Tag Archives: running
after a year of keeping 110 pounds off, finally trimming the wardrobe.
it’s coming up on a year since i lost 110 pounds by running over 2,400 miles and i’ve managed to keep the weight off by continuing to watch what i eat, weighing myself every day, and continuing to run even in crazy cold weather.
i’m cautiously optimistic that i’ve found the weight loss recipe that works for me, though i know i will still take constant vigilance to keep it off for another year and every year after that. i told myself i’d keep my big clothes for a year on the chance i’d need them again, and now i think it’s time to donate them to someone who might find they fit a little better.
it’s a little hard to tell from this picture but i went down about 12 inches on my pants waist size and can now fit in 32″ “regular fit” pants which i think was the same size i wore in 9th grade 🙂
i’m happy to get rid of all the clown clothes but, ummmmmm, i think i need to go shopping.
on still kicking 30 year old me’s ass.
in addition to getting me some clams to celebrate my first birthday after running over 2,400 miles and losing 110 pounds ( i lost 4 more since writing that post ), kris organized a surprise trip to madison so i could run in the 10K “bratfest” which is the first race i’ve ran since running in the chicago marathon last october.
i’ve slowed down running over the past few months and have “only” been averaging 10-20 miles a week so i thought i’d take it easy and enjoy myself. the way i see it, it’s a “personal best” just to get up at 6:30a.m. on my birthday to make sure i register for the race on time and i didn’t need to go and try to break any personal records. but, hey, the best laid plans and all that. i felt so good running that it almost didn’t feel like i was pushing very hard to run a faster 10K than i’ve ever run before.
What an awesome way to start my birthday.Crushed personal record & ran 8’45” miles. Could have run faster.Next up,madison farmer’s market!
— Eric C. Snowdeal III (@snowdeal) May 25, 2013
i ran the first 5K at around 9 minute miles which is, in and of itself, a record setting pace for my former clydesdale self. but when it became clear that i was going to have plenty of gas in the tank i picked up the pace and ran the second 5K at an 8’30” pace to finish with an 8’45” average time per mile. i probably could have even pushed it a bit and harder if i paced myself better over the entire race and hit just over 8 minute miles. and the great part? i felt awesome at the end. i’m pretty sure i could have kept an 8’30” pace through a half marathon.
i couldn’t be happier that after a year i’m still kicking 30 year old me’s ass ( and running almost 2 minutes per mile faster than i was just a year ago when i wrote that post ).
it’ll be interesting a year from now to see if i can shave another minute off my times and get close to a 7’30” per mile pace which is about a 3 hour and 16 minute marathon pace and close to what i’d need to run for a boston marathon qualifying time. i’m not saying i’m going to be able to keep that pace through a marathon but who knows!
i do think running a race on or very close to my birthday is going to be a new tradition. next year i might give the spring madison half marathon a whirl.
the super bestest part was having kris and odin standing right by the finish line so odin could give me a high-five before i crossed the line 🙂
80 weeks later – I LOST 106 POUNDS!
4 weeks after hitting the hundred pounds lost mark, i’ve lost 6 more pounds which means, through the magic of math, i’ve lost 106 pounds!
according to the BMI calculators, at 189 pounds i have a body mass index of 23 which puts me in the the 23rd weight percentile for my 6’4″ frame and also means i weigh what most other people my height wish they weighed. it also means i’ve erased 23 years of weight gains and now weigh what i did in high school.
truth be told, i haven’t really been trying to lose any more weight. in fact, i’ve been trying to not lose any more! i guess i’ll have to try a little harder. after running clear across the country i’ve been gradually cutting back my miles and have been averaging 25 miles a week, down from 45 a week. alas, it’s going to be tough but i’ll just have to eat a little more 🙂
and, yes, i’m still working on phase II fitness towards the goal of doing 100 consecutive push-ups and 200 consecutive sit-ups and am making steady progress.
after 5 weeks, i’m heading into the last week of the training and did 175 push-ups today, 480 for the week and 1,308 total. and i did 261 sit-ups today, 698 for the week and 1,970 total which is all a little mind-blowing since i could barely do 10 push-ups and 30 sit-ups when i started. progress! just one week until the test to see if i can do 100 consecutive push-ups and 200 consecutive sit-ups!
i guess it’s probably time for a before and after picture 🙂
visualizing running 2,422 miles
View San Diego to Jacksonville, 1 Fuel Stop in a larger map
i get asked every day how i lost lost 100 pounds and the shortest answer i give is that i ran a lot and a little less. at the time i hit the 100# mark i had run 2,357 miles ( as of writing this i’ve now run 2422 miles ).
i wondered how far 2,422 miles is, in terms of driving across the U.S., and thanks to this ask metafilter post learned that 2,357 miles is almost exactly the same distance as the shortest drive across the continental U.S. from san diego, california to jacksonville, florida.
so, i’ve run the equivalent of the shortest drive across the U.S. with plus two marathons and a half marathon!
and that’s how you lose 100 pounds 🙂
76 weeks later – I LOST 100 POUNDS!
i almost can’t believe it, but 76 weeks after starting running again after a 7 year hiatus, i’ve logged 2,357 miles and finally hit my goal of losing 100 pounds!
it’s been just a year since i committed to running another marathon and i’ve kept losing weight since meeting my original goal of losing 70 pounds by the time i ran the chicago marathon 4 months ago and hit a big fitness milestone a month later at 75 pounds and realized i could keep going and lost 90 pounds by the new year.
at that point i thought, why not just hit a nice round number and erase a full 17 years of weight gains and go for 100. AND I DID IT! of the many wonderful things to love about losing 100 pounds, one of the best is that at 195 pounds i’m now no longer a clydesdale!
so, now i’m reprogramming the reprogramming and am a couple of weeks into phase II fitness – stage I. 100 push-ups and 200 sit-ups ( already for the first time in my life i can do 60 push-ups and 91 sit-ups ) while i think about new ways to kick 30 year old me’s ass.
as you might imagine, i get a lot of questions about how i lost so much weight and i do plan to write a longer post revealing all my secrets! the abridged version? i ran a lot and i ate a little less. it adds up over time 🙂
according to the BMI calculators at 195 pounds, i’m now solidly in the “normal” range for body mass index and the 28th percentile for my age. but BMI is a rather imprecise gauge for body composition and given the number of questions i get about how much more weight i plan to lose ( the implication being that i don’t need to lose anymore ), i think it’s time to get a more rigorous assessment of how much i should lose. at most i might try for 5 or 10 more pounds, if for no other reason than to weigh what i weighed in high school lo those many years ago.
but for now, i’m happy to have lost 350,000 calories worth of weight and am hopeful that i never, ever, ever have to do this again 🙂
also, i need new pants.
the lies we tell ourselves while running with a chest cold.
“oh, a -5°F wind chill isn’t really that cold. and it’s only 4 miles. i mean, the cold will agitate my chest in a good way and help, you know, clear the gunk out.”
uh, huh. the icicle’s hanging from my eyelashes produced from my breath venting out the face mask are messing with the “it’s good for you” narrative. that said, it did clear things out. briefly. sort-of.