St. Andrews Stairway (x4) PLUS Weigh-In Update

My legs are still sore from last night’s workout. It was the best workout I’ve had in a while, partly because I pushed myself, and partly because it happened in a very cool new location. That location is called the St. Andrews Stairway, and it’s actually not very new at all.

Back in the 1920s, a public stairway was built up the side of the Hollywood Hills, to allow residents on higher streets an easy way to come down to catch the streetcars that used to zip around Los Angeles (hard to believe, but back in the day LA used to have one of the largest public transportation networks in the country). The stairway is cleverly called the St. Andrews Stairway, as it starts at the end of St. Andrews road. Despite it being there for nearly 100 years, I didn’t know it existed, even though last fall, I ran right past it during an evening run. It didn’t catch my eye during that run because it wasn’t lit at night, but that changed last month.

I read online a few weeks ago that some 8 or 9 decades after initial construction, the city of Los Angeles finally made good on their promise to install streetlights on the St. Andrews Stairway, and I realized that it was relatively close to my office. So last night, I laced up my running shoes and went for a run. And even though I’ve only been twice (once last night, and again today to take some photos to share here), I’ll come out and say it: I love the St. Andrews Stairway!

There are 153 stairs (I counted myself). That’s basically a 10-story building! Here’s what they look like from the bottom. The arrow is pointing to the wall at the very top of the stairs, all the way up on Tryon Drive.

Nerd Alert!

NEWS FLASH! I’m a nerd. A great, big, Urkel-sized nerd. Well, thanks to my weight loss, I’m not as big a nerd as I used to be, but I’m still a nerd, and I’m proud of it. I don’t consider ‘nerd’ to be a derogatory term – I just think it means that I know what I like and am not afraid to express it, embrace it, learn every little thing I can about it, and share it with others.

Long-time readers know one of the things I nerd out about: charts, graphs and statistics. This weight loss journey I’ve been on has been well documented by all of these things: I have a weight loss chart that I update once a month. I have a running chart (more on this later). I track StairMaster workouts with a chart that I call my Skyscraper Collection (more on this later, too!). Even though I haven’t blogged about it lately, I keep statistics on my workouts in the form of Monthly Progress Reports. Long story short (or is it too late for that?), if I can monitor what I’m doing and how I’m doing it in a fun, interesting way, than I’m all for it.

I find all these charts incredibly beneficial. They provide concrete evidence of my improvement in areas like running and stair climbing, both of which are still rather new to me. They allow easy ways for me to look back at where I’ve been, and help me project where I can go in the future. They assist in the setting of both short-term and long-term goals, whether it’s training for a big race or event, or helping me plan my week so I get in enough workouts. They give me a reason to pause, smile and congratulate myself on a great week or a great workout, and offer the opportunity to immortalize that feeling of pride and accomplishment by creating a permanent record of it. They fuel me. They push me.

There’s a new chart in my life, and I’ve kept it a secret from you for months. I keep it on the wall in my office, and it occurred to me the other day that there’s no reason for it to be a secret anymore. Here’s the story behind this new chart, which I’m going to unveil today.

weSPARK Universal Studios Backlot 10K RECAP!

My legs are still sore, ladies and gentleman, from the 10K race I ran on Sunday. That means I really pushed myself. And I’m really proud of how things turned out. But I’m jumping ahead of myself… I should start at the beginning.

Sunday was a beautiful day for a race: sunny and clear, although it was hot. It ended up being 90 degrees that day, and even though the race was held early in the morning, it was obvious that the day was going to be a scorcher. I got to Universal Studios a little before 8am, and met up with a bunch of friends that were also participating in either the 10K or the 5K run/walk. My buddy Mikael took this picture of me near the starting line…

Allison

My family was in town recently, for what turned out to be a really wonderful weekend. We headed down to Anaheim and did the whole Disney thing. It was my second time in each of the Disney parks, and it was a really fun and busy time. And even though the family has long since returned home, I can’t stop thinking about my four-year-old niece, Allison.

First, a picture of Allison, along with me, my sister Sarah, and Ariel from “The Little Mermaid.” I’m still wet from Grizzly River Run, the Disney California Adventure water ride we were on immediately preceding our meet and greet with Ariel:

Big Time Race Announcement!

At first, I considered titling this post “Shafted by Schmidt” – which will make more sense after you read what follows. Ultimately, though, I decided to focus on the positive. And I have a lot to be positive about!

I’ve been teasing a big announcement for the past two weeks, and I can finally spill the beans! I’ll start at the beginning. A year ago, I ran in my first 10k race, weSPARK’s 3rd Annual 10k Run. I chose it because of its location – the course winds its way through all the backlots at Universal Studios: up and down Wisteria Lane, past the Bates Motel, by Jaws Lake, and so on. Here I am running through the “Wars of the Worlds” wreckage:

Wanna see more pictures? You can see ‘em in my post recapping the race, which you can find here. Running that 10k proved to be an emotional event. It was the first official fitness-related challenge that I attempted after losing over 160 pounds, and to this day I’m still proud that I accomplished my goal of completing it without stopping. It turns out that recap post inspired a lot of people, including the folks at weSPARK, the charity that organizes the event, because a few weeks ago, I got an email from Nancy, the Executive Director, that stopped me cold. Literally.

Counting My Successes

Last night I was all prepared to write another post where I was hard on myself. I overate on Saturday night and felt crappy the next morning. It was my cousin’s birthday, and we had a family party at my aunt and uncle’s house, and while there, I ate a giant piece of lasagna (it was probably 2 or 3 servings), plus 4 pieces of garlic bread plus cake and ice cream plus a ton of candy corn, because, you know, tis the season for candy corn. I ate some salad, too.

It is way too easy for me to be hard on myself. Maybe you’ve noticed that. It doesn’t take much for me to beat myself up, but I’m working on that. And so, to that end, I decided not to write the blog post that initially came to mind. I’m not going to dwell on some choices that I made during one evening that, for the record, was really fun. Instead, I’m going to count my successes for the week, because the rest of the week went really well.

A Return to Running

Some good news is that I’m feeling better than I was last week. That’s thanks to a pretty good week where I ate well and managed to work out 4 times (huzzah!). Plus, I have something new to focus on that will help with my exercise, and that’s invigorating. I can’t fully divulge what I’m up to, as it involves a big, exciting announcement that I’m not allowed to announce yet, but it involves running, and I have a lot to say today about running.

Broken Glass

I arrived home from work last night and was greeted by a little present. It was a gift that I had left for myself, and, since leaving it in the morning, I had completely forgotten about it. The present was… a mess.

Workout Update

The last time I wrote about my exercise, a few days ago, I had to give myself a pep talk and remind myself that working out five times a week instead of six was just fine.

Well, here’s the update: It’s now Sunday, the start of a new week, so I can look back at the week that just ended and say, quite definitively, that I did not work out five times last week.

I worked out four times.

And skipping that one additional workout this past week makes me feel like I’m off my game and that I should stop working out altogether for a while. I wish I was exaggerating, but I’m not. Getting that fourth workout in was a struggle, too. But I did it, and I’m not even sure how.

Updated 10K Race Results

I got an unexpected surprise in the mail recently. It was an info sheet with finalized race results from the BolderBOULDER!

I ran the BolderBOULDER with my sister Sarah on Memorial Day, and it was a fantastic race. The course wound through the streets of Boulder and ended up in the football stadium at the University of Colorado. See pictures and learn more about the race here.

The info sheet came as a surprise, because