A night of no fear...

When I was growing up, I liked comic books. I wasn't much of a fan of the 4 color variety like superman. I was drawn to the gritty heroes. My favorite was Dare Devil. Dare Devil was the man without fear. As an 11 year old boy what is not to be impressed, a blind guy who happens to be a kung fu master fights crime in the streets of New York. I mean you would have to be crazy or fearless.

I have been running in the fear of injury since last year. I know that injuries happen but I know that if I slowed just a bit that I wouldn't risk injury as much. Tonight, I threw that out the window. I wanted to see how fast I could run a 5k. For those that don't usually read my stuff, my general pace is between an 11:15 and 11:45 pace. Sometimes a bit faster but not too often.

Tonight I had no fear and ran for all I was worth, which may or may not be very much, hmmmm.

I started out of the gate trying to find my runner's bounce and it came early. In the past I would gear back just a half step when I reached this point. But tonight I wanted to ride the wave to the 5k mark. Mile 1) 10:24 I was impressed when the Captain (my garmin gps) alerted me to the results. I was a bit taken aback. I felt good so I kicked it up another little bit. I was feeling good and felt I could push it. Mile 2) 10:02 Wow! that was a great mile. Outstanding really, perhaps the best since I started running again. I have to admit that I started to feel the fatigue on the uphills of mile 3. It was a little harder and I really had to work to keep my pace; however, I could not keep up the mile 2 pace. Mile 3) 10:43 three miles under 11:00 on each one. I have done this before but not to this extent. I was fearless in my running. These are not really fast times generally speaking but they are for me. My final 5k time was 32:11. For me that was flying. I know I have to cut back the pace on my long runs but I think I can really start to look for the speed on the shorter ones.

I geared back for the rest of the run and finished 4.6 miles in 49:19. The last mile and a half was at an 11:24 pace. Not terrible. I'm no Dare Devil but I checked my fear at the door, its a start.

The First Post

I have been operating the blog of Run to Lose since last March in my efforts to lost weight. But it was always more than that. It was about unleashing my inner athlete. I have earned a black belt and even ran a school for some time. It was patently embarassing to have fallen into the state of physical disrepair that I had. I can see that I am breaking beyond simple weight loss efforts in my exercise. I have dropped more than 50 pounds and with about 50 to go before my ultimate goal I have a long way to go. However, I will also add that I don't have to worry as much about weight as I once did. With a plan regarding diet and exercise, I am on my way to true fitness.

Looking forward, I want to keep a fitness journal beyond my weight loss efforts. My focus was really geared toward losing weight. I can see that this effort will end and I will need some direction once that is done. I need a direction beyond this weight loss goal. I have come up with - I Dare-. Because in fact I do dare, I dare to take on my own irresponsibilites in becoming quite frankly obese, I dare to take control of my life and put it on a track more to my own liking, I dare to construct a life where fitness is a priority. I can go on but I won't now. It is also a reminder ... What will I dare to do today. It is my challenge to myself. In this regard this year I dare to run a marathon. I will dare to do more I know and I may share some of these as time goes on.

For now I dare to start this blog to continue my efforts beyond weight loss, thanks for looking in on me.