The clock read 7:55 pm. Hmm, I thought to myself. Nope, better not….
On The Road Again
I’m traveling for work this week, which presents some challenges. My biggest is, of course, how do I work in time for the blog. Since you’re reading this, it means I met my challenge. It also means I have a challenge for you…read on.
I may have mentioned this in an earlier post, but I am currently training for my first in-person race of the year – the Lexington Half Marathon on November 14th. Of course, I’m working with my coach, Miles, and I have a lofty goal of setting a personal record (PR) in this distance.
Despite the crazy COVID world of 2020, I’ve had a good year of running. I set another goal early on to run 2020 miles in 2020. So far, I’m almost to 1700 miles for the year and still on track, if the old body holds up. Seven weeks ago, when I officially started my coach’s specific workouts for the half marathon, I had high confidence.
Now, with just over three weeks until race day, fatigue is high, aches and pains are creeping in, and confidence is falling. Some days are better than others but with cooler weather, I had higher expectations.
One new aspect to training this time is the addition of a training partner for some workouts, mainly the Sunday track sessions. My partner, Tripp, is a couple years younger and is an excellent triathlete and runner. Miles is coaching him, too. Turns out, having someone to chase on the track is helpful. Tripp’s target for the race is the same as mine – just under an hour and thirty-five minutes. While this won’t be a PR for him, he’s willing to help me out and let me chase him for 13.1 miles.
A couple weeks ago, Tripp and I discussed how losing a few pounds would help with our run times. It’s a fact that lighter is better for running faster. So on October 1, we agreed to tweaked our diets a bit in hopes of losing a few pounds before race day.
Granted, no one is going to accuse me of being overweight, but despite running more this year, I am a few pounds heavier than I was when I set all half marathon PR in 2016. I’m also four years older, but I’m not acknowledging Father Time’s obstructionism in my my quest to set a new PR. Anyway, losing five pounds in the final six weeks before race day seemed a reasonable goal and would put me close enough to my 2016 weight class, hopefully without people asking my wife behind my back if I was sick…
My diet tweaks are these: cut out my go-to Starbucks drink – the black and white mocha with coconut milk – and eliminate all snacks after 8 pm. Up until travel, I was not having any problem with this. I wasn’t liking it, but I was sticking to the plan and seeing the progress on the scale.
However, this week, due to travel, I have had to tweak my plan. I have allowed the mocha back into the mix, as my morning breakfast drink, but I have stuck to the no snacks after 8 pm (editors note: slight slip on Thursday night). Seems like a good compromise since travel throws so many curve balls into the daily routine.
7:55 Tuesday
Earlier this week, I sat in my hotel room, pondering a blog post for this week. That’s when I heard a faint call from across the room…
“Greg…Greg…Come see me, Greg.”
It was the unopened bag of Salty Sweet mixed nuts calling me. I looked at the clock. 7:55 pm.
“Nope. Too close to eight,” I said.
Then it occurred to me that I am very fortunate in that I have a choice about not eating a snack. However, many people, especially children, do not have a choice. They don’t eat because they have no food. And 2020 has been especially hard on families and children who rely on schools for assistance with meals.
That’s when the idea for this post hit me, because you can help with this. This month, my friends at TST Perform have a challenge going on to raise $2500 for for No Kid Hungry, an organization dedicated to feeding children in need.
The team’s goal is to raise the money while tracking the monthly workout miles of the participants in the challenge. Their goal is 25,000 workout miles, approximately the circumference of the earth. They are mostly counting cycling miles, and Coach Miles has logged over 1,300 hundred miles by himself so far, with a week to go. I joined as a runner, and I’ll have around 160 miles of running for the month.
However, here’s your challenge and where you can help. You don’t have to join the workout part of the challenge. It’s a neat challenge, but the more important part is the $2500 goal for No Kid Hungry, which will provide approximately 25,000 meals for children.
As of 10/22, they are at $1,565 and could use some help. Would you consider giving at least $10 to their cause? If you’ve been able to read my blog this summer, chances are you’re in a good spot in life where this nominal donation is very doable.
Here’s the link to read more about the challenge and to make a donation:
http://join.nokidhungry.org/site/TR?px=3938782&fr_id=1473&pg=personal
And, here’s a deal I’ll make with my readers. If you donate $25 or more by October 31, 2020 and email me proof of your donation, I will send you an autographed copy of my next novel when it comes out. Keep your fingers crossed for early 2021.
Here’s the link again:
http://join.nokidhungry.org/site/TR?px=3938782&fr_id=1473&pg=personal
In the meantime, I’ll keep running more and eating slightly less and see if I can pull one over on Father Time.
Thanks for reading (and donating!)
PS: Here’s the link again: http://join.nokidhungry.org/site/TR?px=3938782&fr_id=1473&pg=personal
