Training and hard work pay off!

As i have said many many times on this blog, I hate working out. I flat-out hate it, every mile I run, every weight I lift none of it is fun for me. I do it because the job requires a high level of fitness, and I want to be the best I can be for my family, the people I work with, their families, and of course the citizens we serve. I would never be able to live with my self if my fitness level was the reason someone died. There are many factors we can not control on the fireground, but your physical fitness is one of them, if you are not in shape you have no one to blame but you.

With that being said I do love competition, and accomplishment and today I got to experience both of those.

This morning at 7:45 am I stepped off on my very first Half Marathon. This madness started as a part of my wifes brilliant idea to run a full marathon at Disney World in January of 2013. I didn’t want to run a full without ever running a half so we did some reasearch and found one that fit our schedule.

It was a long, hard, chilly, yet satisfying. Most of my training runs at this distance had been in 2 hour 15min range, so I had tempered expectations. However for some reason my pace was a lot faster than the training runs, and at the end of the day I finished with a time of 1hour 59mins and 9 secs!!!! While it was not by much I ran a sub 2 hour Half Marathon! This was a major accomplishment for me, and I was very happy to do so well. Even better about 28mins later my wife crossed the finish line and I was glad I got to see her and cheer for her while she finished up.

Here are a few pics.

All in all it was a good day. Like I said in the beginning this is not fun for me, I didn’t enjoy it. I do not get this euphoric feeling from working out or running races. However it is important, if firefighting is a house then fitness is the foundation of that house. Even if you do not care about yourself do it for the guys you work with, the citizens you serve, your family, your co workers family find some reason to get into shape. Your goal doesn’t have to be getting on a pin-up calender, or even running a personal best race. It should be for fireground performance, and to be healthy enough at the end of your career to enjoy the retirement you earned. It is never to late to start, SO START TODAY!

As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!