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Odds and Ends #1

Just want to post a few things that I listens to and read on a daily basis. These can be anything from tunes, podcasts, to blogs, books and websites. From time to time I like to change things up so this is Odds & Ends #1.

Current Playlist:
1979 – Smashing Pumpkins
Between You and Me – dc Talk
Bleed it out – Linkin Park
Breakout – Foo Fighters
Breathe – Angels & Airwaves
Can’t Stop – Red Hot Chili Peppers
Child – Tait
Day by Day – dc Talk
Don’t Stop – Foster the People
Everything’s Magic – Angels & Airwaves
Fireflies – Cobus – Owl City
Fix You – Coldplay
Forever Young – Dune & London Session Orchestra
Good Feeling – Flo Rida
Heaven – Angels & Airwaves
Heaven – Cobus – Angels & Airwaves
Hello Hurricane – Switchfoot
How You Like Me Now – The Heavy
I’m trying to make you sing the glory of it all – David Crowder
In Your Eyes – Jeffrey Gaines
Jesus freak – dc Talk
King of the Mountain – Midnight Oil
Lifeline – Angels & Airwaves
Lose This Life – Tait
Misery – Maroon 5
Moves like Jagger – Maroon 5 ft. Christina Aguilera
Needle and Haystack Life – Switchfoot
Never Gonna Stop-Rob Zombie
Overkil – Colin Hay (Full, acoustic version)
Perfect – Smashing Pumpkins
Rawkfist – Thousand Foot Krutch
Restless – Switchfoot
Second Chance – Shinedown
She Will Be Loved – Maroon 5
Sick Son of a Grizzly Bear – Mother Hips
These Silent Hearts – Armin van Buuren
Tonight, Tonight – Smashing Pumpkins
Umbrella Beach – Owl City
Up All Night – Cobus – Blink 182
Viva la Vida – Coldplay
Wake Up – The Arcade Fire
Walk – Foo Fighters
When We Were Angels – Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg
Without You – David Guetta ft. Usher
Youtopia – Armin Van Buuren

Books:
Born to Run -Christopher McDougall
Running with Joy – Ryan Hall

Podcasts on my iPhone:
http://ultrarunnerpodcast.com/
http://trailrunnernation.com/

Day 66 of 365 – Project365 read through the New Testament
http://www.youversion.com/reading-plans/11-project-345

Posted by  |  April 4, 2012 | Categories: The Unlikely Runner | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Geez this is Tough!!!

I knew that when I committed myself to totally transform myself, once and for all, into a runner/ultra runner, did I say on April 4th I’d question my intentions, diet, desire, will power, and all around attitude.  Right now, I’m just glad to get out the door at 5am to walk around the block!

OK! OK! Before this 40 year old lays down on the floor and has an all-out temper tantrum, lets step back and reassess the reason why we put ourselves through the things we do.  All right, I’m talking to everyone out there since you could fill in your own list, this on just happens to be mine.

1. God has given me the ability to use my two legs and move down the trail.  –Thank Terry for keeping my perspective true.

2. Even through my wife and kids think I’m the most quirky and weird man on the planet, I can still inspire them to do great things and never give up when things get hard and you get beat down.

3. I have hero’s in my life that I look up to and want to imitate.  These men of God have set an example of integrity that I must uphold and pass on.

4. I’m not a quitter and this is another peak to overcome.  There will be many more of these and I will attack each one with fierce tenacity!

I have got to stop thinking that this is next year and I am on my marathon quest.  I have to live in the moment, enjoy each day, and enjoy each run/walk/crawl.

My motto to live by for this phase of my life:
Honesty, Integrity and perseverance in you will inspire others to greatness!  – Greg “The Unlikely Runner” Martin

Posted by  |  April 4, 2012 | Categories: The Unlikely Runner | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Learn To Laugh At Yourself

 Failure is unimportant.  It takes courage to make a fool of yourself – Charlie Chaplin

Throughout my, all be it, short running life I have learned to make fun of myself.  This news isn’t new in the rest of my life either, but in respect to running I have had to learn this trait.  As with any new hobby most men go out and feel like they have to buy every single piece of equipment, clothing, gear, hat, accessory, magazine, flavor, you name it!  We have to have it all!  We can’t succeed if we don’t have it. 

With that thought in your mind, I learned a valuable life lesson one day during lunch that made me step back and take a long look at myself and just laugh.  Training for my first marathon I was all about the gear.  If it was in the front, middle, or back of Runners World magazine I had to have it.  Needless to say, I bought most of it.  One morning I went out on my normal 5 mile training run, with more gear than Batman.  Running down the road with all this gear must have look pretty funny, but that’s not where the lesson was learned.  As I came home I immediately had to tell the family how the run went and explain how sweaty I was.  I then took the next five minutes to take all the gear off and begin the normal morning prep for work routine.

During these training days I would many times head to the local YMCA for a lunch time swim or run on the treadmill if it was raining outside that morning.  That particular day was a swim.  I could put in 1000 yards in 20 minutes and be back to the office within the hour, shower and all.  For some reason this day I was feeling exceptionally great, that is until I jumped into the shower after my swim.  Now, during this swim there was a group of moms and kids swimming in the side pool, along all the lap lanes filled with swimmers.  But back to my shower, as I began to cool down from the swim and do a quick wash over I looked down and noticed two little white dots over my nipples!   I FORGOT TO REMOVE THE TAPE FROM MY MORNING RUN!

Now for those who aren’t runners, many times you will get nipple chaffing which is very painful, my protection of choice is white medical tape.  As I stood there in the shower, all the sudden every single face in that pool flashed before me and all I could do was laugh.  I dried off, removed the tape, and walked out with my head held high.

The lesson I learned was that all that gear I was wearing didn’t make me run faster, but sure did keep my mind off removing my nipple tape and making a complete fool of myself!

Posted by  |  March 15, 2012 | Categories: The Unlikely Runner | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment »

Running Prayer

This is my running prayer, Lord.
 I run in praise of you.
 I praise you with my motion.
 You sustain my breath.
 That I may sustain your praise.
 All creation joining in
 Nothing in creation is still.
 My world revolves as I run across it.
 The heavens move as I run below them.
 Everything moves in praise.
 I move as I run.
 I run a trail of blessings,
 Giving and receiving both.
 As I run I am blessed,
 With moisture in the air
 To cool my straining body,
 Plants and trees nourish my breath,
 That I may run further.
 With birdsong to cheer me on.
 Joining in unending praise
 With the supportive murmur,
 Of the flowing creek.
 With passion in my arms and legs,
 With burning in my chest,

 That I may know that I am alive,
 To have more to praise you for.
 I leave blessings in my turn.
 Water for plants,
 Breath for the trees.
 This run may end.
 The prayer will not.
 I may slow.
 I shall praise you still.
 Your praise carries me.
 To the limits of my body and beyond.
 Hands outstretched in praise,
 I run and collect bounteous blessings.
 The rhythm of the pavement sings
 A percussive song of power.
 Not of my might.
 Not of my strength.
 But of the persistence of your spirit.
 A regular rhythm of irregular melody
 Breath in windy counterpoint
 Still I run.
 Still I praise
 Ever the prayer runs on

-Louis b. Smith, Jr.

Posted by  |  March 14, 2012 | Categories: The Unlikely Runner | Tags: , , | Leave A Comment »

Going to the Extreme!!!

So many books have been written about going to the extreme and many people live their life for those precious moments experiencing something extreme. To be honest, I think a lot about doing things that most people would find CRAZY! I find myself wondering how would I feel, how would I cope, how would my body react to the stress, how would my mind deal with the pain, torture, solitude, would I find that place where my brain shuts down, would I find…silence. You see, my mind races, it thinks, it reacts, it is constantly thinking five, ten, twenty steps ahead. Don’t get me wrong, I can turn off my brain with the best of men and totally veg out, but lately it is becoming harder and harder to do. My mind is obsessed with the extreme.

So I’ve come up with an extreme challenge for myself to work for over the next two years. In 2013 I plan on running a marathon each month, preferably a sanctioned event, but if none are available then a 26.2 mile course around Owensboro, KY. This means that for the remainder of 2012 I have to continue to train, lose weight, gain endurance and become better in tune with the stresses that, have in the past, kept me from reaching my goals.

2012
May – Memorial Day ½ Marathon
Multiple 5k’s, 10k’s
September – Honest Abe Trail Run Marathon

2013
January – 26.2 Owensboro route – Road
February – 26.2 Owensboro route – Road
March – Land Between the Lakes Marathon – Trail
April – Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon – Road
May – Memorial Day (double) ½ Marathon – Road
June – 26.2 Owensboro route – Road
July – 26.2 Owensboro route – Road
August – Eagle Creek Trail Marathon – Trail
September – Honest Abe Trail Run Marathon – Trail
October – 26.2 Owensboro route – Road
November – The Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon – Road
December – Tecumseh Trail Marathon – Trail

2014
Ultra-Marathon of more than 35-50 miles

So let the training begin!

Posted by  |  March 12, 2012 | Categories: The Unlikely Runner | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment »

May I See A Menu Please?

One piece of advice I read was key to my week one success and that came in the form of making a menu for the upcoming week’s food.  So after a little digging around on the online Excel templates I found a simple weekly meal planner.  The only modifications I had to make were to add in the three snacks for the day. 

Ok, how in the world do I even begin to fill in this thing?  There are soooooo many empty spaces and I have no idea what to put in them.  Well, most of that statement is untrue, I already knew what snacks I liked and what ones would give me that full/satisfied feeling.  Breakfast just needed a few tweaks and I had read that a nice hot cup of tea with honey in the evening is a good way to curb a hunger pain.  So, I began to fill in the blanks and before I knew it most were filled in.  Now I turned my attention to the recipes I wanted to try for dinner which in turn became the next day’s lunch.  This was one aspect that really helped me maximize the time spent in the kitchen, which after the week was over was more that I had ever spent in one week.  Ok back to the menu, Crud! I’ve got too many ideas and now I’m out of room, but looking through the menu I see that I did a lot of duplication on lunches, breakfasts, etc., so I took a step back and thought through the day and the way the meals would play out, when I would fix them and prepare for the next day.  You see, there was a column at the end of the spreadsheet for a few days that was called “Prep” which was to tell me what I was supposed to do that night to prep for the next day’s food.  Yea, that didn’t last too long.  I nixed that idea pretty quick.

Menu # 1 was complete and I felt I could complete this menu.  If there is ANY question that you may NOT be able to complete the menu or a piece, you had better have a fall back plan!  PERIOD!!!  Don’t say I didn’t warn you.  My fall back plan was: frozen veggie burgers in the freezer, black bean/corn soft taco, jump in the car and hit Subway for a 12” veggie sub on whole wheat for $3.38.  That’s right!  Foot long veggie subs are cheaper that regular ones!  Cha-Ch’ing!

Sorry, back to the menu, so I know took the menu and recipes, made my grocery list and then marked off what my wife Elaine already had on her grocery list.  All that was left was to hit the store and prepare for the week ahead.

Week #1

Week #2

Posted by  |  February 19, 2012 | Categories: The Unlikely Runner | Tags: , , , | Leave A Comment »

What a WEEK!!!

On February 10th, 2012 I decided  to change to a totally plant based whole food diet for one week.  I knew this wouldn’t be an easy challenge so I took the advice of my wife and did some research online and then at the public library.  Sunday night would be meal #1.

Why?  So, I’m watching a documentary called, “Forks over Knives” which discusses the finding of two different physicians in the area of a plant based whole foods diet, one coming from the scientific aspect and the other clinical.  Each physician came to the same conclusion that a plant based whole foods diet is the healthiest option for a human being.  In many cases reversing plaque buildup in veins and arteries, lessening the possibility of developing cancer, and the list goes on.  The “Ah-Ha!” moment for me was the discussion about how the stomach reacts to food and how it tells the brain it’s full.  It discussed how the western diet of processed foods and fats have fooled the stomach into thinking it was not full, when in-fact it had taken in enough calories for that meal.  Therefore, encouraging the body to crave more and more food up to the point that overeating has become so common a person is unaware they are doing it!  They go on to discuss the positives of a plant based whole foods diet which would give the body the proper volume of food, nutrients and therefore allowing the stomach to send all the right signals to the brain that it was full. 

You see, for years I have had an addiction to food.  I don’t understand, nor can control my portion control.  It’s all about the way I feel, physically and emotionally, there’s no differentiation between the two.  There’s no difference between the ways I choose my portions vs. the special way a drug addict prefers to take in their crack.   Taking a healthy meal and making it unhealthy due to the sheer volume of food was my drug of choice.  That and the, once in a while, recreational (drug) bite of pizza, hamburger, chocolate, cookie, ice cream, etc.  You see!  There’s how my life mirrors a hard core drug addicts which puts on a nice persona, has a drug of choice and dabbles in other drugs once in a while.  We’re one in the same!  But NO MORE!!!

Fast forward to Saturday night February 18, 2012, as I sit here looking back on my first week of a plant based whole foods diet I can’t once think of a time I was absolutely starving, or unable to control my cravings.  “He who fails to plan, plans to fail.”   I stuck to my menu throughout the entire week, right down to each snack, spent hours in the kitchen cooking and preparing food, looked at each day and treated my food just like I would the style of jacket I would need to wear for the current day’s weather.  I will say that it was a lot of work, but the one feeling I’m claiming from the whole week is one of, “No Worry!!!”  This entire week I never worried about anything I was eating.  I never thought about the amount I was eating.  I listened to my body and when it was full, I stopped, even leaving food on my plate Thursday night! 

All in all, making this type of change take effort, it takes time, it takes dedication, and it takes resolve.  So as I move on to week two, I will sit down tomorrow with my menu, recipes books, Google and an apple.

Posted by  |  February 19, 2012 | Categories: The Unlikely Runner | Tags: , , | Leave A Comment »

What My Stomach Saw at Lunch Today

There are times in your life when your brain takes a break and lets your stomach control the eyes, nose and taste buds. Today at lunch was such a time and this is what my stomach told me I was witness to:

Today at lunch was a spread that would be worthy of a Food Network award for Best Super Bowl Variety of Food Contest. The office catered a Super Bowl party and holy cow did they kill a ton of pigs! The mound of cheese sticks was so tall that there were clouds near the top. There were more dipping options than brands of Cool-Aid.  The chicken industry dipped into the national reserve to supply the wings and due to the amount, a 55 gallon drum of wing sauce was brought in just to dump on top as a nice light glaze. Nathans Hot Dogs were in such abundance that you’d think the National Hot Dog Eating Contest was taking place.  Sweet Tea and Lemonade were on tap via IV’s, and just like a tennis ball hopper shots tennis balls out, so were the nut covered cheese balls! Meatballs were being offered to those lounging like grapes from the vine.  People were speaking about how this was like Heaven on Earth and without this food death was emanate.

Can you tell how much I wanted to pull out a gun and hold everyone at bay while I consumed the entire SPREAD!!! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR? Good Lord! I need a carrot!

Posted by  |  February 3, 2012 | Categories: The Unlikely Runner | Leave A Comment »

It’s time! But I Don’t Want TOO!!!

The time has come, and without further adieu, I give you the Long Run. From here on out, these long runs will define my training, endurance, mental capacity, and overall fitness level. They will bring with them mountaintop experiences, along with trips to the depths below. I will begin to look forward to them each and every day, why? Because they allow me time to spend in my own head, and to me, feel one with the Lord.

You may be asking why the latter part of the title is, “But I Don’t Want TOOOOO!!!” That’s because throughout life I have made excuses not to. It goes without saying that when I don’t make excuses and just do it, the experience is even that much greater. How can I explain that my excuses have built up a brick wall, which over time seem too high to climb, wide to go around, and heavy to push down.

The “But I Don’t Want TOO!!!” came to me earlier this week when I was scheduled for a 3 mile run. When it came down to it, I just did it! And know what? I felt amazing after making the choice to run. You could even say that I after the run I had a little swagger to my step, a little cocky attitude. Now, take that attitude and then immediately begin to think about the long run. Immediately you forget about even thinking, “But I Don’t Want TOOOOO!!!” You go right into that place in your brain where you just do it.

The long run for me has become the pinnacle of my training, the thing I look forward to most during the week. So tomorrows will be the first in this new journey, this journey to change my lifestyle and focus on the Lord. You see, I’m just a short 5’ 5” man who weighs 212, but refuses to give in anymore! The Lord has blessed me beyond my wildest imagination, and I am sick of crying out like a little 2 year old to Him, “But I Don’t Want TOOOOO!!!”

Posted by  |  January 27, 2012 | Categories: The Unlikely Runner | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Don’t Ever Quit!!!

I was looking back at my old blog, which is no longer published to the web, and one post grabbed me by the collar and slapped me up-side the head.  In the post I reflected on my, just completed, 15 mile long run; 2 hours42 minutes, 10:48/Mi, Avg HR: 157, Max HR 175.  In this post I spoke about the mountain top experience and how I felt the Lord’s presence.  Wow! How I never want to ever quit again! 

Many times we reach a mountain top and only pay attention to what we just accomplished, but it’s become evident that the most important part of reaching the mountain top isn’t looking down, but up at what lies ahead.

I long for those Saturday mornings that I can get out and run without effort.  In looking back, there were moments that will stay with me forever, moments that felt like I was running hand in hand with the Lord.  During those moments He was showing me His glory in the everything that was around me and in me.  I long for that relationship to flourish once again.  To enjoy the run, no labor, no pain, with Him, hand-in-hand, brining Joy to the Lord.

Reality is running right now is labor, pain and difficult.  This is all because I chose to look down and not up focusing my eyes on Him, brining glory to Him, and asking Him the question, “What’s next, here I am!”  I now run to glorify Him, and only Him.

Posted by  |  January 24, 2012 | Categories: The Unlikely Runner | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

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