Dave Tyler memorial 5K #303 (62 remaining)

Seems he was always looking like this

I learned about Mr. Tyler’s passing through my good friend Wendell. I guess I hadn’t allowed myself to grieve when he told me about his funeral last night. Dave Tyler

I was procrastinating about running today. It actually took me almost 3 hours from the time I woke up, to the actual time I started my run. I couldn’t figure out what was causing me to procrastinate so badly? However, during my 5K run, I began to have thoughts of Mr. Tyler. I realized, I really hadn’t had a chance to process the news of his death.

As I thought about Coach Tyler I began to run just a little faster. These tired, sore legs gave one final push for Coach Tyler. 303rd 5K  Also during my run, I couldn’t help but to reflect on my life. Some of my successes and my failures. Life is too short to waste sitting on the sidelines.  Time to really step it up several notches.

Mr. Tyler was a very positive male role model in my life. He taught me how to drive a stick shift. This was a difficult feat on a car where the shifter was located on the steering column. I remember him being very patient with me as I grinded his transmission to dust.

The famed Duster

Coach Tyler  was one of the first coaches to teach me my beloved game of basketball. I remember him picking me up for the various games in different cities and all the practices in that ole reliable Dodge Duster.

Mr. Tyler had an infectious smile that was always warming to be around. I lost touch with him as an adult, but never forgot the positive influence he had on a young black man growing up in the 70’s.

Always giving of his time for the kids

I saw Coach last year delivering fruit to my mom’s house in Ohio.  I gave him a big hug and we talked fitness.   I didn’t know that would be the last time I’d see him.  I would have certainly requested more time to thank him for all he’s done for my life. Perhaps a lunch or something like that to catch up. How we always take next time for granted.

My heart goes out to his sons I balled with Kevin, Gary and David, and all his beloved family.

RIH….

 

Amaya’s 14th birthday 5K #257

Today is the official day of my baby girl’s 14th birthday.  Unfortunately, we cannot celebrate the way we want to because she had track practice after school and a host of homework assignments to be completed before spring break this weekend.

We did have time to go to her favorite place in the world Chewy Boba Tea.  We also played a couple games of UNO before heading home for a long homework night.

My actual run was a little faster than normal because I wanted to have lunch with my son at school. I only had about a half an hour to get to his school on time this meant that I had to run at about a nine minute pace.  For those of you that have been following my runs lately, you know my runs have been no where near a 9 minute pace. However, the motivation to meet my son for lunch seemed to give me a boost to run at the faster pace.  I was able to make it to his school just in time for lunch.  I

During my run, I experienced some slight right ankle pain, right knee throb, and my right hamstring had just a little slight throb.  But other than than that, I was able to run at the faster pace.

My Garmin watch seems to be failing on a daily basis now when I try to upload my activities. I have to reboot my laptop, add the device again, etc. it’s getting to be extremely time consuming and annoying.  I am still unable to upload my run, as Garmin was closed by the time I tried to upload my watch.

Whenever I call Garmin, they are very helpful. However, the sync issues continue to plague my day. I really need to get another watch that wirelessly transfers my runs.

 

Get out and vote 5K run day #256

Had a good run. Feeling a little out of my body right now. Like I’m here, but my mind is not with me.

The weather is starting to get hot especially when I run mid afternoon after my nap. I must remember to hydrate more. Maybe this is why the cramping is starting to occur? #256 5K

 

Ready, set, go!

 

 

I love all the wildlife I get to see during my runs

After my 5K run, I also remembered to get out and vote today. I made sure to take the kiddies with me, as I wanted to make sure I teach them the process. I don’t like mixing politics with business, so I’ll leave it right there.

Teaching the kiddies the voting process

 

Consecutive 5K day #247 new shoes?

 

 I had a very quiet night at work, so I was able to feel really good about getting my 5K out of the way right after work.  I’m still running very cautiously as the knees continue to be a cause for concern.

I am also beginning to wonder if it’s time for new shoes?  My Altra’s are starting to show some wear and tear.  I’ll have to check the mileage on them as I know they have to be getting close to needing replacement.  Often times when you continue to run in shoes that need replacing, you can put your body into risk of injury as well.

My run felt pretty good as far as effort.  I’m noticing that my heart rate is running quite high for the effort that I feel I’m putting out. Unless my  heart rate strap is starting to give me incorrect readings, I’m running 175 bpm for a 10min mile.  In contrast, I’m normally in the ballpark of approximately 140 bpm.  This unusually high heart rate at such a slow pace is  sure sign of overtraining and needing a day’s rest.

If this were just regular training stuff I would definitely take a few days off and re-check the heart rate again in a few days on another run.

https://www.strava.com/activities/510666893/embed/6f7933d7cdefb3e6ea4a430eb5f1aff4fdbacdcc

 

 

Going Vegan day 5 mac and cheese 5K Day #233

Today I made my most daring dish yet and that is Mac and cheese. My old favorite without using butter or cheese. That’s right, no dairy at all or any oils either.

I was delighted to find out that I really enjoyed the vegan creation. The “cheese” sauce was made out of white potatoes, sweet potatoes and various herbs and spices. I didn’t dare tell the kids lest they be turned off without even trying my dish.

My son Amante’s reaction was, “OMG, dad the Mac and cheese was awesome”.   Can I take some in my lunch? My daughter Amaya’s response was even more valuable as someone who has been able to enjoy “regular” Mac and cheese. Her response was ” I was prepping myself to have to choke down this plate of nastiness, when all of a sudden I thought I’d died and went to heaven. LOL  So I guess my second dish was a success! I’ll be adding it to the regular meal rotation for such. We also had the “cheese” sauce over broccoli.

After lunch/dinner it was onto my daily 5K consecutive day #233!! I’m not going to lie, I’m so tired of running 5Ks. I want to run longer distances or do some other activities.
Unfortunately, my limited time as a single parent working 3rd shift and coaching my son’s basketball team leaves me little time for more than one activity most days.  Which of course must be running my 5K.

https://www.strava.com/activities/499539416/embed/583ec67ade5a52f38e7de41895f3cb3291eced86

I was concerned about my right knee after hearing a pop sound and almost falling to my knees. I wondered how it would hold up for this run?  I ran with a soft brace and I took it as easy as I could.  I was able to finish with relatively no issues other than the ongoing right glute/hamstring issues.

 

An exhausting night 5K run #228

 

I should be sleeping….

Today was a very tiring day. Operating on about 2 hours of sleep since last night I headed out on my 228th consecutive 5K.  I really did not feel like running today and just wanted to get it over with.

My body felt all achy all over. But at some point I started to enjoying the run.  The night air felt extremely good.

https://www.strava.com/activities/495432233/embed/f2ef31f954938420507728fc05378d648a09ed09

I can promise you if it weren’t for this run streak, I would have been resting on my butt all day.  I just feel really exhausted at the end of my 5 consecutive nights working third shift.  The lack of sleep and the unnatural habit of working when I should be sleeping really takes it’s toll on me.

 

Mini Sprint Triathlon day

Busy day starts with a chilly 1000 meter swim (no wetsuit). It’s funny the warmer the outside air is (70ish), the colder the water feels (60). Although the water was 2 degrees warmer than two days ago, it felt 15 degrees colder due to the much warmer outside air (from 39 to 70 degrees).

For today’s swim, I had a great surprise visit by my good friend Sincy! I’m still amazed at my once shy/reluctant swimmer friend came out to swim in such cold waters.  Not only did he brave the cold water, he kept right on my heels all the way across and I had to be on my game to keep up with him on the way back.  Way to go Sincy!!!

In addition to Sincy coming out for a cameo appearance, I met some amazing people from Daytona and Michigan too.

https://www.strava.com/activities/492662673/embed/0453b1db2832a74d6faa95f4e680d0aa1bb51320

My good friend and now expert swimmer Sincy

After my swim it was onto my 5K #225 in a row. I found a new trail almost across the street from the lake.  My run felt great as I have no idea what my pace was or anything.  I was just determined to run by feel and to take it easy.  I can’t emphasize enough how enjoyable running a new route is.  All my senses seem to come alive as I look for new pictures to take, learn about new areas and just take in all the sights and sounds of someplace new.

https://www.strava.com/activities/492662694/embed/2f4c5ecdb3a2df026b567ff6158bbcf69e38d11d

As a last minute decision I decided to hop on my bike for an hour leisure ride.  I remembered my commitment to ride my bike at least an hour or more a week.  Due to my son’s late basketball game (5:30pm), I was able to get one more exercise in.  I just really love riding on my bike.

https://www.strava.com/activities/492724646/embed/9311bb6a5261049a16f465d193505d94f64c3424

I loved the energy of this Abe Lincoln

With my cancer scare, I’m really not taking anything for granted. Enjoy life while you have it to live. No one (not even me) is promised tomorrow.

 

Colon Cancer Scare 5K Run day #225

Savoring my ability to run

Today was an emotional day for me.  I’ve been keeping a very personal issue private for several months.  I have been having sporadic rectal bleeding and didn’t know why?  I had been trying to correlate this bleeding to something I ate but couldn’t.  I am one of those weird people that examine my stool on a daily basis.  I don’t touch it or anything, but I don’t just flush and forget  it either.  So to have some blood in the toilet is a very unnerving ordeal.

Then all of a sudden the bleeding increased in volume and frequency.  This increase in bleeding really scared me and I could no longer ignore what was going on.  I began to start thinking I had colon cancer and I began to cry.  I looked up colon cancer on WebMD and I had a few of the symptoms but not all of them.  The symptoms I’m having are of course bleeding and the other is my age of 50 and sex of being a male.  None of the other markers fit, like pain, lethargy, etc.  But, once I had the idea that I had colon cancer in my head, I began to think some very dark thoughts.

 

Sorry for the graphic image, but posting to help others that may be suffering

I headed out for my run as I worked my way through the tears and sadness.  I felt a strange energy as I ran and had my best time outside under the 10min/mile time in a long while.

 

https://www.strava.com/activities/491072231/embed/7a31f0df22580a4b48138641cc35b7f3cb696c3e

I gave a desperate text to my friends at Lake Cane and they suggested that it might be hemorrhoids instead.  The reason being the color was bright red versus dark  brown, when I went to the bathroom, it felt like I was never quite finished, not enough fiber in my diet, too low carb, the blood was mucousy and streaky.  When I researched and read the symptoms of hemorrhoids it felt much better to me and I immediately cheered up.

My good friend Sincy, who sadly lost his dad to colon cancer, still insisted that I make an appointment to go get checked out to verify what’s going on.  My appointment is this Tuesday February 16th at 9:30am.  I’m feeling confident that I just have hemorrhoids and not colon cancer.  The bad news, from what I’ve been able to research is the only way to get rid of hemorrhoids is surgery.  I’m sure surgery won’t be any fun, but it’s a far cry from having colon cancer.  The hemorrhoid surgery will put my run streak in some serious jeopardy.  I wonder how long one can suffer with hemorrhoids and not risk their health?

 

Consecutive 5K day #221

https://www.strava.com/activities/490113393/embed/316d9545593599a1830f923a2e70c255ce721b22

My day started out with a yoga class at the downtown YMCA. I love yoga and the way it makes my body feel. Yoga seems to unlock all the stored energy in my body and I feel amazing afterwards. After yoga, it was on to get some sleep. After working third shift all night my body was tired.

Sleeping during the day is always a challenge. There’s always landscapers mowing lawns using all sorts of landscaping tools that make an incredible amount of noise and also just the sunlight makes it very hard to sleep. I wake up tired, cloudy minded and groggy.

After finally pulling myself together I decided to go to the Roper YMCA to do my 5K run. Today was also a weight training day. As I mentioned before, I’m sticking to the five main body exercises of squats, deadlifts, lunges, pull-ups, push-ups and planks. I know that is six, but I throw planks in as a bonus set.

My 5K run felt pretty good no real issues there.  Also my weight training seems to be giving my body that much needed muscle and balance.  My body is getting stronger and the weight training is actually helping with my glute and hamstring issues. I’m mostly using my bodyweight to perform the sets. I want to make sure I have perfect form before I start adding significant weight and risking injury.  I know my personality type is to always push myself one rep too many or one pound too much.  Must be careful as to not injure myself and put my run streak in jeopardy.

 

Consecutive 5K day #220 YMCA treadmill

Today was a bit chilly outside and I just wanted to run on the treadmill as I was feeling a bit tired due to my 4th consecutive night of 3rd shift work.  I felt pretty good until a runner passed me on the virtual path and made me mad.  I have no idea why, but I decided to pick up my pace and then I started to feel a strain on my right hamstring and glute.  Must resist such silly ego trips as I’m still not giving myself enough easy days to heal.  I was able to get a good stretch and cool down.  I resisted the urge to do weight training as I had to get home  and try to get a few hours of sleep.

I’m really needing to make sleep my number 1 focus.  It is hard as I seem to have way too much to do during the day to get anywhere near 8 hours of sleep.  As it is, I was able to get a few hours of sleep today.  My sleeping hours were from 10am to 2:30pm and 8pm to 10:15pm.

 

https://www.strava.com/activities/489240353/embed/af09f6a5ed7d14e6a56e4da3f7f1b98a16110e38