Brent Berkley

2022.01.04 Tuesday I’m in a bit of a limbo period right now.  December, ‘21 started great, with a plan to do 5K every day for 31 days.  I was looking at it as a challenge:  could I actually do it?   The short answer is “no”.  Not because I gave up, or because I didn’t have the discipline, but because I’m a fat 52 year old who forgets that he’s not a thin 30 year old.  About 4 days in, I started to get a pain in my foot.  I kept at it for a few days, even getting creative when I was in NYC to walk to a Planet Fitness since my hotel didn’t have a treadmill.  But on the 7th, the pain was so bad that I could hardly walk.  It was devastating and disappointing.  So I stopped.  I had to. I took a week or so off and really didn't do much exercise at all.  I then started getting on the stationary bike at home, just to try to keep my aerobic capacity from slipping too much.  I was feeling ready to get back on the road. Then on ...

I'm registered, paid, and committed. The Garmin Kansas City Marathon/Half Marathon is on October 16, 2021 here in (duh) Kansas City. So now I need to get myself into an appropriate shape to actually finish the race.  The longest I've ever run (as in without walking) is about 3 miles.  That's pretty far from the goal of 13.1. I'm not kidding myself into thinking that I can be ready to run without walking for the entire race; my guess is that there will be more than a little walking involved. But I'm not in this alone.   I decided that at my age and in my condition, I needed some help.  So I did a bit of searching and found a great local running coach.  I've been working with him for about a month now and I'm pretty happy with my progress. Team O Coaching  is Kevin O'Grattan and he's got an impressive running and coaching pedigree.  What I most like about Coach O is that he tailors his plans and workouts to the individual athlete.  Which is so ...

 It's a big question for me. I've never run more than a couple of miles in one go.  A few years ago, I did a few 5K races, but even those I needed to walk for a substantial part of it. I've got a race in mind: The Garmin Kansas City Marathon and Half Marathon on October 16, 2021. That gives me 22 weeks to get ready. Right now, I can go 2.25 miles in 30 minutes.  On a treadmill in the basement.  And I'm easily 50 pounds overweight. Huh ... I'll give it some thought and decide by next week.

 "For better or worse, we conspire with mirrors to keep ourselves blind to who we really are."   ~ Sean Tucker