It is OVER!!! Thank God it’s over. I did it!!! It was hard but I completed it only stopping once to use the restroom. I'll do my best to describe the race. I spent the evening before loading up on carbs, my buddy and I went to an Italian restaurant and we had lots of pasta and bread to get ready for the run ahead. The race started at exactly 8am. It was a beautiful day. The temperature was about 69, the sun was out and it was not windy, an Ideal day to run. There was so much excitement in the air, thousands of people getting ready to run. I had an energy bar and a pop tart, some coffee and a lot of water. I felt good at the start of the race but unfortunately I started to tire at about mile 2 because I was not used to the hills. There were so many rolling hills through out the entire race. Fortunately at about mile 3 my body adjusted to the hills and I changed my strategy. Prior to adjusting to the hills I was working extremely hard to get up the hills and also exerting a lot of energy going down the hill because I was sprinting down the hills. I quickly stopped doing that as soon as I noticed that I was tiring, I started holding a consistent pace up and down the hills and that word out great for me. Through the whole race I stopped only once due to the effects of all the water I drank before the race. I wont lie I felt like stopping a few times during the race but I just kept telling myself that my training will be all a waste if I do, So I kept pushing and even had enough left in the tank to sprint for the finish as soon as it came into view; the crowd waiting at the finish line loved it, they went crazy as soon as they saw me sprinting at the end. I completed the race in 2hrs31mins ranking 922/1159. Not too proud of my ranking. ;-)

It was a great experience, during the race I was thinking I might never do it again, but now that it’s over I want to do it again and hopefully I'll repeat it next year. With better results. For all those who are interested let me know, we can train together.

Thanks to all who followed my blog to the end. Thanks for all the encouragement and support. To all who think it’s impossible, YOU CAN DO IT TOO!!!

Its 4 days till race day and I am just about ready for the race. Training has going well so far. I had a good training program last week, except that I was unable to do my long run until yesterday. Yesterday I ran 12 miles; it was great all the way till I got to 11 miles. It all hit me as I reached 11; I had to will myself to the finish. I was wondering what they said about if you can do 10 you'll be able to do the half marathon with no problem. I hit a wall once I got to 11. That last mile felt like it would never end. I hope that race will be better; at least I know I can push myself beyond my breaking point. Now I just have to get plenty of rest for my body to recuperate for the race. I am a little nervous about the race because the other day I looked at the elevation profile for the course and there are two 120ft hills, unfortunately my training has been on relatively smooth grounds. Wish me your best; I'll be sure give a final report of my race day experience and my final thoughts. Thanks for keeping track of my progress.

Last week was a good week of training. I exceeded my goals during the week; but unfortunately due to the activities of the long weekend, I did not do my long run which was suppoesed to be another 10 mile run. In order to make up for missing my long run, I ran 8.5 miles yesterday instead of my required 4 miles. I hope it does not come back to hunt me. I plan on resting today and contune training as usual on Thursday. I'm scheduled to run 11miles this weekend for my long run. I am hoping to run it on Friday since I'll be going out of town on Saturday. Looks like I have a busy 3 days of training ahead of me. ;-) I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

We are officially in September folks, amazing how time flies. Last week was a weird week. I anticipated not doing too much running last week due to my schedule. I was right, unfortunately during the week I only got to train once, a four mile run on Wednesday. Nonetheless, I decided to do my long run on Friday, and I successfully achieved another milestone in my training process. I ran 10 miles straight. It felt good. I am beginning to feel great about the run, according to some training programs; they say if you can run 10 miles, you’ll be able to run the whole 13.1 miles. This week looks promising, I already did a 4.5 mile run yesterday and I hope to have a good week of training. I’ll be sure to keep you informed.

Thank God last week was a whole lot better than two weeks ago. Just like I planned, I had a great week of training and on Saturday, despite going paint balling I decided to do my long run because the weather was perfect; it was nice and cool. I ran 8 miles straight and felt like I could run even more, it was great. Thanks to all of you who sent e-mails of encouragement. I really appreciate all the support.

Unfortunately this week is shaping up to be a horrible week of training, yesterday I did not train because I had fellowship and I got home late. Tonight is my cousin's birthday, so after work I am going for her birthday dinner so most likely I might not get to train. This weekend I'll be in New York. Let's hope that this bad week won't set me back to much. Race day is exactly a month from tomorrow.

Last week was very interesting, I had an awesome week of training, I pretty much followed the schedule to a T. But unfortunately on Saturday I was unable to do my long run because I went to Six Flags with the family and Sunday was my sister's birthday so I did not get to run. Anyway, I woke up early yesterday to do my Long run. My goal was to run 8 miles in keeping with my training schedule. Unfortunately I have bad news to report; for once I was unsuccessful at reaching my goal, I made a few critical mistakes during my run. First I did not eat anything before my run, secondly, I did not drink enough water, I waited too long before my first water break, and those of you who live in Boston know the kind of weather we've been experiencing the past few days. It’s been really hot and humid. I felt like I was about to pass out so I had to stop at about 6 miles. I ended up walking about 2.5 miles bringing my training to about 8.5 miles but not the way I intended to do it; I felt like I regressed in my training. My plans are to train hard this week and see if I can do better on my next long run. I'll let you know how it goes; hopefully I'll have good news to report.

Though it’s been a few days since my last days, I am happy to report that my training has been going very well lately. My next training after my last post was Friday. My Friday's training involved a 4 mile run and a 1 mile walk, totaling 5 miles. Then on Saturday I went to the Boston Running Company to purchase a custom sneaker for my running, also I purchased some bands to protect my knee while I run. So now as far as equipment goes, I am ready to go. ;-)

After purchasing my new gear, I was ready for my long training. That day I ran 8 miles straight none stop, putting me a mile ahead of my training schedule; by the way the following is my training schedule. I use the basic half marathon schedule:

http://www.hamptonsmarathon.com/Training.cfm

This was the first time I've ever run 8 miles straight. During my race I had to deal with the elements and there was a concert at the beach so there were a lot of people at some spots. Also during the run, my biceps started cramping up, especially when I was running into the wind. I am not sure what that means, does it mean that my biceps need to be stronger or does it mean that I have to reduce my bicep training? I wonder; or maybe I just needed to drink more water, feel free to weigh in. Needless to say after the run I was exhausted, thanks to Gillian when I got home there was great food waiting. I took Sunday off and ran 4miles yesterday. So far so good guys, I gaining more and more confidence each run.

Following the kind of week I had last week, I'll say this week is going great; as far as my training is concerned. I ended up taking Sunday off to help Gillian paint her bathroom. It was a work out, to say the least, you should have seen us. We did a good job though. On Monday I decided to make up for last week so I ran about 6 miles then walked 2 miles, totaling 8 miles of training. It was tough but I was glad I pulled it off. On the onset I did not think I'll pull it off, since I did not really train hard the week before, but I did it, thanks to good music and a cool breeze by the beach. Yesterday I decided to play tennis since I had a long run the day before. Today is date night, so I am off as usual, but I'll be back training again on Thursday. I hope to do 4 miles. Will keep you posted.

It’s been a few days since my last posting. Part of the reason is that I've had a rough training week. After Monday's run I was going to run on Tuesday, but when I got to the gym I could not resist my friends’ offer to play tennis. The same thing happened on Thursday, and I ended up playing tennis for about 3 hours. I felt so guilty that I was missing my training, so I ran a mile after a few long games. Finally, I woke up today looking forward to my long run, but something came up again. I played paintball with a few friends, and it was so much fun, thanks to my friend Oye. Unfortunately, on my way home from playing paintball, I looked down at my knee and it was almost double its size. Needless to say, I ended up missing my training today. Let’s hope that next week will be a lot better than this one.

It’s funny how each time you run you learn something new about your body and how it reacts to the training. My goal starting this week is to increase my weekly training to 4 miles each time I train. Yesterday I got on the treadmill for my training, and it turned out that getting to the 4 mile goal was harder than I expected. I assumed that since I ran 5.5miles straight on Saturday, it would easy. Unfortunately it took a lot of will power. I am learning that each day is a different day; sometimes you can’t assume because you were successful yesterday you will be able to complete your goal with ease today. Well thankfully I was able to will myself to 4 miles despite the difficulty. One down and two more training days to go before my long run on Saturday. ;-)

Yesterday was a busy day, I started out with work in the morning and then golf lessons in the afternoon. Golf lesson was so much fun, but it took a lot more out of me than I thought. Myself and Gillian, my girl friend, finished from golf lessons at about 4pm. Trust me all I wanted to do after that was take a long nap, then I received a call from Nate, my training partner. He called to tell me it was time to go running, all I wanted to do was tell him I was tired, but fortunately I didn't. We made plans to be at Castle Island, our training site, at 5pm.

Our run was amazing; I took my training to a new level. I ran about 5.5 miles straight before walking another 1.5 miles; altogether 7 miles. My longest distance so far. It puts me just a little over the half way point of the half marathon. This progress bolsters my resolve and belief that I can and will accomplish my goal of completing the race in September. In only a week I went from not being able to run 3 miles straight, without stopping, to running 5.5 miles, amazing how quickly your body adjusts to training.

By the way, the new gear I got to prevent the sweating helped out a lot. The under armor heat gear was very beneficial, it did the job it was advertised to do, it kept me cool during my run, also the head band kept sweat away from my face. Thanks to the representative at Olympia Sport. My next step it to get myself a new sneaker, I’m told that should help my knees, back and joints.

Today was a good day of working out. I took yesterday off, so I was determined to do a little more during my training. I ran about 4.3 miles and I walked .7 totaling 5 miles. The start of the run was a little rough; the first mile was extremely difficult. Fortunately I had you guys as motivation. I kind of felt like you all were watching me so I pushed through, when I eventually got my second wind, I worked my way all the way to 4.3. I am beginning to realize that this run is going to take a lot more mental fortitude and strength than I thought. At first I thought it'll be 50% mental and 50% physical, I am beginning to think that it might need more mental strength than physical. Those of you who have done this before, please feel free to weigh in on this, I would love to know what you think the ratio is.  

By the way, I need some advice here guys; while running I sweat so much its almost ridiculous. I don't mean to be gross, but my whole shirt gets so soaked that there is no dry space left on it; also my towel gets so wet I can't use it after a while. Can any runner relate to this? I don't sweat that much regularly. I was so disturbed by it that I went to the sports store today to get a sweat band and following the rep's. advice I purchased an under armor shirt that supposedly cools you down and repels UV rays.

I am a little apprehensive about tomorrow, I'll be running on castle Island with my friend who is the marathon runner, So I know I'll be running faster and a lot farther; I can't wait to tell you guys how that goes. ;-) 

My First Half Marathon

For those who don’t know me, my name is Osayi. I decided to create this blog to journal my experience of training and running my very first half marathon. The half marathon to most people is not that long, but to me, 13.1 miles will be the longest race I have ever run. It shatters my longest run by 8 miles. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate running, but I just can’t see myself running that far and that long. I am currently 224lbs, not what you would call a typical runners weight, so needless to say my joints don’t enjoy it too much.

Before I start journaling my experiences, here’s how my desire to run this race all began. A month and a half ago, my girl friend told me her and her friends were thinking about running the East Hampton half marathon and she thought it would be a good way for me to bond with her friends, in my mind a game of scrabble would certainly suffice as a good bonding method. But since I love a good challenge and hate backing down from anything, I decided that I would do it. After I determined that it was something I would do, I consulted with my friend who ran the Boston marathon earlier this year. He was more excited than I was, he told me he would help me train and as a matter of fact he would run the race with me, making it even harder for me to back down.

I made my decision official by registering for the race on Thursday last week. On Saturday my training began, that’s when reality set in. I was unable to run 5 miles straight without stopping to catch my breath several times, granted it was a hot day but I was really disappointed and to be honest increased my doubts of actually running the whole 13.1 miles. Well irrespective of my mishap on my first day of training on Saturday, I ran 3.25 miles on Tuesday and 3 miles yesterday after playing some tennis. I would post my proposed schedule on my next blog. Please feel free to drop some advice for me; I need all the help I can get. Also a little cheering on wont hurt. Thanks for following in this journey with me.