Are you new to running and looking for ways to get better or tips that you may not have thought?
Are you a veteran runner looking for new ideas or always on the lookout for ways to improve? Well, give these tips a try.
Challenges: Not All Paths are the Same
I was having a conversation with a friend yesterday and we were discussing our weight loss journey and how it’s been such a struggle for both of us for so long. We discussed our individual hardships and while we’re both pursuing the overall same goals, the problems we’ve faced along the way are decidedly different. Despite that, we continue to support and encourage either. She broke it down to me how everyone has a story and, most times, the story is more important than the completion of the goal. People want to hear about what you overcame and how you struggled. People want to hear how you feel down and got back up. THAT is the inspiring part. That makes your journey more human because, let’s face it, no one is or ever will be perfect. So that led me to want to write this post…
Veggie Confessions
Monday, May 7th will mark 6 months since the day I chose to give up eating meat. I had a 2 month phase out of it, going from 1 meatless day up to 7 in 2 week spurts that coincided with my marathon training. So, the decision was made a while before Nov 7th but Nov 7th was the day it officially took effect. I never put a time limit on exactly how long I planned to do it. I said if I could do it for 6 months, then I’d try a year, if I made through an entire year then I could do it for life.
I’ve learned since I began though that old habits die hard. It’s hard to relinquish old ways of eating. While 90% of the time there is no meat on my plate, I have yet to go 30 days without meat. In a given 30 day month though, I’d say 28 or 29 of those days I haven’t had meat. I don’t feel bad about choosing to eat meat those days and I said that if I really wanted meat bad enough I would go ahead and eat it. Considering how much meat I used to eat, I’m doing very very well. I am doing my part in helping not only my own body but the planet.
However…
P90X (Do Your Best and Forget the Rest!)
You know, I’ve been on this diet journey on and off for a long time. I’ve gained and lost just to gain back more. I’ve had consistent workouts while having a bad diet and I’ve eaten great while my workouts sucked. Sometimes I read other blogs, and it looks like they have weeks upon weeks of success and then I find myself wondering “What’s wrong with me?” Then, I think about the past year or so. I’ve only shed about 30 pounds in the past year, give or take a few, but I’ve completed a marathon and finally made it under 300 pounds.
This brief introspection leads me to the next phase of my lifestyle struggle…
Race Season Has Begun (April 22, 2012: Run for the Parks Recap)
IT’S OFFICIAL! RACE SEASON HAS BEGUN!
Greetings friends, Doc here! Yesterday capped off the beginning of what will be yet another busy race year for me. Last year, I only ran 3 races but considering one was a race I’d been wanting to do for 7 years and the other was my first MARATHON, I’d say it was a major year.
If you’ve read the blog in the past then you know I’m planning to complete the 9+1 again so I can qualify for guaranteed entry into next year’s ING NYC Marathon. I’ve already completed my +1, which is the volunteer requirement, by volunteering at the NYC Half Marathon last month. This past Sunday was my first of 9 qualifying races.
So let’s go to the videotape…
These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things
I love hip hop. Anyone that knows me knows that. I love the introspective rapper, the underground back packer, the cocain smuggler/street hustler, hell, even some of the womanizing misogynistic rappers. I just love the art in general. Undoubtedly there are some that should be banished to rap hell, like 1/ 2 the south coast plus Pitbull lol…Okay, that Pitbull comment wasn’t needed but who cares? He sucks…Toma this, punk!
But anyway, leading right along…I was here thinking bout my favorites in rap…producers, albums, artists, groups, and how better to share that then in my blog….so here goes…
Top 5 Rap Solo Artists of All Time(in order):
- Nas
- Biggie
- Jay-Z
- Big L(seems out of place, but the brotha had so much potential that he didn’t get to express, if you don’t know him, get to know him…hell ask me, and I’ll help ya)
- Eminem
Memories….in the corner of my mind…
Hmm, I was just here sitting back thinking bout ol’ times and you know what? High school sucked, for the most part. I didn’t have a whole lot of friends. I got picked on most of the time. I wasn’t very athletic, didn’t really play any sports. Didn’t get any play from the ladies. I was always the really nice guy with the average looks. I didn’t get picked much for sports. I was short, fat and I was some what of a geek. But the end of high school, late junior and senior year pretty much, things started opening up for me. I gained some inches in height, lost some inches in width, face got cuter, found myself a girlfriend, grades got better, my jokes got funnier, their jokes on me became less. Too little, too late I guess but college got the brunt of that. I carried over one maybe 2 friends from high school and kept it moving. The first 3 years of college were the best. Met my first love, lost my virginity, found out the true meaning of love, got even taller, started coming a little more into my own, blossomed from cute to handsome. I met some of my closest friends and some lifelong ones at that. I got into trouble, I joined NSBE, I joined a frat, college in the 1st half was what high school was supposed to be.
Continue Reading "Memories….in the corner ..."
A Runner’s Reflection (Quote)
I received the following quote in my e-mail a few minutes ago as the Runner’s World Quote of the Day and it totally sums up my feelings about running the NYC marathon and how I felt afterward as well…read on!
“Standing amid the tens of thousands of runners at the bottom of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in Staten Island, I accomplished something that I once accepted as impossible: more than just reaching the ceremonial end of my marathon training, I had become part of a sports team. I don’t enjoy every run, and I definitely didn’t enjoy every one of those 26.2 miles, but I’m a runner now with no plans of quitting. How could I? After all, I can’t let the team down.”
-Jen Ortiz, An Unlikely Runner, Other Voices blog, Runner’s World.com
Who Runs a Marathon?
[via Who Runs A Marathon? [INFOGRAPHIC]]
I had the honor of joining this elite group last year. Before it was put into perspective, it seemed like so many people run marathons but in reality it’s less than 1% of the population. Perhaps it’s around 1% if you total up all the people who’ve ever completed a marathon, even if only once, but still that’s not very many people at all compared to the total population. This makes me feel even better about my accomplishment and even more excited about doing it again next year.
The Ultimate Settlement
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Dr. Marctagon
I was listening to Gang Starr’s last CD, “The Ownerz”, recently and a certain line caught me. GURU says that we need to get reparations and it made me think. Do we really? Why?
Personally, I’m against reparations. All I see it as, the government using money to solve the problems. Public apology? Fugg that….At this point, there is NOTHING that can be done. If there are any slaves from the 1800s that are still alive, sure pay them. But you know there aren’t so keep your money.
Black people, as a whole (not pointing out specific person or groups) are not ready for reparations, if there were any. We could never handle the concept of everyone of us having a couple hundred thousand dollars in our bank accounts overnight. First off, the crime rate would be sky high, because when you get money, what do you want most after that? More money. And who better to get it from than that brotha next door to you who got the same check you did yesterday. Secondly, all that black money will quickly be recycled into white money (not being racist just being real) just as quick, by the time we spend our money on rims, cars, expensive clothes, diamonds. I’m sorry but Jacob the Jeweler is not a black man.
Continue Reading "The Ultimate Settlement"