From a post made July 31, 2017, 8:51 p.m. A recollection of a daring first-time event in my life.
“…(last night) I started a light jog on the treadmill. I would walk a steady pace, then jog for anywhere between 30 seconds to a minute and a half, alternating back and forth for 32 minutes while I watched a Dr. John McDougall YouTube. A first time ever jogging any on a treadmill. Motivation is an interesting creature.
I am going to continue to eat the most nutritious foods possible, but now, thanks to the admonition of some close to me, I plan to start working on some endurance and muscle strength!! I guess after dropping 78 pounds it could be time to do some exercise. Updates to follow, but I am sure you already knew that… Who knows, maybe Marathon for Old People or something like that…”
Some days before the date noted above I started walking on the treadmill, but my daring leap from my “normal” routine was the night I tried jogging a little.
I recall it all went well for a few days, and then there was an issue of my right knee swelling and there being a significant amount of pain.
It put a stop to the jogging on the treadmill, and as I recall, even the walking for a number of days.
But I had a determination to not appear as an old man with nothing on his arms but skin and bones, so I went back to walking as soon as the swelling went down and the pain went away.
But what little jogging I had experienced was still a strong memory as well as the joy and sense of accomplishment it brought with it.
I had to try it again. And I did.
This time all went well and has continued to go well till today.
I recall once when we visited a family member on a Sunday morning and I was so anxious to get back to the house as soon as possible because that was going to be the day I stayed on the treadmill till I reached FOUR MILES!
Everyone shook their heads and said, Oh Ray!
But I did it and kept going in the days that followed till I was passing eight miles.
Then there came the morning of March 21, 2018, when Betty was looking at an article announcing a 5K event in Glenrose, Texas the coming Saturday.
Later that morning, while I was at work at 6 a.m., I used my phone to enter the event scheduled to begin in 73 hours.
I felt a rush of excitement as well as fear! WHAT IF I COULDN’T FINISH the run in the allotted time? What if I was last to cross the finish line? WHAT IF!!!???
When I arrived home that day, I put on my walking shorts and tennis shoes (that were one size too small) and ran the 5K route I had measured out by driving the neighborhood in my F-150 pickup.
I was so excited to run the 5K in 58 minutes! I figured I had one hour from the start of the run since the awards presentation was to begin one hour later.
Later that day Betty and I went to Wally World, and I bought a pair of running shorts with compression shorts inside, and a moisture-wicking T-shirt. I did not want to appear to be an old man running his first event.
Oh, I looked great during the run, but the fact that I was still wearing my “readers” around my neck during the event was for sure a “give away” that this fellow was a beginner.
I was so excited at that event!
I started running outside after that week. Rarely did I return to the “safety” of the treadmill after that.
Since then, I have run in four 5K events and am scheduled to run in a 6-man 100-mile relay at the Children of the Cane Ultra Marathon in Port Allen, LA., this October 2018. I am scheduled to run in the Fort Worth, Texas COWTOWN MARATHON February 23, 2019, as well as the Leadville, Colorado HEAVY HALF MARATHON June 15, 2019.
For a brief moment I was on a 12-man team to run across Florida in a 200-mile relay April 2019, but alas, I did not qualify with the race rules of carrying an average pace of an 11-minute mile.
This was perhaps the most devastating moment in my brief sporting career, since I would have spent 36 hours in a van with the 11 other brothers of the Missing Chins Run Club who were willing to cover this old man’s slow pace, as we had one of the most epic times I can possibly think of for my life of running.
But it has turned into a real blessing in spite of the disappointment.
#1. I believe these guys would carry me across the finish line should the need arise. The fellows are amazing. (Google Missing Chins Run Club… you will be amazed.)
#2. I needed a goal to lay before me concerning my running. That goal, in this case, is to improve my pace so as to answer the question concerning my ability to maintain a pace under an 11-minute mile in 2020 with a “YES.”
There will be more blessings to come, I am sure.
I plan to run across Florida with my brothers in 2020.
As of my run this morning, I have run 611.64 miles in 2018.
If I run 3.92 miles each of the 99 days remaining in this year (today is September 23, 2018), I will have run 1,000 miles in 2018.
I repeat… If I run 3.92 miles each of the 99 days remaining in this year (today is September 23, 2018), I will have run 1,000 miles in 2018.
I can recall the old Ray who was pretty much a “couch potato” before the heart attack and triple bypass.
I can recall the old Ray when he began to discover what could happen to a person who began to follow a WHOLE FOOD PLANT BASED LIFESTYLE.
Those are two different people.
I no longer have tortured remains of animals coursing through my veins, arteries, and cells. Everything in me is from whole foods, full of life and wonder. The energy that fires in my body as well as my brain is as much of the power of the sunlight and with the colors of the rainbow.
No more am I running on a lower-standard fuel that is the cause of the chronic diseases of this Standard American Death Diet based in tastes of the stomach, and not in the wisdom and compassion of doing no harm to other creatures who are aware of suffering and cruelty.
I am literally a new man.
And I love to run.
If you knew me before, you never saw this coming, did you?
Neither did I.
But here we are.
oldmanskinandbones.com
