Florida Aids Walk...

What an incredible day it has been. Went to the Florida Aids walk in Ft Lauderdale. It was a 10K route going from downtown, east on broward to 14th Avenue , to Las Olas, east to the beach and back ending up on the river walk. It was a beautiful course going through the quaint neighborhoods and Las Olas. Seeing the boats, and the beach and then heading back. There were several thousands people. A cross section of Americana. Gays, straights and in between.

The exciting part of the day was that it was the inaugural walk for a bunch of people from our church, St Gregory's. My friend, Barbara, organized a bunch of us to walk together. We had t-shirts and she had a medal for each of us at the finish line. Everyone had a great time and I think we set some on fire to want to continue to train and do future races. There were 14 of us that came together and walked for a great cause. Overcoming our prejudices and uniting for a cause that affects all, even the ones that aren't infected. At the end of the race a photographer from Sun-Sentinel took our picture and its posted here. Hopefully next year we will have a bigger group. We are already planning our next race and get together.

It has been a great week.....

What a great week it has been. The weather has been great and life is good. Training has been going well this week.I did 18.87 miles in 4:67 hours. I was out 5 days, but one day as I started and was only about half mile out, it started to rain. So I turned back. I don't like rain, don't like the feeling of getting wet. Well during my training last year, I got wet several times. I even did 18 miles of training in the rain. I should be used to it by now, but I figured so early in my training, it was just not worth it. I hate the feeling of being wet, getting blisters and having to dry my shoes afterwards.

On saturday had a great training session unofficially with my FIT group. There were about 15 of us, including Shari, our coach. It was great being all together, old friends and new friends. I look forward to the official training starting on May 10th. We did six miles, walked from the park past the Yankee Clipper and back. What a great feeling to get it done and it was below the 15 mile pace we will have to keep for the Minnie marathon next week. More about that in the coming week. So we keep at it. Slowly but surely getting stronger and fastr as the weeks go on. Concerning the weight loss, I have lost 12 pounds, so I am on a good start there too.
Continue to enjoy life my friends....

Quiet week means a good week...

Good day, all. Its a little late , but better late then never. This past week was a great week in my training. I was able to get out there 5 days, and walked a total of 20.24 miles in 5:10 hours. The saturday walk was for 8 miles, we traveled from the park to Las Olas, crossed the bridge, went into Idlewild community back to A1A to the light past the Yankee Clipper and back. We avearged a pace of less then 15 minutes per mile. It was a good training experience because there were no challenging moments throughout the period.

There was not much to report this week. Things went well at work. Life was quiet, life is good. Until next time.....PEACE.

Anyone can be as complex as me.....

It has been a great week, this week. Things have been a little crazy at work, but I have been able to train and get out there several times during the week. This morning I got out at 5:00 am and went on a 10 mile training walk along the beach. So the totals for this week are 19.34 miles and it took me around 5:16 hours. Great start and I am excited about the progress.

Today it was an incredible walk. Nancy, Marilyn , Rita and I walked in a group. We did the usual FIT 10 mile route. We started at the park went to A1A, walked south to Las Olas then we crossed Las Olas bridge heading west to the end of the first canal, we headed backwards and came back to A1A and continued south. went through the like community of Harbor something or other and went over the 17Th Street causeway bridge to Eisenhower and back through the Yankee Clipper back to the park. It was an interesting walk, the girls talked and I listened. I learned a couple of things this morning. If you are walking on the beach early some mornings you might notice it a few degrees warmer then normal. I learned that it is because of Nancy's hot mule(well think of another word used for mule). Her water bottle gets really warm because it keeps rubbing up against it. I also learned that Rita loves Cuban food and Marilyn likes to keep quiet.

As we headed back, we came across this incredible sunrise. Of course I started to snap away capturing the image. My group kept on walking and then it was when a true revelation hit me. Here I was training my physical side, but I being a complex being also have a spiritual side. Today I trained my spiritual side also. I felt that God was telling me that in creating this beautiful sunrise for me I was really ignoring by taking a snapshot and racing on. So I sat there on the beach wall and contemplated the sunrise for awhile. If this would be the last sunrise I would see, how could I describe it? I finally got up and continued my walk but at a slower pace. I had to enjoy the morning that had been created for me. As I reached the park, my friends were alarmed because they thought something had happened to me. But I was fine, and felt better in my training because I felt I had exercised my whole being. So don't forget get out there and be active but also go inward and look and exercise your spiritual side too this week.

I took a break, but now I am back...

Good day, my friends. I took a small break with Easter and my niece's birthday happening during that time, but now I am back in full force. During this time I walked but not as much , so my body took a break too.During the two week period I walked 17.14 miles in a total of over 4 hours. I did the Celebrity 5K race, a beautiful race from Watson Island to the end of South Beach. I did better this year then last reducing my time by almost 2 minutes.

An exciting part of this 2 week period was the announcement by FIT (Friends in Training), the group that I train with, that the season would be starting on May 10. Also the marathon that we will training for is the Rock and Roll Marathon in San Antonio. This is an inaugural race, and one that I had signed up to do already with my friends, Barbara and Dennis. So now I get to go with a bunch of my friends from FIT too.

Yesterday I went on a 8 mile training walk with Nancy and Marilyn. We had plenty of water,and it was breezy on the beach. We kept a good pace of little over 15 minutes per mile. When we were getting almost to the end I get dry heaves, well it not only scared Nancy , but it was uncomfortable for me. What happened? I had plenty of water, but I did not drink it. Just a reminder that although the breeze did not let me feel the heat and humidity. I need to hydrate. At least it was early in the training for me to learn my lesson again. And there were not too many around to embarrass me too much.

I start this week with the resolve to train more. I miss going out, but my body is stronger because I allowed it to rest during this time. So I say to all of you. WALK ON.

Hey,it's the end of week 2, and I feel good...

Good day all. I am writing early this week because tomorrow is Easter Sunday and I might be traveling to my brother's. It was a busy week but I still was able to go out 4 days this week for my training. I did 13.59 miles in 3:58 hours of training. I always averaged well below 16 minutes per mile so I figured I am at a good pace for my overall training since I have not officially started yet and this is not really pushing myself at all.

I got the FIT newsletter this week. I am anxious to get started with them again. I miss the structure that it gives my life. Today I went on a 6 mile walk with Nancy and Barbara. It is such a treat to walk on the beach and see the dawn approach, as well as the comradaree of walking with them both. We saw some of the people we know on the journey. It is funny might not know their names, but we have speedo guy that is always at the Clipper parking lot, or the fireman going at race pace that we bump into as we leave Sunrise, and then the couple of drunks staggering from the beach. as time goes by and our miles increase I hope to have more stories of the people we meet on this journey.

As I told Nancy today, this is my blog;so I can make her as nice or as mean as I want to. Just kidding, I hope to be mostly truthful in the information I dissiminate on here. One thing that I neglected to mention before is that one of my goals is to drop some substantial weight during this year. So Barbara, no more Easter candy. I hope that you all will support on thsi, and help me along when you see me eating the wrong things.

I guess I have rambled on. Sorry, I sometimes do that sort of thing. Have a great week and for those of you celebrating....HAPPY EASTER.

First week down, 39 to go....

Well I made it through the first week. Although it was a tough week at work, my training went remarkably well. Out of the week I was out there 5 days, and I totaled 18.93 miles. I went out by myself 4 days, and on Saturday met with a bunch of my friends from FIT to do almost 9 miles on the beach. We were to start at 5:45am and as I got up and headed out the door at around 5:00 am , I kept questioning my sanity. We had about 8 walkers and Nancy our unofficial coach, suggested we go do the 17Th street causeway bridge, so we agreed and headed that way. Let me tell you, I hate that bridge , but I did it anyways. As we headed back , we saw the sunrise. At that moment I felt I was being given a gift from God , not only had I trained but here was this most spectacular sunrise. We came back to the park and back to reality, I had to head off to work.

Like I said, I made it through the first week. I signed up in the middle of the week for the New York Marathon lottery. If it is God's will I will be walking through the boroughs of New York come this November, let me tell you I knew of this marathon even when I thought it would be impossible for me to ever accomplish this feat. So I know that the day that I will complete it will be one of those memorable days in my life.

So I am about to start week 2. I am about to get my shorts , shirt and new balances on and trek out my door. Have a great week.