A beloved member of the Locust Grove Middle School track team, died in a dirt bike injury this past Sunday. As soon as I heard the name I remembered which kid it was. He had a lot of heart and seemed to be very happy at the meets I saw him in. My heart is broken for the family and all who knew and loved him. This is a great loss and there is nothing I can say to do justice to the young man, but the Orange Running Club and track and field teams will try to justice to his memory. God bless the family.
That's right, I stepped on my bathroom scales on May 12 and it said, "287.8." This was quite a bit heavier than I'd ever been before. I had just been coming home from work exhausted and grabbing junk food and collapsing on the couch. This was after probably having eaten cookies for breakfast and fast food for lunch. Laziness and depression led to this state of affairs. I wasn't in the WORST shape possible...luckily I had started training for the men's 4-miler a few weeks before, but gout attacks (caused by weight) limited my progress there. The worst thing about all of this is that my son Hunter does what I do. When I model bad behavior he follows suit.
So I went on Atkins diet on May 12 and on May 23 running club started up and I really got back on the running horse. I'm not going to reach my goal for the men's 4-miler of actually running the whole way, but I can feel my breathing getting better already. I'm basically running 35 seconds and walking 55 seconds right now. I'm hoping to cover the 4-miles in under 1 hour. That'll be near last place, but it's a starting point. Yesterday I did 4 1/2 miles in 1:11. Not the pace to break an hour, but I've got 13 more days and hopefully knocking off another 5 pounds by then will give me the ability to do it. I don't want to quit on Father's day. I want to keep running. My goal after that will be to run the Constitution 5K in under 40 minutes in September. Then I can make a further goal. People I need to lose weight. Mr. Gilliam can be a lot more useful to all of you if he weighs 190 than 290. So far so good. I stepped on the scales this morning (June 6) and I weighed 263.6. This is still a pretty heavy weight and that weight still makes me quite obese, but I think I've dropped under the dreaded 40 BMI. 24.2 pounds lost in 25 days. I'll take it, but I've got a long way to go to get down to average. I need to keep running and eating right for the rest of life. Is it possible for me to ever run a 5K in under 30 minutes? That's the long term goal. Short term 4-miler in under 1 hour. Medium term Constitution 5K in under 40. Long term Any 5K in under 30 minutes. We'll see. This week I will log more miles than any time since college: Sunday: 4.5 miles Monday: 3 miles Tuesday: 1 mile Wednesday: 3 miles Thursday: 2.5 miles Saturday: 5 miles A 19 mile week is pretty good for me, even if it's walk/running. Hopefully by the time of the Constitution 5K I'll be able to do it without walking. Then I can work on more miles. |
AuthorMatt Gilliam is the slowest and heaviest member of the Orange Running Club, but he loves runners.. Archives
August 2012
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