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So I guess this is the last update on my training for the Phillies’ 2nd annual 5k race held earlier today. From here on out, I’ll probably post occasional updates on my weight-loss efforts and any other fitness-based events I enter (which will likely be few, if any).

As stated here previously, in addition to my eventual goal of losing a total of 40 pounds, my short-term goal for the Phillies 5K was to finish in less than 30 minutes.

I am pleased to report that I accomplished that goal. Although the times given out after today’s Phillies 5K were yet to be confirmed, my recorded time was 28 min., 12 sec. I’ll update this post with a link to the results once they are posted on Phillies.com.

UPDATE (3/31/2012, 3:10 p.m. ET):
The Phillies 5K results have been posted. My “chip” time was 28 min., 12.541 sec., which—as I understand it—is the time between when the chip affixed to my runner’s bib crossed the starting and finishing lines…which is my actual time. However, it is the “gun” time—which, I believe, is the time between the firing of the starting gun and when you cross the finish line—that determines the rankings. My gun time was recorded at 29 min., 32.712 sec., so I officially came in 1,328th place overall out of 4,096 who finished the race.

As far as male runners are concerned, I finished in 824th place out of 1,758 males who finished the race. Among males between the ages of 40-49 who finished the race, I came in 122nd out of 283.

So the good news…? At least I finished in the top half in all three of those categories (overall, males and males 40-49).

Also, here is the 2012 Phillies 5K Starting Line Video from the Phillies’ web site (don’t even bother looking for me…I was on the side opposite this camera, although I ran right by one that was set up on the other side of the street)

It was also fun seeing a high school classmate of mine, Deb Rinaldi, who has worked in the Phillies’ communications department for a number of years. Except for my friend Jason, I’m pretty sure it was the first face-to-face conversation I have had with somebody I went to high school with in about 13 years.

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Background

You can read my post from Jan. 28 for specifics, but—prior to the 2012 Phillies 5K—I finished my only real 5K race in 27 min., 54 sec. back in fall 2006. However, I had been running regularly in the months leading up to it (the first time I ever ran like that in my life) and had lost 35 pounds. Now, after putting all the weight back on and being five-plus years older, my goals are to finish the Phillies 5K in less than 30 minutes (done…28 min., 12 sec.) and lose 40 pounds.

On a personal note, another reason I am doing this is because my wife and I are expecting our first child in early July. I’ll be 41 a few days after my wife gives birth and I want to make sure I’m in shape into my 50s and 60s so I can do things with our kid (or, thinking ahead a bit…kids).

Here is a table with my run distances† and times during this training period:

Here is the latest update on my training for the sold-out Phillies’ 2nd annual 5k race on March 31 as part of my current effort to lose a total of 40 pounds. This is the 11th in a series of updates here…

In this final week before tomorrow’s Phillies 5K, I didn’t do quite as much running as usual, which I had planned. However, I wound up going against my original plan to a degree.

I managed to get in a couple of 1.6-mile runs and a 3.1-mile jaunt during the week and recorded decent times (for me, at least) on all three outings. On Sunday, I completed a 1.6-mile run in 14 min., 32 sec. I ran the same distance on Wednesday and finished in 14 min., 20 sec.

Even though I didn’t plan on running much in the day or two before the race, I decided to get in a 3.1-mile run today. However, I changed my route in order to avoid looping around my neighborhood four times and to give it more of an actual 5K feel. Amazingly, that did the trick…because I wound up completing the run in 27 min., 33 sec. — a new, unofficial personal best in a 5K-distance run.

UPDATE 3/31/12: Apparently, the distance I ran Friday was only 3 miles. I drove the route again and that’s what it came out to…so that explains the quicker time. Hopefully, though, I’ll be able to finish in less than 28 minutes in the Phillies 5K.

I just hope I didn’t kill my legs for tomorrow’s race, which is expected to be run in rainy, windy conditions with temperatures in the mid-40s…awesome. I’ll post an update on how I did after Saturday’s race.

Oh well, better news on the weight-loss front…I lost another couple of pounds so I’ve now dropped 17 of the 40 pounds I want to lose.

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Background

You can read my post from Jan. 28 for specifics, but I finished my only real 5K race in 27 min., 54 sec. back in fall 2006. However, I had been running regularly in the months leading up to it (the first time I ever ran like that in my life) and had lost 35 pounds. Now, after putting all the weight back on and being five-plus years older, my goals are to finish the Phillies 5K in less than 30 minutes and lose 40 pounds.

On a personal note, another reason I am doing this is because my wife and I are expecting our first child in early July. I’ll be 41 a few days after my wife gives birth and I want to make sure I’m in shape into my 50s and 60s so I can do things with our kid (or, thinking ahead a bit…kids).

I’ll be posting updates on my progress here once or twice a week.

Here is a table with my run distances† and times during this training period:

Here is the latest update on my training for the sold-out Phillies’ 2nd annual 5k race on March 31 as part of my current effort to lose a total of 40 pounds. This is the 10th in a series of updates here…

Temperatures continued to reach into the 70s—and even 80s—this week in central New Jersey, and I managed to complete three more 3.2-mile runs.

Unfortunately, Tuesday’s 30 min., 28 sec. run marked the fourth straight “30-plus” outing since I finally broke the 30-minute barrier with a 29 min., 32 sec. run on March 13.

But I was able to turn things around Wednesday, when I completed another 3.2-mile run in a new 2012 personal best time of 29 min., 26 sec.

Thursday’s run was a little weird…at one point, during the second lap around my neighborhood, a small dog that usually barks at me from behind a fence decided to actually chase after me and was getting in my way, so I had to stop for about 30 seconds. Once that happened, I decided there was no point in pushing it so I coasted the rest of the way to a 30 min., 58 sec. run.

Meanwhile, on the weight-loss front, not great news…thanks to St. Patrick’s Day  food and beer consumption last wekend, it’s status quo from last week. So I’ve still only dropped 15 of the 40 pounds I want to lose.

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Background

You can read my post from Jan. 28 for specifics, but I finished my only real 5K race in 27 min., 54 sec. back in fall 2006. However, I had been running regularly in the months leading up to it (the first time I ever ran like that in my life) and had lost 35 pounds. Now, after putting all the weight back on and being five-plus years older, my goals are to finish the Phillies 5K in less than 30 minutes and lose 40 pounds.

On a personal note, another reason I am doing this is because my wife and I are expecting our first child in early July. I’ll be 41 a few days after my wife gives birth and I want to make sure I’m in shape into my 50s and 60s so I can do things with our kid (or, thinking ahead a bit…kids).

I’ll be posting updates on my progress here once or twice a week.

Here is a table with my run distances* and times during this training period:

Here is the latest update on my training for the sold-out Phillies’ 2nd annual 5k race on March 31 as part of my current effort to lose a total of 40 pounds. This is the ninth in what will be a series of updates here…

Well, temperatures reached into the 70s in the central New Jersey area this week before falling into the 50s on Thursday. But I managed to complete three 3.2-mile runs during the week.

I finished the first one, on Tuesday, in a new personal best time for 2012: 29 min., 32 sec. I finally came in under the 30-minute mark and with decent room to spare. During the run, I didn’t feel like I really pushed myself. For the most part, I ran at a nice, comfortable pace while pushing it a bit every 1/2 mile or so.

However, I did push it at the end of Tuesday’s run and didn’t like how I felt after that so I decided to take it easy when I went for another 3.2-mile run on Wednesday. As a result, I finished that run in 31 min., 52 sec. A disappointing time, but what was nice about it was that I got in a workout and hardly felt winded at all at the end of the run.

Today’s run was a bit of a letdown. My initial pace felt way too fast so I pulled up a bit. I ran the rest of the first lap at that same consistent pace, but it turned out I slowed up too much and it threw off my pace for the remainder of the run. I turned it on at the end, but I still wound up completing the run in a lackluster 30 min., 22 sec.

However, the fact that the best of my three runs this week was the first one is telling me that I shouldn’t run a day or two before the 5K on March 31. I’ll get in a run 3 or 4 days before the event and just do some workouts the rest of the week. Maybe I’ll do a quick mile two days before the 5K just to keep my legs conditioned.

Meanwhile, I continue to make progress on the weight-loss front as I’ve now dropped an additional two pounds. That means I have now shed 15 of the 40 pounds I want to lose.

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Background

You can read my post from Jan. 28 for specifics, but I finished my only real 5K race in 27 min., 54 sec. back in fall 2006. However, I had been running regularly in the months leading up to it (the first time I ever ran like that in my life) and had lost 35 pounds. Now, after putting all the weight back on and being five-plus years older, my goals are to finish the Phillies 5K in less than 30 minutes and lose 40 pounds.

On a personal note, another reason I am doing this is because my wife and I are expecting our first child in early July. I’ll be 41 a few days after my wife gives birth and I want to make sure I’m in shape into my 50s and 60s so I can do things with our kid (or, thinking ahead a bit…kids).

I’ll be posting updates on my progress here once or twice a week.

Here is a table with my run distances* and times during this training period:

Here is the latest update on my training for the sold-out Phillies’ 2nd annual 5k race on March 31 as part of my current effort to lose a total of 40 pounds. This is the eighth in what will be a series of updates here…

With temperatures in the 60s yesterday and in the 70s today, I made sure to get in 3.2-mile runs on each of the days.

I completed Wednesday’s run in 30 min., 06 sec., which marks my best time of 2012. In addition, I recorded a mile time of under nine minutes (8’48”) for the first time in about six years. It also was my fifth straight run in which I improved my time from the previous outing.

However, that streak came to an end with today’s run, which I finished in 30 min., 32 sec. I was feeling good halfway through the run and, in fact, clocked in at 14 min., 56 sec. at the midway point, so I was on pace at that point to finish in less than 30 minutes. But about two-thirds of the way through the third lap, I started cramping up and eased up a bit. Usually, I can go easy for about a 1/2 mile and pick up the pace again, but my body just didn’t respond today.

Again, one of my goals is to complete the Phillies 5K (3.1 miles) in less than 30 minutes. And since my usual route is 3.2 miles (0.1 mile further than a 5K), I’m at the point where I should be able to achieve that objective. Even though I struggled a bit today, I was still around that 30-minute mark so I’m confident that I’ll be up to the task by the time March 31 comes along.

That being said, I’m not going to relax once I start consistently finishing my runs in less than 30 minutes. My all-time best 5K time is 27 min, 54 sec. so I still have that to shoot for.

On the weight-loss front, there is a little better news to report this week compared to last. I’ve dropped an additional two pounds so I have now shed 13 of the 40 pounds I want to lose.

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Background

You can read my post from Jan. 28 for specifics, but I finished my only real 5K race in 27 min., 54 sec. back in fall 2006. However, I had been running regularly in the months leading up to it (the first time I ever ran like that in my life) and had lost 35 pounds. Now, after putting all the weight back on and being five-plus years older, my goals are to finish the Phillies 5K in less than 30 minutes and lose 40 pounds.

On a personal note, another reason I am doing this is because my wife and I are expecting our first child in early July. I’ll be 41 a few days after my wife gives birth and I want to make sure I’m in shape into my 50s and 60s so I can do things with our kid (or, thinking ahead a bit…kids).

I’ll be posting updates on my progress here once or twice a week.

Here is a table with my run distances* and times during this training period:

Here is the latest update on my training for the sold-out Phillies’ 2nd annual 5k race on March 31 as part of my current effort to lose a total of 40 pounds. This is the seventh in what will be a series of updates here…

It managed to get into the 50s (or close to it) a few times this week so I managed to get in three 3.2-mile runs. On Monday, I recorded a time of 31 min., 41 sec., which was eight seconds faster than my 2012 best set last Thursday (2/23).

But I turned in an even better time on Tuesday, finishing that run in 30 min., 57 sec. This marked my first 3.2-mile run under the 31-minute mark since I started training in January.

However, I bested that mark today when I posted a time of 30 min., 35 sec.

I’m getting closer to the point where I should be able to complete a 5K (3.1 miles) in less than 30 minutes (especially when you factor in I’m running an additional 1/10th of a mile each time out), which is a goal of mine for the Phillies 5K event on March 31. Today’s run also marked the fourth straight time I posted a faster time than the previous effort. Hopefully, my days of up-and-down run times are behind me and I will start seeing consistent improvement from here on out.

Also, I really have to figure out how to properly calibrate my Nike+ sensor. As I have already stated in previous updates, I have confirmed that four laps around my neighborhood equals 3.2 miles (0.8 miles per lap). However, except for my first run of the year, Nike+ has consistently recorded four laps in the 3.05 to 3.08 range, which I am ignoring. Tuesday’s run was only 2.95 miles, according to Nike+, which is really inaccurate. And today’s run was back at 3.03 miles…but I’m running the same route—and path—each time. Again, though, I am posting all my distances here based on the reality that each lap is 0.8 miles.

Progress hasn’t been as good on the weight-loss front. While I have now dropped 11 of the 40 pounds I want to lose, I only lost one more pound since last week. I’m still struggling with tracking my caloric intake so my workouts and runs are mostly only burning off the calories I shouldn’t have consumed in the first place.

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Background

You can read my post from Jan. 28 for specifics, but I finished my only real 5K race in 27 min., 54 sec. back in fall 2006. However, I had been running regularly in the months leading up to it (the first time I ever ran like that in my life) and had lost 35 pounds. Now, after putting all the weight back on and being five-plus years older, my goals are to finish the Phillies 5K in less than 30 minutes and lose 40 pounds.

On a personal note, another reason I am doing this is because my wife and I are expecting our first child in early July. I’ll be 41 a few days after my wife gives birth and I want to make sure I’m in shape into my 50s and 60s so I can do things with our kid (or, thinking ahead a bit…kids).

I’ll be posting updates on my progress here once or twice a week.

Here is a table with my run distances* and times charted during this training period: