Last weekend, as part of my first 20,000 days celebration, I ran my second half marathon. In spite of my September post on preparation, I did not prepare to the degree I had planned. So here’s what you do to make sure you have a good time, a good race, and no injury.

1. Set your expectations to match your level of training. If you are running a longer race, but haven’t come close in your long runs, be prepared to walk part of the way. You can run the whole thing with the right level of mental toughness, but your risk of injury increases if you exceed your training by too much.
2. Follow a practical pre-race ritual. This is different for everyone, based in part on your travel to the race location. Some nutrition to start your engine is a good idea, but most runners don’t want to have too much in their stomachs at the start of the race. Get to the race with enough time to register and pick up your number (unless there was pick-up available the day before). Check for the porta-pottys. If you need to use one, chances are they will be busy just before the race, so line up early.
3. Position yourself in a reasonable location at the start. Don’t put other runners in the position of having to run around you in the early running. And don’t put yourself so deep in the pack that you don’t have room to run.
4. The longer the race, the more careful you pace. Don’t start out at your best stride when the race is much longer than your usual run. If you routinely run 5k in 25 minutes, then by all means go out fast and back off a bit if you need to. But if you are an 11-minute miler running a 10k, don’t rush out at a 9 minute pace and expect you will keep it up.
5. Remember the words of my friend John: “To finish is to win”. You trained, you registered, you got to the start. Now get to the finish and don’t worry about your time.
6. Enjoy the rest of your day. If you ran a long race you may want to ice the legs a bit, even in an ice bath. This will reduce the recovery time.
7. Pick another race and set up a new training plan!

I know that I was not happy with my last finish time, but thrilled with the run itself and that I finished without injury. But I know what I need to do to improve and I’ll run my own 13.1 in May with a new goal. Assuming I train enough.

Enjoy your training as much as your racing, and, as always, let’s be careful out there.

Anna at abdpbt is responsible for the effort to Fight Listless Mondays. Find other list links on her blog. Her lists and the others linked there always give you something to think about, and may even make you smile!

When there are special events in your home, work patterns change. In particular, there is more time spent in the kitchen preparing, serving, eating and cleaning. The kitchen is full of opportunities for injury, mostly from heat. And those hazards are not just near the stove and the oven. We carry hot pans across a room, or hot soups or teas are carried. The potential for burns is much higher.

Then there are the knives that find their way into a soapy sink. If someone isn’t careful reaching in, they could easily get cut.

This advice seems a little bit late, right?

This is also the time of year when many of us make promises to do things differently. Eat better, exercise more, save more diligently, and to get things into better order. These kinds of resolutions present changes in our day-to-day workflow. The process of how we go about moving through our daily lives. And while change is good, it is also good to look for any potential hazards related to your new plans.

For example, if you are going to rise early to exercise every morning, make sure you are starting with a glass of water and a light snack. Even a small amount of yogurt or a slice of peanut butter toast can effectively help you get through a workout better. Sounds simple, but it is important.

Also related to exercise – if you haven’t been good about it recently, then ease back in. Take time to warm up, stretch, and cool down to minimize the liklihood of injury.

Plan your food intake. If you plan on eating better, don’t just go to the grocery store and buy only fresh produce and things you think are healthy. If you are not already including them in your diet, then it may take you time to get used to bringing them back, and some could easily spoil before you have a chance to consume them all.

Will you be driving at a different time because you will be heading to the gym before or after work? There may be different traffic patterns at that time of day that will require a change in how you drive. It may require more patience, or you may be driving in darker conditions than you are used to.

And don’t forget – lots of other people make decisions to exercise more, and so there will be more runners on the road. They may not be wearing adequate reflective clothing, so watch out for them!

Whatever changes you are planning, I wish you luck in achieving your new goals.

Thanks, and let’s be careful out there.

So today’s run was 7 miles, and it’s the first time I’ve been out that long for months. I’ve got a long way to go to be ready for this late-January event, but if I follow the training I will do well.

I ended up with a fair amount of walking breaks today, and it was a good day to just see where my thoughts would take me. They took me to my Dad. He’s been gone for 15 years now, but still with me in so many ways. Since I worked in his factory through college, I’d like to think I got a lot of ideas for safety from him. Truthfully, I got a ton of ideas about life from him. Here are a few that I remembered today.

1. Too much of any one thing is not good for you. That’s so right about so many things. Too much food, too much exercise, too much work, to much play, too much money.  If you have enough that you can say it’s too much, it’s time to course correct somehow. If you happen to be in the “too much money” category, I might have a few ideas to help you out!
2. Be Careful. It was always the last thing he or my Mom said when we left the house. Whether we were teens early in our driving careers or adults visiting from wherever we lived at the time.
3. If we were all the same, we’d all be the same. He really said that, and it has stuck with me. I’m very involved with the diversity and inclusion efforts where I work, and this phrase makes me smile whenever I think of it.
4. Do as I say, not as I do. I think I only actually heard him say this once, but it was implied, especially in regard to swearing.
5. It’s just as easy to like a girl from the west side as it is to like a girl who is from the east side. I grew up in Cleveland, in the western suburbs, and ended up dating a girl who lived in an eastern suburb. It wasn’t a background issue, just a practicality of driving issue. I think I’m even more practical than him – I’ve told my boys that it’s just as easy to fall in love with a rich girl.
6. That’s enough for now. Good advice, and sort of goes with #1. We usually heard this after an afternoon of water skiing when he drove the boat. It’s also good advice for this post!

Do any of your parent’s sayings stay with you today?

And you know mine – Let’s be careful out there!

Anna at abdpbt is responsible for the effort to Fight Listless Mondays. Find other list links on her blog. Her lists and the others linked there always give you something to think about, and may even make you smile!

1. You have to work up to the distance. No amount of frequent short runs will prepare you, so you need to plan several weeks ahead of time to add at least one long run per week.
2. You need to mix it up with long runs, speed training, and short, comfortable runs. Training doesn’t mean every workout should stretch you to the max. Your legs need their own version of work/life balance.
3. You need to be aware of your nutrition needs. If you are training to the tune of 20-40 miles per week, then you need to be eating more and eating smarter. A good plan includes nutrition consideration.
4. You need to understand the change in your body’s need for rest. Training for these distances is tough, and you need better quality recovery time, which includes more sleep. We’re all different in this respect, but you need to be aware of it and adjust accordingly.
5. A plan keeps you motivated. If you are at race day minus three weeks, then you are starting to get some serious long runs in, the kind that take 2 hours or more depending on the race you are training for. Sticking with the plan will give you more confidence on race day. Which brings me to the last point.
6. Race day should be fun. You get to feel the excitement of the rest of the runners. On many distance runs there will be crowds and music throughout the race cheering you on. As the miles tick by you feel some sense of accomplishment. But, if you did not follow a plan you will likely be unprepared and will have some disappointments. You will walk more than you hoped to. You may develop blisters or pains for the first time because you didn’t do enough distance prep to know your body and your equipment.

A plan will take just a little bit of your time, but will help you enjoy the journey more. You can get a plan for your running at Runner’sWorld.com, look for SmartCoach, and you can generate a plan based on your current ability and planned distance. The plan above is an example for someone planning to run a 5k race. You can learn more about the nutritional and rest aspects by lurking in the Runner’s World forums. There at a ton of generous, knowledgeable people there.

Exercise is a necessary part of a healthy lifestyle. If you enjoy running for the solitude, you may never enter a race. But racing with others can be a fun social experience as well as a good goal management opportunity. My next race is a half marathon in early October. I am following a training plan that should allow me to finish in the same general time as the last one a did a year ago. The best part of have a plan for me is the motivational aspect. I am on plan and feeling good!

Whatever distance you might run, do it for fun as much as for challenge, and, as always, let’s be careful out there.
Anna at abdpbt is responsible for the effort to Fight Listless Mondays. Find other list links on her blog. Her lists and the others linked there always give you something to think about, and may even make you smile!

Last week we had a family wedding – the oldest of our two boys and his best friend, the love of his life. Matt and Kellie had a great time in the weeks, days and hours leading up to the main event, and they had a fabulous honeymoon.

For the rest of us, it has been as hectic as my old theater days. I took time off from work to accommodate the many tasks and airport trips that were involved. We had many family members stay with us off and on and served several group meals. The last guest left Sunday, the young couple’s beagle, who stayed with us while they went to St. Lucia.

As life gets back to some level of normalcy, I was thinking about things that need re-focus, that I need to pay attention to again to be my best.

1. Every trip to the store does not have to be fast. I am no longer in a rush, and taking my time is one of the most important things I can do to assure my safety – and my sanity.
2. I need to re-focus at work. I have earned lots of vacation time, but I rarely take more than a week at a time. This time I was off for nearly two full weeks, so a lot went on while I was gone. I work with a small team, so others carried a lot of work and were more than happy to get me back in the loop. I tried to minimize the stories of the wedding (unless they asked of course).
3. Exercise. I am way off plan for the year, and certainly for the last 4 weeks. Time to refocus and be fully prepared for an injury-free half marathon in October.
4. Food. The last of the leftovers are gone. Baked Ziti. Sausage, peppers and onions. Cakes. Chips. Time to eat smart again. I’m not even stepping on a scale for at least two weeks.
5. Taking care of the mother-of-the-groom. This was our second wedding, our daughter was married 6 years ago. I remember that following all the activity the lull was also sort of sad. What will we do now? Fortunately, I’ve got some ideas in mind.
6. My dog looks lonely. Not sure what to do about that.

Big life events are fun and exciting. But I think I’m looking forward to a period of normalcy.

Let’s be careful out there.

Anna at abdpbt is responsible for the effort to Fight Listless Mondays. Find other list links on her blog. Her lists are more clever. Lots.

The next race I ran was in 2008.

I didn’t run much in between those two races. I started running again in November, 2007 with a goal of running and walking 1,000 miles in a year. I met that goal and ran a few races, including a half marathon that I finished in 2:18. I hope to run the same race this year with an improved time.

Running has been good for me, but it might have been disastrous if I hadn’t gotten good advice. Here are the tips I believe any new runner should take into account when beginning a running program:

1. Find a local running store (LRS) that will fit you correctly for your gait and pronation.
2. If you haven’t run before or you’ve been away from it for a while, start with brisk walks.
3. As you build endurance, alternate running and walking depending on how you feel. You don’t have to run every step of a planned outing, you can walk.
4. Pay attention to the weather and respond accordingly. If it’s too hot, shorten your run and make sure you stay hydrated. Use sunscreen if needed. If it’s cold, wear the right protective gear.
5. If music or recorded books help get you out there, great. But don’t let the isolation of the ear buds prevent you from knowing what is going on around you.
6. If you must run on a road, run facing traffic.
7. Wear reflective gear or lights if you run pre-dawn or at dusk.
8. Read forums and interact with them. I recommend the Beginner’s Forum at Runnersworld.com. There are many experienced runners there that are eager to help.

Have fun. Stick with it long enough to feel some benefit, and you will enjoy something that to non-runners looks like too much work. And call yourself a runner. It doesn’t matter if you run fast, or alternate running and walking. You are a runner.

And don’t forget the most common advice: Check with your doctor. And as a friend of mine says, ask your doctor if getting off your ass is right for you.

Let be careful out there.
Lists on Monday are influenced by Anna at abdpbt. Her lists are more clever.