Stretching, surprisingly, is something I've had to try to make habit as well as exercise. I think people take for granted the benefits of stretching in the morning, throughout the day, and at night. The nights I take time to stretch thoroughly before bed I really notice a difference in the morning. You'd think that outcome would be motivation alone to do it EVERY night! Oh, well ... we live and we learn!
I haven't blogged as frequently as I'd like to in the past few weeks, and hope that real world things will settle down enough soon so that I can post as often as I think about posting.
Let's back up to last Saturday! The Covenant Kids Run had its kick off at the Knoxville Zoo! I'd never been to this event before -- and I have to say it's pretty cool! Kids are encouraged to start their marathon mileage at the zoo during kick off, and then log their next 24 miles on their own with their families between now and 3/31/12, when they complete their last mile towards the finish line at Neyland Stadium (just like the marathon and half). It's a great opportunity to encourage kids to become more active, but also learn how to set fitness goals. Even if you missed the kick off you can still register your kids at www.knoxvillemarathon.com.
At the kick off we helped Missy with some pre-race stretching, and crowd warm-up. Warm-up was the key phrase for the morning, as it was cold and rainy. Unfortunately the weather kept some folks away ... but over 500 kids still attended!
Here's our group before the event began.
The absolute coolest part of the day was cheering the kids on as they reached the finish line. I have a feeling my facial reactions and surge of emotions will be quite similar to theirs as people cheer us on throughout the half marathon in April.
I'm especially proud of two newcomers to this year's kids run ... two of my nephews! They came to the kick-off with their mom (my sister), and my dad (Doc)!
Since the Kids Run kick off cut into our normal training time we needed to get in our mileage at some point over the weekend. So, my walking buddy, LeeAnn and I decided that on Sunday we'd tackle the first 7.5-8 miles of the half marathon course. For us this would help us clear a bit of a mental hurdle, as well as a physical one. We were joined by last year's Biggest Winner team member, Julie, who helped encourage our progress along the way!
The weather was great, our moods were good, and it turned out to be quite a nice athletic adventure! A special thanks to my parents for allowing a pit stop around mile 5!
Mentally, the greatest accomplishment for me on this training walk was conquering Noelton. Everyone talks about how horrible it is, especially at that point in the race.
Then we took a closer look... j/k!
So here's our snafu for the day ... at this point we'd calculated we should be close to 7.5 miles...at least that's what the marathon route said. When we reached our cars at Earthfare we had logged 9.5 miles! Yikes! Oh, well ... crossed that mental barrier! Evidently we picked up a little mileage on the front & back end of the walk.
Lee Ann & I were joined by our friend Beth for the cold adventure! We started at the West Side YMCA, then walked to Wynsong Theatre on the greenways, and then lapped back towards Wal-mart, and eventually back to Wynsong.
Our goal was 7.5-8 miles, and we ended up at 7.7! It was definitely blustery!
Tomorrow morning I have my monthly follow-up with dietitian at Covenant Weight Management Center. I'm eager to see my (hopefully) progress on the scales! The main diet-type things I've worked on this past month have been drinking more water, and adding less salt to things! I really hope they've paid off! Wish me luck!
Here are my nuggets of Fitness (and overall life) insight for the week!
Very proud of you and your effort. Dad
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