I have realized that I have been severely negligent in my blogging duties. Since starting a new job in October and doing Marathon training, I have pretty much spent my time eating, sleeping, and running. I have been listening to several podcasts lately and have been inspired to write again. I am not for sure what direction this will lead, but I have several ideas and it may lead to another blog that is separate from this one. I will be praying about it and see what direction to go.
I was supposed to run the Houston Marathon in January, but chose to defer it to next year. This is where I set my Marathon PR of 2:56 in 2012. After I ran the Route 66 Marathon here in Tulsa in November, where I ended up running a 3:04 because of a bad side stitch around mile 22, I ended up getting sick several times and I am sure I had bronchitis, although I never did go to the doctor. I haven't been sick in years, but this really threw me for a loop in my Marathon training. Because of the illness, my Marathon training was lagging and I did not feel up to the challenge. I could have went to Houston and ran it for fun, but that is not my style. So I made the decision to defer until next year, which I felt peace about. When the actual race day came, it was 40 degrees, 20 mph winds, and pouring rain. After a couple of hours, the race organizers had filled 6 busloads of people who had dropped out due to the weather. I am very glad that chose to defer. That's something I am trying to be more aware of by listening to my spirit as to what races I schedule. If God is concerned with the sparrows, surely he can help direct me in the affairs of my race schedule.
Since then it has been full steam ahead after finally getting over my cough. My endurance was good, but I had lost any speed I previously had. In January we rejoined the YMCA again and I was able to do a lot of my training on the treadmill. The treadmill can be really boring, but it aids my recovery and helps with my speedwork. All the training on the road beats my legs up pretty good, but the softer surface on the treadmill enables me to keep my mileage up without the hard pounding of the road.
Slowly, but surely, my speed is returning. I was able to to knock out a 2 X 4 mile tempo run at 6:35 pace last Sunday and felt pretty good. My mileage has been pretty good for the last several weeks, 89 miles 3 weeks ago, 94 miles 2 weeks ago, and 82 miles last week. I have been really struggling with getting up before work to get that first run in. Some of the podcasters I have been listening to lately such as Michael Hyatt, Erik Fisher, and others, bestow the benefits of getting up early. I am still working on this and I have been trying to use mantra's to encourage myself to get up. One of the ones that I have been trying to use comes from Toby Tanser's book, More Fire, that says, "even the Kenyan school girls run 3 times a day." I figure I should be able to at least run twice a day, right? It has worked on some days, but other days it hasn't helped at all. This is still a work in progress.
Boston is just a little over 4 weeks away on April 15th and if everything continues, I should peak at the right time for the race. My weight has come down some and I plan on trying to better my PR at the race. Anything can happen in a Marathon on race day, but I owe it to myself to be in the best shape as possible and be mentally prepared as I can. This is the Superbowl of Marathons and I have a lot invested to even make it to the starting line. I am striving for excellence for this Marathon, but this is also a life lesson that I can apply to any other area of my existence. That's what I love about running, it will burn the quit out of you.
I will try to keep updating more often as the race is approaching fast. I need to apply a more concerted effort to writing on this blog as I found out that some people actually do read it. Thanks Tim!
I do appreciate everyone that takes the time to read this and we will see where his leads in the future. Time to go run!
