Ken that you are doing this at all - 2 years in a row - is great.
Good luck on race day!
Kat :)

Thanks for the encouragement, Kat. The 10K is less than a week away now. I'm a little lighter, I'm in slightly better shape, but I'm a little older. I should beat my time from last year if I don't wimp out.

I ran 5 miles yesterday and that will be my last longer run before Saturday's race. The first mile or two was the hardest and the slowest pace. After that it got easier and my pace picked up. I could have gone the whole 6.2 miles of a 10K and did walk it out to that distance warming down. But 5 miles was enough. I want to be fully recovered by race day. I may jog a mile or two on Tuesday just to stay fresh and perhaps work on that starting pace.

Kelsey is coming back from college this Friday to join me. 3 of her friends (including a new BF) will be coming down too to root her on and hang out for the weekend. That should be interesting.

Our starting time for the race has been posted: 9:14am. I'm several waves ahead of where I started last year. Hopefully that will result in fewer walkers to weave around. The forecast at this point is 72 degrees and clear for that day. Warmer than last year, for sure. It should be a good day to run.

I picked up my t-shirt and personalized race bib tonight. I like it. :thup:


I'm as ready as I'll ever be for this race. I walked for an hour at lunch. I ate 3200 calories today - mostly fat and very few carbs. I feel good. I feel strong, albeit a little heavier than I wanted to be. It is expected to rain tomorrow, but on race day it will be clear and in the 50's. So it is still looking like it will be a good day to run.

Race Day - 2017 Monument Ave 10K
 

Unlike last year, there was no motivational music playing when the clock radio alarm went off this morning. I slept well, though. I ate an egg, a patty of sausage and some fat loaded coffee this morning. I'm ready to run.

We picked up Kel from college last night. She had a cold earlier in the week and was concerned that she might be sick today. It looks like she is over it. My daughter Courtney drove in from her college to be a spectator. All three of us will be heading downtown in 15 minutes. It is overcast and 55 degrees. It may be sunny by the start of the race. Good weather and some good daddy daughters time. :thup: :thup:

Yay Ken!

Jean

Since you're on the east coast and I'm in the west, the race is probably long over but I was wishing you luck last night for it! Looking forward to reading about it. Go YOU!! :)
Kat

Thanks everyone. Well, I didn't run like an April fool today. It could have gone better, but I did alright. The race is done and the official results are in... 66 minutes and 58 seconds. So again I didn't hit my target goal, however; it was faster than last year by 4 minutes. I'll take it. I was surprisingly slow the first half of the race. I just couldn't get going. After about 2.5 miles I was warmed up and it started getting easier. Again I finished the 2nd half faster than I did the first half. I thought about pushing harder to make up for lost time. I decided to run at an enjoyable pace instead. I may do it again next year and I may not. Kassie (my west coast daughter) has indicated that she might want fly out next year and run it with me. If she does, I will do it again for sure.

I finished ahead of my 19 year old daughter Kelsey. Her time was 74 minutes and 39 seconds. That is an 8 minute improvement over last year! She was well ahead of me for much of the first 5K, then the old tortoise caught the hare and never looked back. Kel can jog faster than me. I can jog farther than her. I jogged the entire 6.2 miles. Kel walked some of it.

My daughter Courtney was at the finish line and got some pretty decent shots of me doing that last 100 yards. She couldn't spot Kel as she came across. There were 22,000 participants. That's a lot of faces to look through.

Time for a little nap. I'll post some photos later.

Nice recap Ken. Must have been fun catching site of Kelsey mid race. Did you make your presence known? Nice job on the training and running. It would be fun to try an organized race this year. I have not run much since my college days (trying to loose beer fat). Most of my running these days involves interval sprinting away from a goof up on a skateboard ;)

What's next on your athletic bucket list?

Thanks, Thud. FYI: I missed the final pass of my daughter. She ran out ahead of me in that first mile. I caught her walking about a half mile later and I did make my presence known. She said "not this time" and dashed ahead again. There were lots and lots of runners and I still had to do some weaving around those walking or jogging slower than me. I went past Kel without knowing it. She said she saw me go by (the sign on my back made me easy to see), but she didn't have the oomph to kick it into gear and catch me again. I thought that she might have beaten me this year. Nope. We both ran faster times, though. So we both won.

What is next? We are going to climb Old Rag Mountain in the Shenandoah National Park. It is a very popular & beautiful destination - 11 miles round trip and a tough hike. I will be doing it with Kel and a couple of her college buddies. The tentative date for that is 4/28.

Richmond 10K Race Photos
 

One note about why I am running 10K races: The number one reason is because I can. I still find that hard to believe and totally amazing. Second - to get fit. Preparing for the race gives me the motivation I need to up the workouts and that makes me a more capable human being. I like competition as well. It is not so much competition with the other race participants (although I am curious how I compare). It is more about competing with myself - striving to do better. Weight loss? Not really a factor. I started preparing for this 10K last December adding cardio workouts to my routine a couple of times per week. I worked out more as the race drew near. I averaged 19K steps per day in March. My weight has stayed the same give or take a few pounds. The exercise wasn't done for weight loss.

Working out, especially cardio, does make me hungrier. I naturally want to eat to the level of my activity. This wasn't really the case when I had a considerable amount of fat reserves. My body was happy to cover the extra energy expenditure with yesterday's lunch (my fat stores). But now that I am no longer obese I do find it harder to eat less energy than I expend. In fact, I find fasting easier than undereating.

I decided to do something for the cause on race day. On my front side was my LCHF ROCKS race bib and on the back side was a poster I made promoting Dietdoctor.com and Healclinics. There were 22,000 participants in the event and lots of spectators. I received plenty of kudos and positive comments before and after the race. One of those people I spoke with was a patient of my PCP - the doctor I saw last week for my annual checkup. She told me that our doctor had shared my DietDoctor.com success story with her at her last visit. I'm very happy about that. The official photographers for the race, Marathon Photo, took my picture (front and back) after the race. My daughter (running the race with me) told me that some people were coming up behind me and talking photos of my backside during the race. So I guess I'm happy to be doing what I can to get the word out on this healthy way of eating. LCHF ROCKS!

SO GREAT!! I love the back of the bib - That is a genius Idea - so cool.

I can also relate to the picture where you're getting your tunes ready. It all the racing I've done there's something magical about it. I LOVE/HATE it if that's even a thing - the heart is ready to explode but the mind needs to keep things together. So much thanks for posting those pictures and story Ken!

PS Courtney, thanks for getting those shots of your family. You played a big part in that day no doubt as support. Racers need support! You have a good eye for catching the action.

Note to self for next year... Do more outdoor workouts in the weeks preceding the race. I think I relied too much on the gym equipment this year and that cost me some minutes in this 10K. The machines at the gym are good workouts, but they are not the same as real life running. I reread my posts describing my preparation for last year. I packed a lot of work into 4 weeks. My last 4 weeks this year was much the same. Next year I need to do longer runs and work a little harder if I want to do the 10K in under one hour.

As for eating in the days before the race... eat more fat and less protein & fiber. This year I was simply eating more food at the same macros. I put a lot of bulk into my system that didn't pass by race time. I was stopped up some - finally getting some relief today 2 days after the race. Just get more calories from fat next time.

Hi Ken, Great pics of you and your daughters!! :thup:

Kelsey and I just signed up for next year's Richmond Monument Avenue 10K. This will be our third one. Kel's BF is joining us this time. So it's time to hit the gym again. I've got two college kids to beat next year.

The race took me 70 minutes 20 seconds to complete the in 2016. I jogged the 10K in 66 minutes 58 seconds last April. Both times I weighed in the 205 to 210 range. I really want to run this next one in under 60 minutes. I know that is asking a lot. To do it I need to get serious about staying in the keto zone and tracking food everyday. When I do that I am the master of what I eat. That is the only way that I will lose weight. I'll will need to get some more weight off of me to have any chance of doing that 10K in under an hour. The race is April 14. That gives me 4 1/2 months. It may seem like a long time, but I'm sure that date will be here before I know it.

I do better with life and this WOE when I have goals. Running a 10K in under an hour is not all that important to me in the grand scheme of things. It is more of a macho "want", not a "need." I still marvel that I can even do a 10K, considering where I've been. But I know that if I raise the bar on my 10K mark, whether I accomplish it or not, I will get back on track with my maintenance and make progress again. It is what happens between now and April 14th that really matters.

I've started working some jogging into my daily walking routine. I'm really out of jogging shape so I'm easing into it. Yesterday was a tough workout. During a 6 mile walk/run I walked most of it, jogged some, and did some sprinting (or at least faster running) on the steeper uphill sections of my path. I'm feeling that workout in my hamstrings and buttocks today.

Kel will be home in 2 days. I'm sure she will prefer going to the gym. I like to workout outside whenever possible.

BTW: My bib name this year is going to be KETO MAN. I wanted to do I RUN ON FAT, but they set a character limit of 11 this year. KETO MAN will do.