Getting my Carb Fix!

This week provided me with my "final" work days of the year.  I managed to scan 11,000 books (with a little help from Mrs. Re-Dan-imation) and get all of my end of year items finished up.  Then the fun began.  Here's how it went down.

Thursday, although it was the first day out of school, I got to play a round of golf with the guys from the school building.  One of them had either never played before, or it had been easily 10 years since he last played.  Either way, it was fun to get him out on the course.  It was more fun to enjoy all of the laughs and the GREAT weather.  We were originally worried we were going to get rained out, but instead we played the round almost entirely under a nice cloud cover that kept the heat in check.  I won't reveal scores, but it definitely wasn't my greatest round.

Friday...a day I had been looking forward to since the determination that no additional school days were required.  That's right.....I WENT TO CARB DAY!!!  This is my first experience at Carb Day, or at least that I can remember (<--not intended as a joke).  I woke up at normal school time and headed down to Indy to gather with friends before hopping in an Uber to head to the track.  We had a FANTASTIC time.  I mean what can go wrong at what is essentially a gigantic tailgate party with screaming engines surrounding you and Journey playing to finish out the day?  I ate way to much, drank a fair amount, and had a ton of fun.  I managed to take enough precautions to not get a single hint of a sunburn and didn't drink too much and make a fool of myself.  I got to catch a few of the practice laps from inside turn 3 (see below).  I also did a fair bit of walking.

Saturday was a recovery day.  I stayed around the house for a good portion of the day while the Mrs. went to a few graduation open houses.  She enjoyed some food and company and I enjoyed some piece and quiet.  In the evening we caught up with some friends on the driveway and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

Check out my Brother in-laws sweet Indiana State custom corn-hole boards!

Sunday was basically our Memorial Day celebration.  We went to my in-laws and watched the Indy 500 on their nice BIG tv.  We again got to enjoy the weather, play some corn hole, visit with other friends, watch the friends' kids splash in the kiddie pool and have a great time.  We ended the evening with some time by the fire pit and then headed home.

As you may have been able to tell, running was not it my plans this week.  I am actually ok with it.  I HAD to get some things done at school and needed to enjoy these first few days of relaxation.  As for all the crap I ate over the weekend, I had only gained 1.1 lbs when I stepped on the scale this morning.  I would say that isn't too bad at all.  As I move into the days where yard work and physical activity take over in importance I am imagining these pounds beginning to melt of as they did last summer.  I am curious to see what I will be down to by the time I complete my next half marathon in September.  There are a lot of things I am looking forward to.  For this week, it was relaxing, for next week, it will be my birthday, and who knows what my focus will be the next week.  For right now, I will focus on Food. Feet. Water. Repeat.

Bringing it Home!

When it comes to finishing a school year, things start to get pretty hectic.  My job as a media specialist proves to be a endurance race of its own kind.  I have spent the last week hunting down books in classrooms, scanning in all my materials, and helping other teachers with finishing up their testing as the days quickly vanish.  Needless to say, exercise hasn't been the top thing on my mind this week, but my steps have been showing up due to my laps around the building.

I also haven't been eating the greatest.  I think pizza may have been my staple of choice last week.  I did try to spread those pizza calories out over the week.  I did manage to make it to a student's graduation open house on Saturday and had some GREAT authentic Mexican food.  The only workout I managed to get in this week was a single lawn mow and one run on Sunday.  I feel like if I had done this week differently I may not have even survived this last push.

However, the lovely Mrs. Re-Dan-imation was willing to help me out at school over the weekend and helped me get a jump on the rest of my responsibilities for the end of the year.  I hope she knows how much I appreciate her.  The rest of the week was spent simply getting enough sleep to move on with the next day's activities.

I have taken the time recently to participate in a couple Twitter chats.  If you have never done this, I highly suggest it.  The chats I have participated in both revolve around running, but there are chats about more things than you can even imagine.  I have recently participated in the #runchat and #bibchat.  Basically, you hop onto Twitter, search for the appropriate hashtag and join in.  They are usually scheduled and if you don't know the times for the conversations you can find them when you search for the hashtag.  The next one I will be participating in is at 8:00 on Tuesday.  This is a #bibchat and is sponsored by SPIbelt this time.  They chats usually vaguely revolve around the product being featured, but they are about running first with that item being figured in.  The chats usually consist of 6 questions asked over the period of an hour.  You answer the question and then read all the answers of others.  Sometimes it can be intense to follow when the answers are rolling in, but remembering you can go back to read others answers after the fact helps relieve the stress.  Give it a shot sometime and maybe you'll see me on there.  Don't forget to follow me on twitter (@danmiller0710).  These chats are also a great way to find new people to follow on twitter.

#bibchat

So, how did it go this week in the weight area.  Surprisingly, I weighed in this morning at 265.7 lbs.  That's a loss of 1.8 pounds over last week!  I didn't see that coming.  I guess sometimes you deserve a surprise.  I'll take it!  As I move into the next week, and with school ending I expect that the summer will only bring good things for my process.  Also, please remember to donate to my fund-racing page for the Drumstick Dash this November.  Until next week...Food. Feet. Water. Repeat.

What's next for Re-Dan-imation?

Well, I have truly achieved a goal I never thought I would conquer.  Not in my wildest dreams did I think about running 13.1 miles before I began this journey!  I have watched my brothers do fairly well in running through their careers and have gone on to continue to stay in shape.  My middle brother will even be completing his first full marathon in July.  With all this being said, it's kind of interesting to try and decide where to go from here.  So, here's what's in store for me.

First and foremost...I WILL be running more races.  I have found some events that sound interesting and work well with my schedule.  I figure what better way to share them than by putting them out here for everybody to read and join in if they would like.

But first, some news from school.  I had to wait until it was approved by our school board, but I will be the new co-coach for our elementary cross country team.  That's right I will be sharing this role with another person as we begin the program at the elementary level for our corporation!!  Can you imagine this former couch potato coaching a sport he has only watched in the past?!  I'm pretty stoked to get into it next fall.

Now, here come the races!  The first race I will be taking part in is actually a series of races.  The series is called Run(317) and each race is held in different areas of Indianapolis...hence the 317.  Also each race is 3.17 miles instead of the normal 3.1 (again to fit with the area code).  I have to admit that the swag for these races doesn't hurt as you get something related to beer at each event.  If you are interested in this event I am participating in the June, July, and September events to be held in Broad Ripple, Mass Ave, and the Carmel Arts District.  Click here to find more information and to sign up.  The complete series consists of 5 races but I signed up for the 3 race mini-series. I have also talked some friends and my father in-law into joining in for the June 16th event to be held in Broad Ripple.  We would love to have more people sign up and join us!

The next race is one I have heard good things about online.  This is the Mill Race Marathon in Columbus, IN.  I will again be running a half marathon at this event.  I still want to beat that 3 hour goal I set for the mini and I think with a little better speed work, plus some more long runs that I might be able to do just that.  Plus, a totally cool side not about this race is that every finisher of the half and full marathon are entered in to a contest to win a brand new Dodge truck with a Cummins diesel engine.  Cummins is the title sponsor.  Not that I plan on winning that...but wouldn't it be cool?! For more information, or to register for this race...click here.

Recently, I was approached by one of my friends to participate in The Great Pumpkin Run in October.  I actually almost signed up for this race last year and was super glad she suggested it.  This year we signed up as a team and a few of us even decided to try the extra challenge where you carry a pumpkin through the entire 5K and earn an extra medal for your efforts.  Oh yeah, this will be the first 5K participation for Mrs. Re-Dan-imation.  I am super excited that she agreed to join in on the fun.  This event is on October 8th and will be held at Dull's Tree Farm in Thorntown, IN which is just down the road from us!!  If you want to sign up as a member of our team let me know and I will give you the info to sign up as a team member.  More information can be found here.

The next race I have registered for is another half marathon.  This one is to be held on November 5th and is called the Monumental Marathon.  This is another half and full that gets great reviews.  I love downtown Indy and the route for this race takes you by some great features.  It also fit pretty well on the calendar.  I am pretty excited about this one as it is the longest goal I have set for right now being that it is roughly 6 months out.  If you are interested in this event, more information can be found here.  Also, apparently this race sells out every year, so if you are actually interested in signing up, set that goal now and register early.

The last race that I have currently signed up for is the 2016 Drumstick Dash.  This race, although not my first race, is the one that really got me into the sport.  Seeing 19,000 people, on Thanksgiving Morning, at the start line last year and actually going to an expo for an event really got me amped up to participate.  I also was a fund-racer for this event last year and I will be doing the same thing again this year.  Last year, I was able to raise $600 for the Wheeler Ministries to help feed the homeless of Indianapolis.  This year my goal is to raise $1,000.  I think I have started early enough to achieve that goal and then some.  You may have noticed the donate area on the right side of the blog.  If you would like to make a donation please use this area to head directly to my donation page.  All donations are tax deductible and each $2.25 that is donated will provide a meal for one person in need. If you would like to sign up for this race simply click here for more info.

I am sure I will probably sign up for at least one race in December, if not more.  But, those are yet to be decided upon.  If you have any races you have signed up for and would like to share please do so below.  I have definitely been lacking in the comments on the actual blog, so any would be welcome. Also, like always, don't forget to sign up to "follow my progress" above and to the right.  Simply put in your e-mail and you will get an update every time I post to the blog.

And finally, for my weight this week.  Exactly the same as last week at 267.5 lbs.  I did get a couple short runs in this week along with some grass mowing and yard work, but I ate nowhere near as well as I should have.  I am back on the plan and have a feeling this number will improve next week.  Until next time.  Food. Feet. Water. Repeat!!

Post IndyMini...State of the Weight

So, So, many of you read my race recap post...like 260 of you or so...and that's awesome!  And although that post got a huge number of views it didn't have any information about the state of my weight.  So I thought I would update you on my eating and gains/losses over the last week.

Can you tell how I was feeling about almost reaching the finish line?

Last week my goal was to slowly carb up for the Mini.  I did this by switching breakfast a couple days to one of my favorites...english muffins with Nutella and banana.  We had some frozen pumpkin spice english muffins and those are fantastic with the Nutella.

You may have seen the picture of me last week with a few other teachers in ties.  We were valet parking for the staff in our building for staff appreciation week.  Along with things like that we were also provided with a couple lunches last week as a sign of appreciation as well.  Wednesday we had wraps from a local eatery and on Thursday we had a taco bar for lunch.  They were both good lunches but the only thing helping with the slow increase in carbs were the tortillas included.

Thursday I began the real load up.  When I helped my brother move a few things out of his apartment at Purdue we headed out for dinner and I had some great pasta complete with chicken and mushrooms.  Friday we headed down to Indy for packet pick up and hit up The Old Spaghetti Factory.  The Garlic Shrimp Fettuccini was so good!  I think you should take a look at the tastiness that was this meal.

Yummo!

After the race on Saturday, I was pretty sure if I didn't eat quick bad things were going to happen.  I grabbed the banana and some cookies from the volunteers.  I followed those up with a nice cold chocolate milk.  It doesn't really get any better for post race recovery than chocolate milk.  Honestly, look it up.

After we headed back to my mom's house we decided going out to dinner for Mother's Day was in order.  We looked around and though Houlihan's sounded appetizing.  We ordered a couple appetizers.  If you haven't been to Houlihan's recently might I suggest the "Stuffed 'Shrooms" and the "Spicy Chicken Avocado Eggrolls."  Both of them were fantastic, but I could have eaten the egg rolls literally all day long.  I followed this up with a fantastic BBQ pork cheeseburger.  It was great.  I may have been a little biased based upon the fact that I was running on empty but I would definitely order it again.

Sunday we went to my in-laws and then headed out for another Mother's Day dinner.  This time I had a chicken club with cheese sandwich.  Again, it wasn't too bad, but I felt bad for my brother in-law as he could have fared better than when his bowl of rice came out in the bag it was cooked in.  Needless to say the salmon didn't quite fill him up.  I'm just glad mine came out all right.  Sorry man.  

Side note...my father in-law has pledged to participate in a couple 5Ks with us this upcoming summer and fall and also stated that he would be participating in the IndyMini next year.  That's right.  He is going to complete his first half marathon at 68 years old!!  You know you want to join us now.  Follow this link to make your commitment now and hold yourself accountable to an attainable goal.  If I can do, it so can you.  The early registration closes on Wednesday and won't reopen again until September when the prices go up.  

With all this being said, I thought the 35,000+ steps I picked up on Saturday would negate the effects of this week's food.  However, with the run, recovery, and amount of water I have been drinking I weighed in this morning at 267.5 lbs.  That put me at a total gain of 1.4 pounds for the week.  I'm not even mad.  I'm just glad I survived 13.1 miles.  So, with that being said.  Until next time...Food. Feet. Water. Repeat.

500 Festival Indy Mini-Marathon Race Recap!!

Here's my Hardware!!!!!

Here it is!  Everything you wanted to know about how Saturday May 7, 2016 went for me.  Let's get started and delve right in to what SOO many people followed and commented on.

To begin with, I did a LOT of prepping on Friday.  As many of you know, I took Friday off and headed down to the Expo with my brothers.  That was great and we got to spend a couple hours just hanging out and looking around at different runs and items from running shops.  I decided on Friday that I was going to purchase the little 13.1 sticker for the back window of the Jeep as well as purchase a "Finisher" shirt.  That's right, I was putting the cart before the horse a little, but there was only one way I wasn't going to finish the race on Saturday and that was if I got injured during it.  We met my mom and she helped us carb load by taking us out to The Old Spaghetti Factory.  I had some garlic shrimp fettuccini and it was FANTASTIC!  It was my first time eating there, I know blasphemy since I am from Indy, but we'll move on from that.  Then I headed home, made sure all of my race clothes were ready, post race clothes were ready, and everything was charged.  9:30 call time for bed and then I was out.

Saturday began with a 5am wake up call.  Yeah, that part sucked, but honestly I was ready to be up and getting everything in order.  Bathroom duties taken care of (including applications of one of God's greatest creations, Body Glide, and some nipple band-Aids) and I was ready for breakfast and double checking my bags.  Breakfast consisted of an English muffin covered in Nutella and banana slices with water instead of milk.  We packed up the car hit the gas station and were on our way to Indy at 6:11.  Not too bad honestly.  I also got the following card from the wife as a bit of support.

The ride down was pleasant.  We listened to some tunes, watched the sun come up and didn't really discuss any race stuff.  I could tell the Mrs. was still waking up a bit.  When we got to Indy, I had pre-planned to park in a lot we often use when we go to Colts games.  I pulled into the lot with the pay gate already raised (BONUS) and started to look for a spot.  Let me just tell you, people who don't know how to park or don't care really piss me off.  I passed at least 15 spots in this lot that I would have parked in but I wouldn't have been able to exit the vehicle because jack-bags decide to park crooked, in two spots, or so close to each other I would have to crawl out of the back.  We finally found a spot as I was getting ready to pull out of the lot and find somewhere else.  We hitched up our gear, and started heading towards corral U. Everything is working out so far.

On the way to the corral I made a quick stop at the porta-potties.  Here I ran into both of my brothers headed to do the same thing.  They told me where my mom was and we headed over to talk to her for a few minutes.  The music was playing along the corrals and and people were stretching and hydrating.  I kept sipping on my water and looking around at all the people.  People watching at this point is pretty cool.  My brothers caught up to us and we talked for a few minutes and grabbed a quick picture, but they were beginning their day about 30 minutes ahead of me so they headed to their corral and got ready to start.  Turns out they actually had to jump the barriers because they were a little late to their area.  Haha....oops.

I decided to make one more trip to the port-o-let.  Good decision.  Turns out my stomach was a little nervous and this gave me an opportunity to relieve the nerves.  I got back to the corral area literally as they were trying to lock me out.  I didn't have to jump the rails, but I did have to slide in as they were closing it.  As soon as I got in we began the SLOW march to the start line.  We still have about 2-3 blocks to walk before we could get there.  At this point, I plugged my phone into the external battery in my SpiBelt, started it charging, and turned on my LiveTrack.  At this point I put in my headphones, watched the people around me and started to get focused.

As I got close to the start I could feel my nerves ramping up.  Was I gonna finish?  Am I gonna run my race?  Am I gonna get hurt?  How many steps am I gonna get today?! Is my phone battery gonna die?  Here it comes...and begin.  I gave a smile at the start line and made sure to look up so the cameras could catch me and then started my Garmin (God, I hope my LiveTrack is working) and I started across the line.  I made sure to pretty much immediately look down at my watch to make sure I could fall into the appropriate pace.  No way did I want to go out too fast today.  When I saw a 14:00 pace I knew I was good.  Time to enjoy the ride.  I ran under the giant American flag draped between fire trucks and saw the first musical performers from a high school band.  As we crossed over the river on the way to the zoo a train pulled by us doing a little quicker pace than us.  I saw people on rented Pacer's bikes cheering on their families.  Take a right on White River Parkway and we are immediately cheering on the elite runners getting ready to head to the finish.  That's right.  I saw the leaders heading to the finish, just after I finished my first mile.

One water stop in and I am feeling great.  I took a cup, downed most of it, and kept right on moving.  A left on Michigan street and we were on our way to miles 2 and 3.  Nothing exciting here except the fact that some guys were cheering us on with Big Head and when I saw Ron Burgundy I made sure to yell "Milk was a bad choice!"  He gave me a thumbs up even though I am sure he had heard it a thousand times already.  At this point I was looking at pretty consistent times. Just after mile 2 I had my first GU gel and grabbed some water with it at the next water station. Meb passed me right after mile 2 with his crew in their bright green tanks.  It was pretty cool to see them blowing past people.  I am still curious how many people he passed.  Miles 1, 2, and 3 were 14:21, 14:39, and 14:35 respectively.  I'll take that as consistent.  At this point I knew if I had any chance of staying under 3 hours for a total time I had to keep EVERY split under 15 minutes and they needed to be close to 14.  At the 5K mark I saw Sheltered Reality playing off to my left and I made sure to yell at a student and his parent playing with them.  They were pretty surprised to actually see me.  Here's hoping they got a good picture.

Right to head north on Holt and then a left on 10th street.  We again got to see runners ahead of us.  The runners having already exited the track and getting ready to hit mile 10 were turning the direction opposite us.  Mile 5 brought us into downtown Speedway.  We ran right past Sarah Fishers' new Speedway Indoor Karting.  It looks pretty cool.  Here is where I saw a couple of the best signs I saw all day.  The first was a young kid holding a sign saying "I trained all week to hold this sign."  The second one I saw didn't really relate to me, but was definitely getting some good reactions.  It said "Smile if you peed a little!"  I can see the track now and am starting to get nervous.

THE TRACK!!!  On the way into the track, I grabbed my next gel pack and had some water.  I knew the trip into the track was gonna be a nice steep incline so I relaxed heading down the ramp and tried to maintain effort going back up.  The IU cheerleaders welcomed us to the Indy 500 Museum.  We turned right and headed towards the fencing.  Here it comes, the wide open expanse of the track.  The most nervous part for me.  And then it was there, I am on the back stretch of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  Literally the smoothest paved surface you will EVER be on.  I tried to stay in the same area of the track and focus on maintaining my pace.  It's pretty hard when it feels like you aren't going anywhere.  Into Turn 3 and the "short chute" and then I hit mile 7 in turn 4. Then it starts...RAIN!  It begins with a slow mist, and moves on to a very light drizzle.  Still maintaining my pace of under 15 minutes, at this point I have decided that the goal of coming in under 3 hours was out the window, but finishing without walking wasn't yet.  Just past mile 7, I grabbed my next GU and although I considered it sacrilege I disgraced the track by dropping the wrapper on the speedway.  I know, there are volunteers there to help with it, but I still felt like I was tearing out the heart of car guys everywhere.

It was at this point that I finally realized that my Live track feature was working.  I finally looked at a few messages on my watch to distract me from the monotony of the track.  I thought I was in a side conversation but it turns out a group of guy friends were keeping track of me via the live track.  I was actually getting kudos from them.  I got one Facebook notification even though I had them turned off and I got a few messages from my wife, family, and friends.  I picked a good time to bring up my spirits.  Prior to Saturday, the longest distance I had run without a walk break was 7.3 miles and I had just passed it on my way to the yard of bricks.

Although the rain had stopped at this point, I have kissed the bricks before on a field trip and decided that stopping to do it today would ruin my pace and possibly my legs.  I hopped between two people and just kept motoring.  Here comes turn 1, mile 8 and then turn 2 and now the rain has really started to come down.  Big cold drops.  It's a little refreshing and I totally don't mind it at all.  However, I am pretty thankful that it quit after I left the track.  Followed by a quick exit off the back straight towards the Brickyard crossing golf course I head back out onto 16th street.  Just before I turned left on 16th a colleague patted me on the shoulder.  She gave me some kinds words, told me I had this, and I kept moving.  I saw her one other time just past mile 9.

After taking a left on 16th street, I knew mile 10 was coming where they would be hanging out CLIF Gels.  I had decided I wasn't going to eat one of these because I hadn't yet tried them and water to stick with the GU gels I brought.  I did however, grab a couple and put them in my pockets.  That's at least $2.50 back in my pocket ;)  I had my last GU once I passed this area and grabbed a water.  Just a 5K left and I know I am gonna finish.  Pass mile 11 and I am heading back towards the White River.  I'll be honest I was looking forward to this part because I knew this landmark meant I was closing in on the finish.  Plus running next to it is pretty peaceful.  The only hard part is that you can see the bridge heading back to military park well over a mile away and it doesn't seem to be getting any closer.

The final turn.  Left on New York and we are on the home STRETCH!  The last strip of pavement is over a mile, but the black and white checkered flags start showing up about 3/4 of a mile out.  I kick up the pace a little to see what I have left in the tank and manage to get my last mile in at 14:08.  My second fastest split of the day.  With just a tenth remaining I see my wife and mom off to the right.  I head their direction, give them a thumbs up and attempt a smile, but I am BEAT.  I do everything I can to finish strong and then it's there.  The finish line.  I head under the finish line and stop for my medal.  My legs feel like jelly. I DIDN'T WALK A SINGLE STEP OF THE ENTIRE 13.1 MILES!!!!!!!!!!!  I grab a banana, some snacks and a water and gatorade.  I get my picture taken with the finisher background and head to the after party to find my family.

I promise that is running and not walking!!!!!!!

We took some pictures, headed for the chocolate milk area, and then I proceeded to go find my second medal.  Since I finished the mini as well as the training series, I got an extra medal with a 32.1 on it describing the number of miles included in  my long run trainings as well as the mini mileage.  I was pretty pumped to get this one.  We then headed over to the PR bell.  I knew I was going to be close to the right time for a certain special guest, but MEB literally showed up when I was about 10 people back in line.  I got to meet him, get my picture taken, and ring the Personal Record bell all on my first outing.  They definitely find ways to get you hooked on these things.  After this I was truly done so we hit the merch tent and I grabbed a Ran with Meb shirt and we headed out. The walk back to the car seemed to go pretty quick considering my quads were, well, a bit tight.  Mrs. Re-Dan-imation drove back home and then it was time to relax.

 I want to thank every single person for the kind words they sent me through Facebook and text messages.  I have tried to reply back to all messages or at the least like them on Facebook.  If you have made it this far through this post, thank you again for sticking with me the whole time.  This could have been much longer believe me.  If you are interested in joining the IndyMini next year...see below.

IndyMini Week Has Arrived

Holy Crap!!  It's here!  On Saturday, I will be running 13.1 miles!  Those of you that remember me starting this blog know how much of an accomplishment this is.  Let me get into my week heading up to this so you can understand my emotions at the moment.You have a long way left before the end of the post :)

Wednesday, I did a training run on the treadmill.  I wanted to go outside, but the timing wasn't going to work out for me as I had other things to do that evening, so the treadmill it was.  Including warm up and cool down I did just under 4 miles in 55 minutes.  This was an easy run and I ran at a pace a little slower than I expect to run for the Mini.

I also posted another recipe last week.  I took some great pictures and got a couple nice compliments on it.  However, I won't be posting a new recipe this week because I have quite a bit going on with planning for the weekend and then heading to the expo on Friday.  You can expect more of these in the future.  They may be intermittent, but definitely keep an eye out.  I won't share it unless I think it is good.

This Sunday, I ran my final "long" run for my preparation.  This run was only an hour which has gotten to the point where it seems like little to nothing.  What 260+ pound guy says "Oh you know, it's only an hour."  Never in my life did I think I would say that.  The run was to be set as 30 minutes easy, 20 minutes goal marathon pace and 10 minutes easy.  I did the first 30 easy...kicked it up to 4.7 mph for the 20 minutes, but for the last 5 minutes cranked it up a tenth each minute resulting in a 5.1 at the end before i turned it back down for the last easy 10.  I know, I was flying right?  Just kidding, by no means is that an all out sprint, but after 45 minutes I feel like it was pretty good and I easily had plenty left in the tank.  With a sporadic as my training may have seemed during some points (i.e. February and March the most important parts) this made me feel like I will definitely accomplish my first goal on Saturday, which is to finish.

You may be able to tell by this point that I am pretty pumped about the 500 Festival Mini Marathon!  I hope you have the same feeling.  I have spent quite a few months preparing for this and it is all coming together. I have been spending quite a bit of time looking at FAQs on the Indy Mini website and checking out road closure times and etc to try and plan my time leaving the house on Saturday.  While doing so I have made a few discoveries.

The first discovery is the way that the LiveTrack feature works with my Garmin.  If you are 100% interested in following my progress please either leave your email in the comments below or send me a direct message through Twitter or Facebook.  If you do so, you will receive a link in your email from me on Saturday morning when I start the feed.  You will literally get to watch me head through the entire course at my actual speed.  It probably won't even look like that dot is moving on your screen, but I promise it will be.  I will also be sharing that same link on my Facebook account and through Twitter, but if you don't follow me for some weird reason or if not enough people like it/share it on Facebook you might miss it.  I know you all care about me and my progress so send me your emails.  You can even do it by signing up as a subscriber to my blog.  I will have your email listed there as well.

Here is what the app user screen looks.  Click on Tracking and Results

The second discovery is the IndyMini App and how useful it is.  If you download this wonderful app and you aren't able to sit and watch me or one of your other friends online you can set it up to get notified when people pass certain points in the race.  It will send you push notifications of SMS Text messages right to your phone.  I will have both of my brothers (my middle brother signed up this morning because his Saturday was available unexpectedly...don't worry he is actually training for a full marathon) sent as texts to me because I will be able to see those on my watch throughout the race and will be interested in how well they are doing.

This past weekend, I spent a lot of time perusing other runs in the near future.  I am trying to stay planned ahead as I want to maintain the feeling of having a goal to look forward to.  So, On Saturday, I talked with a few friends and we decided to sign up for one of the RUN(317) races to take place in June.  I am pretty pumped to take part in this series as I honestly thought about signing up for one of them last summer, but I missed the boat.  This year I signed up for the Mini-Series.  That means I will be running 3 of their races.  These three races will take place in Broad Ripple, Carmel, and Mass Ave. District in June, July, and September respectively.  The swag seems pretty nice...mostly glassware of sorts ;).  It will be fun to include a couple other people in my "runtourage" and running through different parts of Indy will be fun.  If you are interested in taking part in this series use this link to sign up or click on the picture below.

Also this week, I finally cracked Mrs. Re-Dan-imation!!  She is going to sign up to participate in a 5K with myself and the same friends that are going to run the 317 series.  This will be The Great Pumpkin Run and will be taking place in October.  She recently took a hiatus from running, but last week fired back up on a Couch to 5K reboot.  I am so pumped that she has decided to join in.  We will be starting a team for the event.  If we decide to open up the team to others we will be sure to share the code on here so you can join...If we don't I promise it is not because we are trying to be jerks about it and will probably be a case where we just want to keep it a small group of close friends.  This is another race that I almost signed up for last year, but I am glad I waited because it is being held at Dull's Tree Farm this year, which happens to be about an hour closer than last years event.

The last discovery I made is that when I put my mind to something I truly can accomplish it.  I had my doubts when I signed up for this race that I would put in the effort to actually train for it.  Well, I have done that and now all I have to do is complete it on Saturday.  As for my weight this week, well, I went up 0.8 lbs for a weight of 265.1 lbs.  I am ok with that.  I figure I will gain a little more weight this week until Saturday.  The plan is NOT to gorge myself after the race so that I can actually recover decently and be able to walk at school on Monday.  Next week I will have the recap of the race for you to read. If you think this post was long, I hope you have a few extra minutes next Monday as I plan on spending a good part of Sunday doing the write up so I can get it right.  Until next time...Food. Feet. Water. Repeat.  WISH ME LUCK ON SATURDAY!!