Running The Distance

Coming this Saturday to the Norwalk High School...Dave Novak RUNS!!! Woo-Hoo.!

I have it in my head when I compose a number of these blog entries that the general idea is, "You never thought you'd see a guy like me do this, but look at me now!" The thing is I'm starting to realize that premise is a little silly. I'm a married 33 year old, living in a decent apartment, making a fair wage. There's not a lot goin on with me these days that you wouldn't expect. However...look at me now.

This Saturday Morning, I will be waking up early so I can go to the Norwalk High School and at 8am, I will go jogging for 3 miles. Two weeks later, I'll be jogging 5 miles. Two weeks after that, 7 miles. 3 weeks after that, 9 miles. Why 3? I don't know but THANK GOD! Two weeks after that, I jog 11 freakin miles. And then, if I'm not dead, on Saturday, September 19th, I'll sign up to run for 13 miles or what they call a half marathon. This insanity is part of the Norwalk Lightfoot Summer Series and you can read about it here.

This craziness started a few weeks ago over Memorial Day weekend. My good friend Chris Kory and I were playing tennis on Memorial Day when he sprung the idea that WE needed a goal because HE was out of shape. At the time, I wasn't really looking for a goal but when he had me over to his home later that afternoon, the discussion would continue.

Now that I've had some time to reflect, I realize I am to blame for this excessive fitness rediculousness. I'm fairly certain I've gone off on gyms and personal trainers in this blog so I won't rehash my rant now, but suffice to say I'm of the belief that personal trainers at gyms are part of a business model that takes money out of your wallet without giving you much in return. I mean, if you were really training for something, you wouldn't need a "personal trainer". Boxers train for fights all the time but I have yet to see Mike Tyson using the local lackie at The Fitness Edge.

The second part of this abbreviated rant is that the only way you're going to have success at the gym is if you have something motivating you to excersize. For example, I play tennis on Saturdays. I know if I use our eliptical xtrainer during the week, I'm going to have a better game. That's the kind of goal related success you can have from exersizing.

Now, I was not looking for a goal on Memorial Day. I was beating Chris at tennis so I had that together. I'm a newly married man so it's not like I need to trim down to go to the club and meet women. (and yes, I can hear wives all around the world cringing at the thought of a man not needing to look good because he's married. I'm not saying it's right, ladies. I'm just saying that's the way it is.)

The idea that Chris Kory, a man who I've easily got 80 pounds on, came to me because he need motivation and a goal because HE is "out of shape"...THAT'S JUST CRAZY! Sure, I was beating him at tennis but after the game was over, I went home and took a nap while he ran laps.

Chris(middle) served up some great barbeque later that day when I went over to his condo and a few beers later, we got to talking about this goal thing again. Included in the conversation were Chris's wife Tanya(a personal trainer but not for a gym) and our friend Brian(top), a man who makes a living motivating people to do their jobs better. (I just reread what I wrote there and I don't know what I was thinking. I didn't have a chance.)

I can't tell you too many specifics about what happened during the discussion except to say that Kristine eventually came over, there was some Karaoke involved, and the next morning when I checked my gmail, I found this:

This message is generated as confirmation of your recent registration on Active.com. You have been successfully registered for the following:

Registration: Norwalk Lightfoot Summer Series
Purchase Date: 05/29/06
Category: 5 Race Series (3, 5, 7, 9, 11 Mile Races)
Name: David Novak

I had actually used a credit card to pay someone $33 so that I could run 35 miles. I haven't mentioned this yet for the strangers who read my blog but to know me is to know I don't run. Sure, I can go out for a pass. I can run around the bases. I certainly get a good workout playing tennis. But running for the sake of running has never been my thing...well, until now.

For the last two weeks, I've been "training". At first, I was just trying to jog a consistent lap which I eventually accomplished. It wasn't easy in the beginning. I've found that I'm a less than pleasant person when it comes to mood swings and exhaustion. To my surprise, I've perservered and I'm getting better. Today, I was able to run 2 consistent laps. That's in addion to several other laps I ran with some walking in the middle lest you think I just ran 2 laps and got excited about it.

Originally, I was just doing my own learning but then Tanya got a hold of me and gave me a training program. Initially, the machismo inside of me was skeptical but I opted to go with Tanya's plan, seeing as how I know nothing about fitness and she makes it her career. It's worked well and while I'm a little nervous, I feel pretty good about this Saturday.

Part of the fun will be the comradery(sp?). First there was Chris, Brian and myself. Kristine has decided to join us as well. Tanya's doing a mini triatholon in the near future so she originally wasn't going to join us. She changed her mind though and now she's in. Also, our friend Elyssa who is a nutritionist and a personal trainer will be joining us as well.

Also, while I'm nowhere near skinny, I've dropped around 7 pounds in the last week and a half and I'm enjoying feeling good from the exercise and the better eating. The mood swings are gone now that I'm not overdoing the exercise.

I guess that's it for now. Provided I keep up with this running thing, I'll let you know how I'm progressing in future entries.

Until next time.
Dave