The A-Team

I wanted to provide an update about Abraham. You may recall a recent salad post Anna wrote about how Abraham asked for a salad and shocked us both. Well, it is not a one time thing, it struck again. But first, a back story.

I’ve mentioned before how I have taken to a more whole food, plant based, fresh/raw diet. Part of my daily eating routine is I eat an entire head of romaine lettuce, whole leaf by whole leaf. Plain. Yes I rinse it in the sink. I know most of you reading this find it weird, perhaps even repulsive. I’m alright with that. I’m even alright with the faces and snickering my beloved wife directs at me as I eat my delicious raw greens in a manner more befitting of Peter Rabbit than the leader of the A-Team. My dear progeny will grow up thinking it’s normal and I find that awesome and yet humorous.

Anyway, earlier this evening I was eating my crunchy fronds of romaine goodness in our kitchen and Abraham is watching me. Closely. As in he wants my food. So, I oblige the stare and ask him if there’s something he wants. He says “I want some of your lettuce Daddy.” So I break him off a bite size piece for him to try. He actually eats it, though I can tell he won’t be asking for more. You see, he had already eaten his entire dinner, and on top of that he’s been running a very slight fever and has a head cold so who knows what to expect attitude- or appetite- wise. Another minute passes and I’m standing there at our kitchen island crunching away with the paced voracity of a giant Galapagos tortoise and Ham asks for more lettuce. Except when I offer him more he replied, in a tone more typically reserved for a teenager implying it should be painfully obvious,”no daddy, that is not a salad. It has to have croutons and all of the other stuff!” Well, excuse me! So, I shred up a frond as an offering to the all knowing Ham of Ensalada, and Anna puts in all of the other stuff that our resident 3yo salad specialist required. He then polished off the bowl.

He’s my boy 🙂 Have a great weekend!

Well, the big day is almost here; my first full length 26.2mi marathon! This Saturday, 5-NOV, is the 4th running of the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon. Packet pickup and the convention are on Friday (I am bib #983) and the race starts promptly at 8am Saturday at Missouri St & Washington St downtown.

Not that I really think anyone cares that much, but if you want to track my race results in real time you can signup here to receive emails or text messages. Messages will come in as I cross the halfway point (13.1mi), 30k, and finish. Anna and the boys will be crewing for me, the plan is to meet me where the race course passes the Christian Theological Seminary (~18mi mark, near the aid station at the NW corner of Haughey & 42nd St) to have spare socks, jacket, hat, food, and drink should I be needing anything. Hopefully I’ll just stop for a quick  photo op and a tasty recovery drink and keep on trucking. I’m right at my intended race weight (not my ultimate goal weight, but it adds up as every extra pound = 2 seconds/mile) and I feel better than ever. This will be my first of many marathons, coming soon will be a post announcing my long term fitness/health plans, and it has potential to involve the entire A-Team 🙂

Prayers for the safety of all 7,000 or so runners and walkers + all of the volunteers this Saturday are much appreciated. The weather forecast looks almost perfect; a tad cool to start off with at 36F , but a nice high of 61F. Regardless of how I do this weekend, I give God all the glory in getting me to this point!

A quick history. I am not trying to come off as a braggart by posting my race results. I merely want to share the amazing restoration of my health and strength with the hope that this story may act as a means of inspiration to one of you readers, or perhaps someone you know that you tell this story to. I am not the best runner in the world, but my comeback surprises even me regularly.

I praise the Lord for granting me the strength and health to be able to continue to improve without serious injury. The miracle in my eyes is that not 5 years ago I was 51 pounds overweight and diagnosed as having adult onset asthma by two different Drs and a respiratory therapist. I was weak, felt terrible much of the time, and couldn’t run to save my life. Today I am only 9lbs overweight by BMI standards (and still falling), and if I did in fact have asthma it is long gone and I am completely restored. In my opinion the rebuilding of my body is nothing short of a miracle and there is still more to come. I grant the glory to my Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, onto the 10K results….

A tired smile of saitsfaction!

I am honestly stunned right now. I ran the 10K race (6.215 miles)  this past Saturday morning and finished @ 7:42/mi pace (47:48 total). What this means, is that my time qualified over one year ahead of my plan for Level 3 seeding for the Mini Marathon!!! Level 3 required 48:00, and recently my best 10K at home was around 51:00. I had no intentions in my training to be able to achieve L3 this year, and yet I did it!  What is so great about L3 seeding is in theory it places you in a certified group of people that are your speed and only faster people will be in front of you, which means less meandering through the crowd to pass people; it is safer and more enjoyable.

My darling wife and sons wanted to be at the race, but it was windy, raining and in the 40F range outside on Saturday morning so they stayed home since Abel was mildly sick. Immediately upon finishing the race I rehydrated, bought a t-shirt, and then jogged back to the parking garage to retrieve my cell phone from the Jeep and call in the results to the family back home. I had told Anna before I left that I was going to try and push it a little bit, within reason, in order to make L3 seeding, but that I would be happy if I didn’t get L3. So when I called home with the news, Anna and the boys, unbeknownst to me, began decorating the house for a congratulation party since they missed me at the race finish line. It was a great surprise!

God is good all the time.

All the time God is good.

Balloons and whooping it up!

Getting ready for the upcoming Indianapolis Mini-Marathon, this morning was the first of three optional training runs. My 500 Festival Training Series 5K by OrthoIndy – 5K results are in. I turned in a 7:45 min/mi pace (5K=3.11mi), my goal was 8:00 min/mi so I am super happy with the results of my training through this entire winter (see photo below), missing only one run due to the insane ice storm. My left hamstring is telling me I overdid it, but I have been nursing it for a week or so anyway. Regardless, with the warm weather today (relatively speaking) I just got in from a 3.04mi afternoon recovery run just because I wanted to wear shorts and get out in the sun while everyone was taking a nap.

The next training race is on March 5th, and it’s a 10K, the final training race on April 9th is a 15K. I am really looking forward to these, maybe you will join me in walking or running? These things are really fun regardless of fitness or experience level.

Ninja-style for sub-zero windchills