Race Debut Tonight...

Good morning!  It's Saturday and therefore time for a little blog action.  It's been a great morning thus far.  Slept in today and woke up with Myles sandwiched in between Sarah and I.  I think he was glad to have us both relaxed and in no hurry to go anywhere.  He does get a little upset when we leave him.  He's such a demanding fellow.

After two really good months of training (April & May) it's time for my 2011 Race Debut.  Tonight at 7p I'll be running "Outrun The Sun" at Fort Ben here in Indianapolis (Five Mile Race).  It will be a nice test to see where my racing fitness resides at that moment.  I have some idea of what I think I can do, but you never know into you get into it.  There's a huge difference between running day to day miles and racing.  Tonight...will be like a preseason game for a basketball team.  It will be a great measure to see what progress I've made and how much progress I need to make to hit my Monumental Marathon goal (2:39) on November 5.  What you will see from me in the months leading up to the Monumental Marathon will be a series of test races that I can use to measure my fitness.  Today should be a great start.

In running and in life you learn a lot about yourself and others by the way that you finish the race.  One thing I practice daily in my runs is finishing stronger than I start.  A lot of times at the end of runs I actually push the pace harder even though I'm more fatigued because I think your best effort should be at the end and not at the beginning.  I could allow the fatigue to dictate my pace and could just settle and accept what fatigue gives me.  Or...I could look at fatigue and decide I'm not tired and want more.  In running, so many times the time you want to hit is secured in that last half mile--that's where your metal gets tested!  In work, I feel the same way.  When demands get tougher, I typically get stronger.  Or...whenever I've finished a job (at UGA or SSU), I kept taking things head on until the very end.  One simply cannot fade out if they want to leave a lasting positive impact. Mark Richt, UGA Football Coach, talks about "finishing the drill."  I think that this is really important and it's something I try to do.  And...by practicing this daily on my runs it becomes a habit that is ingrained.

Have a great Saturday.  I'm looking forward to this evening and I'll report back tomorrow.  If I can hit around 30 minutes for five miles, then I'll be happy.  We shall see.  Happy running to you...