Angels Vs. Demons

Dec 072010
 

ZebOn Sunday, I made the commitment to begin training for the Ironman and today I woke up with a soar throat.  I think sickness is not an illness or a virus, but one of the devil’s agents, a demon.   A demon sent to destroy my will and desire for success.  I wouldn’t call myself religious, but it seems to me that I get sick at innopportune times where I have a goal I want to accomplish and it hinders me in that pursuit.

For example, in High School I was a bench player on the Junior Varsity soccer team and was told the day before that I was going to start the next day.  Excitedly, I ran home and dreamt about my first day playing for the team.  I awoke in the morning to a 100+ degree temperature, while simultaneously visiting the toilet on numerous occasions.

How did that day turn out?

Well, I made it to the soccer game, I pretended as if I was not sick, started and played the best game of my life.  I had won my starting spot on the team and played in every game after that.  Playing did have it’s consequences; however, I was sick for the next two weeks due to showing up at practices and running excessively and then coming home and vomiting all night, just to go back and do it again.  But, I accomplished my goal to become a starting player.

So, maybe this sickness is really Angels who have decided to alter my direction.  Instead of training right away, maybe they are telling me to research training first so that way I do it succesfully.  That must be it.  Surely, Angels would want me to be properly prepared.  So, that is it, I will wait til my illness subsides and in the mean time I will research what it takes to effectively train for an Ironman.

Angels vs. Demons – this round goes to the Angels . . . or perhaps it’s just that neither of them particularly like to run.

But seriously, why do we always get sick when we seem to want to be sick the least?

Finding Motivation, Thanks Amish!

Dec 062010
 

RockyWell day one and I already find myself searching for energy to start my training. So I thought to myself, those Amish seem like motivated folks. How would the Amish research ways to get motivated to exercise? Like anyone else they would google it, right?

So after googleing away 30 mins of good potential working out time I realized the generetic, you will feel better or burn calories just won’t work for me. So I decided I would list some of the reasons that make me want to run that aren’t so generic:

  1. I want to support my brother
  2. I currently am in the midst of 50 lbs weight loss challenge (I am half way)
  3. I get to be alone with my thoughts (usually this means not having any thoughts)

What are some of the things that help to motivate you when you are trying to workout?

I guess for the purposes of reaching my goal of running a marathon it really doesn’t matter why or how I get motivated, it just matters that I do something………….30 mins of good hard rowing and I feel good and 500 calaries burned (go figure).

What is an Ironman?

Dec 062010
 

ZebIt’s time for a brief introduction, I’m Zeb, the older, better looking Running Brother.

My ultimate goal in this process is to become an Ironman.  My brother first suggested that we attempt a half Ironman earlier this year.  I had never heard of the Ironman, but it peaked my interest so, I decided to research the topic.

According to ironman.com, The Ironman World Championship is a competition that takes place every year in Kona, Hawaii.  Only 1,800 people can enter the race.  Their are two ways to get in, you can qualify for the race by performing well at other Ironman events or you can get accepted through a lottery system.

The overall distance for the race is 140.6 miles, a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile run and in order to finish, the race must be completed in 17 hours.  Typically, temperatures on race day are 82 to 95 degrees with humidity around 90 percent, and in the past racers have had to deal with winds that have gotten as high as 60 mph.

I want to be able to say, “I am an Ironman.”  However, all my research did not give me an adequate answer as to what constitutes being an Ironman.  Is it coming in first at the Ironman World Championships?  Is it completing the course in Kona in under 17 hours?  Is it completing one of the other qualifying events that are also 140.6 miles?  Is it completing a half Ironman?  Does anyone know how I can say that I have become an Ironman?

Take a look below to view a brief video preview of the 2010 Ironman World Championship, set to take place on December 18.

BANG!!!

Dec 052010
 

Today is the start of a journey.  A journey that will put two brothers to the ultimate test.  One brother will become an Iron Man, the other, a Marathoner.  The brothers hope to chronicle the adventures and mishaps that occur in the long process of training and competing. Both are starting with minimal training and hope this blog will document the transformations (physical and mental), while growing closer as brothers. Currently, we have one supporter, our sister, Lacey Welborn. Join her. Follow our escapades. Send us words of encouragement, praise, advice or mockery.

And now it begins… RunningBrothers.com. Join us on our journey. Watch us rise from the depths of endurance mediocrity to outright long distance fiends. Witness our pains and frustrations from 5k and 10k runs early in our training before we dominate those same distances without breaking a sweat. Observe the physical and mental metamorphosis that we shall surely go through. Join us on this long and difficult journey from start to finish. “Bang!” (That was the starter pistol.) We’re off and running!

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