The plan is to keep running
Chris Jennings/Herlad Democrat

Tomorrow I will surpass the 200-mile mark in my newfound running career. It’s not a big number but I noticed I was close to it in my training log.

The number I’m waiting for is still a month away. I read somewhere that if you do something for three months consistently, like exercise, it’s more likely to become a habit. So in another month I hope my running habit is formed. I’m not sure at what point I can start calling myself a runner though.

This has lead me to start thinking about what I’m going to do after the marathon at Cross Timbers. There is another trail marathon in the LBJ National Grasslands in Decatur, a month after the Cross Timbers run.

This may be to soon to run another marathon, so I will just have to see. They have a half marathon — so that may be what I put on the calendar with the option to do the full marathon if I feel up to it.

There is an endurance event called the Ouachita Trail 50 in Little Rock, Ark. that looks like something I might want to do. They give you the option of a 50 miler or a 50K. I think I would favor the 50K knowing what kind of climbing would be done in the Ouchita mountains.

It’s important to keep goals out there and put a few things on your calendar that you want to participate in. With these targets, you have a reason to go out and train. It’s also nice if you can talk some of your buddies into doing these events with you so you have someone to train with.
That’s what six local ladies did for the Chicago Marathon last weekend. Jody McGowan, Leslie Wood, Michelle White, Melanie Oelfke, Amy Post and Robin Phillips all ran in Chicago after training together here at home. Congratulations to them.

While they were running in the Chicago cold, I was running in the warmth of a Texas fall. The Waterloo race had over 50 runners and one walker, who told me after the race she cheated. I expect nothing less from my dear wife.

My training plan called for an 11-mile run Saturday so I did two miles for a warm-up, timing it so I would be back just in time for the start. I then did the race lap and kept going after the finish for two more laps to get my required mileage in.

At the end of the last lap, one of the volunteers told me I had gotten a trophy and I was surprised to get second place in my age group. I guess that’s what small fields will do for you.
I didn’t ask how many people were entered in my age group because it didn’t matter, I had the trophy.

I raced in the state cyclocross championships one year. There were nine people entered in my class. When people ask me how I did I don’t tell them I was second to last, I tell them I got eighth place.

There are two local runs coming up. First is the Waterloo 5K Race for Diabetes on Nov. 4 held in the neighborhoods surrounding Waterloo lake in Denison.

This race is sponsored by Texoma Medical Center, the TMC Foundation and the TMC Diabetes LifeCenter. Proceeds from the race benefit kids with diabetes by providing scholarships to diabetes summer camp, education and supplies for qualified patients.

The next weekend, on Nov. 11, you can run in the Rescue Run hosted by the city of Sherman.
According the city’s website, this is the third year for the run that offers a five kilometer race and one mile fun run.

The run benefits the Sherman Animal Shelter’s adoption program. The courses will begin and end on Mulberry Street in front of City Hall. When you’re done you can take advantage of the free adoptions of dogs and cats from the mobile, adopt-a-pet trailer and refreshments for the runners.

Last year’s Rescue Run placed 31 dogs and 30 cats with new adoptive families and generated $4,636.00 for the Animal Shelter’s Adoption Program. You can register online for the Rescue Run here.

Early Morning Routines
Chris Jennings / Herald Democrat

Pretty much every morning the routine goes like this. I wake the kids up, pour a cup of coffee, wake the kids up, let the dog out, wake the kids up for the last time and turn on the TV.

I cook breakfast for the oldest. The youngest eats at school. About 30 minutes passes and everybody is dressed, fed and ready to go. The alarm on my phone goes off letting them know it’s time to brush their teeth and go outside to wait for the bus.

Just before that, the dog will see me getting ready to go run and follow me around the house, tail wagging at increasing intensity, until I leave. If I go outside without her she will sit at the glass door and whine. This breaks my heart so I usually cave in. Problem is I only run with her on the trail.

To be able to do this and have the van back in time for my lovely wife to get to work, I have to leave before dark. On Wednesday it had been four days since the dog had been able to run with me because of rain and running on the road a couple of days last week, so she was particularly ready to go.

When I got to the trail a little after 7 a.m. it was still pretty dark outside. I could see okay in the open areas but when we got to the trees it was just too dark. Somehow I managed to not trip over a root during the first lap. I like to think it was my finely tuned Jedi mind skills, but I’m pretty sure it was just luck.

I was caught not thinking ahead this time and could have gotten hurt. Next time I’ll take my fancy schmancy LED flashlight. If you’re an early-morning runner or a night-time runner, seeing where you’re going is almost as important as being seen. A flashlight can brighten the road or trail ahead to keep you aware of broken glass, potholes and those pesky roots that I swear can move.

Some of the other things I will do when it’s dark out is run against traffic. It’s easier to avoid the traffic if you can see what it’s doing.

I keep the headphones off until it’s light out and even then I will often run with one hanging loose so I have an open ear to hear what’s going on around me.

Whenever I’m crossing the street, whether it’s light or dark out, I always try to make eye contact with the driver.

I leave the dark colors for daylight hours. I don’t have any of the LED belts or vests that flash bright lights, but I think I will get one soon given the time of year it is.

A couple of notes on reflective surfaces. A driver will often associate a runner or walker wearing a reflective vest as a sign because the speed is so much slower than they are moving.
This can be especially true at an intersection where a runner may be standing still or appear to not be moving because of angles. Having one of the LED armbands that light up will give you something that moves — bringing more attention to you.

While on the trail I always try to wear a hat or something with a bill on it. The bill will sometimes catch a branch before it it’s my face. It’s not a fail-safe but it helps. I also wear glasses that have interchangeable lenses in them and will swap out to the clear lenses when it’s dark out to keep bugs and tree limbs out of my eyes.

This Saturday is the Fall Classic 5K and Mini K trail run at Waterloo Park in Denison. Sherman plays in Wichita Falls Friday night so it will be a late night for me, but the run doesn’t start until 10 a.m. so I can still get a little sleep.

My schedule calls for an 11-mile run Saturday and five kilometers is only 3.10685596 miles so I’m thinking I’ll keep running after the finish line and catch my wife, who will be walking it to finish with her. With warm-up that should put me close to 11 miles.

The weather looks to be perfect Saturday morning — a little cool out but once you get moving you’ll warm right up. If you haven’t registered yet and are thinking about running or walking, stop by Adrenaline at 414 W. Main in Denison to register today between 4-7 p.m.

If you’ve already registered you can pick your packets up at the same time. You can sign up Saturday morning but you save $5 by registering Friday.

I’m not really pushing myself during the run, or at least that’s the plan. To see if I did or not you can check my exercise blog at chrisjennings.bimblogs.com for stats from the run Saturday afternoon to see if the competitive urge took over and how badly I hurt myself.

Healthy Kids Need Healthy Examples
Chris Jennings / Herald Democrat

One of my goals as a parent has always been to be able to keep up with my kids, and to set an example for them. No doubt most of you have seen reports that say our nations youth are in the worst shape ever.

Lots of people are quick to blame the fast food restaurants, and any number of other sources of unhealthy food or activities. On a recent trip through my grocery store though I think I saw the root of the problem as overweight and out of shape kids walked through the store with their overweight and out of shape parents.

A study on youth done by the University of South Carolina found that "Approximately one third of males and females ... failed to meet current standards of acceptable cardiorespiratory endurance." In plain English they were out of shape, in about a 15 minute period that included two minutes each of warm up and cool down. They could not endure the physical activity "The findings of this study suggest that youth who have high body mass index (a measure of weight), low levels of physical activity and high levels of sedentary behavior are likely to have low cardiorespiratory fitness," it added.

In my opinion the biggest problem with all these surveys though is that they will all say pretty much the same thing, tell you to eat less junk, and get out and exercise. That's all fine and good but for someone who has had no role model to teach them how to exercise or to eat right it's hard to get that motivation.

So I've taken it upon myself to help you and your kids. I've found a couple of links for websites that encourage you to get out and do more and how to gauge a little better what your eating. The first one give you tips on what to do and even let you log your activity and keep track of it online. go to www.presidentschallenge.org and surf around a bit. This site has an active lifestyles program that encourages you to get active and stick with it. If your already active it has a more challenging program available also. The program helps you set realistic goals and encourages fitness for a lifetime.

The program gives you over 100 preselected activities ranging from running and cycling to badminton, baton twirling and trampoline jumping. The site also offers performance awards that recognize your commitment and ability to stick with it.

You may recognize the presidential challenge from your school days. That's great and even if your kids participate in this in school it might be a good idea to do it at home as well. That way mom and dad can get involved and set an example.

The other major problem we have is the portion size we are offered in foods. It has been reported numerous times that Americans in general are eating larger portions. This can partly be blamed on food manufacturers across the board offering bigger portions and super size options.

Awareness is the first step. According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, which posts information on portion education, sizes have changed dramatically in the past 20 years. A typical bagel, for instance, has grown from 3 inches in diameter to 6, with calories climbing from 140 to 350. A cheeseburger 20 years ago had about 333 calories; today, it is likely to have 590. And a serving of soda 20 years ago was typically 6.5 ounces with 85 calories, but today it's often 20 ounces with 250 calories.

So how do you control your portions? Most people are not going to drag out the kitchen scale to measure their meals so here are some general guidelines from the American Dietetic Association. A cup of salad greens is about the size of a baseball. A teaspoon of margarine is about as big as one dice.

Two tablespoons of peanut butter are about the size of a ping pong ball. And a 3-ounce serving of meat, fish or poultry is about the size of a deck of cards. And it's not one of those giant decks of cars that you get at the everything is bigger in Texas gift shop.

Some other tips? Use a smaller plate. If your stacking food on top of food you probably have to much. Reduce the size of your meals and snack all day long on healthy foods. A couple of glasses of water after dinner will curb late night hunger.

That pesky Taliban.

Injury Prevention Is Key
Chris Jennings / Herald Democrat

Well I did it. I used last week to rest in hopes of preventing an injury brought on by my sudden onslaught of running. I ran every other day for just three miles and my Saturday long run was just seven miles. All was fine and dandy until the last mile on Saturday. I started out at a pretty good pace which was my first mistake but hey, I’m young and invincible.

At the end of my second lap at Waterloo my buddy showed up on his mountain bike. Without stopping I told him I was going to do another short lap. He rode along in front of me and we talked a little about dirt bikes both past and present like we always do. By the time I got to the cut-off for the short lap, I decided to go ahead and run a long lap instead.

I think if I would have done the short lap, all would have been fine. Not me though. I felt good and kept running. About a mile from the finish I started feeling a little something different in my left knee.

I would like to say I stopped and walked the rest of the way, but you know better than that.
That’s what makes rest weeks so hard. You need the reduced mileage to help your body recover but since your body is recovering, you feel pretty good.

Then you go out and run harder than you should. More often than not, you get hurt. I would like to say it was a good lesson learned but I’ve learned this lesson enough times that now it’s just a stupid mistake.

Most all running injuries can be fixed with time but when you’re on a training plan you don’t have a lot of time to nurse injuries. The best thing to do is prevent the injuries beforehand.
In my case, what happened was not building up the muscles in the front of my leg instead of just focusing on the back. This causes the knee to slide around a little because it lacks the support needed in the front.

Taking it easy for three days by cutting back on some mileage has seemed to make things better. In the big picture the few missed miles will not make a difference and if I would have kept going like normal it very easily could have been much more than just a few missed miles.

What can you do to prevent this? Warm up for five minutes and then stretch before you really start running. Stretching after a run is also good. If you don’t want to stop right at the start of your run you can jump rope or do something else to get your heart rate up and your muscles warm.

Like I said last week, a good pair of shoes can really help prevent lots of injuries.
If you feel pain or something that is not normal, don’t try and run through it. You will just be taking chances that are not necessary.

Taking it easy by building your distance and running speeds gradually over a longer period of time you think will be necessary can also help keep you from getting injured. If you do get injured or feel you have overworked an area, ice and elevation will keep the swelling down but only use it for about 10 minutes at a time and take a few days off. If you do not feel like the injury is getting any better, go see your doctor.

Injuries are another good reason to cross train. Riding a bike or swimming will keep your activity level up so your giving your running body parts a rest. If you do get injured it’s better than going out and prolonging the injury by taking it easy. I consider myself lucky since this happened early in my training. Hopefully I’ll take this old lesson to heart and keep myself in good shape leading up to marathon day.

If for some reason you want to keep up with my runs and make sure I’m really doing what I say I’m doing you can go to my workout blog at chrisjennings.bimblogs.com. There are all kinds of nifty little graphs and other things that show you what I’ve done.

Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use.
- Wendell Johnson

A little randomness for the day.

What a waste.

Can I borrow your truck?

There is almost nothing I dislike more or is harder for me to see through properly than a rest week. Since my official marathon training starts next week I'm on a self imposed week of rest so that my body can recover a little from the shock of running again. I'm still running, but just a few miles a few days this week.

One of the things I've been reminded of now that I've started running again is the mental state I get into when running, kinda like a meditative trance. I hear my breathing, the plodding of my footsteps but my mind is clear.
I was never quiet able to get to the same level while riding bikes. When I was on the bike my mind would wonder and seem somewhat rested after the ride. But while running my mind goes blank. All of my senses are there, I see the butterflies, coyotes and turkeys like I did last weekend at Haggerman.

I take everything in and everything is clearer than any other time. When I think back to these runs, even runs from 25 years ago I can vividly remember certain scenes.

For example I can remember one run with a friend through the streets of Dallas. We were both in Junior High, we were not talking, just running. I can still picture that in my mind like I'm still there. Another time I ran through west Sherman to Downtown and back home again. It was near freezing outside and it was a little wet, that run may rank as one of my favorites ever.

Mental awareness is one of the benefits of exercise in general. Of course you can't get to this state if your distracted by pain caused by wearing the wrong or worn out shoes. But when you walk into the shoe store you look at the wall and you get dizzy. So many selections, so many colors, and lots of designs and gimmicks that make one brand better than the other. So what's the key to getting the right shoe?

Well finding out what kind of feet you have is the first step, literally. Most feet will generally fall into three categories. Normal, high, and low arches. How do you know what type of foot you have? Stand up and put some weight on your feet. What does your arch do? Does it stand way up, can you fit a golf ball under your foot? If this is the case you have a high arch. Does your arch almost touch the ground? This means you have a low arch. If you are neither one of these or in the middle then you have a normal arch.

What's the difference? Well if you are flat footed you are probably an over pronater, since you don't have much of an arch to give support your feet will roll inward. You can get shoes designed for this that will help maintain stability while you walk or run.

If you have a high arch you may be an under pronator. This means your foot will roll to the outside, so you should try some shoes that are a little more flexible or cushioned.

If you have normal feet you can try a variety of shoes until you find one that's right. Generally you will be in the middle ground when it comes to arch size in shoes.

The next thing you need to do is talk to a shoe salesman that will ask you the right questions. They may be able to look at the wear on an old pair of shoes to help decide what kind of shoe is best for you.

Other questions to ask or how much do you run now? How much do you plan on in the next four or five months? Where are you running? Trails and grassy surfaces are different than the street or the track.

You will have better luck getting good shoes if you take the time to visit a good running specific store where you can try on several different pairs and talk to the salespeople, who more than likely are runners, about what you might need. There is no way I can cover or do I claim to know all there is to know about picking out shoes. With this little bit of knowledge though you will be better able to communicate with your sales person.

Once you get a decent pair of shoes your feet will be happy, and you can go out and meditate while you run.