Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Day two

Day two, went better. I got off of work early, so it was harder to motivate myself to get back out into the cold. When Tony came by my room to see if I was going, I almost said no, but I knew I had better get out there. It was a little warmer than the other day, but still cold. I have been having to double up on my socks, wearing a pair of Injinji socks under more traditional socks. My shoes are a little snug in doing this, but it's for the greater good. There is still snow and ice on the not frequently used roads, which happens to be where we run. Needless to say, that added to the challenge. Trying not to inadvertently do the splits mid-stride was tough. Tony mentioned wanting to try to run 20 on Monday. Oye vay. Seriously? Well, why not, right??

On to the stats for today:

Wednesday, December 3oth, 2009

Location: Manas AB, Kyrgyzstan
Start time: 7:13am
Start temp: 24f
Finish temp: 26f
Mood: Better than the other day, still dreading it like I used to.
Distance: 5.4 Shooting for 5 again today, made up for Monday a little as well.
Time: 48:17
Average Pace: 8:53min/mile
*New* Tony Burch's prediction on my mood for tomorrow: Angry and bitter at the beginning of shift, changing to happy and funny by the end of shift.

Here is a link to today's run. Click!


Thanks for tuning in! See you in a few days.

Get out there and run!

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Day One, Post One of re-do. . .

Ok, here goes.

I thought about writing up about the past runs I did, but I think that might bore me out of doing this again.

Monday, December 28th, 2009

Location: Manas Air Base, Kyrgyzstan.
Time: 7:15 am
Start Temperature: 21 F
End Temperature: About 19 F
Mood: Eh. Indifferent.
Distance: 4.9 Shooting for 5, but I thought I had an accident!! Had to get back to the dorms and check. Just short.
Time: 44:00
Average Pace: 9:00 min/mile

Garmin Connect link: Click


Not sure what else to put up here. I am sure this will evolve into something different over time.


Get out there and run!

Trying something new. . .

Okay, here is the deal. I have recently been slacking a lot with my running. Like, A LOT. I went from about 4-5 times a week, to maybe one time every other week. I have lost a lot of motivation. The whole reason for me doing this blog was to remain accountable to myself for my running. If I posted up my running info, and had some semi-regular readers, then maybe I would feel obligated to them, and keep going.

Then I deployed, and the blog got brushed off to the side. My excuses to myself were the lack of reliable internet access and, well, that is about it. So, a couple of weeks ago, we got wireless internet in the dorms here in Kyrgyzstan. A huge morale boost to say the least. However, the last thing on my mind was my blog. Even though my homepage is my Blogger Dashboard.

I was a little more motivated after my wife got me a Garmin 305 for our anniversary. But not enough I guess. I was still having problems getting into the groove again. Blame it on the weather, or the fact that I am deployed, whatever the reason, I just stopped running. Yeah, my ankle hurts every now and then. I can't let stuff like that stop me.

I decided to try something different with this blog. Before, I was just linking to my Nike+ and using Dailymile. Well, I can't seem to figure out how to have Dailymile recognize my Garmin, and that may be my blessing in disguise. Now I am going to sit down and actually write out my information and stats for the runs. That way I will be able to own them that much more. So, bear with me. Time to start over. Let me know if you have any ideas to make this little bog better.

Thanks,

Parker

Friday, December 4, 2009

Dang. . . .

Wow, it has been a long time since posting on here. I am a horrible blogger. My sincerest to any of you who might have been checking on a semi-regular basis for updates. The updates *should* become more frequent. I stress the should, because, in a deployed location, nothing is certain. We just got wireless internet in our dorms. So I now have daily internet access. With that, I think I will be able to post updates more often.

On to some updates.

A while back, I found out about these "incentive programs" at the gym here. Run 200 miles, and get a shirt, bike 400 miles get a shirt, etc. I am sitting at around 250 now, and I am thinking about getting in touch with the fitness center, and maybe doing one for running 300 and/or 400 miles too. So, that helped motivate me after doing the Nike Human Race 10K, and the Phedippidations Half Marathon. Yes, I said it. I signed up for the 10k, and ended up doing the half. I just thought I would go for it, give it a shot. I did it. I won't bore you with the details right now, just know that I did it.

After that I found out about a satellite race being set up by PJ down in Afghanistan. It was a satellite race of the Valley of Fire Marathon, Half Marathon, and 10k, in Nevada. He hosted one there, and I had the opportunity to join him in the run. Not in person, of course, but in spirit. It was great. I even got a shirt and finisher's medal sent to me. Pretty cool.

Aside from that, my dreams of having an AMXS running club came true, even if only for a few days.

About a month ago, on the morning after my day off, a buddy from work came to my dorm room door and told me to change, and that we were going to run. I told him I wasn't feeling it. He said that a few others were going to be disappointed . I said, "Others?!?" He said, yeah, we have a few others running with us today. So, needless to say, I changed and we hit the road. Six total runners, all running, just to run. It was a great feeling to have more company out there. For a little over a week, we had a little informal running club. It was great. People would run at their own pace, head back when they were ready to be done. No pressure to keep going. It was nice. That makes me want to find a running club back in Wichita when I get back. We will see about that one.

As for the Vibrams, I have run in them more. The blisters went away. They feel great. The only downfall now, the cold weather. With each individual toe exposed, my toes get super cold, super quick. So, I have postponed my Vibram wearing the mercury is at least visible on a damn thermometer.

On yet another note, they are about to start something called the "Tour de Manas" here. Some sort of a bike race, but as far as I know, it will be on exercise bikes. I am thinking about doing it. That will edge me that much closer to getting that 400 mile shirt.

Ok, I had better stop this before it starts looking like something by Tolstoy.

Get out there (bundle up!) and run!