The Strange But True Story of the Amazing Marathon Man

They say the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step....and the journey of 26.2 miles begins with a single step as well.

Last year around this time, Bob decided to take a step in the right direction. He wanted to get in better shape. To lose some weight so his pants would fit better. To make better choices about what he consumed. He started running his usual 'get in shape' amount of 3 miles. I suggest he should push it to 4, and do a longer run on the weekends of about 6. And he liked the idea of maybe doing the half marathon with me in December.

The more he ran, the easier it got and his distances got longer and longer,and soon it became apparent that running an entire marathon would be an achievable goal. He read a book on marathon training, and set up an 18 week training program. And the training program was not an easy road at all...it included running 5 days a week, with increasing mileage. It involved getting up at 4:30am on Tues, Wed, and Thurs to get his runs done before work. Running either on the treadmill or outside in the dark, wearing a orange construction vest at first to prevent being flattened by the newspaper delivery guy. On weekends he pushed Parker in the stroller on runs under 6 miles.

Also along the training path there were challenges - fitting run schedules around crazy work hours, a very unfortunate bout of delayed heat illness in the middle of a dinner party, and knee trouble in the final weeks of training. The knee pain (IT band to be exact) lead to intensive physical therapy, icing during his daily commute and hours stretching. But even with those obstacles, last Sunday, Bob not only completed his marathon journey, but he had an amazing running debut!

The weather on race day also presented an enormous hurdle. The winds that day were horrible, 20-30mph, with gusts even stronger. The kind of wind that causes you to hang on tight to the steering wheel so you don't fly off the overpass. During the section of the course that circled White Rock Lake, Bob said he felt like he was standing still. At mile 23, he was really really struggling. He decided to walk for a bit for the first time in his race. After a half mile, he decided it was too painful and exhausting to walk, and running was somehow easier than walking. He managed to will himself to finish, and was only 10 minutes slower than his goal time. Many people that day were slower than their goal time, if they finished at all. The paper reported that winner had the slowest finish time since 2001....which was a race with no elite runners.

His finish time was 3:40:23 (3 hours, 40 minutes, 23 seconds), 8:25 pace...that's like setting your speed on your treadmill to 7.1...and running on it for 3 hours. This is an awesome finish time for anyone, much less a new runner and a first time marathoner.

The rest of his stats:
He was 427 out of 3938 total marathoners, 357th Male Overall.
84th in Age Group
Top 10% overall (top 14% of males).
And the links -
From the GPS watch we wear:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1545677
(if you mouse over the graph, you can see the pace)

Photos (use bib# 5243):
http://www.sportphoto.com/Event.aspx?EventID=61

There are many famous quotes that tell us that what is important is the journey that you take, not the destination. I'm guessing the folks that said that would have called it quits around mile 20. At the end of his brutal 26.2 mile journey and 6 long months of training, Bob found himself 30lbs thinner, no longer needing cholesterol lowering drugs, and in the best shape of his life. Sure it was an amazing trip, but view from the finish line is pretty sweet too.



Bob Post, 03:40:30 (NET) @ Finish Pace 8:24
(that's the actual text that people who signed up for racing tracking received when he crossed the finish line)


(I ran the half marathon in 2:16. More on me in another post)

Memorial weekend

We stayed home for Memorial weekend....but we had plenty to do around the house to keep us busy. Bob cleaned out the garage, and Parker kept him company riding her 3-wheeler while wearing her slippers and a ballerina skirt.

On Sunday night we broke out the Slip-N-Slide. Parker was THRILLED with it....although she's not quite coordinated enough to slide very far. She sort of runs to the end and falls down. But she has a ton of fun doing it, and it really wears her out.

This is her starting to run....she rares back like a baseball pitcher and then takes off.

Water collects at the end and makes a big splash.

Then she runs back for more.

Today's exciting event was Bob dismantling the freezer. For months now it's been leaking at the bottom, so he took the whole thing apart to fix the clog in a water line that was causing it to leak. At least we're crossing our fingers that will fix it. That might not sound like a fun holiday event to you, but if it's actually fixed, and we won't ever walk into the kitchen first thing in the morning and step into a puddle, it will be way worth it!

Weekend chores

These are pictures from last week. We had a productive day around here! We took town all the Christmas stuff and since the weather was nice, Bob did some outdoor yardwork.

Helping with the outdoor lights.....

And is it just me, or are all the pictures of Bob surrounded by a pile of limbs starting to run together? The dead Willow tree at the end of our driveway is gone now.

Here's an action shot......

And the giant dead Redtip in the front of the house is gone too. I guess the drought/wet spring combo was too much for it.

The aftermath....

Apparently the sound of a chainsaw is to a man's ears as a dog whistle is to a dog's ears. This was the resulting pow-wow.

Bob-tracker

And in other news, Bob has written a program that will track him as he drives (using the GPS on his phone). That way, in the evening Parker and I can see how long we have before he gets home. We can see one of his coworkers in Austin on it too. You know it's a slow night in the Post home when we sit on the couch and watch his friend drive home from work on the laptop!

New Tree

We got a new tree! We needed something to replace the one that fell this summer to prevent our shade garden from baking in the afternoon sun. We chose an Autumn Blaze Maple, like we have in the front yard. It gets very pretty red and orange leaves in the fall.

BEFORE:
This is Bob out pre-digging the hole for the tree planters


(acutally, he wanted to make sure they didn't hit a sprinkler line, but it's funnier to act like he couldn't wait for the planters to get here)

AFTER:

It's kind of hard to see and to tell the scale, but it's a nice sized tree. The best part is that the nursery planted it for us, and it has a one year guarantee.

While we waited for the planters to get here, we debated whether or not it would rain. Parker braced for the weather with her new rain coat and kitty boots. She asks me everyday if it's going to rain, and she's had her coat and boots hanging on her chair since she got the rain coat.

Bob did more work on the bathroom. He's sealing the grout here. He also stained and restained the trim, and will probably install it in a day or two. We cannot wait to have this bathroom functional again!

Playdough skills and bathroom update

Up until now, I've been against having playdough at home. I figured Parker could play with it enough at other kid's houses and at school. But she found some in a goodie bag and played with it, and then PUT IT AWAY, so I thought I'd get her a bit more. I was really surprised to see how easily she learned to roll out the dough (using a piece of PVC) and cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Who's wealthier, bakers or ceramicists?

Bob continues his work on the bathroom. The drywall was quite damaged from the wallpaper removal, so he's had to do lots of work to get them smooth again.

I'm sure our 'potty in paradise' thrills the neighbors. Parker was really confused by it as well.

And lastly, here's a picture of crazy Bob trying to race the rain and get the lawn mowed before a downpour. He's wearing a flesh colored shirt - running behind a mower in the rain is one thing, doing it shirtless is just over the top.

Weekend fun

We had another busy weekend. Bob decided to redo some of our sprinkler piping. It had a leak and had been patched numerous times, so he dug it all up and repiped it. I played the role of "clean person" and indoor support. Every now and then the door would pop open and he'd yell "can ya bring me a...." ...coat hanger, hack saw, piece of bread, paper towel, another piece of bread, more paper towels, sack of hamburger buns, gatoraide, telephone, etc etc. (the bread is used to plug the pipes) At one point I guess Parker helped fill in the hole. The doorbell rang and this is what I found when I answered it:

New flower bed pictures

Before

During

Bob, during

After

I forgot to mention that there's a "Gold Dust Aucuba" (varagated japonica) in the back corner that will get about 4'x6' hopefully.

Be careful what Bob and Parker wish for.....

Well they got their trampoline. I showed just the slightest crack in my no-trampoline armour and it was like trying to stop wild horses. Saturday morning, after Bob mowed but before we had guests over for dinner, Bob purchased and assembled Parker's new trampoline. It was on sale, which was nice.
On the way to the store, we were waiting to turn left, and lots of cars were zipping past us. Parker's observation was

" Looks like a lot of people are going to get a trampoline! We better hurry before they're all out!"

Parker LOVES it and she just laughs and laughs and jumps and jumps. It is a bit of an eyesore for our neighbors though. Hopefully Parker's squeals and giggles will cheer them up.

Jumpin' Cousins - Foot update

This was a fun game Parker played until all the big kids got tired of it. This is one of her cousins...Bob's sister's daughter.

I was just reminded that i never gave an update on Bob's foot. He went and got Xrays and nothing is broken. He got good marks for keeping his cuts clean, they were very impressed considering he'd been at the beach for a week.
He received a velcro shoe to limp around in and promptly mowed the yard when he got home!
If you aren't easily grossed out, here's a link to the pictures.
http://www.flickr.com/gp/41254716@N00/MQ6J28
It continued to swell through the week, to the point that his toes didn't touch the ground at times!
You'll notice that he's wearing a dishwashing glove to keep his foot clean from sand and showing off his sunburn from Sea World.

Life with Bob

2 hours before company was about to arrive, I can't find Bob. I look around and find that he's decided to do some tree trimming real quick. Most of my friends complain that they can't get their husbands to do stuff around the house.....I can't get mine to stop!