How's Your Body-Mass Index?

I stepped on my scales the other day so that I might weigh my 4 dogs. Of course, this required first measuring my own weight, then picking up the dogs one by one in order to calculate their individual weights. Although I preach a pretty hot sermon of diet and fitness, the first clue that there might be some surprises in store was that the battery in the scales was exhausted. Hmmm...I guess it had been a while since I last weighed in. Actually, I already suspected a weight gain. At my last doctor's appointment I had tried to avert my eyes from the numbers on the office scale, yet I thought maybe I had seen 190. How could that be? I had wondered. All this mileage and I've cut back on the ice cream. Really!

I've aspired for the past several years to pare my weight down to 165. Friends have protested that I don't need to lose weight, at least not 25 pounds, but then I stumbled upon a picture of me in my late-teens, hiking in Big Bend. That's when I was working hard labor as a lineman's helper (a grunt) with Central Power and Light in Victoria, Texas. I know, I know! That was then and now is now. Metabolisms change. The body slows down. It happens. We gain weight. I don't pretend to know the details of all this, but my own experience that we tend to gain weight with age is supported by anecdotal evidence. Even worse is that once the weight is gained it is doubly hard to lose it.

I've resisted seriously counting calories, but the time may have arrived if I am to achieve weight loss goals. But first there is the critical step of determining exactly what my weight should be. I am doubting I will ever get down to the lithe 160 or 165 I weighed in that 40-something years old picture of myself hiking the Lost Mine Peak Trail. A 15 pound loss of weight might be enough. Does this sound familiar to you? Then the following might prove helpful to you.

I just read a short item in the current Consumer Reports that reminds me there are more ways of measuring healthy versus overweight versus obese than just the measure reported by our scales. One important measure is body-mass index (BMI). According to the article, to figure your BMI follow this calculation: weight (lbs.) divided by your height in inches squared, them multiplied by 703. Confused? Go here for an online calculator. The return on your calculation will tell you whether your weight is good, bad, or dangerous. The healthy range is 18.5 to 24.9. Higher than 25 is overweight. Beyond 30 is considered obese.

New PR! YES!

The saying around the 3M Half Marathon is that if you don't run a new personal record (PR) on this overall downhill course, you are not trying. I'm not sure that's always true, though I will acknowledge that my half marathon PRs have progressed over the years at this race. I guess it's one reason it is a favorite and will remain so, even if the goody bags were a little short on swag this year.

A non-runner friend asked me a few days ago when I really began to sink my teeth into running. I gave only an estimate: 5 or 6 years ago. However, the 3M is my landmark and upon reviewing my history with this race I found I first ran it in 2004. This means that today's race (1-24-2010) marks my 6th anniversary of getting more serious not only about running, but also about my health and fitness. That race back in 2004 was my first try at the 13.1 mile distance. Previously I had run a few 10Ks and had even endured a 10 mile race in Mexico (I finished dead last). But running 13.1 was a breakthrough for me. I remember in those days I was logging almost all my miles going round and round Woodlawn Lake. On my final long run before my first 3M a couple of young men stopped me and asked how long I was running. They had gotten dizzy watching my loops and were amazed when I told them I was that night running 12 miles. It felt good to get that reaction as it was pretty much the first time anyone except myself paid any attention to what I was doing.

I ran that first 3M Half in 2 hours 18 minutes 7 seconds and I felt pretty darned good about it. It took only a couple of days before I commited to train for the San Antonio Marathon the following November. Now it has been 6 years, including 6 marathons, 5 half marathons, a couple of ultra-marthons and numerous 10Ks and a few odd 10 milers. I enumerate these accomplishments primarily so I can keep track of them for myself. My race history is not a competition with anyone except myself. However, I do offer it as an example of what I believe almost anyone can achieve. Yes, I know some suffer with bad knees, or other debilities which prevent running as their principal means of exercise and I also acknowledge that some of you just don't like running. Nevertheless I'll continue to nag you to ride a bike, swim laps, get involved in Yoga. If we are promoting an hour of play per day for our nation's children, we adults ought to at least get active for 45 minutes per day, or maybe an hour every other day. Let's not continue our sedentary ways, nor should we be anything but the best role models for the young. Let's wake up and exercise!

Holy smokes! All that and I still haven't told you my finish time for the 2010 3M Half Marathon. It was all in all a good day for running. A little breezy such that everyone's time was both impeded and aided by the wind. I cursed it when it cut through my racing shirt at the starting line and I groaned when they delayed the start of the race by almost an hour in order to allow the course maintenance people to re-erect some blown down traffic barriers. We all lowered our heads into the occasional head wind and we all quickened our step when the wind blew at our backs. In the end, I attribute my success to running a steady pace, not getting ahead of myself at the start. This took a late race fade out of the picture and I kicked across the finish line in 2:08:51. It feels oh so good!

Not All Socks Are Created Equal

What a difference a week makes! Last week we were in a deep freeze. A week later it rained for over two days. Now we are in a netherland of higher than normal temperatures, mostly cloudy skies and humidity. At least this is weather we are more accustomed to here in South Central Texas, though I am surely not the only one who hopes the cold and dry will return in time for next weekend's 3M Half Marathon in Austin.

It's a challenge, but I am continuing to keep my feet on the pavement even through the less than fair weather. A race looming on the horizon almost always gets a runner's attention. It's why I always try to have events lined up - I respond to deadlines. Without them I am apt to get casual about running and I really can't afford to be any more casual than I already am. That's why I ventured out a couple of days ago to log miles in the rain. Had it been really cold and rainy I likely would have retreated, but the air was around 50 degrees and the rain was more drizzle than drops. However, it had been raining at that point for a good 36 hours. Puddles were frequent and deep and for that reason I suited up in old shoes rather than the new Nikes. I figured 5 or 6 miles would be my limit and there would be little harm in running in the recently retired shoes which had carried me through last November's Rock'n'Roll Marathon.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I don't have cold weather running gear. It's not something we have to gird ourselves for in this part of the country. Likewise, I don't have wet weather gear either. It's not like we are in the Pacific Northwest. Here rain is only an occasional nuisance. Nevertheless, it's something I wanted to figure out, just in case.....you never know what you might get on any given race day and with the Texas Independence Relay now only 8 weeks away I want to have a tested plan for dealing with wet weather running. So I dug deep into my closet for an old windbreaker I had purchased 25 years ago when I moved to Mexico City. The need there was to stay dry during the inevitable showers of the rainy season. Amazingly, and despite the garment not being any reputable brand I could recall, this windbreaker worked fine for me in the modest rain of the other night.

Cotton sweat pants and two layers of technical shirts, a long sleeve over a short sleeve, kept me warm, especially the upper torso. However, the most important clothing I wore for that wet night run was a great pair of wicking socks. It's funny, I just read from an amazing ultra-runner's blog a comment about his brother, who had come to run some miles with him. He remarked on the cotton t-shirt his brother ran in, along with his cotton socks, describing this as vintage '80s running attire. Yes, I remember, and thank goodness I now know better. Some of this knowledge I picked up during my pre-runner days. Hiking and backpacking gear has also migrated towards engineered synthetics and wicking blends. These things really do work and I encourage anyone who is serious about running to outfit themselves in good gear. I currently have three favorite pairs of running socks, and I think they are all made for the "Sock Guy", a company which specializes in high quality socks for runners and other athletes. I came away from my recent rainy night run with my sweat pants soaked from the knees down (a city bus had driven by and splashed me) and with water logged shoes. But my feet were relatively dry and comfortable. The wicking works.

Two of my three favorite pairs of socks came from the Texas Independence Relay. They have also rewarded the runners of their events with very nice wicking t-shirts. This is a model which more race organizers need to follow. How often have we come away from events with cotton t-shirts, sometimes not even very well made? Kudos to Carroll Voss, who has always made a point of giving good quality shirts to his race participants. This was not always the case with the pre-Rock'n'Roll San Antonio Marathon. On the other hand, the Rock'n'Roll finisher shirts are first class (3M Half Marathon, pay attention!). In a moment I will climb down from my soap box, but not before noting that race directors could do wonders in educating runners by spending just a little more on the shirts. Please, please, no more cotton race rewards. Not all fibres are equal, nor are all socks equal. Do yourself a favor and buy a few pairs of socks from the Sock Guy. You won't regret it.

Day 9: Milestone Celebrations!

Day 9: Milestone Celebrations!

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Fair Weather Runners Anon

Hi. My name is James and I'm a fair weather runner.

How many of us are there? We claim to be runners, even addicted to running, yet when the weather turns into serious heat, or numbing cold, or the wind blows strong, we take the day off. A day then becomes two days, or even a week if in the middle of a Texas July heat wave. We lose our gumption and find ourselves drifting out of running shape, often at times critical to training for the next race. I'm guilty, and that's why I've joined Fair Weather Runners (FWR) Anon.

Summertime in Texas can ruin one's best intentions. Those who are not afflicted with FWR syndrome can get themselves up at 5:30 AM to go run while the temp has dropped to 82. I don't run early in the morning. Instead, I look at the 99s or 100s on the thermometers and say no, maybe tonight at midnight. In truth, that's when I do a lot of my hot weather running. If ever I cross paths with the "real" 5:30 AM runners, it's because I'm just finishing a long 15 or 18 miler and they are just starting.

As hard as it is to run in high heat, it's even tougher for me when the air begins to chill. I'm more likely to run with the mercury at 100 than at 40, especially if that's 40 with a wind blowing. I just don't seem to have it in my constitution to run in such brutal conditions (lots of snickers from the Yankee runners). Give me a nice Fall or Spring day, 50 degrees, and I'm in Heaven. Too bad, but Heaven only lasts a few weeks where I run. Here in South Texas we endure Summers which are 5 or 6 months long, then we get the bookend seasons of Spring and Autumn, maybe 2 months total. And finally the north winds begin to howl and its Winter for a couple of months. But wait, let me do the calculation: 6+2+2=10. Hmm...where did those other two months go? It's math like this that keeps me running at a 10:30 pace rather than 9:30. It's a disease, yes the dreaded FWR affliction.

That's why I finally joined FWR Anon the other day, and it's why I ventured out this afternoon while the temperature hovered between 32 and 34 (that's Fahrenheit, thank you). You know, it wasn't too bad. Of course, the wind had stopped blowing and the sun was trying to melt the overhead clouds. Seven miles I logged. Here's how. Layers. I don't own cold weather running gear, so I improvised. My ensemble started with cotton long johns under cotton sweat pants. This worked today because the humidity was very low. Up top I wore an underlayment of my favorite new garment, a snug fitting Under Armour short sleeve shirt engineered for warm weather. Over that I wore a medium weight long sleeved shirt made of a cotton/polyester blend manufactured into a "Dri-Balance" fiber. Finally, a third layer of a wool vest which I've owned since I used to live in Mexico. The proverbial cherry on top was a wool/acrylic blend stocking cap. As we hear about everything else, the Devil is in the details. I wore thin, tight-fitting gloves which were passed out at some cold weather race within the past year or two. I don't know what they are made of, but without them I don't think I would have managed the 7 miles.

I swear by so-called technical apparel. Years ago I would run in cotton, mistakenly believing a natural fiber was better than polyesters or acrylics. I no longer make that mistake and I would recommend to anyone serious about running, biking, swimming, whatever your sport, that you spend the extra money on a good "wicking" fabric. It's one of the best things you can do for yourself. So why am I running today in cotton long johns and cotton sweat pants? Because I've never invested in cold weather running gear and, of course, the fact I've just admitted: I'm a Fair Weather Runner. I'm out of the closet!

Will today's run at 34 degrees turn things for me? I want to say yes, but I know like any other "addiction" there will be relapses. I may fall off the wagon tomorrow. On the other hand, with the 3M Half Marathon two weeks away, I can't really afford to go missing on my favorite running routes. And now that I've got at least one layered ensemble that works I'm more likely to press on through the cold week ahead.

It's times like this that I recall talking to a Minnesota runner one January as we ran side-by-side at the Black Gap 50 in Big Bend. "What's it like to train in Texas in the Summer?" he asked. "Tough," I replied. "I never go out if it's hotter than 98." (Almost true. Last Summer I did one afternoon run when it was 102.) The Minnesotan responded: "My running buddies and I have a deal that minus 18 is our point of no-go." I was too stunned to even ask why it was -18 and not -20 or -15. Even today, as I go boldly into the less than fair weather of 32 degrees, I know that confronted with 20 or 25, or a North wind of 25 mph, I'll tumble quickly and without ceremony from the wagon of Fair Weather Runners Anon.

3M Half Marathon

It's countdown time towards everyone's favorite half marathon - the 3M Half Marathon in Austin. For good reason this race holds a special place in my heart. It was the first long race I ran and the experience buoyed me for running my first full marathon 10 months later. Any time the 3M comes up on conversation with other runners, the reaction is almost always - yep, one of my favorite races. Why? Besides their deserved reputation as having one of the best "goody bags" of any race, anywhere, the 3M is in Austin, where the running culture is high. The course is overall downhill, making it a good race for setting a personal record (PR). In fact, my PR for a half marathon was set in 2008. Don't laugh, it's 2:16:22. I will ever be the first to admit that I am not an especially competitive runner. However, that doesn't keep me from plotting a new PR in 2010, maybe a 10 minute per mile pace which will put me across the finish line at 2:11:05.

Last year I ran the 3M as a relay with Zenna James and we turned in a respectable 2:02:58. The order in which we ran our legs is misreported in the "official" results from 2009. Zenna ran the first leg at a 9:48 pace and then I brought it home as the anchor, turning in a 9:00 pace. At some point Zenna asked her mother if she thought I was competitive.

"Don't know," she replied, "Why do you ask?"

"Because he ran his leg faster than I ran mine."

Apparently Zenna also thought I seemed a bit competitive when we would train together. I only remember once when we sprinted the final 60 yards or so at the end of a 4 mile run. Of course, she beat me, as you might expect. She was 21 at the time; I was 60. I bring this up for only a couple of reasons. One, as I mentioned, the 3M is regarded as an opportunity to run fast, or at least faster. What Zenna never knew is that with the exception of a hill or two the second leg is probably the faster part of the course. I simply took advantage of it. Second, we all have our reasons for running. I've been at it for a while and I think I can credit the sport with helping me over several hurdles mostly related to aging. I feel great when I run. My doctor tells me it's the best thing I can do for myself in combating the health issues which begin to come into focus when you round the 60 year mark.

In the case of Zenna and other young runners, life is more complicated and I imagine the time investment in running or whatever fitness regimen is preferred is easily deferred. "We'll get caught up later," is what I fear the younger people are saying. That's what I said when I was their age. Today, my doctor tells me that most of the health issues he is concerned about when he looks at recent blood work I had done reflect damage done many, many years ago, when I didn't exercise or watch my nutrition. The bottom line here is that if there is anything competitive about me, besides the fact that I love to challenge my own PRs, it is my desire to set some sort of example for any who might be watching me. If I can slog out 20-25 miles per week, you can too. This is SO important to anyone, at any age, but if you are one of those younger runners still wondering if it's something you really have time to do, consider this an investment in good health now and a lot fewer health issues as you grow older.

See you on the street, jogging, or at the next race. For the record, there is a 5500 runner cap for this year's 3M. As of today, January 7th, they are at 4,126. Don't miss the boat.