For the past few weeks, I’ve been logging everything I eat as well as calorie counts in an effort to eat more healthy.  I’m doing the physical exercise part, but until I start eating right I’ll never have the runner’s physique.  Five weeks ago, my average daily calorie count was 2901.  This past week, it was down to 2611.

Running is also a huge thing to log.  I’ve used mapmyrun.com to log my miles for the past 4 years.  They just forced me to use their new format and I hate it, but I would have to subscribe to export all of my data.  It sort of sucks.

After logging my miles, I have to enter it monthly into my running club website to participate in the “Challenge of the Miles”.

Here’s my current mileage chart:

I can tell you that my lifetime mileage is 2252.95 miles. January was the first month that I’ve ever passed 100 miles in a month.  My goal for 2012 is 1000 miles and so far I’m on track.

Also, my job participates in the Presidential Fitness Challenge and I’m supposed to log all of my physical activity there too.  I sort of dropped that, but to be eligible for prizes at work, I need to start back.  So, in addition to running, I’m suppose to log walking, outdoor work, t-ball, etc.

To take it even further, my health insurance carrier has a website where I can log physical activity, nutrition, and stats like blood pressure everyday to earn points redeemable for healthy rewards.

I also log my Coke points in mycokerewards.com to earn points for rewards.  I guess if I stopped drinking Cokes, I wouldn’t have to log those calories or Coke points.  That seems like a good plan.

Then, there’s disneymovierewards.com.  It’s a good thing we don’t buy many DVDs, but I have earned several Disney gift cards from this.

I haven’t mentioned the biggest: I use Quicken to log all of our financial transactions.  That’s the most time consuming, but also the most beneficial.

I’m probably missing some others as well.  I guess you see now why this blog suffers.

I used to maintain a clothing log, so that I didn’t accidentally wear the same shirt every Tuesday or the same pants several days in a row.  I gave up on that when I became a runner though. It’s not rare for me to change clothes several times a day: sleep clothes, running clothes, work clothes, casual clothes, etc.

So am I OCD? I don’t think so. Everything I log has a benefit.  The fitness and nutrition logs are helping me reach my goals. Today at Kroger, I didn’t buy a 450 calories/slice pie even though it was on sale because I thought of my log. If I wasn’t logging miles, I would have never come close to 100 in January.  Quicken helps me stay on track to reach short-term and long-term goals. And the others score me free stuff!

So, what do you log?

I was going to run this race last year, but that morning I woke up extremely sick. Kimberlie didn’t have her running clothes so we ended up watching the whole thing from the 67th floor of the Westin Peachtree.

This year went much better, even though it was pretty warm for a half-marathon.

Tristan cheering for the runners

Me running at mile 12.85

I want that bag of groceries!

[/caption

Sometimes, I miss working for Publix

I loved running around Atlanta

Probably the coolest non-Disney medal I have

I had so much fun, I’ve already signed up for next year!

I couldn’t miss this race.  It’s put on my my local running clubs, so every local runner I know was there.  And, it’s only 10 minutes from my house.  No getting up at 2:45am for this one!

Another medal for the collection!

A Little Goofy?

What were you doing Saturday at 4:30 in the morning? What about Sunday? Sleeping? On both days, I had already been awake for two hours, and was standing on the side of a Central Florida highway, waiting for fireworks to send me off.

This past weekend, I completed Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge at Walt Disney World, which consists of the WDW Half Marathon on Saturday and the WDW Marathon on Sunday — a total of 39.3 miles.  Over 56,000 runners competed in the weekend events, including which about 7,500 of us participating in Goofy’s Challenge. This was my fourth year conquering the challenge.

Both races have a spectacular fireworks start on a road right outside of Epcot. The half marathon takes you to the Magic Kingdom, where you run all through the park, including right through Cinderella Castle.  Then you head back to Epcot, through the park and around Spaceship Earth (the big ball) and to the finish line in the parking lot.  13.1 miles of fun.

The marathon takes you past all of Walt Disney World’s icons. First, you run through Epcot’s Future World around Spaceship Earth. Then, you’re off to the Magic Kingdom where you run through Cinderella Castle.  After that, you head over to Animal Kingdom where you circle the park and the Tree of Life and then to Hollywood Studios where you pass the Earful Tower and the Sorcerer’s Hat.  Finally, it’s back to Epcot for a loop around World Showcase before finishing in the Epcot parking lot. Another 26.2 miles of fun.

The races also take you through many “backstage” areas of the parks, which regular guests never see.  Some of the areas include the parade float storage facilities, recycling and maintenance facilities, horticultural areas, and animal care areas.

Along the courses are all types of entertainment to help the miles go by.  Local high schools send cheerleaders, bands, and dance teams to entertain the runners. DJ’s, rock bands, choirs, jugglers, and other entertainers can also be found along the course. Disney puts random parade floats, hot air balloons, animals, and other props along the course.  Also along the course are all of you favorite Disney characters.  You run past princesses, dwarfs, Mary Poppins, several incarnations of Mickey, and many more. And with so many participants, there are also thousands of spectators and cast members to cheer you on both in and out of the parks.

There are all types of runners who participate each year.  There are world-class elite runners who compete for cash prizes, walkers, and everything in between.  Some people run to raise money and/or awareness for their favorite charity while others dress as their favorite Disney characters.  You won’t find me wearing Mickey ears or Tinkerbell wings though. I find it hard enough to run with a camera!

All finishers receive a Donald medal for completing the half marathon and a Mickey medal for completing the marathon.  Goofy Challengers also receive a Goofy medal for finishing both races.  And when the volunteers put the medal around your neck, you temporarily forget how much pain you are in (and how hungry you are).

My strategy for these races, other than finish, is simply to have fun along the courses.  The first few miles of each race are pretty crowded, so much so that it is nearly impossible to get much speed.  And, I made lots of photo stops.  There are many awesome photo opportunities that are just not available to other Disney guests.  There were also lots of interesting people to talk to along the way, including celebrities.  Last year, I found myself running next to TV weatherman Al Roker.

Along with these two races, there are other events during Marathon Weekend.  My wife ran a 5K through Epcot Friday morning.  My 8-year-old son ran the “Mickey Mile” and my 5-year-old daughter ran a 200 meter race at Disney’s Wide World of Sports..  Each of them received finisher medals as well.

Somehow, out of the 56,000 runners, I managed to be one of only 40 who were invited to a “meet, greet, and tweet” and “training run” with former Olympian Jeff Galloway.  It was held early Friday morning at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, before the park was even open.  We had the entire theme park to ourselves!  We were joined by P90X creator Tony Horton, as well as Survivor winners Jenna Morasca and Ethan Zohn, who also later ran the half marathon. We were able to mingle and take photos with the celebrities and I even got to ride Tower of Terror with Ethan and Jenna.  Of course, I bought that ride photo and they were nice enough to autograph it for me.

So how did I do? I’ve posted much better times in non-Disney races because I took them seriously, trained right and ate well. With the Disney races, I’m pretty much the poster child for how not to run. (Besides, it is even possible to “eat right” in the months leading up to January?) So while I’ve done better in other marathons and half marathons, I haven’t had nearly as much fun!

So, who’s with me next year?

Mackenzie ran a 200 meter race at ESPN Wide World of Sports.

Tristan ran the Mickey Mile, which is timed.  He ran it in less than 8 minutes!

Kimberlie ran a 5K through Epcot.

Here are a few pictures:

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  The kids races are the best bargain you’ll find at Disney.  For $10, you get a t-shirt (good luck finding another $10 shirt at WDW), a goody bag, a medal, snacks, and lots of fun.

At $25, the Mickey Mile is still a decent deal, considering it is timed and results are posted online.

And, although I ran the 5K in 2010, I can no longer recommend it.  They tripled the number of participants — to 8000!  It’s awfully crowded and it is not worth the $55 entry fee.  Find a local 5K to run instead.

Of course, I couldn’t say anything in front of the kids. But, when he finally realized it, he said “Oh, that’s you Jonathan!” and then asked about my sister, stepfather, etc.  Let’s just say my kids were EXTREMELY impressed that Santa knows their dad!

And, since he knew me, he showed my kids lots of attention.

I ran a good race, too. Only about a minute off of my PR on a VERY challenging course!

I did ALL of the above . . . and PRed by 27 minutes.

I’m really torn over whether to do the Goofy race again next year.  The Disney races are truly magical.  They print your name on your bib, so while you are running you hear complete strangers calling your name and cheering for you.  I’m no professional athlete, so where else am I going to have complete strangers cheer for me by name?  I also love it when the little kids lining the course reach out to give you five along the way.

The only reason that I didn’t enjoy the races this year is because I wasn’t feeling 100%, thanks to Kimberlie who was sick the week leading up to the trip.  It does, however, take a lot of “ching ching” to get all of that “bling bling”.  I’m definitely going to sit on the decision for a while.

Run a half-marathon in less than 2 hours.

Reduce my 5K PR to < 23 minutes and my 10K PR to < 50 minutes.

Run 1000 miles in 2010.

Restart and actually complete hundredpushups.com.

Commit to and begin training to run (not run/walk) an entire marathon.

Drop my weight down to 160.

Eat out no more than once per week.

Be completely debt free by Summer 2011.

Everyone had a great time, and I fully intend to post more pictures soon.  But, for now, here are some photos of characters I met along the course.  My strategy this year, since it will likely be my last Disney race, was to take photos with characters that I hadn’t been photographed with in the past.

You can also see the finisher medals below as well.