Darren Czech - 10 K

Age:  37

Lifestyle: Director of Sales and Marketing for the Delta Barrington and Halifax Hotels, Monday to Friday  6am-6pm and most weekends too!!! (Not really something that I am proud of), Father of 1 beautiful 4 year old girl, Reghan.

Goal:   GET FIT&STAY FIT&for my Mind, body and soul.

• January 22, 2008
  This is a test.
• February 15, 2008
  I'm finally blogging... Training has been going extremly well...Getting at least 4 runs in per week for the past 4 weeks. Traveled last week and was able to manage trainnig and business! I've seen huge success in using a heart rate monitor that was suggested by Fred Alyward. Goals to date have been achieved.... Changed diet to a have healthier choices, breakfast on a consistant basis, limited usage of salt. I've lost 8 lbs in 4 weeks....and I am still smoke free. I feel well on my way to exceeding my goals. I have also transitioned my trainnig to prepare to run the half marathon from the 10K I started with! Cheers
• February 18, 2008
  Great run tonight despite the rain and wind&.at least it was warmer then Saturday past&Starting to understand the info that Jeff (New Balance)told us about the shoes and sizing&Looking forward to trying them out! Played a little too much racket ball on the weekend with a fellow Team Myles participant &After my racket smashed we finally gave in!!! Started the training for the ½ this week. Great info from a couple of sessions with Fred Alyward. If you have not started using the expertise of Fred&DO IT& Have a good week.
• February 24, 2008
  Great week of training despite a slight ham string pull during last weeks racquet ball expedition with Jeff. Had a GREAT massage on Friday afternoon with Jamie Chediac at Sore Spots Massage Therapy&.Located at the Delta Halifax,,,She is Great and is running the ½ this year for the 1st time&Check her out on the web&.Google Sore Spots Massage. Just finished off the week with a light 8 k around the city. I live in the west end and found great 8k path&.Starting at Oxford and Quinpool&.head south to Inglis, east to Young, North to Almon and west to Connolly&.Tough to keep your heart rate down if you are training with a monitor due to the constant inclines. Cheated a bit on the weekend with my diet&.Took my daughter to Crystal Palace&.Oh well&.
• March 11, 2008
  Sorry for the delay in getting to my blogging&This training takes time&and your 4 year old still wants a piece of you too!!! We&.So far so good. Working on a regular basis with Fred&As you all should be. We have enhanced my program just yesterday. Great gains have been made to date. I have taken full advantage of his services and learned a lot about the power of stretching&I am so not flexible!!! Oh well&well get there& I have been running my long runs in groups for the past 2 weeks and found it beneficial for pacing. Although I have to say that if you are out there training on your own&Get a heart rate monitor&It will become your best friend! Slight injuries have led me to David Kachan Physiotherapy Clinic on Creighton Street&.Great guy&Fixed me up with a little acupuncture and some amazing daily stretching exercises and I am back on the road. Im still struggling with trying to get the fruit and vegetable portion of my diet to where it needs to be&.so if there are any great ideas out there..let me know&but I am still smoke free and down in overall weight!!!! Well we are 10 weeks from the big day&70 days till we hit the streets&I have calculated to date that I have racked up about 140KM with a remaining 262KM of training before the Blue Nose Marathon weekend& Wow&Never though I would have gotten this far& See you all soon&
• March 23, 2008
  I?ve had a great couple of weeks training again?Sorry for not getting a blog in last week. This week has been the week of a thousand stretches?.Working on my flexibility with Fred A from Quest?If you haven?t experienced the ?Rack? yet?do it?You will learn just how flexibly you aren?t. Once you go through the paces with Fred, he teaches you great stretching exercises that have assisted me immensely. Nothing to time consuming or difficult, but man, do you feel good after a run if you stretch. I am so looking forward to warmer running weather. I do not think that I had a pleasant weather run yet. On Saturday during my long run of the week, I commented to GW that if I can keep my training up during this weather?.watch out. We also chatted about post Bluenose Marathon?I am already thinking about the next run! I used to be one of those people that allowed the weather to get in the way. All I think about is how great it is going to be once it gets a little warmer out there. The injury to my periformis has recovered nicely due to a second acupuncture treatment. Highly recommend this if you have muscle tightness and you can?t make it go away. Worked wonders for me. The change to my running plan as I noted last week is going well. I have incorporated a stretch/run day where Fred puts me through my paces and a weight training day? For those of you that are having difficulties getting going because you are too busy?here is a little tip from a guy that is always too busy?Just Do It?Sorry to steal that phrase from you know who?but, I have found that I am more productive, I have more energy and I actually have more time to complete all of the necessary work and family tasks. Ciao?
• April 20, 2008
  Sorry for the delay?.again?The toughest part of being on Team Myles is the Blogging!!! Well?I did it?I ran 21k on Saturday morning?Training has been Excellent despite not telling the world on this blog site! The past few weeks have been full of the routine light runs through out the week?last Saturday, the GW group that I run with did a 16K loop around the city and I recognized at the end of it I was supposed to do 18 (cheated for that week!!!)?Next on the calendar was to do the 21K?Yup?The full distance for the half marathon.. I knew the GW group that I run with was prepared to do 16K again?so I arrived a little earlier than our 7am Saturday morning run and put in 5 on my own! What a feeling?We decided this week to do the Dartmouth side of the full marathon?so we headed north from the ?Y? to North Street and across the bridge?Saturday morning was a great morning?sun was shining and a light breeze kept you cool? We looped Lake Banook and then the dreaded Maple Street awaited us?It was a great feeling to hit the top of that street?by this point I was at 14K for the day?.and I felt that if I was able to make it through this leg of the 21k?back across the bridge to the ?Y? would be a breeze? As we crossed the bridge to get back to Halifax?I felt great?but the climb to Brunswick street was a difficult one?I felt my legs starting to feel fatigued?GW and another runner were talking to me as we approached the Town Clock as if it was race day?they said, ?Darren, on race day, you will be pumped now?the crowds are lining the streets and they are cheering for you?. I felt GREAT?except?the clock today was not the finish?oh well? We ran up SG road and the finish was in sight?there might not have been any screaming crowds?but I felt Great?and the GW running club were very supportive and congratulatory?Pretty good for a guy that quite smoking on the 13th of January and took up a healthier way of life on the 14th?I took the group for a big celebratory breakfast and went on with my day?by 2pm?I was pretty tired and had to take a little nap.. So?I am ready. A couple of more weeks to go?some lighter runs for the remaining Saturdays until the Bluenose and then the day will finally be here? I am already planning to run the Valley half in September so I can keep this running thing alive!!! See you all soon?
• April 27, 2008
  Another successful week?Beautiful day today?Completed 50K this week!!! Had an intense stretching session with FA on Wednesday?Great improvements have been made with my flexibility. I believe that without the weekly sessions with Fred at Quest?I would have been plagued with injuries and probably would not be where I am today? Gearing up for another 21 this weekend and then only a few short weeks until the Blue Nose Marathon day!!! Have a great week!!!
• May 04, 2008
  Another great week of training?.with a 21K to end off the 2 week lead up to the Blue Nose? I thought the weather was leaning towards that May a few years ago (past Blue Nosers will remember that day!) but Saturday was spectacular? GW and I did the Dartmouth loop?by the time we hit Dartmouth?the sun was bright and started to have a little warmth to it?The return was even better (although it may have seemed as we just completed the dreaded Maple Street?(for those that have not conquered this?not to worry?its not that bad!) I have to say that this just keeps getting easier?no pain, felt like I could have kept going and went in with the rest of my Saturday feeling very accomplished. 2 weeks to go?my training for the next 2 weeks will be a little lighter then it has been..I started to finally go through the route in my mind and I am looking forward to that finish line?GW, over the past few long runs, has been mentally preparing me for what the home stretch will be like?Even though SG Road by 9am on a Saturday morning is full of people heading to work, or out for their 1st cup of coffee for the day or just visitors from all over the world (Go Canada!!! IIHF Gold Medal in the 100th Year on Canadian soil would be great), I am already getting what he exhilarating feeling will be when the crowds are there cheering for all of us who will be out there on Sunday the 18th of May? Pretty pumped as you can tell? Have a great week. DC
• May 27, 2008
  Some will say it over?I?m saying it?s just beginning?. It has been a whirlwind 1st 5 months of the year?So much has changed?We?ve come a long way since those cold blustery training days in January. I remember my 1st day running as if it was yesterday?2 laps around the public gardens?you can do it, I said?.Coming up the incline heading north on South Park was a challenge in itself? The early days were not difficult?now that I look back. They were the foundation to the completion of this leg of training?.Without those early 2 to 5 KM runs?getting to 21 would have been hard? Realizing what you have accomplished comes in many different forms?I was very well supported through out the training process by the group of runners on Saturday morning and my weekly chats and coaching sessions with Fred? It was pretty early in the process that I knew that if I deviated from the ?plan? I would not accomplish my goals and probably injure myself?.and I did?A few weeks of physio and sticking to the routine of exercise and intense stretching helped me overcome the injury and get back on track. 5 turned to 7?turned to 12 turned to my 1st 21 KM run?.There were so many 1st?s that I will remember?Like the day I ran the perimeter of the city?I thought that I must have ran a full marathon?.so I jumped in my car?drove the route and realized that it was only 14.6k?I quickly realized that this is a hilly city!!! And I bought a GPS watch so I could save money on gas? Crossing the bridge (and not paying the toll) was a 1st that I enjoyed?pretty neat to be running across the bridge and back for the 1st time? The dreaded Maple Street?ahhhh?its not that bad? But the 1st that I have to say that was the most surprising was coming down Brunswick Street on race day?the streets were lined and loud. ?Come on?you can do it?only 2 more K to go?great job?you?re amazing?go?go?go?? It was pretty moving?As I entered the last KM or so I thought about what I had accomplished and found it a bit overwhelming to the point of emotional?and then I looked up?saw the finish line and my daughter, Reghan holding a sign that said go daddy go?I lost it?Good thing for the sun glasses. I said early in the process?I believe the day after the Team Myles Launch at the hotel to a reporter that I could already see my face and knew how I would feel?I wasn?t too far off? I felt great. The journey is just beginning?I am going to continue to train (although I only ran 1 day last week). My next goals are not too different from my previous?Stay smoke free, get in better shape, and run another half marathon?seems pretty east now. I will continue to live a healthier life and I have a lot of people to thank for that. Some words of advice?if you have ever said, ?I wish I could do X? do it?There is no reason why you can?t if you put your mind to it. When I hear people say they wished they could do what I accomplished?I say, ?it?s not too late to try?. What drove me to this was my own personal want to change. You need to do things for yourself. When you start trying to make changes for other people, you don?t always achieve your goal. Fir me it was because they were never MY goals?This time they were mine and I believe the benefits were felt by a lot of people. Good luck to those of you that get off the coach and do something. There are some lovely places to walk, run or ride in your neighborhood?give it a go? Cheers?DC