Another doctor a different diagnosis. My primary care physician said it was a hip joint injury. So she gave me more medicine and a referral for physical therapy. I guess I can open my own pharmacy soon to supplement my income with all these drugs I keep getting. Always finding a positive from a negative.

Tomorrow I am going to attempt to run. I will send the kids on their 8 mile hill run, then I will drive up to Verdugo Hill High School and run some laps on the track top test the hip. I plan on taking some "meds" before to see if that helps me get through a mile to 4. I really hope that I can get in a few, pain free mile. Boston is closer than I would like it at this point. I know I won't do well there on swimmming, stairmasters, and yoga. I did buy a aqua jogger to start running in the pool. I will try that out on Sunday.

I did have another adjustment yesterday from my chriropractor. My back feels great but it isn't helping the hip. I have 9 more sessions with her in the next 4 weeks. I hope all of this is behind me soon. I am getting grumpy from not running and I know my wife is suffering seing me like this.

Have a great weekend and enjoy you training days.

I guess I am an idiot some times. Last night the doctor's office left an automated message saying that I had an appointment at 7:15 am but the day and date inaudible. I was positive it was on Friday the 29th but my wife thought she heard the message say the 28th. So I went to the doctor's office at 7 this morning to ask since the message was "after hours" and I couldn't find out. And of course, the appoitment was for Friday. So I wasted some time this morning. However, it didn't stop me from getting a swim workout. I got in 100 laps so I at least feel good about that.

Today I have my second chiropractic appointment. I hope I come away feeling as good as I did on Tuesday. In fact I feel so good I have false hopes of trying to run Saturday.

After Tweeting a question about a good sports podiatrist for new orthotics, I got a few suggestions. I called a few, but was really impressed by Dr. Smith's office. They want to see all old and new running shoes and any or all old and new orthotic/inserts to help them evalute what is wrong. This seems like they really want to take their time and get a proper diagnosis. Amanda, the lady in the office, also said that their goal is to never see a new client again. They want to get us heathy and running as soon as possible. And to be honest, the cost seem extremely reasonable for an out-of-pocket doctor's visit. So I have an appointment with them Monday. I will keep you updated on my trip there on Tuesday.


Yesterday, my team had a 4 mile time trial. The first boy and girl came in together in 29:00. Then a steady stream of runners continued for the next 10 minutes. We had afew straggle in after 40 minutes but those were few and far between. I was really proud of how well they ran yesterday, especially since they were all saying how easy the distnace felt. I guess the longer runs are building the confidence and endurance like we hoped they would. Saturday's 8 miles of hills should be fairly easy. Next Saturday's 22 miler is another story all together. Hope that goes well.

Have fun training

Yesterday I had my first chiropractic appointment. It was good and bad. First the good. Tracy Cunningham was AWESOME. She was very attentive and listened to all my problems and what I had done prior to visiting her before she explained the spine/hips and their functions in the body especially with regards to running. She took x-rays, relax my back muscles for 15 minutes an then tried to stretch out my spine. Then we discussed what might be causing the problems. It was something about L4 and L5 being a little compressed, but it isn't a bulging disk (she thinks but needs an MRI to really see but don't want to pay out-of -pocket for that). Also my hips are off due to a leg length discrepancy (which I though my orthotics were correcting) and that my spine was twisting towards the right. Finally, my extremely tight leg muscles weren't helping. She said I need to see her for a month or two and start stretching. I already stretch over 20 minutes a day, roll out on a foam roller and use a tennis ball to loosen my IT band. I just don;t get flexible. Also, 2 MONTHS!!! Man I need to start running. I am a little heartbroken.

So today I will start stretching more and schedule a few more appointments. I don't know if it will work but it is worth a try. I am also going to see about new orthotics. Stupid injury is really messing with my wallet.

Friday I see my primary care physician, hopefully she will help with referrals

Today could hopefully be a turning point with my injury. I am going to see a chiropractor at 4:45 today. Man, I am hoping she can give my back an adjustment that will help relieve some of the sciatica I think I am experiencing. Even though she comes highly recommended by my buddy Chris Schauble, I have never been to a chiropractor and am a little nervous. Wish me luck.

Yesterday's "free run" for our team went well. The kids were free to choose which routes they wanted to run and most chose to do a hilly 5 miler, the others chose to hill repeats. Most people avoid hills like a disease, not these kids. They love them, or at least realize their benefits, just like their coach. Today is an optional run and most will likely take the day off. They seem sore from Saturday's 18 miles, Sunday's 3 miels and the hills yesterday. The crazy few will go do one of our lovely trails, roughly 7 miles. Man these kids make me want to run so bad.

Hope you enjoy your training today.

Wow what a great weekend for my team. We had our first 18 mile practice for the upcoming LA Marathon. To get them prepared for the time requirement that Students Run LA has for them (they have to be able to run an 18.6 mile qualifying race in under 4:50 on February 21st), I told them they had 4:15 to run our 18 mile course. I know this sounds like a really tough time especially if SRLA gives them 35 more minutes to run the extra .6 miles, but after years of working with kids, I know that some will do only what they have too and would run closer to 4:50 if given that time. Since we told them they needed to run faster, guess what, they did! Ninety-nine percent of the team went under 4 hours, with most finishing around 3:30. We did have 50 kids run under 3 hours, 35 of which actually went under 2:45. Our fastest runner ran all 18 in 2:12 -pretty good for a 10th grader.

Our shoe collection for the victims oh Haiti is going great. In the few days we have been collecting we have collected 50 pairs of shoes so far. This is such good news. I hope this collecting pace keeps up for the next few weeks.

As for my personal training, my hip/groin, back seems to be getting better. Even though I have had 3 different diagnoses by 3 different doctors, I believe the main cause to be piriformis or sciatic, and not the muscle tears or strains the doctors said they were. I was able to actually do the stair climber at the gym for 45 minutes on Friday and an hour on Sunday without any pain. I see a chiropractor that Chris Schauble refered me to tomorrow and I finally get to see my primary care physician on Friday. Hopefully, if it is the sciatica or piriformis, I can get an epidural steroid or cortisone shot to numb the pain so I can return to training. Fingers crossed!


Have fun training on this great Monday

To quote my good friend Chris Schauble's previous blogs, "I am now focusing on the goal beyond the goal". This goal has nothing to do with my racing, it has to do with my team's. Each year our team participates in 5-7 races for free through the great program Students Run LA (www.srla.org). However, most of my team are quickly turning into endurance junkies like their coach and we try to get into as many races as possible each year. Over the years we have raced tons of l"extra" local 5K's and 10K's that we pay for. We have also been extremely fortunate to have Nike support us and send us to the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco (the best race, by far, we have raced to date) the last 4 years (we are so hoping for a 5th year!!!!!). We have even ventured into the world of triathloning doing our local Hansen Dam triathlon each August. We are always looking to expand our horizons. Well, we found it this year. Our new race to focus on after the LA Marathon will be the Ragnar Relay (www.ragnarrelay.com). If you are unfamiliar with it, the race is 12-person relay race that starts in Santa Barbara and ends in Dana Point. Each team member runs three legs, ranging between 3 and 8 miles. This relay race is physically demanding, but legs vary in difficulty, and runners can choose their legs. This unique relay format makes Los Angeles an accessible race for beginners yet challenging enough for the most competitive. We are going to be taking 2 teams of 12 and maybe even a 3rd team. The 24 runners are so excited they are already looking to see which legs they will be running. Damn I love these kids!

First though we have to focus on LA. Tomorrow will be one of our long runs; 18 to be exact. This should feel easier than last week's 15 miler because we are running all 18 miles on a semi-flat course. The 15 miles last week was so hilly, it was brutal (from what I heard and saw since I couldn't run it due to my nagging injury). Tomorrow will be a great test for everyone, even the veterans who are looking to PR at this year's fats, LA Marathon course. It will also build some confidence leading into our 22 miler that will be in 2 weeks.

Just a side note, have I mentioned how great Cliff Bar is? Our kids were fortunate to have a few boxes of the Cliff Bar Builder's 20g of Protein Bars donated to us by a parent. I have a hard time getting them to fuel properly before, during, and after long runs. They LOVED these bars and it really showed in their performances. So thank you Cliff Bar for making such a nutritious, yet tasty energy bar that kids enjoy.

Have a great training weekend

Well after 100 laps in the pool this morning, my head is feeling better. But it still is not the same as running- nothing is to me. A long time ago I saw a girl wearing a Nike shirt that read "Running is breathing....did you breathe today?" To me, it feels like I haven't taken a breath in weeks, something is missing from life, and I don't have the motivation to do my other workouts well. Next Friday is my doctor appointment so hopefully it will only be 1-2 more weeks of this.

Yesterday, before practice, our team decided to start collecting old running shoes (or any shoe for that matter) and send them to A Snail's Pace in Pasadena. See, they are a part of Soles4Souls and they will get all those unused, old running shoe to the people of Haiti who will really need them soon. For everyne in the running, endurance community please help those in need and find your nearest Soles4Souls (http://www.soles4souls.org/) location.

My mind is losing it! As my days of inactivity (not really inactivity as I workout with weights 5 days a week fairly hard and swim about 240-300 laps a week) are mounting due to my rest and recovery, my former fat mind is starting to get the better of me. See, I follow a fairly strict diet (for my friends that know me well, fairly could be changed for extremely, but I don't think that I am that extreme) which does include a decent amount of calories to sustain my somewhat muscular body and allow me the proper nutrients to run, swim, and workout well and still recover. However, now that I can't run, I have cut down on my caloric intake quite a bit. Yet, I still feel as if I am getting fat, extremely fat. I absolutely hate, hate, hate this feeling. I know it is irrational but my former fat person portion of my brain is a very powerful weapon. And I know that all I need is a couple of good runs to "clear my head" but that isn't in the cards anytime soon. Anyone who has struggled with any sort of weight loss probably knows what I am feeling.

To keep me in a good mood, I can always think about my running team. Kids are great. As most of the Southern Californian endurance community is planning indoor workouts or altering their distances due to the great weather we are having, my kids are super eager to run in this weather. We have scheduled a 3 mile time trial. Every 2 weeks we run this to see if they improved and we treat it like a 5K race. Today I can expect 2 things, the first is that the kids that want to run hard will really push the pace to try and get out of this weather quickly (they love running in the rain but not for long periods of time) and the second is that the kids that don't really care about their times will spend a good 45 minutes splashing in puddles. Either way, we are getting in 3 miles today which is better than not running. This puts a smile on my face!

Have fun training and staying dry.

This is the first time this year I have really been focused on my big goal of the year- the Boston Marathon. The entire time I was swimming my 70 laps while I am still resting from my hip/groin injury, I was consumed with thoughts of Boston.

I have been there before (5 times to be exact) so it is not like I am wondering what it will be like. Instead, I am already visualizing the course and feeling relaxed as I run the course in my head. Today, I thought about Hopkinton (it is the starting area), then random areas on the course. I thought about what I would do for breakfast everyday. And of course, I visualized running by all the insanity at Wellesley College (if you have been there you know what I am talking about- if you haven't, it is by far, hands down, the most amazing, loudest, 1/2 mile of any race anywhere!!!!!). To me this is a good sign. It makes me believe that once I come back from this nagging injury I will really be ready to train and remain focused.


Have a great day training

When I started this blog this year, I though I would be telling everyone how my training for the LA Marathon and Boston Marathon was goiong. Unfortunately, I have been sidelined with an injury and thus far the training aspect of my blog has been a little blah!

Hopefully this is the last week I need to rest before I can resume running but my hip doesn't feel like it is getting better like the doctor said it would. I have good days and I think "a few more f these and I will be ready to run" Then a painful day that reminds me that I shouldn't be rushing back too soon. I have almost come tiu grips that LA is probably a no-go, but I could salvage a decent Boston Marathon with a smart recovery process.

So for me it is the pool and bike trainer for another week

Good luck with your training my fellow athletes.

The endurance community is awesome! At the LA Marathon this year, as in year's past, I have paced my faster runners who want to break 4 hours. We usually start off at a 8:30 pace which should get us a 3:42 finishing time. Some of hang on to that pace, a few feel "frisky" and we let them go after mile 15 for a faster finish, and a few slowly drop off the pace around mile 20 or 21. The rest of the team usually runs their own races which, for middle and high school students, usually means an uneven pace. This year, due to my nagging injury, I probably won't make it to the start of the LA Marathon which means my sub-4 group would be on their own. Thankful the endurance community is stepping up.

Within 10 minutes of my initial Tweet about my problem, good friend and fellow marathoner (I might add recent Ironman too) Chris Schauble said he would be willing to pace the 3:40 group. This is huge in 2 ways; first, I can rest assured they will be paced properly since Chris has run fairly even races and second it will keep him from running too hard and destroying HIS training for Ironman South Africa (the race is in April). Since I am his tri coach, I was worried about this along with my team.

Then he recruited another runner Danica (better known to most as @chicrunner or through her blog http://chicrunner.com/) to help pace the 4:15 or 4:20 group. This is HUGE since they never really had a true pace leader. She also reached out to a friend Billy Yang, to also help pace. Man these are great people choosing to run and help others reach their goals instead of just focusing on themselves.

I am very greatful to these people and what they are doing for my team. As a coach you are always worried about the team and how well they will proform, especailly with a race of this magnitude. Now I know that those 2 groups will do their best and I can just focus on the rest of the team.

Thank you all so much

Well the verdict is in and the doctor said...."I think it may be a micro-hamstring tear close to the buttocks" . Great just what I didn't want to hear. I wanted a definitive answer. Not a speculative one. Now, do I trust his opinion, which by the way was an out of pocket expense of $350, or do I pay for another doctor or do I wait until my actual HMO doctor appointment in 3 more weeks and hope she refers me to a orthopedic/sports doctor which might be another 3 weeks? Stupid freakin LAUSD insurance plan.
To further add to my frustration, the doctor also recommended physical therapy and told me that most likely the LA Marathon would be out of the question for me this year. That really hurts. I hate knowing that my team of middle/high school runners will be running without me. I feel like a loser and hypocrit if I am not battling the 26.2 mile monster with them. I really hope he is wrong about the marathon, but I should be wise about LA, since I really want to be able to healthful run the Boston Marathon this April. If I have to sacrifice LA for Boston, then that is what I will have to do. Damn injury.

As for the next 3 weeks, I will continue to rest not run and try and stay a little fit through swmming, riding my trainer, and maybe even do some pool running. All of which do not come close to bring me the joy and freedom I feel when running.

Yesteday's workout for my team went great, they killed the hills. Today and tomorrow are rest days for them, however a few of the really competitive runners will probably run 4-5 easy miles today. Saturday, we do 15 miles of hills. It is our first really tough, long run of the year. But after a half marathon last week, the 15 miler this week and the upcoming 18 milers (yes 2 of them) and 22 miler, we will all be ready to PR at the new, fast LA Marathon course. So excited for my team I can hardly wait the remaining 65 days.

Enjoy your training!

Today is an exciting yet potentially scary day for me. After school I am going to Orthopedics & Sports Surgeons at Verdugo Hills Hospital for an exam and x-rays. As an athlete you are always faced with this weird though "I hope it is nothing so I can start training again- yet it still hurts...so deep down you want the doctor to actually find the problem regardless of how bad it could be so they can actually fix the problem". I feel that way right now. I don't care if they tell me it is a groin muscle tear or a hip fracture (I think it might be a femoral stress fracture) as long as they find something and we can start the recovery process. I will be devastated and pissed if the doctor says "well it might be this or it could be that- rest a few more weeks and then return and we will re-evaluate you then." This is odd,but keep your fingers crossed they find something wrong with me (other than my head being a little off).

The team today will continue to train, even though it is raining and their head coach will be at the doctor's office. They are scheduled for a "hill party" run. That is a 5 mile run that incorporates 4 different hills of various length and inclines. The shortest hill is 600 meters and the longest hill is 3/4 of a mile. All the hills have at least a 4% grade. This should get them ready for our 15-miler this weekend, which will include these same hills, twice. With this type of distance and hills, the relatively flat LA Marathon course should feel easy for them.

As for me, only weights today. Hopefully, I can get a swim in tomorrow but one day of cardio rest won't hurt.

Enjoy your training, when you can't you really miss it.

While I was contemplating cutting off my leg and hopefully growing a new, injury free one in the next few days, I realized I have been a little selfish. I have been focusing so much on my fitness and training that I may have neglected my team's training. For those of you new to the blog, I coach middle and high-school aged runners. Our ultimate goal each year is to complete the LA Marathon. Along the way we run numerous races from 5K's to 30K's. So my new goal while I am injured, as well as when I return from injury, is to keep my focus on my team. They are my pride and joy and I truly love running with them. If I am ever feeling like I don't want to train or feel like sleeping in on a Saturday, knowing that over 150 of these kids is busting their butts training for a marathon really keeps me motivated. They are little balls of energy that I really feed off of.

So today will be a 7 mile trail run for them. Yesterday we had a free run of 45 minutes. They get to choose any route they like, but they usually choose "Big Alpine" repeats. That is an almost half-mile hill with probably a 10-12% incline. Super tough hill, yet they do 3-6of them with a mile warm-up/mile cool-down. Shows you how tough some of these kids are. Damn inspiring!

As for me, still hurt. At least I got a mile swim in this morning. I will probably get in 2 weight workouts today, as we get out of school early.

Have a great day training!

Dealing with pain

If you run then you know pain; it is a common issue that, we as runners, face day to day. It could be that nagging calf pain, or that stupid knee pain that hasn't been bothering you lately but just came back out of no where, or a side stitch that just won't go away. Whatever it is, the dedicated people that we are, foolish to a point, usually run through the pain and pray that it will get better. For years I was very successful doing this. Oh my calf hurts- it is only Achilles tendonitis let me ice it and rest for a few days and presto it is all better (until it acts up again in a few days). But this injury is more than that and I am actually worried.


My hip and groin have been killing me for almost 2 months now. At times it seems to be getting better and then bam- the pain is back. Before Saturday's half marathon I rested a few days, stretched religiously and prayed almost every hour that I would be OK. I started off fine and hit my first mile in 7:05, right where I wanted to be this early in the season. Every mile that went by I was hoping the pain wouldn't come back but at mile 5 the pain slowly crept back in. By mile 7 it was getting worse. At mile 10 I wanted to quit. I kept plugging along as best I could and if it wasn't for the fact that I am a coach of 165 middle/high school long distance runners who were also there running, I would have quit. Knowing that those kids are there running and suffering too kept me going.

I finished in 1:29 which is respectable, but I wasn't happy. I was dying in pain and could barely walk. The only thing I could think about was "Damn there goes the LA and Boston Marathons".

Here it is Monday, a fresh new year, and I am already dreading this year. If I can't run for a few weeks to a few months I don't know what I will do. Deep down inside I know that the rest will do my body good since I have been running and training non-stop for 18 years. But the previous fat person I was is only thinking about how much weight I will gain. This time the runner's mind is not winning, it is the fat person's mind that is keeping me down. Damn, being fat really messed me up.

One Rib

Today's training is still light. I am swimming 100 laps and then working on my core. I need to rest my legs for Saturday's first race of the year...half marathon in Irvine. It is kind of a boring course but it is pancake flat and I have my PR there so I do love this race. I plan on pacing some of the kids on my running team to finish between 1:30-1:35. Anyone who feels great at mile 10 can surge ahead. Should be interesting to say the least.

Once again, not much to talk blog about so let's journey back a few years. One rib- what does that make you think about? To some it is just the beginning of a dinner, for others they may be thinking "pork" or 'Beef", but for a person losing weight it could mean everything.

I remember the day I woke up after months and months and months of dieting and exercising, jumped out of the shower, accidentally looked in the mirror (when I was losing weight I avoided the mirror as much as possible- I didn't want to face the fact that I was still overweight and disgusting to look at, with or without clothes) and I saw a protrusion. What is that? Am I sick? Did I sleep wrong which caused my side to swell? When I touched it, it was hard. It felt like, well bone. Could it be? No way? Ribs are seen on thin people!!!! But sure enough, there it was, in my own body, showing through my own skin, a RIB. I had achieved a major milestone- my body fat was allowing a rib to poke through. All that hard work was paying off.

That was huge. It helped me refocus and be encouraged to keep struggling with the day to day grind and pain of dieting and working out.

Funny how a little, nothing body part could make a person so happy. Enjoy the little things in life. They sometimes turn out to be the biggest things.


Enjoy your weekend.

Since today is a rest day for my upcoming half-marathon Saturday and a way to give my nagging groin a few extra days to recover, I will blog about things other than training for the LA and Boston Marathons.

As of today I have completed 30 marathons, over 100 half marathons and tons of 10k's (I really don't do 5K's they are too short, too fast , and too painful). YOu might be thinking that is OK or average, but if you read the first few posts you would know that I lost over 100 pounds and was never, ever a runner. In fact I quit football in high school because they made us run a 2 lap warm up each day. Back then I was allergic to running. However, once I started losing weight and started actually being able to run for longer than a few minutes, I wanted to see how far I could run. I remember I was finishing a longer run (only 8 miles) and thought "Hey how far can I run?" The best option for me was to sign up for the LA Marathon and see how far I could go. I figured that way I could run until I couldn't run any further and then I could walk to the end r worse, have the medics take me there. Either way it was better than running from my house and not knowing how I was going to get back home from the place I stopped running. Sounded logical at the time.

To keep this short, at mile 18 I was still going and didn't feel the need to stop. So there I was going into LA looking at mile 2o, still strong. Then mile 21 passed, and 22, and 23. I was still running. Was I actually going to pull this off? Finally, I got to mile 25, paused for a quick cup of Gatorade and then finished the last 1.2 miles still running. I had completed (RAN) an entire marathon! I was in so much pain since the longest training (if you could call it that) run I did was 10 miles and my body wasn't used to this, the whole thing cramped up.

Four days later I was still so sore and vowed to my mom I would never do that again. Six days later, astonished by my accomplishment and still basking in it's glory, I signed up for another marathon that November.

So here I am today, a former fatty who accidentally became a marathon maniac. Hope others will join me!

So far today was a better running day then anyone last week. I planned a 6 mile tempo for my running team, the amazing Mt Gleason Runners (http://www.mtgleasonrunners.tk/), but I was worried cause of the groin and I was really sore from the 8 miles of hills from yesterday's workout. When I was done, groin hurt a little but not too bad and ran a respectable 40 min. Now I have 2 days rest before racing the Southren California Half Marathon in Irvine.

Later today I have a 60-lap swim scheduled and a back/core workout. I need to keep working out hard these next few days to knock a few pounds off left over from the holidays. Once school is back in session I will have limited time to workout so those extra pounds will be harder to drop. I HATE this stupid feeling, feeling fat! It is stupid, unrational feeling but I can't get it out of my head. All those years of being fat has really had a lasting impression on the mind, and the mind is a powerful weapon- good and bad.

Can I just tell everyone how cool Nike is? They do so much for my team which I will address later, but today they called and asked if I could get a bunch of runners togetherto go to a party for the BCS National Championship game. They are sending us 2 busses to get them all to LA to watch the game at the Conga Room at LA Live. How cool is that? Free food, a half-time concert and our own professional anouncer will be just a few perks! Love NIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All work done at Jordan's Virtual Fit Club. Best gym ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lucky run

Whew! That's all I can say after today's run. I had planned a very, very hilly 7 - 8 mile run for my team (mgrunningteam.com) and I wanted to run it too. I was extremely nervous about the groin/hip pain I have been feeling. I started off great, felt a little "twinge" right at the first, long hill. After coming down it and thinking I should just go back, my legs loosened up and I started to feel really good. Once I got done with the workout, I felt great. No pain, nothing. Man I hope this pain issue is behind me cause I need to really start hammering the miles for LA and Boston.

Later today I will workout with Chris Schauble, you should follow his blog at http://www.nbclosangeles.com/station/as-seen-on/, at Jordan"s virtual fit club (jordansvirtualfitclub.com). We alwasy get a great workout there, Jordan really knows his stuff. If you don't believe me check out Taylor Lautner's body in New Moon, that is one of his clients.

Looking forward to more working out today. I really need to burn the calories off I ate at lunch but those calories were well worth it. I ate at Graciana's in San Fernando, hands down the best Mexican food in LA.

pain today

Man I thought I was going to be fine. I actually took 4 days off from running (seems like 4 months!!!!!) and my groin/left hip was feeling fine. Then 3 miles into the 6 mile run, pain. Damn it. I have 75 days until the LA Marathon and then another 29 days until Boston. This has to get better while I am training or I am in trouble. The brain wants to run to stay fit and burnthose calories-the body wants to rest and get better. Guess which one will win tomorrow.
Wish me luck.

I have had a lingering groin pain for a month now and have kept running on it. I think it is a small muscle tear and am really worried with all the races I have coming up. So I took yesterday off from running. I will take today and Sunday off too and see how it feels Monday when I run 5 miles with the Mt Gleason Runners (http://mgrunningteam.com). Will that stop me from exercising, hell no! I plan on going to LA Fitness and swim 120 laps and then do a core workout. Later I will return to the gym for some biceps and chest.

These past 2 months I lost focus on my goal (Boston). Now it is time to really focus, tweak my diet and train better. First preview race is next Saturday in Irvine (So Cal half Marathon http://teamtrax.net/schalfmarathon) with Students Run LA (www.srla.org).

Why Blog?

Happy New Year everyone.
I never thought about blogging but I guess I finally caved to peer pressure since everyone was telling me I should “tell my story”. So, through my blog you will learn about what I was, what I have become, and where I would like to go.
Past- I was fat!!!!!! I was seriously overweight all my young life until I discovered running at the age of 18. Then running took over my life and I have since become an endurance junky completing 30 marathons, including 5 Boston’s (going back for the 6th this year), became a health teacher to help kids try avoid becoming overweight, became a long-distance running coach to middle/high-school kids (this is truly what makes me wake up in the morning and enjoy my life), and have managed to keep off the 100 pounds I lost through my years of running.
What does the future hold? Who knows? But here are some of my plans for 2010 and beyond:
Races:
March 21st –complete the LA Marathon (new course, drove it yesterday and love it) and have all 162 of my young runners complete it too.
April 19th – complete my 6th Boston marathon (if recovered from LA I hope to run under 3:15)
April 23-24th – coach 2 teams of 12 high runners each through the Rangar Relay.

Other Goals:
Get on the cover of Runner’s World
Complete an Ironman Triathlon
Become a better coach
Inspire people to lose weight and enjoy running.