When Ya Gotta Go...

     So once again i am sitting in my anatomy class as he reviews our test from last week, he made a mistake on the key, so i actually got an 87 on the multiple choice rather than 85 so that was a little good news. Anyway back on topic... last night i went to the gym around 6:00 and lifted for 45 min or so and it was a really good workout. After i got back and showered i still felt like i could do more but decided i should eat instead, so Clint made some pasta and that held me over pretty good.
     So the reason that i felt like i needed to go for a run was because i had a lot on my mind. I have been thinking a lot about what i need to do with my life. I am still pretty sure that i want to go into sports medecine because that is something that i know i would love. Another though that has come into my mind is if BYU-I is the school i need to be at right now. I know that i was supposed to come here for a reason and i think that reason is coming to a close at the end of this semester. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason in this life and this was no exception. I believe that i am fulfilling that reason as we speak. The past few days i have considered the idea of transferring to California State University Stanislaus and possibly join their cross country team. Although that may not happen, it would be a good perk of going to school there. So i plan on calling them in the next few days to see if there is a late transfer fee or something like that because i missed the deadline by a week.
     With all of this on my mind i decided a good way to think about it would to be going for a run. I put on my Under Armour thermals, sweats, beanie, gloves and a wind breaker and headed out. I had my headphones in but after the 1st minute or so, the jack got pumped and it stopped playing music. They are noise canceling so i figured i would leave them in and just listen to my feet glide over the pavement. Glide... that is an interesting word i finally feel appropriate to describe my contact with the ground. The first time i went for a run with my headphones in with no music, i could almost feel my feet pounding the ground in my ears. This time around it was different, my feet were not slapping the ground but gently grazing it as they propelled me forward. It was exhilarating. Although it was not a very long run and i didn't run very fast, i only did 2.8 miles in 22 minutes but it was a great way to clear my head. This is where i am at in my life right now and hopefully I will have more updates in the near future.

Around Town

So yesterday Clint and i decided to go for a run. It wasn't going to be far but we set out around 3 while the sun was still up and it was around 30 degrees so it wasn't too cold. We headed out towards the nature park and made our loop around it. Rather than heading back to the apartment for a 4 mile loop we headed east and went up the east side of campus and headed uphill. The hill was 1.2 miles long and i really liked the feel of going uphill in my Vibrams. I wad wearing my Komodo Sports today with the Injinji socks and they felt great! After making it up to the top of the hill we had one more small hill before the mile downhill to the apartment. This was also my first time going any real distance down hill in my VFFs. At first it was hard to not land on my heel but then i pulled my feet under me and quickened my stride and i found myself once again landing on the middle of my foot. It was a great run and i am looking forward to another one in the near future. Next goal, 9 miles.

I'm Back!!

     Okay so i know i just wrote a little earlier today while i was in Anatomy but i just got back from a run! As i finished up a review session for Anatomy, i was walking to my algebra class and realized it was mid 30's and sunny. Sitting through algebra i was going crazy looking out the window, i had that crazy urge to go for a quick run and i couldn't shake it. Luckily my professor let us out a little early and i rushed home and got ready. Lacing up my new Trek LS VFFs i knew today would be a good test for them. By the time i made it outside it was under 30 but it still felt pretty good. I put on some Three Days Grace and headed out. I was only planning on running 2 maybe 3 miles because i am going boarding tomorrow and didn't want sore calves.
     About the first mile, my body was warmed up and my legs felt springy, it was great. It was at that point when i knew this wasn't going to be just a 3 mile run, i was smiling and loving every minute of it. I am sure that every person that drove by me thought i was a lunatic but once again i stopped caring what others think. I would come across sections of road with patches of snow/ice and puddles, instead of dreading them, i treated them like a game bounding from point to point to avoid the puddles. At times i would find myself kind of spinning in circles by running backwards for a few steps then forward and backwards and so on... this is why i love running.
     All said and done i think it came up just short of 6 miles. By the time i finished, what used to be the puddles i avoided were then found with a thin layer of ice over them. It was a good run today and a great reminder of why i am doing this all.

Trek LS (Black) Komodo Sport LS (Green) Funny Feet  (White) 

Slacker...

Okay so here i am yet again and it has been some time now, i have slacked not only in posting but also in running. I have only run a few times since my last post... i guess i have let school and stress once again get the best of me. But... (there is always a "but" don't worry though, this is a good one!) So here's the deal. As many of you know i have been planning on going into dentistry for the past 5 years or so and i have planned accordingly. Well things change... i have been thinking about other options for a few weeks now, because the thought of being in an office all day just didn't sound appealing to me. I think the major things that were drawing me to dentistry were the money and work schedule. I have decided that those two factors don't really mean a whole lot if i wake up dreading to go to work every day. I have heard my whole life that i need to find something i love as a career, but i had myself convinced that i "loved" dentistry. I have thought about it a lot now and decided that i need to do something with exercise and sports. I am not sure exactly what i want to do with it but i am working on that. I feel great about the new direction i'm taking and looking forward to the future! I did finally get my new shoes and i love them! They were a little stiff and uncomfortable at first (probably due to the extra 4mm midsole and leather upper) but they are breaking in nicely. In fact, i have worn them to school every day since i got them just to break them in really nice before i hit the pavement and snow for a long run. Some people may think i am odd wearing "gorilla shoes" to school, but i am done caring what people think about me.

As for snowboarding, i went both friday and saturday last week and it was a blast, friday was sunny and the snow was great. Jared and i still went to the beginner class to try and get the basics down really well, but the instructor told us to come back later to go to the intermediate class. We tried to make the class but missed it, so we just boarded on our own the rest of the day. Saturday David and i went back up and it was cloud and cold but at least it wasn't foggy. I actually compiled a little video with the GoPro but i still have a lot to learn with boarding and video editing. http://youtu.be/gerEAOtMEjY Well i am in my Anatomy class right now so i should probably pay attention. Hopefully i'll be back soon for more updates.

Bring on the Snow!

     Well for starters, i am still waiting for my new VFFs to get here but they should be delivered tomorrow! I did manage to get a pair injinji socks though and i love them! They were a little awkward to put on at first but then i got used to them. I haven't had a chance to test them out in the snow yet due to the fact i am waiting for my new shoes, but i did wear them to school the other day with the pair i have and they were much warmer!
      I was pretty bummed on friday morning when i got ready to go to my snowboarding class and got an email from the instructor saying the roads were closed and class was cancelled. So what do I do? I head to the gym for a while and hit the weights pretty hard and then run 3 or so miles. Luckily David Dominguez and I were able to head up to Targhee on saturday morning and spent the day there. I am still learning how to board but i feel like i am doing much better. This is a video of me making one of the runs while david records.  Click Here It's not the greatest display of talent but i am enjoying it and that's all that matters!
     Well monday came around and after a decent day at school, i came home and crashed on the couch for  an hour or so. After i woke up, i ate an Access Bar and headed off to the gym to tackle the treadmill :/ You all know how I feel about treadmills... I decided that i was going to try to up my mileage last night and started running; at mile 3 i took a 30 second break to take some sips of iskiate, we'll get to that in a minute. I ended up only doing 4 miles total because people were in line waiting. After i finished up I finished off the rest of my iskiate and i felt great! I was amazed at how fast i recovered from my run. Later  on in the night i went back to the gym and hit another 2.25 miles and then lifted for a while. My feet feel great and i think i can pick my mileage up a little more, this is exciting!
     So as for this stuff called iskiate, it is another thing from the book Born To Run. It is a chia seed drink, yes i mean the same seeds that are used for chia pets! It's amazingly hydrating and really good for you too! It's really simple to makes as well. One 16oz serving: 2 fresh squeezed limes, 2 Tbs chia seeds, a squirt of honey to your liking, and fill the rest with cold water; let it soak in the fridge for at least an hour and drink chilled. One serving has 8 grams of mono and poly unsaturated fats, lots of omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids, 10 grams of fiber and 6 grams of protein. It sounds odd, i know, but it really tastes like limeade!
     So this is where i am at now and i hope to try and hit up a 5 mile run tonight after I finish up my classes for the day. I am also going to try and get more frequent so my posts don't have to be so long.

Through The Cold

Well I haven't been as diligent as I was planning in my writing but here I am again. I am actually sitting in my anatomy class waiting for it to start so i figured i would take a few minutes to update my last few days.

First of all, I had my first actual day of my snowboarding class on friday and it was great. It was only my 3rd time ever on a snowboard, and there was a lot of improvement. By the end of the day i was getting much better at toe carving which was a big step for me.

As for my running, it has been much like snowboarding... cold. Yesterday iwent for my first real run in the cold and it was fantastic, other than my numbing feet. I was able to run just under 3.5 miles around town in 22 degree weather, although it was not fast by any means, it is a step in the right direction. This morning i woke up and before class i decided to go for a run. So once again i put on my Under Armour tops and bottoms, sweats and my Melaleuca running jacket, beanie and gloves and headed off into the 10 degree cloudy weather. Due to my lack of time and still not having Vibram Five Fingers (VFF) built for the cold I only did just over two miles.

As for running in my VFF i am loving it thus far. I am not experiencing any of the running pains that i used to, including: Ilio-tibial band issues, knee pain, lower back and hip pain. Although they were never severe, with the exception of my knees anda 3 week bout with Ilio-tibial band syndrome back in 2006, they still were enough to cause discomfort. My lower back has never felt better and i am happy to say that my knees have not bothered me at all since i started running in them.

As i am training for the Teton Dam Marathon in June, i willneed to do a lot more running through the winter. I have all the appropriate clothes except for VFFs warm enough to run through the snow. In an attempt to remedy this problem I am going to Idaho Falls tonight to try on a pair of VFF Flows with a a pair of Injinji socks. The Flows are made of neoprene and areintended for colder weather running; wether or not they are intended for "Rexburg Cold" is to be determined. Because they are made of neoprene and and slightly insulated they "should" be ideal for running through the snow (if it ever snows this year). I hope to be back to report on the Flows within the next day or two. I will still continue to use my VFF Komodo Sport LS for lifting weights and speed drills at the indoor track.

Snowboarding Friday 1-13-12

Monday 1-16-12

Tuesday 1-17-12

An Idle Mind... and feet

(first of all i am not an english major so be kind and patient with my writing)

Well i think that we have all heard the saying, "An idle mind is the Devil's playground" but i have recently come to realize that this also applies to idle feet. I have just returned from a quick little 3 mile run. I am in the process of once again making running a focal point in my life. I remember back in high school, although classes were hard and the social pressure was at it's height, i always found peace within myself during the late summer and fall. It was not the pleasant change in weather that took my mind off of the stress and pressure, but it was the escape i found while i was running with my closest friends.

I joined cross country my freshman year in high school thinking it was a great way to get in shape for baseball; little did i know it was gettingme ingreat shape for life. I showed up the first week of school hoping that the coaches would let me join the team even though i was not there for "hell week." Mike Brown allowed me to join but jokingly said "I can see this one is going to give us a lot of trouble." I quickly discovered that it took a different kind of person to go out and run long distances and actually... enjoy it. As my legs got stronger and my lung capacity increased I too began to find joy in running. I would join in with the other runners as we ran down the canal talking and even singing at times (you can imagine how good we sounded). I ran through all four years of high school and loved the feeling that the team and running brought me.

After i graduated i slowly lost contact with some friends and began to get ready to serve a 2 year mission for my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or the "Mormons" as many of you know us. The service and sacrifices i offered over those two years changed my life in many ways; i found out who i was and where i was going in life and i wanted others to feel the same way. After returning home in October of 2010, i then began preparing for school at Brigham Young University in Idaho. It was during these two months or so of preparation that i realized that one of the friends i had lost contact with was running. I began running a few times a week but never exceeding more than 7 or 8 miles. As school came around I continued running and going to the gym. I felt great and i was in great health, i always had energy to make it another day and all of this reflected in my grades. After that semester I picked up a job answering phones for a company here in town. This took away my day from 10-7 which were the hours i normally liked to run.

One saturday in May i was having a particularly rough day between a rough week at work and relationship issues. It was a nice sunny day, which was rare here Rexburg, so i laced up my shoes and started running. I had my usual 6 mile run that i liked and i set out. When it came to the 3 mile marker i had a choice to either take a right and finish up the 6 miles or i could take a left and keep running, so naturally i went left. After running out to an old mill i decided to turn around and come back. I was feeling great and i didn't have a care in the world except for the pavement under my feet; ironically it was the care i needed to be paying attention to. At mile 12, my knees decided that they didn't like that constant pounding and the pain became more than i wanted to deal with. After walking the last mile and a half with bruised knees i began to wonder if running was for me anymore.

I took it easy of the coming months and even the next semester never running more than a mile or so at a time. In September i ordered a pair of Vibram FiveFinger shoes, hearing that they were good for joints i wanted to give them a try. For those of you who don't know what they are, well they are the funny looking shoes i have on the the following picture.

I soon began running here and there trying to break my feet into their new found freedom. My knees were doing great! I once again let school and work get the best of me and running soon lost its priority in my life.

After a high stress semester and sub-par grades i decided i wanted that feeling i had back in high school and the previous semester. For Christmas i received the book Born To Run by Christopher McDougall, and not being a reader i was thinking to read it slowly over the semester. Well a long story short, i read it in two days and it reminded me why i found such an escape in running. I am once again making running a focus in my life and plan to run the Teton Dam marathon this June here in Rexburg.

This will not only be a record of my running and training but it will also be stories of a college kid trying to work his way through school with all the troubles and great times that it brings.

Here goes nothing...