Weight Issues

The primary reason I decided to try running with a goal attached is to lose weight. After having lost about 80 pounds back in 2005-06 on the Atkins Diet, I had but about 35 of it back on since then. So candidly my clothes were not fitting as well as I might have liked, and I am not getting any younger!

Rather then diet this time I decided to focus on fitness, since I referee HS soccer and club soccer I need to get into a certain level of shape, but that was generally easy to meet the minimum standard for fitness. A hard varsity game is maybe 3-4 miles over a 2 hour period, with lots of pauses, so the effort was not supreme.

I have tried periodically to diet but with out much success since the Atkins success in 05, however I do like my pasta, bread and sauces!

Local Area Blood Drive at RL Library

American Cancer Walk July 28th and the Round Lake Team!

One day. One night. One community. Your Relay For Life® is about celebration, remembrance, and hope. By participating, you honor cancer survivors, pay tribute to the lives we've lost to the disease, and raise money to help fight it – all right here in your community. You won't want to miss one moment of this life- and community-affirming event!

Our local relay will be on Saturday the 28th of July from 6pm to 6am in the morning at the Grayslake Aquatic Center there will be the Grayslake/Round Lake Area Relay for Life 2007.

I have created a team for us! The link to the team is here. So if you want to sign up to volunteer please do so at this website. I set a goal of $1,000 for us, but I am guessing we can go higher! I have numerous volunteers from my earlier post about the Relay. Off the top of my head I had about 10 people say they would come help which is exciting. So please go sign up for the team, make your pledges, and write the dates and times into your calendar.

The local event organizer is Erin Powers the daughter of Bob Powers one of our County Board representatives she assures me that as long as we have one team member walking at all times we are in good shape!

The Race is Over! Thankfully for me!

Well we had 34 runners and walkers, mostly runners however, (30 and 4) to be exact. However you will note that there are only 33 finishers, because one guy showed up, did not register, and then ran the race anyway got his time at the line, and bolted!

I ran the first mile! Nudging ahead of walker Silma Villasenor (speed walker extraordinarie) which allowed me to socialize with the RL Queen manning the water booth (many thanks) and then I walked for awhile, then ran along Nippersink, then walked through Parkview, and ran from the Library to the finish line, so maybe 2 miles running total, considering the crap shape I was in, I was pleased. Oh did I mention, that an ambulance followed me the whole way (true story)!

The results are here and here! The highlight for me was that our Village Engineer Erika Frable won the womens category and finished 8th overall as well! Public Works employee/speed demon Ross Hosking shattered the 30 minute mark! Karsen Green a 16 year old from Gurnee, who was about 6'5' churned out 3- 5 minute miles to win the race.

Round Lake resident was Mike Vanata, followed by Al Villasenor, and then Barry Swan rounded out the top 3 for the village resident race! My daughter ran with one of her friends and tormented him the whole way round, and then out sprinted him at the end to show him was boss.

I am also grateful to Ramona Ruskuls one of my colleagues from my day job, who took the time on Sunday to drive from Arlington Heights to race with me. So now I can have her talk smack to me at work, delightful! By the way thats her in the picture with me.

    Place    Name                    City               Bib No Age     Age Group        Time      Pace
  1    Karsen Green            Gurnee  IL            228   16     1 M  0-99      17:02.0    5:30/M
  2    Steven Kleine           Gurnee  IL            223   18     2 M  0-99      17:18.8    5:35/M
  3    Keith Brzezinski        Lakeville  IL         222   45     3 M  0-99      18:42.5    6:02/M
  4    Ray Levernier           Crystal Lake  IL      224   38     4 M  0-99      19:07.3    6:10/M
  5    Kevin Kerrigan          Spring Grove  IL      207   39     5 M  0-99      19:22.2    6:15/M
  6    Gardiner Wade           Round Lake Beach  I   220   27     6 M  0-99      21:38.3    6:59/M
  7    David Lomax             McHenry  IL           227   35     7 M  0-99      22:16.0    7:11/M
  8    Erika Frable            Spring Grove  IL      202   38     1 F  0-99      22:16.3    7:11/M
  9    Thomas Vaughn           Waukegan  IL          219   50     8 M  0-99      23:22.9    7:32/M
 10    Michael Vanata          Round Lake  IL        218   38     9 M  0-99      23:40.7    7:38/M
 11    Rick Wade               Highland Park  IL     226   57    10 M  0-99      24:38.3    7:57/M
 12    Al Vilasenor            Round Lake  IL        230   39    11 M  0-99      24:50.8    8:01/M
 13    Daniel Hartsteren       Kenosha  WI           221   53    12 M  0-99      26:26.2    8:32/M
 14    Mike Solomon            Lake Villa  IL        215   50    13 M  0-99      26:50.8    8:39/M
 15    Carlos Avila            Round Lake Heights    198   21    14 M  0-99      27:21.7    8:49/M
 16    Clint Rodriguez         Antioch  IL           213   32    15 M  0-99      27:36.0    8:54/M
 17    Barry Swann             Round Lake  IL        216   35    16 M  0-99      27:49.4    8:58/M
 18    Ana Caballero Rodri     Antioch  IL           199   31     2 F  0-99      28:05.8    9:04/M
 19    Kiki Dafnis             Round Lake  IL        201   29     3 F  0-99      28:53.5    9:19/M
 20    Renee Nichols           Naperville  IL        212   27     4 F  0-99      29:09.5    9:24/M
 21    Michael Freisinger      Round Lake  IL        203   30    17 M  0-99      29:17.8    9:27/M
 22    Elizabeth Kolek         Gurnee  IL            209   20     5 F  0-99      29:45.2    9:36/M
 23    Ross Hosking            Grayslake  IL         206   37    18 M  0-99      29:50.6    9:37/M
 24    Jen Kober               Round Lake  IL        208   35     6 F  0-99      30:09.6    9:44/M
 25    Denise Gentes           Round Lake  IL        204   17     7 F  0-99      34:38.7   11:10/M
 26    Rob Craig               Round Lake  IL        200   17    19 M  0-99      34:42.5   11:12/M
 27    Miriam Swann            Round Lake  IL        217   39     8 F  0-99      35:14.7   11:22/M
 28    Ramona Ruskuls          Arlington Heights       2   27     9 F  0-99      35:34.9   11:28/M
 29    Lori Hagi               Ingleside  IL         225   27    10 F  0-99      38:19.0   12:22/M
 30    Silma Villasenor        Round Lake  IL        229   39    11 F  0-99      41:02.8   13:14/M
 31    Mayor Bill Gentes       Round Lake  IL          1   47    20 M  0-99      44:48.7   14:27/M
 32    Anne Aleksich           Grayslake  IL         197   17    12 F  0-99      49:09.1   15:51/M
 33    Corey Miskell           Grayslake  IL         211   26    13 F  0-99      49:09.6   15:51/M

Thanks to all the volunteers who helped, set the course up and policed it for us!

Good Walk this Morning

Today's walk left from the Police Station, and quickly bogged down at the corner of Townline and the new Cedar Lake, where this sight awaited the five of us. So we turned around and walked back to the PD and then drove down to Lakewood and walked around the neighborhoods there instead.

Lifeline Screening at the Village Hall July

In keeping with this years theme of wellness, we are hosting a Lifeline Screening. This screening will be held on July 11th at the Village Hall.

Here is a little something about what Life Line Screening is.

Since 1993, Life Line Screening has screened over 4 million people nationwide, and has helped save over 100,000 lives. We were mentioned in two articles in The Wall Street Journal (September 24, 2004), quantifying our tests accuracy and afford ability.
Our screening tests are performed by experienced professional sonographers using sophisticated Doppler ultrasound technology. A board certified physician reviews all results before they are sent to individual screening participants in about 21 business days.

Our mission is to make people aware of potentially serious conditions that are difficult to detect in routine check-ups. By offering these programs to your community, you can create awareness and aid in the identification of undiagnosed vascular disease. This is an important effort to educate your community about preventive screenings and the impact of a proactive approach to personal wellness.

Relay for Life

Erin Powers the daughter of one of our local County Board Reps Bob Powers was talking to me about this wonderful program the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life to be held in Grayslake this summer and she challenged me to get a team together. I would like to put a Round Lake team together. The date of the event is July 28th at 6pm to July 29th 6am basically overnight! Its a Saturday night so you have time to recover for work on Monday!

I lost my mother to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer a little more then 15 years ago and have always been supportive of cancer related activities.

Please email me if you are interested in participating and are willing to walk as well!

Relay For Life® is a fun-filled overnight event designed to bring together those who have been touched by cancer in our community. At the event, we celebrate survivorship and raise money to help the American Cancer Society in its mission to save lives, help those who have been touched by cancer, and empower individuals to fight back. During the event, teams of people gather at schools, fairgrounds, or parks and take turns walking or running laps. Each team tries to keep at least one team member on the track at all times.

Run and Walk Tommorrow in Valley Lakes South!

As a reminder the Mayoral Run/Walk will be April 7th, a Saturday, at 7am with the run starting then and the walk starting at 7:30. The route is here.

More then likely I will be either not running the whole 2 miles or the infamous walk/run/walk/stagger for my portion. My fitness level right now is a disaster and I am not sure I can even run a mile let alone two miles, but I am going to try!

Excellent Facts on Water

Many thanks to village resident Kelly Rodkey for forwarding this information to me on water. I read it and vowed to drink more water today!

1. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. (Likely applies to half the world population.)
2. In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is mistaken for hunger.
3. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one's metabolism as much as 3%.
4. One glass of water will shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a University of Washington study.
5. Lack of water, the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.
6. Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.
7. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, rouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.
8. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%., and one is 50% ess likely to develop bladder cancer. Are you drinking the amount of water you should drink every day?

Save the Date---- Streets of Summer Festival

Open your calendars and mark these dates down. June 1, 2 and 3 for the Fourth Annual Streets of Summer Festival! Details will follow, but I can tell you that on June 3rd there will be the first annual Beat the Mayor 5K.

The thought is that I would post a time and anyone who beats my time gets something that says I beat the mayor, trophy, or a T-shirt for example.

I have two thoughts on how to do the 5K, one is I would run the course about 30 minutes before the regular race. I would record a time and then we could use an age-grading formula, and gender grading to determine an equivalent time. So before the race you would know you had to run a 23:56 to beat me if you were 18, and a 30:34 if you were 55 for example. The goal results would be posted somewhere visible beforehand!

The other way would be for me to run the race with everyone, and then we could figure the whole thing out afterwards.

There is pro and con to both ways of doing it, so since I am democratically elected we will decide it by voting!

If you ran in the Mayoral Challenge 5K would you...

Want me to run first and establish a time for you to run against?Figure them out later after we all finish?

Free polls from Pollhost.com

As a reminder the Mayoral Run/Walk will be April 7th, a Saturday, at 7am with the run starting then and the walk starting at 7:30. The route is here.

CANCELED--- Mayors Run

There is no sense in doing that today, running or walking in the blowing snow benefits no one!

Mayors Run/Walk this Saturday

This Saturday morning is the 3rd Monthly Run Walk and we will hold it in Valley Lakes at the South Park. The run starts at 7am and the walk at 7:30am. The run is 2 miles and the walk 2 miles. Last time the walkers, walked while the runner ran from 7 to 7:30!

I have used mapmyrun.com to map the run here. I was able to get it to be exactly 2 miles.

For those of you who are concerned about keeping up, the last one had a variety of speeds that people ran at, and the average pace was maybe 11 minutes per mile on the run and maybe 20 minute mile pace for the walk.

Frosty Footrace Was Quite Well Attended

The race went off! Snow and all, the park district did a nice job of having a clean route. I walked, but within 200 yards I regretted wearing my snow shoveling Timberwood boots. Those boots were NOT made for walking!

Why may you ask am I showing you a picture of my protection detail? Well since I immediately realized I was not going to keep up with anyone, I walked at a pace that would prevent blisters. Therefore I quickly fell to the back of the pack, where these gentlemen kept traffic off of the straggler (me).

They had some great inspirational comments for me, like "is the guy ahead of you walking with a cane?" He was walking with a "walking stick" not a cane I told them. There was some other banter as well, that we shall keep off the blog to protect the temperamental! I finished dead last!

The Round Lake contingent did quite well, Michael Blum got second in his age group, Mike Vanata ran his first 5K ever in 25 minutes, which is excellent. Race volunteers were Sherry Perkowitz, Dale Multerer, Deb Jones, and many others who I can't recall right now.

Frosty Footrace Today will be Truly Frosty

I am not sure there will be a race today. However I have decided not to run but rather to walk. Not sure what running the route today would do for me or to me!

The Round Lake Area Chamber of Commerce held its annual Installation of Officers last night, so I was there and there was a good turnout despite the snow. Trustee's Michael Blum, Sherry Perkowitz and Brian Brubaker, along with Village Clerk Jeanne Kristan all turned out. from the village.

Don't Forget the Frosty Footrace is Sunday

You can still sign up for the race or the walk, I have and plan to be exhausted at the end of the race. I am not sure of my fitness level since I have been busy at work and with my job, so it might be a run/walk for me.

Ever Wonder Whats Happens When Your Water Pipes Burst?

Last Saturday during my walk, in Lakewood, we saw that the street was soaked with water. Considering how many jackets, hats and gloves I had on, seeing running water made no sense. So I looked around and saw this scene. Item 1, broken and frozen pipe location, Item 2 the height of the stream of water that had been shooting into the air, Item 3 is the landing zone of the water. The water had saturated under the snow, and was flowing out into the street creating a giant pool that was slowly draining and freezing.

The house is not lived in so I called our Public Works Director and about 10 minutes later we had someone shutting off the water. Not exactly CSI Round Lake, but a satisfying problem to solve.

Walk this Saturday

I am going to be walking from the Lakewood Clubhouse which is here. Depending on how cold it is we will walk for 30-45 minutes. I have an appointment at 9, a ribbon cutting at 10 and some other stuff in the afternoon, so I have to keep it under an hour! Look forward to seeing you there!

Queens, Bowling, Walking and Running

Yesterday was an active day. The rescheduled walk/run was held with a nice turnout (me and Mike Vanata). It was quite cold so we barely did 2 miles, but we did it.

In the afternoon, at Lakes Bowl, we had the Round Lake Area Queens Bowling Fundraiser, the Queens did a great job, separating me from my money! My team won high score as well with a 136, which shows the level of skill on display! We also had high game in the crazy bowl with a 108.

I saw Lori and Brian Brubaker, Sue and Paul Hollingsworth all the queens and there families (to numerous to mention here) and overall had a nice time. I even have some pictures being emailed to me of me with posing with the queens, some might replace this picture I took from my dinner table!

Run Walk this Saturday

Don't forget that this Saturday at 7am is the run/walk that we rescheduled from last week when Round Lake became part of the ice age! We will meet for the run portion at 7am around the park on the North Side of Valley Lakes and then the walk will start at 7:30

Mayors Run/Walk on Sunday

I know I rescheduled the run/walk from this Saturday to Sunday, but after reviewing the weather report and temperature in the single digits, with wind chills in the -20 range. I think its best not to have the run/walk this weekend. Lets shoot for next Saturday!

Sorry about that, but unlike every other single minuscule detail in the village I have been unable to manipulate the weather to suit my narrow needs! Drats!