Good morning to you and happy weekend. It's been a pretty good week of running. Today I ran my longest run of the year, 13 miles, in 1:30:17. I left about 7:30a and return right around 9a. It's important as the summer approaches that I am able to get in my running early before it gets hot. It gets so dang hot in Indiana. Overall, running is going well.
As I train for the marathon and run progressively longer runs each week I am actually training my body to learn to run and push through fatigue. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to talk with a student, Heather, about her attempt at the Indianapolis Women's Half Marathon on September 3. I was sharing with her a training plan so that she could run the race. One of the points I made to her was that as you increase your long runs, your body adapts. For instance, when I ran 12 miles last week my body really started to feel bad around the 10 mile mark (which was my longest run of their year prior to the 12 mile run). Today, my body really started to hurt once I pushed beyond the 12 mile mark and went for 13. Next week, once I hit 12.5 or 13 miles then my body will start to feel it. Does that make sense? As you push you "wall" out, then you are able to just keep pushing the amount of distance you can run before you really feel fatigued. The trick to training for any race is to push you wall--the point at which it feel just God awful to run--past the distance you have to race. In my previous marathons I've been able to push that wall out each time I've raced. My first marathon it was about the 20 mile mark, my second marathon it was 22, my third marathon it was 23, and at Eugene in 2008 it was 25. This type of training is hard, but totally worth it.
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| Myles did NOT enjoy the Vet visit |
This week Myles was a pretty sick puppy and he was having a hard time keeping anything in. After Sarah and I were up most of the night with him on Wednesday evening cleaning up his stuff (he usually does not potty in the house), we decided it was best to get him to the vet. I took him to the vet on Thursday afternoon and despite not taking him to the vet in three months he remembered as he ran out the door and then buried his head in my armpit when I picked him up and carried him in. Once we sat down with the Vet she said that she was pretty sure he had a GI issue, but then listed out all of the other things it could be--many of which resulted in death. She said, "so we can give you this or we can do all these extra tests to make sure it's nothing serious." She said she'd give me some time to think about it, but I immediately replied, "let's do what we need to do to make sure he's going to be just fine. I love him too much to take a chance." So...they did the extra tests and they came back negative and he's just fine. He probably did not need the tests and they were expensive, but I would have NEVER forgiven myself if I did not agree to the tests. Some things just don't have a monetary value and the life of my Myles is one of them. As we were leaving Myles greeted another dog--a very large lab mix (60LBS). I walked over and talked to the owner and I could see tears in her eyes. She said, "today is his day." Oh my, it broke my heart. I bent down next to her dog and Myles, petted her dog, and gave her dog a kiss on the head. Yes, I know that sounds COMPLETELY INAPPROPRIATE, but in the situation it seemed so natural. As Myles and I left I told her how sorry I was and wished her the best. I smiled. Then...I went to my car and I was just moved to sobbing--yes, actual crying. It BROKE MY HEART to think about the poor woman having to watch her dog be put down. I just cannot imagine. It was strange to be driving down the road and crying about some woman and her dog that I met in passing. But...I think that in that moment it just reminded me of how much I love Myles and how heartbroken I would have been if I was in her position. Many of my family and friends have had to make that tough call--it's a call that has to be made--and one that I'm sure is just so tough.
I submitted my program proposal for GLACUHO (Great Lakes Association of College and University Housing Officers) and it's titled: "What I Learned--About Housing & Residence Life--While Running." I'm pretty pumped up about it and I hope it's accepted. Generally my programs are about residence hall apartment communities, Social Justice and Multicultural Competence, and Leadership. So...this is a new program. Cross your fingers.
Have a great day and happy running to you...
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