs and was good at clearing the ball down the field.  I think that motivation and encouragement, hearing people complement my abilities was what gave me the desire and determination to better myself.  From that point on I slowly began exercising more and putting down the video games to enjoy the outdoors.

    As I entered high school I had plenty of experience with soccer, my 8th grade county-wide team was actually the first out of my county to ever win the district tournament! I continued playing through high school, becoming the captain my senior year and coaching younger recreational teams along the way.  I was changing lives the way my first few coaches helped change me.

    I discovered the concept of working out in high school, as well.  The weightlifting coach had me in class once before so I was chosen to lead the class in every workout.  This leadership role was very new to me, but looking back on it seems as if it could have been what gave me the inspiration to begin coaching and teaching others.  Not to mention the awesome results I got from that class! Having to constantly demonstrate the correct form and speed with each exercise for the class to see was difficult at first, but very beneficial to my physical fitness.

   Before I even started playing sports, running 5k's, or anything athletic, I was already very competitive in everything I did!  And that competitiveness within me is what drives me to want more out of myself . . . learn more, be more, achieve more! That is one reason why I recently started the P90X!  For those of you who don't know what it is; in general it is a 90-day workout system by Tony Horton, it is kind of like cross-training, the person intensely works different parts of their body each day for maximum results. The saying is "Get ripped in 90 days".  I am on day 25 and seeing a good amount of results already.  I will be talking about the P90X often, along with cool things I learn about staying fit, and anything else I find interesting.


"Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it." -Plato