The Start of a New Journey

Who in the hell runs for fun?

This is going to be a long ass post so prepare yourselves…

On June 6th I participated in my 2nd half marathon. Hospital Hill in Kansas City Missouri. 

 

Gotta love the race day photos… Anyways it was a tough race. Obviously the hills were difficult, the fact that I worked the night before and had ZERO sleep before the race was tough and the fact that it started raining at around mile 8 or 9. It was hard as hell but I still finished with a time of 2 hours and 17 minutes. There were thousands of people there and the scene was amazing. 

     

After the race it was a struggle but with all of the soreness I still felt great that I could run as far as I did again.  

 

Whenever I first started “training” for my first half marathon in April, this idea of running for distance was mind boggling to me. As time goes on, I have learned to like the idea of running long distances. I’m starting to like how my friends envy me and my ability to run for long distances. 

Of course I have people who think that I’m crazy and it’s cool to be a lil crazy/psycho. Especially if it’s something that I’m passionate about. I love the idea of staying in shape and being healthy but I still gotta change some eating habits…

Long story short, I’ve been thinking of running a full marathon. I’ve looked at a marathon in December that’s in Honolulu, Hawaii. I’m thinking that’s the one that I’m going to sign up for. I’m killing what seems like many birds with one stone. One of my bucket list goals is to run a full marathon, another would be to travel to a tropical place and I’ve always wanted to go to Hawaii, so…fuck it! I think that I’m going to sign up for that one! Yup! I signed up for it! 26.2 miles in Honolulu!

I still have many questions that need to be answered…

1. How would I run and lift weights during my training? Obviously running is the main priority, but lifting some weights can help with building strong muscles that are needed to run such a long distance. At least that’s what I’ve been told…
2. How will I be able to train while working full time and going to school? I’m pretty sure I’ll figure that out.
3. What type of training regimen would I need to follow? Anywhere from 3-5 days a week I’m guessing, with one of those days bring the long run. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
4. How will I eat/drink and run at the same time?
5. What type of diet would best fit a potential marathon runner? Are specific nutrients needed more than others? All of them are needed but I’m still curious.
6. I’m sure there’s more but I’ll think of them at a later date…

To go along with this training for running a full marathon, I’ve also partnered with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to raise some money for a child along the way. For every mile that I run, I’ll donate a dollar to my personal fundraiser. I’ve even created a personal Facebook page that describes this fundraiser even more which you can hopefully check out here. 

Recently I got the chance to meet Savannah, a Make-A-Wish child who got her chance to go to Disneysorld and meet Cinderella! She has battled and fought against leukemia and is now winning the fight.  

Feel free to invite your friends to come look at he page! 

That’s all I have for now! I’ll be sure to update you guys as I cross off something on my bucket list soon! Take care! 

K’s Tips to a Better You

Progress to a healthier “K” Ep. 2 

 Thanks for taking time out of your day to read this post, it means a lot to me. For those who are new to my blog, I’ve been trying to document my bucket list (K’s Bucket List) and a challenge That I’ve created for myself that I’d like to call the Jordan Year. 

Now I’d like to document my journey to improving my body and hopefully getting to where I would like to be. So far I’ve lost 110-115 pounds and you could read about that here: K’s Weight Loss Transformation.  

 By documenting my journey I’ll be crossing a few things off of my bucket list, holding myself accountable for my words and hopefully inspiring some of you to improve upon yourselves in whichever way you see fit. 

Yesterday, I made a post called Go Hard or Go Home which introduces this new idea of documenting my journey to improve my body. Now I’d like to share a few ideas that have helped myself in my weight loss with hopes that it helps you with whatever goal you may have. 

Tip #1 Come up with a plan

With whatever you’re doing, try to outline a plan and establish goals that you’d like to achieve. Write it down somewhere, put it on your phone, do whatever you gotta do. I’d recommend having the plan easily accessible to you so you can use it as motivation to keep you on track to achieve your goals. 

Last December, I set goals for myself to achieve. I have accomplished two of my three goals. I have ran My First Half Marathon and I completed the Warrior Dash. In early June I’ll be running another half marathon.

Tip #2 Be realistic with your goals

Whenever I came up with these goals, I knew that I needed time to get acclimated to running for distance. I had never ran more than a couple miles in my life. I knew that I had to stick to a training plan and I knew that this is a marathon and not a sprint. Most goals in life take time and dedication to achieve. It’s one thing to want to lose 20 pounds, it’s another thing to set an unreasonable goal such as losing it in a month.

Tip #3 Hold yourself accountable for your goals

Tell your friends, tell your family, blog about it! Whatever you gotta do to make sure you have others to hold you accountable for your actions. Whenever I started training for my first half marathon I posted about it on my Facebook and Instagram. I had friends asking me how many miles I was going to run each day and it really helped me stay on track. I did the same thing with my bucket list and so far I have somewhat kept to it. Now people are expecting me to do more things on my list as well as asking about what I may be doing next.

These are just a few tips that I have and I’m sure that I can go on all day but my fingers are getting tired and I really wanna watch the NBA Playoffs. Go Bulls! Feel free to comment below with suggestions or whatever else you might wanna say! Thanks for reading! Have a great day! ✌🏿️

  

Go Hard or Go Home

Progress to a healthier “K” Ep. 1

I think that I’ll try to fill those who may be interested about my progress to getting healthier on here. I’m not sure how often I’ll update my progress, maybe once a week, maybe once every couple weeks or so, maybe whenever I feel like it. For those who are new, I’ve been trying to blog about my bucket list and that is slowly starting to come along. You can look at my previous posts to see what I’ve done.

I think that this is a great platform to share my progress with hopes to hold myself accountable as well as maybe inspiring others to lead on healthier lives as well. 

I’ll give a summary of what I’ve been doing with regards to getting healthier. This will help me potentially cross off a few items off of my bucket list and my “Jordan year” list as well.

Today I went to run on the treadmill and I ended up running 13.1 miles (half marathon).  

      

For whatever reason I felt the need to keep going and to push myself. The last 3-4 miles were difficult. I wanted to stop and I probably should’ve. Overtraining your body can have some very serious consequences. I’ll be sure to take it easy over the next few days. 

 

Might as well show a progress picture for those who may be curious as to what I look like. I weigh around 208 pounds for those who are curious. I want to get leaner but I’m not sure about how much I’d like to weigh. 200 pounds? 190 pounds? I’m not sure.

I would like to get an opinion about my saggy stomach skin/fat. It’s an eyesore but I’m happy about being where I’m at as opposed to weighing 315-320 pounds like I was back in the day. I might even make a video about my skin, we’ll see…

Of course I still need to eat healthier. Fast food is my drug, specifically Subway sandwiches. They are too good! I think I’ll start looking at recipes and snacks on Pinterest to get some inspiration. I’ve also started using MyFitnessPal again, so I’ll be able to stay on track with some dedication.

I would also like to get back into lifting weights but since I’m training for a half marathon in early June plus a potential full marathon in the future. I’m not sure how to exactly lift weights and run at the same time. I’ll gather some opinions and try to come up with a solution. 

This is all I have for now. I’m not exactly sure when I’ll update you guys but I’ll be sure to update in the future. Any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks for reading! Hope everyone is doing well! ✌🏿️

My First Half Marathon!

Athletic Goal #4

This was a unique experience for me to say the least. Running 13.1 miles is probably the hardest thing that I’ve ever done physically in my life. However I’m very glad that I did this and I’ll be looking forward to more races in the future.

  

Considering some of the circumstances that I had to deal with, such as running on 2 and a half hours of sleep, not previewing the race path beforehand, for the most part running on a treadmill for training, running in basketball shoes for 4-5 months, I’ll take a time of 2 hours 12 minutes and 47 seconds any day. 

Originally I was gonna go for under 2 hours but since I worked the night before and didn’t get off until 2:30am and didn’t go to sleep until 3:30am, I was satisfied with just finishing the race. 

When I first started the race I was pretty intimidated. Seeing all of the runners that were there made me feel a little out of place. Think of it like someone going to the gym for the first time and seeing people who are healthy and well in shape. Then I thought to myself that everybody here is sharing the common goal of finishing the race. Some happen to be faster and more experienced than others and that’s okay.  

 

I was nervous at the start of the first mile. I soon realized that running on the treadmill where you can adjust how fast you run is wayyyyy different than running outside where at least for me is a little harder to pace yourself. However I soon found that pace with ease. Then I started to just listen to my music and daydream about whatever I could possibly think of. 

Running on the treadmill is okay for me, I like to people watch while I’m at the gym. Seeing “meatheads” lift weights with bad form and checking out the pretty girls with the tight clothes on at the gym is cool as well (I’m a creep…). That doesn’t compare to running outside when people are cheering you on every step of the way. The scenery was great, the signs people came up with were clever: 

  

There were people dancing, bands playing music, I seen some people making some beer along the route as well… Haha.

Around my 4th mile or so, the nerves went away and I was able to just focus on my music and go. I didn’t care about trying to go fast, I just wanted to pace myself throughout the race. I’m surprised that I was able to keep going and not stop throughout the race. I wanted to stop, but I thought of everyone that has shown support and I was able to keep going the whole time. 

The greatest feeling in the world was crossing the finish line. My body was aching, I was tired, sweaty, hungry but I managed to finish. I used past memories of myself struggling to run a mile in 20 minutes to help fuel myself to run 13.1 miles in a little over 2 hours. Although as I’m typing this, I’m stuck at home with sore legs, a sore right foot, calves are hurting bad, I’ll probably end up doing this again in the future. When I first started training  in late November, I never thought I would be able to do this but I’m glad that I did and I’ll remember this experience for the rest of my life.  

 

Thanks for all of the support and thank you for reading!

Check out the video and check out my other videos as well!

http://youtu.be/1VpCCZDsLQ8

Paying It Forward Goes My Way!

After my last video/post Helping the Less Fortunate Ep. 1, I received a message on Facebook from an awesome person named Amanda who has been watching my videos and keeping track of my bucket list progress. We went to high school together way back in the day (It’s only been 5 years but damn time flies…). 

At the end of my last video I started talking about future plans, specifically my half marathon in a couple of days. At that time I still had to get running shoes. I was nervous and scared but after posting my video on Facebook I got a comment from Amanda saying that she wanted to buy me a pair of running shoes! OMG!!! I was shocked, surprised, thankful, grateful! I couldn’t believe it!!! 

After exchanging a few messages on Facebook, I met up with her at the mall, where she works at a running shoe store where she bought me a cool pair of Nike frees which I will put to good use at my half marathon on April 11th. 

 

 It was great to catch up with her after all of these years and it was also great to have someone to show love and support for what I’m doing. This experience has definitely given myself more motivation to do nice things for people along with completing other goals for myself in life. 

Thanks for reading! Have a good day!!! ✌🏿