How to Become a Running Beast...or Die Trying

It's very easy to become a running beast, all you have to do is find someone who is going to kick your ass during every workout.  Enter Polish Josh.  Polish Josh was sick of being the token funny bigger guy, so he decided to change his life. He has gone from 257 lbs to 197 lbs in 6ish months. He often works out twice a day and has completely changed his diet and lifestyle so that he can be a healthy, fit guy.  In summation, he is a beast. 
I have known Polish Josh for many, many years.  We worked together at Giant Eagle years ago and he has lived in a close by neighborhood most of his life. I hadn't talked to him in awhile, other than the occasional cheering on about races and weight loss via Facebook.  I had noticed that Polish Josh was posting all of these pictures and status updates about working out at Crossfit and getting in shape so I checked out his page and stumbled across his blog CLICK HERE. I became incredibly motivated by how much he had accomplished in such a short time.  I left PJ a message on his blog letting him know I'd read the whole thing and was inspired and that we should run together since we live so close.  We ended up texting for a bit after that and decided to start running together when possible during the week.  PJ is also training for the Pittsburgh Half and has a variety of goals he wants to reach in regards to fitness in 2012, the year of Polish Josh.
Monday was our first run.  I was only supposed to do 4.5, but we pushed it to 5.3. A variety of hills, a bit of flat, and a fast paced run for the last 300ish meters, and 53 minutes later, my ass was kicked.  It felt great. 
Tonight I adventure into the world of speed workouts.  I've never done one.  Polish Josh is going to kick my ass (I feel as though this statement is going to surface numerous times on future blogs).  I can already tell tonight is going to be a tough workout for me, I'm didn't get much sleep last night.  I think The Kooks show was worth it (they killed it!), but I am definitely getting older.  I can't stay up until 12:30 on a work night, when I'm getting up at 5:30 the next morning.  #I'mturningintoagrandmaat27


Wish me luck fronds and welcome Polish Josh :)

Motivation for the Week

Are you a wimp or are you strong?

 It takes discipline to be the best you can be

 Something I need to learn and practice daily

The Exciting Part of Training for My First 1/2

Other than the fact that training for the 1/2 marathon allows me to be a little more flexible with my food consumption (AKA I can enjoy that piece of pizza and not feel AS guilty), one of the most exciting parts of training for my very first half marathon is the mileage increase.
Each weekend "long run" increase brings a new mileage that I've never run before.  Each "long run":

• is a new challenge
• is a new distance to defeat
• is a new accomplishment to add to the books
• Helps to build more confidence in myself and my abilities as a runner
• Helps me realize my strengths and weaknesses and what I need to work on during my weekday workouts (it's hills, it's always, always hills)
• and most importantly...

MAKES ME EVEN MORE EXCITED FOR THE HALF MARATHON TO GET HERE SO THAT I CAN CRUSH IT!  

8 miles with the fronds and boyfrond this Saturday... bring it!