First Six Months of 2012: Guest Post By Henry

Alright, I'm turning over control of my blog to my 1-year-old Henry (for only the 3rd time). Here's his take on the first half of this year.


Dad, go take a shower. Your pits smell fierce. And not in a "Tyra Banks fierce" sort of a way.

OK. I'm here to write about Dad's first 6 months of 2012.


SWIM: 18,900 yards. Come on Dad. That TOTALLY SUCKS. But I guess your 27:00 Oly swim at Trinona last month was pretty decent (for you), so you're doing OK. I guess.

BIKE: 320 miles. Less than 90 minutes on the trainer. Dad. Really? THIS is one of the major reasons you sucked it up at the Trinona Oly. Seriously.

RUN: 490 miles. OK, this isn't as bad. You were on pace for your first ever 1,000 mile year until getting a little injured at the New Prague Half Marathon about 2 months ago. (453 miles in 5 months, on pace for nearly 1,100 by year's end.) But you logged just over 30 miles last month in an effort to not destroy that damn injured heel of yours. I get it. That's fine.

RUN WITH HENRY: 243 miles. We had a nice (for Minnesota) winter, and Dad posted in early April how we'd ran 101.43 miles together the first 3 months of the year (22.72 miles in Jan, 25.2 miles in Feb, and 53.51 miles in March). Then we went for another 61.52 miles in April, 54.74 miles in May, and (a lousy, injury-laden) 25.25 miles in June. That means we covered 141.51 miles in the 2nd quarter of 2012, and our 6 month total is 242.94 miles together! I think Dad REALLY enjoys my company on our runs! Who can blame him? I have a lot of charm.

OK, OK... maybe these aren't the best photos to show my "charm..."

STRENGTH / CORE: lots of shorter, more intense workouts. It was just like Erika said when I was born: she said something like "Dad, you'll still get in some good workouts at the gym, they'll just be quicker and more intense than before." That's been true. Dad even does core work or leg exercises with me sometimes - I usually just giggle at him.


Oh, also from the end of March through the beginning of April, Dad logged 48.55 running miles STRAIGHT with me. That's his "PR" for "consecutive run miles with Henry." I apparently needed a lot of naps at the same time Dad wanted to go for some runs....

One real fun event in the first 6 months of this year was finishing my first race with Dad at the Lake Johanna 4 Mile in March. That was a blast! I hope to maybe do that again soon.

Me and the fam as seen in my race report.

So looking at all of this data from Jan - June of this year, here are my 3 bits of advice for Dad:
- First, bike more.
- Second, swim more.
- Third, forget about your "1,000 mile" running goal and just don't get (MORE) injured.

Do that Dad, and you'll be fine. Now can you let me go play? I'm sick of typing. Where's my favorite hammer?...


Thanks Henry. You're my sassy little dude. Well done.

He's right about those 3 points. I'll try to get in more biking and swimming, but that can be tough with a little one at home. The running is easiest to do, but I need to be smart. I want to be healthy enough to finish out the MDRA Grand Prix series.

p.s. If you like Henry's "tell it like it is" style, then check out the "Written By Henry" tag. There are currently 3 posts written by my sassy-mouthed little man, and they're all pretty funny. Check them out.