I'm Still Here and Still Trucking

So I know I haven't been updating here like I should.  I blame school.  It is taking up a bit of time that probably would have been used elsewhere.  Although that isn't the only problem.  The switch to the new schedule is great.  I love the day on day off mechanics of it.  However I am in the dangerous zone of the whole running thing not being new so I am not super motivated to go out and do it (I am doing it though) and it isn't close enough to the race where my brain understands that the goal is in sight.

So the motivation isn't there but I am trudging along at a less than stellar mileage.  But on the flip side I am walking roughly 2 miles a day at school.  Which includes walking up a 40' elevation hill a couple of times a day.  So the maybe I can lie to myself and tell myself that the mileage I am not doing running is kinda made up by the walking around campus with a backpack.


But most importantly I am still here and still running.

Week 7 In Review

Can you believe it has been almost two months since I started this journey?  Seven week is a heck of a time frame to keep this up considering my lack of dedication to running before hand.  And to compound on that I am not even halfway through with this!  However all of this mileage is having a bit of a toll on my out of shape body.  My shin splints in my right leg is still somewhat bothersome.  Although it is bearable as I run I don't want to push myself and make it unbearable and even injure myself.

So this week as I transitioned into my new school schedule I took off Thursday and planned to run Friday and then again on Sunday.  However the calf (read shin splints) still was feeling a bit wonky so I opted to rest it instead of pushing through the pain.  My cousin John told me some of the best advice I can probably get about training: "It is better to be training at 80% effort 100% of the time, then going 100% effort only 80% of the time."  That is a paraphrase but the general idea is there.  If I want to do well with this 5k that I am running, it is better for me to be able to train consistently at a less than intense pace then training at a crazy pace and ending up hurting myself and having to take a lot of time off.

That being said the 3.75 miles that I am scheduled to do on Tuesday, probably not going to happen.  I'll end up going out and running about the first mile or so and determine how I am feeling and then determining the route that I'll run after that.  I would guess it will be in the 2-3 mile range until I get my calf under control and I feel good about it.  Because realistically the entire race I'll be running is only 3.1 miles so the five mile a day training in October probably isn't as necessary for my current needs.  However on a personal level I do want to be able to do that sort of training, so I am still aiming for those goals.  Plus you guys paid to make a fatty run so I am still working on doing that to give you guys your entertainment dollar.

I will try and give you guys a post mid week this upcoming week just to let y'all know how the new schedule is working on and my status on my calf.  As always thanks for reading and donate or hound your friends to get them to donate!

New Schedule

Due to school starting I am changing up my running schedule.  Tomorrow I am taking the day off to give my calf some rest (it has been giving me a tiny bit of trouble lately.)  But I will be running Friday, taking Saturday off, and then running Sunday.  Tuesday next week will be the first day of the new schedule.

So next Tuesday, running 3.75 miles, and the same for Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.  This will probably be the same for the foreseeable future due to school.  Hopefully my calf will hold up and I'll not have to take a break away from running to let it heal up.

Week 6 In Review

This week was extremely productive.  Having John run with me four out of my five runs and Will for one of the five really made motivating myself so much easier.  I am not a big fan of listening to music while I run mainly because I only have ear buds to listen with and they are more of a pain while running then they are worth.  So talking with amiable company is so much better.  I don't need earbuds to hear my compatriots running beside me.  Also the conversation is normally interesting enough.  At the very least it is better than listening to myself argue with myself to keep running.

In other news, last Thursday I actually managed to remember a watch while I went to Bond Park with John and Will.  I ran that course for the last time until I actually run the course November 4th.  35:26 was my time, so I have nine minutes nine seconds to drop in order to hit my goal.  Lucky for me we still have 2 and a half months to go before the race.  That time will start to drop without me even realizing it is happening.  Unfortunately that is the way it goes with running, you make small incremental gains as long as you keep at it.  So I just need to keep at it and have those seconds fall off while I am not paying attention.

I also got a belated birthday donation!  My Aunt Marcia sent in the belated but extremely appreciated donation.  Thanks to it I'll be running off donations until at least the start of September!  This week I ran a total of 15.14 miles which brings me up to a grand total of 60.42 miles.  This makes my matching donation (assuming a Krispy Kreme doughnut blow out and no more running) $69.52.

And then just one last note before I tell you to tell your friends to donate.  School starts next Monday (August 20th) for me.  Luckily I just have MWF classes at the moment.  So I may have to change my running schedule to Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday and then increasing the mileage to compensate for the lack of the last day.  So:

August the 3 miles 5 days a week would turn into 3.75 miles 4 days a week.
September 4 miles 5 days a week = 5 miles 4 days a week
October 5 miles 5 days a week = 6.25 miles 4 days a week

Ugh.  Looking at those numbers they look a looooooot bigger than I had planned in my head.  But it still keeps the weekly totals the same.

As always, tell your friends, beg them for me to donate to the wonderful cause of Second Chance Pet Adoptions.  And thanks for reading.

Nike Stole My Idea

Nike totally jacked my idea of making a fat kid run.  They are trying to sell shoes, I am trying to help animals.

Also on a side note, today I finished my second marathon!

Week 5 in Review (belated)

Sorry about the delay, real life got in the way of my cyber life/blog.  I spent the majority of the weekend either in a hospital waiting room or in a car driving to a house full of cats that needed to be taken care of.  But everything is good now so back to the blogging.

Last week I ended up doing roughly 12 miles since Friday I was waiting the above mentioned hospital.  I did do the three mile trips all last week with my one 5k run that I wanted to time but forgot to.  They all felt pretty good, it feels good to be training at a distance that I will be doing the race at.  It is just a matter of putting one foot in front of the other for an extended period of time.

This week so far I have been blessed with the company of John while doing my runs.  Since this is really the first full week of August I am also doing 3 mile runs this week.  I am going to try and design a 3.25 mile run for next week and hopefully my new running buddy will stick with me.  It is eternally easier to do these runs with John since it takes the fatty out of the equation.  Since I am talking most of the time there is no internal dialogue of fatty vs ex runner so generally I don't have to listen to the fatty trying to get me to stop prematurely.

My birthday was also last week and I did end up raising 20 dollars for the animals as a birthday present.  Which is good for the animals and also more importantly pushing me towards the end of August before I finish off running the money donated.  I almost feel like counting my cousin's donation a couple of weeks before my birthday as a donation for my birthday since we share the same birthday.  It doesn't seem right on your birthday to be giving other people gifts despite it being their birthday.  So at best I raised 30 dollars for my birthday.  Thank you all very much who donated, you know who you are and you rock.

Hopefully real life will cooperate and I will be able to update regularly.  Thanks for reading, and as always donate and tell your friends about this blog (and urge them to donate.)

Birthday Run

So today is my birthday, I am turning 27.  And for a present for myself I got myself a 5k run to do in the morning.  Now originally the plan was to take a timing device of some sort, watch, phone, sundial, calender etc. and measure how long it would take me to run the 5k.  Well fortunately I had some company on my run today: my cousin John.  Now if you click that link you'll see in his twitter profile that he is a decent looking guy, but more importantly in shape.  John was gracious enough to run at my pace, else my view would look something like this:

If look closely, you can see John 2 miles ahead.

However John did run with me so he can attest to my running of the 5k.  That brings my witnessed mileage up to just under 4 miles.  But I have been running despite what the fatty inside me wants.  Now the problem is that due to my excitement to have another soul trudging along beside me (waiting patiently for my ever so slow pace) is that I forgot all sorts of timing devices.  No calender, no sundial, it was cloudy so I couldn't even use the position of the sun.  So tomorrow I get to go back and do it again.  But it is good, I do need to be running the 5k since that is what I am training for.


Now if you are wishing to give me anything for my birthday all I am looking for is more donations towards my fundraising for Second Chance Pet Adoptions.  I will run a mile for every dollar donated and if you guys manage to donate more money than I can run in miles I will donate the difference.  Example you guys donate 400 dollars and I run 280 miles I will donate 120 dollars to Second Chance. So hopefully you'll help keep pushing me as I am closing in on the current donations seeing as I have about 9 or so more days before I hit it.

As always tell your friends and thanks for reading :)

Month 1 in Review

Seriously... It has been a month?  Well four weeks but that is close enough.  Can you believe my chubby self has been pounding the pavement for an grueling month so far?  This last week hasn't been that great due to my over zealous attempt at wind sprints side lining me for a bit more than I wished.  I did do two real runs last week and one one mile run just to test out the leg.  The ice and advil help and for 99% of the time everything feels dandy.  Which is good because this Wednesday at the latest I'll be moving up to 3 miles a day.  I am considering running three miles starting tomorrow but the body will be the ultimate judge.

As for this Wednesday since it is the day we go up to three mile runs I am also going to go out to the 5k course at Bond Park and time myself and run it.  I can then compare this time against what I end up doing in November.  My goal is to beat 26 minutes 17 seconds in November.  If you are wondering where the heck that number came from it is the world record for the 10k.  So basically I wouldn't get lapped on the course by the fastest person to run my race twice.  I know, it is the little goals that help motivate you.  Hopefully these little goals and with the Olympics and moving up to three miles I'll be able to help shut the fatty up and make these runs more of a physical exercise instead of an exercise in willpower.

Even with this terrible week of running the mileage seems to meet the donations in roughly 12 running days, so around August 10th.  That and I have crossed the halfway mark in which I have ran more mileage than I would have to donate to match it.  So hopefully my birthday *wink wink* will be a good one in terms of donations.  Birthday presents should be left online.  I'm sure the mileage will be a good gift for my body as well.

Tell your friends about how awesome Second Chance is, and how they can get a cheap thrill by making a fat kid run a mile.

Crisis in Willpower

So after doing something to my calf/shin area (I self diagnosed it as a Posterior Shin Splints) I gave it plenty of ice and a few days rest.  I ended up doing my short route today (2.09 mi) since the start of that and the 2.55 mi route are exactly the same and if I felt alright I wanted to do a bit longer of a run.  Well my calf twinged a little bit when I started moving it for about the first quarter mile then by then it was loosened up and started to feel all right.  I could still definitely tell that something was still 'there' but it didn't hurt.  I ended up finishing my run and by the time I got back to the house the pain was there by not as bad as it was on Monday.  So I iced it and by the time I was done icing it it felt better.

However the problem is thus:  When I am running it is extremely difficult to motivate myself to run.  The runner in me wants to run but he doesn't want to get hurt further.  The fatty in me doesn't want to run and doesn't want to get hurt either so the internal struggle leans very favorably towards not running.  Even when I was out there and my leg was feeling alright it was really hard to keep going.  The only reason I made the short route work was because it was a simple out and back route and I had already gotten to the out part.  I am sure if it was any sort of loop that came near the neighborhood I would have stopped.  It also doesn't help that I haven't really been back in the running game that long so I am not too sure body wise what feels okay and what is something I should really take note of.

So blogosphere here is my query to you: What do I do about shin splints?  Is it okay to be running out on this?  If you have an answer for me, or know someone who does, please point them in my direction.  And as always donate.

Pictures of Bad News Happening

So here are the pictures of me giving myself shin splints.  Unfortunately I am still out today, hopefully I'll be able to run before the week is out.  I am icing my calf twice a day and taking some advil and taking it easy.

From the Finish Line looking down the hill

This is the starting line looking up

The face of anguish as I finish my second run up the hill

This is why the second fatty in the logo looks the way he does

And finally a video of my first sprint up the hill.  It is worth noting the last sprint up the hill took twice as long if not longer.

Week 3 in Review

So I know this is a day late but the whole 'Wind Sprint Saturday' thing I ended up trying to do yesterday (Sunday.)  The goal was to do 15 trips up the hill which if I recall correctly is .15 miles long and stupid high.  Good news, I missed my goal by 1.  Bad news is that that one ended up being in the tens column.  I did 5 total 'sprints' up the hill as the first one, maybe two are the only ones that can be called sprints by any stretch of the word.  I do have video of the first run and luckily for you I am wearing a shirt.

All I have to do is figure out how to get the pictures Sara took off the camera and onto my computer.  Normally she works her techno magic and just uploads them on to her computer.  My techno magic skills are rusty seeing as how I haven't used them in a long while so I have to do some lighting of incense and praying to the machine god.  Pictures and video will follow of that whole shindig as the capricious spirits of both the camera and computer will allow.

Now unfortunately me doing this whole wind sprint up hill thing kinda wrecked my calves hardcore.  I am not talking my usual soreness and whining from the fatty.  I am talking enough pain that the runner in me told me hey, lets not run today your legs need some rest.  So I rested today, puppy dog eyed Sara to get a calf massage, and hopefully I will be able to run come tomorrow.  If not I am sure the fatty will try to seize the upper hand in this struggle.

So here's to me being able to run tomorrow and not just limping around sadly all day.  But just remember what all of this pain I am going through is for: the animals at Second Chance Pet Adoptions.  Donate here or cruise on over here to look at pictures of all of the cute cats and dogs they have up for adoption, then donate.

Why Being Fat Makes It Hard To Run

SubTitle (Or Why I Need To Make a New Route)

This post is for all of you out there who are either in shape or at least not fat when it comes to running.  You see when I am running my routes I tend to get tired at the same spots during the run.  So every time I pass these spots whether I have actually gotten tired or not the fatty in me tells me to take a break.  So this is where the mind games start between me and the fat guy inside (and outside.)  I take the same route and flip it so I am running it the opposite direction than I was the day before.  That way those trouble spots are normally in places where I am still feeling wonderful so the runner in me wins the mind game.  However this is only a temporary solution since new trouble spots develop running the route backwards.  Then if I keep flipping the route the trouble spots from each direction start bleeding through to the other side.  So eventually it becomes just one big mind game of keeping myself going forward.

It is not just having problems with trouble spots during the run.  Long straight aways are also cause a terrible fight between the fatty and the runner.  If I look straight ahead and watch the distance (very slowly) get chipped away the fatty starts complaining that it is going to take forever and we are going way too slow.  If I look at the ground or the sky the same thing happens except instead of complaining about the distance taking forever to go away the fatty complains that he is getting bored and wants to see where he is going.  So basically I have to tread the line of looking where I am going and looking in other directions in order to keep my will power going strong.

So with all of those mind games I eventually have to create a new route in order to trick the fatty for at least another couple of weeks.  This is a 2.69 mile route which I will start on Monday.  I will suffer through this old route for another day and then tackle a new route with renewed vigor of the weekend.

A side note:

If you look to the side I included a date in which I will theoretically meet your donations.  Let us all band together and make sure that date is always in the future.  You can help keep that date in the future by donating here.

As always tell your friends and donate to Make Fatty Run.

My First Marathon

So today I finally completed my first marathon.  I know, you guys are thinking what the heck?  He is only running two and a half miles a day.  Well the official time is 2 weeks, 2 days, 1 hour, 23 minutes and 46 seconds.  I have ran over the 26.2 miles of a marathon although it just took me a while to do.  I feel like whatever marathon governing body needs to mail me one of those 26.2 bumper stickers.  I have obviously paid my dues like every other marathoner out there.  And I bet I weigh as much as two of most marathoners, so in reality by weight I should get two stickers. 

My next marathon, governing body take note, should only take two weeks.  Shaving off an entire two days off of my time.  Where as come October I should theoretically be putting roughly a marathon down on the pavement every week.  We can all hope that day does come and my fat self can still run that.  By that time I hope to have my entire car covered in marathon stickers.

But realistically I haven't done anything over 3 miles in over a decade and my longest continuous run is only 6 miles back when I was training with cross country.  So September and October are going to be interesting months for me basically pushing my body to places it hasn't been in a long while.  However Second Chance is giving me this great opportunity to motivate myself and help animals in the process.

Please tell your friends about the blog and convince them to donate. It is for a good cause and it is tax deductible, it is like a super double bonus.

Week 2 In Review

So I have done two solid weeks of running 5 days a week.  This week I unsuccessfully and successfully ran a 2.55 mile route.  It is now the route of choice for this upcoming week.  That means a full week with no changes to the route is going to net me 12.75 miles. However this week I only ran 10.91 miles bringing my grand total to 21.44 miles!  And thanks to all of your generosity I have so far raised 75 dollars for Second Chance Pet Adoptions.  This means if I blow out my knee (lets hope not) or more likely blow out a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts and don't run again together we will be putting 128.56 towards keeping the animals fed and happy and waiting for their forever home.

So in order to increase donations we again will look at things that you may or may not be getting that could be used to fund the animals at SCPA until they find their forever home.  This week I will look a lot more in depth at fast food and compare it towards how many miles I would have to run to negate the calorie intake.

According to a few sites I roughly burn 170 calories for every mile I run.  We will use this number to see how much I would have to run to completely burn off the intake.

McDonalds Big Mac Combo - 1350 calories or 7.94 miles.  Now for all of these since I am lazy and not trying to look up individual drink sizes I am just assuming a 20 oz coke.
Burger King Whopper Combo - 1500 calories or 8.82 miles
Wendys Double Combo - 1480 calories or 8.7 miles
Supersonic Cheeseburger Combo - 1400 or 8.22 miles

But you start to get the picture.  Now this doesn't mean fast food is bad or that if you eat it you have to go run 8 miles since you burn calories simply by living.  However if I ate those combos in addition to food that sustains me throughout the day that is the necessary mileage I would have to run in order to come out at a net even.

Also in other news my birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks (August 1) and I have decided as an easy way to drive donations I am asking in lieu of whatever any of y'all would have sent me (in my celebration of making another trip around the sun) to instead donate to Second Chance.

As always tell your friends and donate!

Fatty's Three Keys to Running

Now when I run I don't wear an iPod or MP3 player or any such stuff.  I know it is good for a lot of people to make running more bearable then the painful experience that it already is.  I use the time to think about random things and yell at myself for wanting to stop or slow down before the end.  Think of it like a normal person's shower time especially since by the end of the run I am equally wet.

So during my running I have come up with the three key facets to running.  Mind you nothing like form, pace, breathing, etc.  Just the simple stuff that is required to simply go outside and put one foot in front of the other for an extended period of time.  So without further ado, here are my three keys to running:


Will - This one is the most important.  It is the part that gets you out the door or on whatever device you are using.  It is the part that makes you put one foot in front of the other and the one that keeps you going despite the pain.  It is also (at least for me) the hardest part to get.  I learned very quickly after not doing organized sports that making myself run without having a coach tell me to is a very difficult.  Hell, I had to create an idea where people give money to charity to get me to run.

Musculature - This is what I consider the second most important part of running.  Simply put do you have the muscles to lift your leg up and put it down.  This also includes the part of stretching and keeping care of your muscles so they don't try and kill you halfway through your run.  Speaking of I tried a bit over zealously the 2.55 mile route without really stretching yesterday.  It lead to disastrous results.  I learned no matter how good you are feeling you have to stretch and take care of your muscles.

Cardiovascular - This is the last part of running.  If you can get your butt out the door and start putting your feet in front of each other in a trudging motion then this part finally kicks in.  This is the last part that allows you to keep going but is very essential if you want to run for any real distance.


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In other news I completed my first 2.55 mile route today.  I flipped the route from what I originally posted so that the majority of it is downhill but has some quick brutal uphills instead of the opposite.  I tried running it the original way I planned but some combination of it being a new route, not stretching, and having a 1.5 mile stretch which is basically all uphill I failed miserably.  I marked myself down for 2.09 miles (the route I should have run yesterday) since there was definitely some walking towards the end as my foot fell asleep.  So the 2.09 miles is probably close to the distance that I actually ran.

Your donations go to feeding and keeping these guys well until they find a loving home.

As always, tell your friends and donate.  If not for the sick pleasure of making a fat guy run how about for one of those guys up above.

Make the Hog Jog

So the past couple of days have been the first few days where I don't feel like I am dying and barely making it back to the neighborhood.  Now keep in mind this is with me running (but not keeping track of mileage) since early/mid June.  So after 4-6 weeks of plodding along diligently I have finally gotten over the hump... which isn't good.  You guys paid good money to have a fat guy run.  When fat guys run it is supposed to be an excruciating experience in which every step is loathsome.  So if this trend continues and the ex-runner in me starts winning the battle against the fatty I will have to up the mileage per day.

The next possible route is thus.  It is a 2.55 mile route with a mostly uphill climb with a sharp downhill at the end to bring it back to the start.  Hopefully this route will bring out the pain and make your donations worthy of what I promised.

Speaking of donations  I have worked my way through a couple of donations and I would like to acknowledge and thank those people.

Sara - Thanks for the initial donation to get this thing started.  You probably got the best of the monies worth since those 10 miles were the most painful.

Myra - I don't know of any web presence that I can link for you (I don't even think you read this blog) but nevertheless you did donate and your donation is greatly appreciated.  Your five miles are when I started to get over the hump so probably weren't as painful as Sara's but still I think you got your money's worth.

Bruce and Tricia - I have plans for your generous donation.  While I have only so far made a dent of 1.8 miles into the fifty miles I have to run for you guys I promise to make it as grueling as possible.  With the looming possibility of increasing the mileage I am also kicking around the idea of a Wind Sprint Saturday.  Basically the entrance to my neighborhood is a .16 mile long 45 foot high hill in which I would do 15 (guesstimate) sprints up the hill.  For those wondering that is the same as running 2.4 miles over the course of climbing 67 and a half stories.  Plus the added bonus of having it on a Saturday means I can wrangle Sara into taking pictures for everyone's amusement.



Now don't let this public outpouring of gratitude turn any of you other guys away from donating.  I did ask permission about linking and revealing donation amounts.  If you want to make a fat kid run but want to do it privately it can be arranged.  Now go back and read that last sentence again, that just sounds wrong; but it is for the animals at Second Chance Pet Adoptions so it makes it okay?

As always tell your friends and donate to help the animals.

Week 1 In Review

Well I have survived the blazing heat and the miles of running of the onset of my training for the 5k.  It certainly wasn't as smooth sailing as I thought the first week would have went given the fact that I had to change the course I run in order to get the fat guy in my head to quit trying to make me stop.  But I persevered and finished all 5 days for a total of 10.53 miles.  Thankfully I got a lot of donations in before I embarked on my training so those 10 and change miles are going towards working off some mileage debt.  Sadly though I did not receive any new donations this week so my current matching donation as of right now is $54.47.

Luckily the week coming up the heat dies down due to who knows what.  I am sure if I asked my wife she would pull up her tri-screen weather set up and explain to me more than I care to know about it.  But the real issue about next week is that I will be downing another 10+ miles and be a third of the way through the money I have raised so far.  So in order to entice more donations every Sunday I am going to list off every day things that you may spend money on and compare it to how many miles that would make a fat kid run.

Cookout Burger tray ~ $5:  Now this is nothing fancy just a simple 5 dollar meal from a fast food place.  Maybe brown bag it to work one day and save yourself 5-8 dollars and make a fat kid run for 5 miles.  You save on calories (so you don't end up like me), you get the satisfaction of making a fat guy trudge out 5 miles in the heat, and you end up helping the animals.

Two Movie Tickets ~ $20:  Now I am guilty of this as well, but I see a lot of so-so to bad movies in the theater.  And no rational person goes out to see movies alone so I am going to just ballpark it around 20 bucks between all of the student ID, matinee, 3D, and who knows what other price variations they have.  So either a bad movie that you should have probably Netflixed or Red Boxed that lasts only 90 minutes or 20 bucks lasting my fat ass at least 200 minutes of running plus the added benefit of helping feed and keep the animals healthy.



So that was my week 1.  I am attempting and hopefully by next weekend will have a video of me trudging along as proof of my running, and for your sick entertainment.  As always donate here and tell your friends about this blog and about all of the good the money will do.

Make the Pudge Trudge

So the first week is almost done and it is a lot rougher than I thought it would be.  I certainly thought, "Hey, I used to run.  I can just run a week or two and bump up the mileage to three a day and start working through these dollars quicker."  Now the fatty in me wants to blame the blazing heat we have been having making it harder than it should be, but the ex-runner in me is blaming the fatty in me.  Granted it has been extremely hot as of late, but I am going to have to agree with the latter in this debate.

Speaking of the fat side in me, I have decided I am going to have to change my route.  The old route has two points where I have to cross or go right next to the entrance to my neighborhood.  Now every time I pass the neighborhood entrance I have in internal battle between the fatty and ex-runner trying to get me to just cut it short and just walk home.  The ex-runner in me has won so far every day but it is an ultimately a losing battle cause the fatty in me is just to strong.  So until the fatty in me loses some power in the internal debate I am going to have to change my route.  This is just a simply out and back route that makes it impossible for me to cut it short.  Once I make it to the halfway point no matter what I have to complete the run.

A few side notes:

The title of this post is from a comment that my Aunt/Uncle left me as a suggestion to what to call the blog since what I am doing isn't considered running.  I would change everything but I already had the logo made and this blog started.  And most importantly, I am lazy.  Big surprise, a fat guy being lazy.

Also on the side of the blog I am updating the donations and mileage run.  That way you can see how close I am to getting through your donations and/or how much I am going to have to end up matching by the end of this experiment.

Question.  Why in the world does the sweat that my body was carrying just thirty minutes earlier, once sweated out causes my shirt to feel so much heavier?  I mean my body already was carrying that weight, it is not as if I am adding any weight to what I am carrying around.

And as always donate here. No donation is too small (as long as there is no minimum donation.  I am not sure how the software works.)  And tell your friends.  The more people that read this, the more likely Second Chance is to get donations or new runners.  So make fatty run and encourage your friends to make fatty run too.

First Day and the Plan

So today was my first day officially running for Second Chance's Furry 5k.  And well... I feel like my blog title is a lie.  Sure your money is making me run and I am still a fatty, but what I did today by no stretch of the word was running.  Trudging I think is the closest word that comes to what I was doing.  It was as if the bone dry concrete of the sidewalks had turned to mud.  Granted I still did it for the 2.11 miles, but it wasn't running.  However I am still confident it was amusing to watch the fatty trudge on the side of the road, and totally worth the two dollars and change it cost me to run that.

So in other non-admission news I learned a few things today during my first run. 

Firstly, I am glad I started training a little bit before actually doing these runs.  Whenever I try working out or running for the first time in a while my brain somehow has set itself as default state of workout was when I was actually in shape.  My mind has the idea that when I start a work out I should automatically be at the level I was at when I was most in shape.  So the past couple of weeks I have beat the fatty work out level and pace into my brain.  And thank goodness that I did that.  If my body tried to go out and run at an 'in shape' pace I would have died.

Secondly, I have always had poor circulation in my feet and it crops up a bit when running.  This isn't actually a fatty condition as I have always had it bother me it is just a matter as to how long down the running trail it pops up.  So I did a little bit of googling and apparently one of the possible things to do to help is have someone massage your feet.  So this was a great ploy to get the wife to massage my feet on a regular basis.  Hey, it's for the animals right?  Just because I get some foot massaging out of it doesn't make it wrong does it?  Even if it is wrong, I am still hoping to get 4 months of foot massages out of it.


As for the plan of attack until race time here it goes:

July I plan on doing at least 2 miles a day 5 days a week.
August 3 miles a day 5 days a week.
September 4 miles a day 5 days a week.
October 5 miles a day 5 days a week.


Now that is the bare minimum plan.  Ideally I want to increase the miles quicker than that but that is the bare minimum your money buys.

As always donate here.  Also tell all of your friends about my blog and get them to read and donate.  Because making a fat kid run is a joy we all can appreciate.

Video to come soon.

Tomorrow is D Day

If this is your first visit to my blog I am running a mile for every dollar donated to Second Chance Pet Adoptions for their Furry 5k in my name (Go here if you wish to donate for my personal fundraising for the 5k.)

That being said tomorrow is the day I start keeping track of my mileage and putting it up against your donations.  I have harassed a few immediate family in order to make sure that my initial outing would actually have some money already raised forcing me to go out and run.  However it is only 15 dollars so at my current plan it will only last me a week and a half before I outrun your wallets.


My initial run is a 2.11 mile run with a net 62' elevation gain.  Hopefully I will be able to beat the heat and be able to complete the run successfully.  I have been slightly training for this so I don't fall flat on my face as I start this expedition.  Doing about mile, mile and a half runs for the past couple of weeks with my brand new pair of New Balance shoes.  I have been running with New Balance for the past decade and they are wonderful running shoes.  They are American made with great quality and affordable.  From left to right I have worn New Balance's 473's, 410's, and finally I went and got some 411's for this 5k run and training.  They were sorely needed since my last shoe (the middle one) was wearing through the bottom.

Biscuit (my rescue cat) and my New Balance Shoes

So I know the skeptic in you must be wondering, is this guy really fat?  Am I going to be getting my moneys worth by making him run?  Now while I am not going to break any records for my weight I am certainly not a picture of health.  Warning: Farmer's tan ahead.

Surely this before shot proves my out of shapeness

The cold hard truth of the scale which...

... puts me clearly in the fatty category

So why don't you get in on the action?  The first fifteen dollars has occupied my run schedule until roughly July 10th but there is no reason that you can't donate and make Fatty run!  Every little bit helps and if you can't donate yourself forward this blog and the donate page to your friends.  Because everyone likes making the fat kid run.

Fatty running for rescue animals

I am a 5'11 225lb ex out of shape runner.  I used to run a lot in high school but once I didn't have a coach to yell at me to get me to go running the running stopped.  I have tried to get back into running off and on over the past decade.  But once Second Chance announced their Furry 5k I have finally found a way to help motivate me to run again.  And this way also helps benefit the animals at Second Chance Pet Adoptions.

So here is the deal:

A) Let's pretend you are in a similar situation as me and you know how hard it is to get motivated to go run.  Or maybe you just want to help motivate me to run.  Or maybe you just want to help the animals.  So for every dollar that you donate I will run a mile.  And for every dollar that you generous guys donate that I do not have time to match with my milage I will match the donation.  So if you guys donate 700 dollars and I manage to only run 500 miles I will donate 200 dollars to Second Chance Pet Adoptions.

B) Alright, now that we got the 3% of the nice people out of the way who donate for strictly altruistic means lets get into the real part of the deal.  Even though I ran back in high school I never was too fond of any sort of distance running.  And now that is even more so that I am fat.  So just think,1 dollar donated makes a fat kid run a mile.  Name me another form of entertainment that has that high of a return.  One dollar causes my fat self to run an entire mile.  For the price of a 3D movie you are donating enough money to make my fat self run for an entire week starting out.  And even if I try and pansy out I am on the hook financially as well so you can rest comfortably that your dollar made my fat ass sweat out a mile.

To donate please head here.  I will be up dating my progress in both fundraising for Second Chance and my painful training for the 5k.

In conclusion, Make Fatty Run, it is for the animals.