Prepping for a half-marathon.



Howdy, peeps!

I'm hoping to get back into a more regular blog update schedule now that my wife and I have mostly finished moving into our new house.  We're in lovely Kenmore, WA now which gives us some great opportunities to get out and about in a new community.

Most notably, I am close to the Burke-Gilman trail which  I can reach on foot with about a 1.2 mile walk. From there the trail goes all the way to Seattle, giving me plenty of walking path.. or biking, if I decide to evolve into that at some point. It is tempting.

This past weekend Leslie, Parul and I walked about 6 miles, starting at my house and hitting the trail, then a local bookstore and a grill for lunch, before rounding back home. It was a nice walk down - but the way back was loaded with hills, both  up and down.  It was tough - I was sweating and my heart was pounding by the top of some of them.

Leslie had a laugh at my tactic for hills.. put my head down, lean into it and just go. ;)

We're preparing for a pretty big event for all three of us, which will be on June 23rd.. we're all participating in the Seattle arm of the Rock and Roll Marathon.  Leslie and I are walking (13.1 miles!) and Parul is running the whole marathon, double the distance.



The chart showing elevation changes for the half marathon route. Hills ahoy. :)



It'll be the longest continuous walk I've ever done in my life.  A year ago? Just walking from home to someplace a mile away would have been daunting to me. I thought walking 5 blocks down to the grocery store on the corner and back was a pretty decent hike.

Since we took our trip earlier this year to Hawaii, I have been a bit off-plan with my eating, and I have not been out walking much on weekends. My weight has remains at or very slightly over 250, which was what I got down to in January.

It's time to get the ball rolling again. This marathon is my catalyst.

After that, I plan to reset to phase 1 of my mostly-Dukan diet, and get back to work.  I'm drawing myself a new line in the sand:

200 pounds by Thanksgiving. That gives me 5 months.

During that time I will:

• Walk on weekends - preferably both days but at least one day, at least 3 miles.
• Walk 30+ minutes during workdays at minimum.
• Stick to a high protein diet with low fat, salt, sugar and carb intake.
• Set walking goals - places to reach on foot from my current residence.
• Locate & participate in local health-related events.

I also ordered a pedometer, so I can do some basic step tracking. I thought about one of the fancier ones and decided I don't need all that.  Alrighty, over 'n out.