Lb To Vgs To 400+ Racewalking To Half-Marathon

[PaPaBob 15]

UPDATE: Should have posted last week: Well guys, I haven't posted in a while because I have just be out here living life to it's fullest. Grandkids, hunting, chasing the love of my life around(my dearest Lisa) and catching her every once in a while . . LOL, new temp job. . Yes, back in the working stiff arena getting some extra cash for all the hunting licenses I have to buy . . . Colorado Archery, Elk, Illinois Archer, Firearms, and Muzzleloader, Michigan Archery and Firearms/Muzzleloader, . . . etc. etc. . etc. . . see what I mean. I kinda like the work as it is challenging and pays pretty well. Back to the subject here . . . my WL has been going really well. . . down to 226(from a LB surgery high of 366) now and feeling pretty darned good and healthy. Exercise couldn't be better. As you probably already know I have become a fanatical Race/Walker with my buddy Jolly. We have now covered 392 miles since last August just prior to my LB to Sleeve conversion. We walked an 8K(5mi) event here in lansing 10 days after that surgery which was awesome. But, I am ready for another one. We have entered the half-marathon here in Lansing, MI. This is the inaugural event . . . Marathon(26 mi), Half-Marathon(13.1 mi), 5k, and 1k(kids race). You can find the details for this event at www.lansingmarathon.com . .

Since I am going to be kicking off this race at about 9-9:15 am on Sunday April 22nd I thought you all just might like to watch the event from whereever you are. Well at least follow my progress on the computer. I have a GPS program that runs on my smartphone that tracks me and gives me my split times so I can keep up to a expected pace. If you are so inclined to peek in on my progress just follow this link: http://runkeeper.com...ndJolly/profile . . .. Then click on the Activities tab. Select the top activity and you should be able to follow my progress as I walk this route. You can point to the spots on the route to see my distance, pace, speed, etc. . . during the race. Hope you have a little fun with this. I will post pics from the pre-race, during the race, and after. . .

This exercise is part of the reason that I have done so well after surgery. For any of you guys that are having trouble getting that exercise started. . . believe me it was difficult in the beginning. I just started with small walks and charted distance and times. Always either tried to go farther or faster and sometimes both. . . it hasn't stopped yet.

Say a little prayer for me that I can suck it all up and finish this race. My cardio is awesome and my times on distances up to 8 miles are really good. Today I did an 8 mile walk with an average of 12:26 mi/mile. I am hoping to finish this race with about a 13 min/mi average. This would surely have me coming in under 3 hours.

This is my best WOW moment . . . can you believe this 64 year old "former fat guy" is even going to try to finish this race. . . and now with such good times. I am feeling so good about this . . . Thank you Barix staff for everything you have done for me. And to all the folks here that give the great support to each other . . . "Hats off to you!!!". . keep up the good work and those that are just starting be sure to stick around and give aide and comfort to those just getting started down the line someday.

That's all for now. See you on Sunday night when I post some new pics.

UPDATE Last Sunday: Well guys . . this is the day . . . half-marathon starts at 9:30 am. I will be trying to update pics throughout the race from a new app on my Android phone so you can see the race route and what it looks like to me. Should take me about 2:50 hrs/mins to finish the race. That is my goal. About 13 min/mile. Check out the pics on my Facebook page . . . https://www.facebook.../#!/bob.scriver

Couldn't have done this without Dr. Taylor and the Barix staff. . . . Thank you.

Current Posting: Check out the FB page link above. . I FINISHED Lansing's 1st half-marathon. I have posted pics and Run keeper links to the race details. Pinch me. . I still can't believe it.

My time was 2:50:06 for the 13.1 miles. . . My RunKeeper program calculated my average race time at 12:50 min/mile average. Not bad for a 64 year old former fat guy . . . LOL I have now lost a total of 140 lbs credited to both my surgeries(LB and VGS) along with a total of over 600 miles walking over the past 2.5 years.