Posts Tagged ‘Twitter’

* #runchat with me and Scott return on Twitter at 8 p.m. ET Sunday with an awesome giveaway from Hydrapak. If you’ve never taken part in #runchat, there’s no time like now to join in. From 8-9 p.m., we’ll ask running-related questions, you answer them, you chat with other runners about their answers — it’s really that simple.

For more information about what #runchat is, visit my #runchat page. If you have any question suggestions, send me a message on my Contact page. For information on the Hydrapak giveaway this week, visit Scott’s entry on his blog.

* After writing last night about how well running in the morning is going, I was faced with a challenge today: rain. It’s fitting I put a Forrest Gump clip with that post because I encountered some big ‘ol fat rain in the first mile or so of the run. Then, oddly enough, it just stopped. I ran without a watch for the second time this week and, just like Monday, got in exactly 4 miles. I seem to have a great sense of distance with running 4 miles.

* I’m considering entering a trail race this weekend. I honestly haven’t decided. I seem to like spontaneous things lately, but I just don’t know yet if I want to do this. I guess if I do it, some on the spontaneity is gone by mentioning it here, but it’s at the forefront of my mind right now, which I think is causing this bulleted post of a variety of things.

* I have started the 100 push-ups program for the umpteenth time. Since I’ve been doing a variety of push-ups for a while and did a few maxes between 30-35 push-ups last month, I started during week 3, level 2. After one day I realized that I was not doing nearly enough last month. So not hitting that goal I had of 50 consecutive push-ups is purely my fault. The first workout last night was great though with push-up sets of 12, 17, 13, 13, and a max of 22.

Is my goal now to do 100 consecutive push-ups? I’m not sure. This program is so tough, and I really want push-ups to be a cross training staple. The workouts in weeks 3 and 4 are ideal for that. For now, I’m just going to take the training program a day at a time and see how I feel in a couple of weeks when I do another test.

For those who didn’t “get it,” #watchlessmonday was not intended to be a one-time event. It’s something you should try for every week. It seems the fun of it came and went fairly quickly on Twitter after a few days of initial excitement.

The best response was this post from Tara who blogs at A Life Changing Journey. The end of her post sums up the point of #watchlessmonday very well: “I didn’t need my garmin to tell me I have endurance. … I didn’t need the garmin to tell me I can run fast. … I didn’t need the garmin to tell me how far I was running. … I didn’t need the validation of a gadget. … I just needed me.”

There were also some great excuses of not doing it, including “I don’t run on Monday” (read the original post; it doesn’t matter) and a few from people worrying about how far they’d run. Um, that’s why running just to run is fun — the “not knowing” element. Take a familiar route or map it out BEFORE you run if that’s what you’re worried about.

Whether #watchlessmonday lives on with others or not is yet to be seen, but I certainly plan to keep doing it. I’ve now gone watchless three Mondays in a row and am considering doing it more often. It’s so liberating to get out there and not worry about pace or time or distance. Give it a try if you haven’t. It’s not nearly as difficult as you think it is.

Image: Giovanni Sades / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This past Sunday’s #runchat on Twitter was one of the best yet. One of the highlights for me was seeing so many of your photos from either during a race, after a race, or your favorite scenes. Here is a collection of just a few of the photos that were shared that night.

Mark your calendars now for the next #runchat with me and Scott — Sunday, May 8 at 8 p.m. ET. If you’re on Twitter, be sure to use the #runchat tag any time to ask running questions, post link to blog entries or make comments about anything to do with running. As always, we’re looking for new #runchat questions, so feel free to leave them in the Comments section below or send me an email via my Contact page.

This Sunday, Scott and I are back for another round of #runchat on Twitter. First off, this week features the best giveaway yet in the nearly year we’ve been doing #runchat — a pair of Pearl iZUMi shoes. Scott has all the details about the giveaway here in his post.

Secondly, be sure that you have a photo of you running or a photo of a scene you took on a run ready to post. One of our questions this Sunday will be about running running photos. Pick a good one! To prepare for that question, my suggestion would be to head to a URL shortener site, such as bit.ly or tinyurl.com, to shorten the link and make it easy to post that night. Later next week I’ll post some of your photos here. Think of it as contributing to a #runchat virtual scrapbook.

For more details on what #runchat is and how to take part if you’re not familiar with it, check out my #runchat page. If you have a question you’d like to see in a future #runchat, feel free to leave a comment below or send me a message on my Contact page. See you Sunday. Be there or be out running!

Having gone through a weight-loss journey, I love finding runners who have also lost weight. Sometime in the past year I came across Brandon’s blog, A Healthy Dad. I also follow him on Twitter and stay up to date with his workouts on Daily Mile.

In December 2009, Brandon was only 10 pounds away from 300 pounds; on Jan. 1, 2010, he started his blog detailing his journey.

All he’s done since then is lose about 90 pounds and became a marathoner in December. You read that right — in less than a year from when he first started running, he ran a marathon. Similar to what I went through, though, he has dealt with an ITB injury. Instead of giving up, he’s coming back smarter and stronger.

But enough about what I think. Meet the 29-year-old from Anchorage, Alaska. (Also, be sure to check out the Q&A he did with me today on his site.)

You haven’t been running long, but if you knew then (when you started) what you know now, would you change anything?
I don’t know that I’d change anything, per se, but I would remind myself to enjoy myself, and to maybe slow things down a bit. I’m still relatively young, and have plenty of good running years left in me.

I ran my first marathon after only 8 months of running, and while I don’t regret that decision, I’m sure it played a significant role in my injury.

What’s your favorite running memory?
I’m going to have to go with finishing my first half marathon in August 2010. This was my first “major” race, and my whole family was there to cheer me on at the end. Overall it was just a really great race. It’s run on some very scenic paths through Anchorage, and finishes right in the middle of downtown.

At that point I hadn’t really learned much about fueling during a run, and I remember feeling pretty drained for the last mile or two. I learned a lot about running - and myself - that day. And I was pretty pleased with my 2:05 finish too!

What are you currently training for and what goals do you have for that?
Right now I’m training for the Mayor’s Marathon here in Anchorage on June 18. I originally signed up for this race back in December, before I got injured, and my goal then was to go sub-4 (I had just finished my first marathon in early December in 4:25). Coming off this injury, I’ve been reluctant to add much speedwork back into my runs. Maybe it’s just me being scared or paranoid, but one thing I learned from this injury is that I really don’t want to get injured like that again. I’ve been getting my miles in, steadily increasing my mileage each week (respecting that 10 percent rule!), but I really haven’t been pushing my pace too much.

I also know there’s a lot more hills in this race than there were in my first marathon in Las Vegas, which was pretty much as flat of a course as you can get. Of course I’d like to do well this time around and beat my previous time, but I’ve got another marathon in the fall that I think I’ll wait to set my sights on for that sub-4.

Brandon after his first half marathon in August 2010.

What’s one piece of advice you like to give?
If you’re interested in running, or just starting out, start slow. I think so many people get discouraged with running because in their heads, they want to just head out the door and run 5 miles on day one. If you’ve never run before, mostly likely you won’t be able to do that (without hurting yourself, anyways). I’d recommend using a program like Couch to 5k to help you get started, which is exactly what I did. It starts you out very slowly, with lots of walking breaks at first, and gradually builds you up to more and more running.

How has your healthier lifestyle impacted your family?
I like to think that it’s had a very large impact on my family. Whereas before, an evening after work commonly would have been spent in front of the TV, these days we’ll often go for a walk or a run together, usually with me pushing the jogging stroller with the kids. After seeing my success with it, my wife went through the Couch to 5k program too. She’s told me numerous times she has no interest in doing any sort of long distance running, but she gets out there for 30-40 minutes three times a week, which I think is great.

The biggest impact that I hope my healthier lifestyle has is on my two kids. They’re only 3 and 1 right now, but I hope that as they grow up in a house where eating healthy and being active is normal, that those things will rub off on them. My son already talks about wanting to run with me, and when we go out for walks as a family, the two of us always “race” home the last 100 feet or so. So I think it’s already starting to work.

What’s one non-running thing that people may be surprised to know about you?
I own two classic trucks. The first is a 1951 Ford that I restored with my dad. The story of why I chose “this” truck specifically to restore is kind of funny. If you remember the part in the movie “Forrest Gump,” when he’s being chased down an old country road by a truck full of teenagers, that’s this truck. While most people were watching and enjoying the movie, I was thinking “that’s a really cool looking truck, I want to own one of those some day.”

The second truck is a 1926 Model T that my grandfather restored. My grandfather has a bit of a retirement hobby of restoring classic cars, and has done five or six of them at this point. A few years ago, he was actually running out of room to store them, so he offered this one to me, which was the first that he had ever restored. It maxes out at around 25-30 mph, but it’s a heck of a lot of fun to drive, and you get a lot of friendly smiles and waves.

Keep up with Brandon on his blog, A Healthy Dad, as well as Twitter and Daily Mile. And don’t forget to check out his post today for a Q&A with me!

Recent Q&As and guest posts
* A Q&A with Dr. Wimmer, April 2011
* From baller to marathoner, January 2011
* A Q&A with Steena, October 2010
* A Q&A with Steve Spiers, June 2010

I think most runners are guilty of being way too addicted to their times/paces and their Garmins/watches/other GPS-related devices. So I, and quite a few others, are here to stop it for at least one day a week.

Late last week, a few of us on Twitter started a conversation about running without a watch to kick off the week. Several tweets and a few emails later between me, @AHealthyDad, @262milejourney, and @suzistorm here’s what we’ve come up with — #watchlessmonday.

Here’s what you do: for the first run of your week, don’t wear a watch. It’s that simple. While I’d really like to make this a completely unplugged commitment, I’ll forgive you for now if you have to have music to listen to. I hope, eventually, you’d give that up for at least a day. If you don’t run on Mondays or your change your weekly plans, don’t let that be an excuse. Whether your first run is Monday, Tuesday or whenever, make that first one watchless.

When you’re done with your run, come back and let everyone know you did it on Twitter with the #watchlessmonday tag (if it’s later in the week, still use #watchlessmonday so we can easily keep track).

Why are we doing this? Simply put, to get rid of the addiction. Is your pace or time important? Sure. But do you need to know what it is every single time you go out. Absolutely not. This is about running for the fun of running. That’s what I’m adding this to my #2011commitments posts (I know, I know, I’m behind on my weigh-in posts).

Be on the lookout for more posts about #watchlessmonday from the above tweeters. Suzi’s site can be found here, and she’s actually discussing #watchlessmonday over on the Geeks in Running Shoes show tonight. You can find Brandon here. (You’ll see him on my blog in a Q&A later this week!) And 262milejourney can be found here.

Lastly, a lot of people on Twitter have already said, “I’m in.” Some of those people are: @wordsbykara, @SuprHero, @cheekysu, @hotbirdrunning, @Blanda_Amania, @sarahtbland, @teamoptimus, @therunningwench, @welcometoboston, @CocosFight2BFit, @corriemaeowen, @tryn2bfit and @laidbackchick. If I’ve missed you, please let me know in the comments section below (please include your Twitter handle) or on Twitter and I’ll continue to update this list. If you’re not on Twitter, but want to make this commitment, leave a comment below. Being on Twitter is not a requirement to join in on this.

Just a few random thoughts for a Friday …

• Today marks one year since the launching of this site. In 12 days, I’ll celebrate 4 years of blogging. This all got started under a different name, then I changed the name to “Running Because I Can” a few months later on Blogger, then moved to WordPress and now this (which uses a WordPress admin). (Today is the 664th post in those four years.) It’s been a great year, but I don’t see a need to rehash anything today. I’ve done enough of that.
• I had a horrible run Wednesday night. It felt like I was running through mud. I need runs like that from time to time to remind me that the comeback trail isn’t easy. Sometimes I think it appears that it’s easy, but it’s certainly not. The run was so craptastic that I decided right then and there to take a couple of days off and wait to smack the weekend around a bit.
• I did a max of 33 push-ups Tuesday, five more than my initial test last week. I’m feeling confident that I’ll get to 50 in a few weeks and I can already tell that it’s going to be just as much of a mental challenge as it is a physical challenge.
• I read an interesting post this week from Fitz over at Strength Running, who detailed lessons learned from his race this past weekend. Check it out here. You may learn a thing or two from his experience.
• #runchat with me and Scott returns this Saturday with Brooks as a sponsor and a cool giveaway. Check out Scott’s entry here for all the details. See you on Twitter at 8 p.m. ET for a great night of chatting about running.
• If you missed last night’s post about my Relay for Life efforts, please read it now! I have a huge goal I’d like to hit today.

I have some family obligation this week (I’ll have a post on that very soon), so Scott from iRunnerBlog has written a post about this Sunday’s #runchat, which I will be hosting solo as Scott will be traveling back from the Boulder Half Marathon. Thanks to Scott for doing this for me. I look forward to chatting with everyone this Sunday at 8 p.m. ET!

Another great #runchat is planned for this Sunday at 8 p.m. ET. Come join us as we bring together the runners of twitter to talk about all things running. This week our killer sponsor is EverStride.

How to Enter: Everyone who participates in the #runchat this weekend will be entered, at the end of the #runchat we will use random.org to select a winner; it is that simple to win!

To increase your odds of winning follow @Ever_Stride on Twitter and leave a comment below that you have done so for an entry.

Like them on Facebook and comment on their wall then leave a comment below saying that you have done so and we will increase your entry again.

The Gear: For those that participate in the #runchat you will be entered into the giveaway for ultimate EverStride runners kit, which includes essentials for runners: Foot Cream, Fungus Defense and the so awesome Chafe Stick.

I’ve said in many past posts that it is so, so important to take care of the feet that take care of you, kinda like Isotoners and Dan Marino. The EverStride products will ensure that you can continue to perform at a high level with healthy skin and feet.

The Foot Cream is a high performance conditioning foot cream for men and women with a unique blend of vitamins and oils that penetrates deep into the skin to help the problem.

The reality is your feet could get jacked up and nasty and for that you have the Fungus Defense which kills germs that can cause fungal infections and make things way too uncomfortable.

Finally we have the the important Chafe Stick; this stick helps athletes brace the elements of their surroundings! In hot, humid or cold weather this unique formula helps guard against friction on your feet, chest, thighs and other affected areas. This non-greasy sport stick helps men and women protect their skin from the rubbing of socks, sneakers, sandals, clothing and more that cause red irritations while putting your skin to work.

The #runchat Details: beginning at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 27 @RunningBecause will ask a running-related question using Twitter hashtag #runchat. You answer; you re-tweet other people’s answers; you respond to other people’s answers. If you’re not familiar with Twitter, it’s really that simple.

The #runchat will last from 8-9 p.m. ET. We’ll post a new question every 5-10 minutes, depending on the nature of the conversations going on. (All questions will come from David (@RunningBecause) this week; I will be away traveling back from the Boulder Half Marathon.)

Also, here are some helpful tips for having the best #runchat experience:

• TweetDeck or Hootsuite, create a new column with the #runchat tag to follow along
• TweetChat has been running slowly the past few weeks so we can not endorse this as the most reliable option but if you do use it just sign in to that site with your Twitter account, put in the tag #runchat, you can join in the conversation without even having to retype #runchat
• web-based Twitter, create a new saved search with #runchat.

No matter how you follow along, please use the hashtag #runchat in each of your posts so we can follow all of the

Go follow @Ever_Stride and like them on Facebook and win!

Hope to see you at #runchat, if you have any questions just put them in the comments section below.

Here’s a little known fact about me — I very rarely plan my routes. I usually just have a general mileage range in mind and then run wherever I feel like it. I do have certain routes that I know the exact mileage of and have actually been sticking to them lately in my recovery process, but today was different — it was time to run with absolutely no plans beyond getting to at least 6 miles.

So instead of starting from home, I drove to the local middle school to start my route. Then the goals starting coming to mind — hit some long hills, both uphill and downhill. Considering three months ago I was told to avoid hills as much as possible, I wanted to go out of my way if I had to in order to run hills.

Another goal was to not worry about my time at all. When I looked at my watch I made a promise to myself to just look at the distance and avoid looking at the current pace or time elapsed.

I also wanted to make sure I enjoyed this run — for the first time in a while I stopped and took several pictures, including this pony behind the Elks National Home in Bedford:

Things were going great and a few miles into it I decided I needed to do something to help my mind — run the hill where the pain started in October. So I ventured to that part of town and stopped and took this picture of it:

I posted it to Twitter with this simple message: “The hill where my knee pain started 5 months ago. Time to make it mine.”

I made it mine. And I made this entire 6.2-mile run mine. I ran it like I wanted today. I had fun. I didn’t think about my knee. I hit so many little goals along the way that I almost let my emotions get to me. It was like the finishing line of a big race.

Today I crossed a hurdle — I’m not injured anymore; I’m not in recovery either; and while I am training for a 10k in a couple of weeks, I am officially ready for the rest of the year with all these lessons learned in my brain ready to be utilized. I am, as many people on Daily Mile keep telling me, back.

For the second year in a row I am taking part in Relay for Life. This time around I’m giving myself some more time to do fundraising, but that doesn’t mean you should wait to the last minute to donate. In fact, the earlier I can hit my goal, the more I can prepare for this.

Why?

Because I’m running for it again. My goal is the same as last year — $500. For every $50 donated, I’ll run a mile, up to 10 miles. Anything over $500 is of course welcome.

Last year’s experience was truly special for me and I realized so much when I ran those 10 miles. I did it for my Uncle John, who died 6 years ago from lung and brain cancer; I thought a lot about my dad, a head and neck cancer survivor; I ran many miles for my grandfather, who had lymphoma a few years ago; I thought a lot about my friend David, who’s gracious mother died from liver cancer. The list can go on and on.

As part of my fundraising effort, I’ve created a tag on Twitter, #runforRelay, to talk about it there over the coming 80 days and to live Tweet during the event. Maybe I can convince others out there to do the same thing.

To donate, please click here.