Highs and a big LOW

Good evening!  Hope that you are doing well.  I'm sitting here with an ice pack on my ankle.  More on that later.

Last weekend was amazing.  Sarah and I celebrated our five year wedding anniversary.  Hard to believe it's been five years.  Seems like yesterday.  It's been such a blessing for me to have Sarah as my partner in this life.  Her patience with me, her understanding, and the lessons she has taught me have been invaluable.  Each day she really does help me become my best self and I love that about her.  She's the perspective when my thoughts are out of whack. She's the listening ear when I need to vent.  She's comfort when I've had a tough day.  She's reality when I need a reality check.  She's simply flat out amazing.  I'm proud of her and the way she has gone after medical school is nothing short of impressive and inspiring.  Both Myles and I are blessed.

Family Photo.  Go GEORGIA!

Running.  Wow am I feeling low right now.  On Friday some of you saw a tweet about me being chased by dogs and tweaking my left lower leg on the inside.  About a mile into my 20 mile run I had to break into a sprint to get away from three dogs who were not friendly (not the first time this has happened to me in this area).  Unfortunately, I believe that I pulled my calf muscle down near my ankle.  I continued my run, but cut it short at mile 17.5.  I took Saturday off and ran on Sunday.  I was sore for the five miles I ran on Sunday so I took Monday off.  Today, I went out again for about 6 miles and the lower inner calf/ankle portion of my leg is just so sore and it hurt.  I have to say, I'm concerned.  It's early in the injury and it could be just sore and it may just heal if I ice, stretch and massage it.  But...I've been injured before (ankle, IT band, shin splints, attacked by dogs) and this feels a lot like the previous injuries in the sense that it feels bad and not minor.  I'm so upset.  I've been training for this marathon for 6  months and I'm less than three weeks away.  I'm in the best shape I've been in since 2007.  I'm ready to PR the marathon.  And...some jerk does not leash his dogs and I get injured.  I'm beyond upset.  Still...I've not allowed myself to accept the fact that I could be injured.  I'm still going to try and run and make a go of it and see if it heals up.  Who knows?  But...I'm not going to quit trying and the pain isn't enough to keep me from running.  I'm just frustrated.  However, running teaches me that optimism and sticking to the fight when you are hardest hit pay off.  So...I'm going to stay upbeat and keep trying. 

Wearing This Wrap to Apply Compression to Increase Blood Flow

All in all, things are great.  Sarah comes back soon from her rotation.  Myles is a wonderful pup.  And...even if I am injured I do know that I'll heal and run again.  I'll never give up.

Step in the right direction...

Good morning!  Hope that your weekend is going very well.  Mine is going well so far.  This morning I had another significant marathon workout planned and I'm pleased to report it went very well.  The goal today was to run 13.5 miles, then race the Spotlight on Nursing 10K, and then run a 1 mile or so cool down.  In total, my goal was to run just over 20 miles. 

What I was most proud of today was that I worked the plan that I created months ago rather than adjust today's workout for short term success.  You see, earlier in the week I seriously considered just racing this 10K without running 13 miles before the race.  I knew that I could run a fast 10K and possibly win the race.  I have not raced this fall on fresh legs, as I've run significant miles before each race to practice running my marathon pace while tired.  One cannot go out and practice to run a fast marathon by running that distance at a high speed.  It would kill your legs for the actual marathon.  So...one has to run some easy miles and then run the hard miles late in the long run to simulate the effect.  I STRUGGLED with sticking to the plan all the way until about 10p last night.  I'm so competitive and I just hate not being rested when I start a race.  But...as I tweeted  yesterday and reminded myself last night the goal for this fall is not to run a fast 10K but rather to run a fast marathon on November 5.  Running teaches patience and discipline--two things our society often forgets--and today was a great lesson on having the discipline and patience to reach the ultimate goal.

All in all, I am ELATED with how things went today.  I got up at 6a and took Myles out to potty.  The race started at 8:45a so I knew I needed to get running early.  I ran 13.5 miles at about a 6:50/mile clip before the 10K.  When I got to the start of the 10K there were a lot of guys from the Runners Forum there and some very talented runners.  While my legs felt somewhat tired, they still felt strong.  During the first mile I felt pretty good and pulled through in about 5:58.  At this point I was in 7th place and I felt like I would catch the two guys in front of me.  I ran the second mile in 5:39 and then the third mile in 5:45.  I was through three miles in 17:23 and was sitting in 5th place.  The fourth mile went pretty well as I hit that in 5:46, but I was starting to feel very tired.  During the fifth mile it was tough, my legs hurt, I was winded and I pulled a 6:00 mile and I knew it was gut check time. About a month ago I raced The Ripple Effect and I let up the last mile, relaxed, and got passed at the end.  Today, I told myself that this pain was what I'd feel in the marathon and that this is why I ran the 13.5 miles before the 10K--to feel this pain and RUN THROUGH IT!  So...I focused on trying to pass the 4th place guy and I ran a 5:46 sixth mile and then finished in 36:06, good for 5th place overall.  Amazingly, today's time is the 4th best 10K I've ever run (I've run 13 10Ks over the years). I'm so pleased with that.  Mainly, though, I'm pleased that when I felt the "marathon wall" type feeling today, I answered the gut check and kept attacking.  That's just what HAS to happen next month. 

Running is such a gift and I'm so very fortunate to be able to do this each day.  It's a lifestyle and I'm sure it seems crazy--who runs 20.75 miles on a Saturday morning for fun?  Well...there are a few of us and we are a bit crazy, quirky, and odd.  But...as Steve Jobs so eloquently put:  "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.  Don't be trapped by dogma--which is living with the results of other people's thinking.  Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice.  And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition."  For me, my inner voice, heart, and intuition SCREAM "Josh, you're a runner."  So...I RUN.   Happy running to you...

Monumental Effort

Good morning to you!  It's going to be a great day in Indianapolis.  It's been rainy and cool for the past week and today it's going to be 70s and sunny.  Myles and I will definitely go on a father/son adventure later on.  It won't be the same without the centerpiece of our family, Sarah, but she returns this month from Atlanta!  Yeah!  Both of us just aren't quite right without our constant (i.e. LOST reference).. 
Training for the Monumental Marathon on November 5 continues to go well.  Hard to believe it's only one month away.  It seems like yesterday I made the decision to run it.  Actually, I made the decision on March 3.  I've run 1250 miles since making that decision and now have run 1532.3 for the year.  This week, I ran 61.2 miles.

Yesterday I embarked on a very challenging morning.  My goal was to run 20 miles total.  I picked out the Running South Race in Southport (about 5 miles from downtown Indianapolis) and made it the focal point of my 20 miles because I could run the 5K at 8:15a and then the 10K at 9a.  I love races where you can double up.  So...the plan was to run 7 miles before the 5K, run the 5K, run 2 miles between the 5K and 10K, run the 10K, and then run two miles to get to 20.  Sound crazy?  Well, the plan worked to perfection and I could not have had a better day.  I ran a 7 mile warm up and then hit the line for the 5K.  There were about 100 people running and as the gun went off there were four of us at the front.  About a mile in I was in 4th place, but the guys in 2nd and 3rd were fading.  I passed them between 1.5 and 2 miles and then did not look back.  I ran a 17:30 (5:39/mile) and finished 2nd.  Then...I ran two miles very quickly and went to the line for the 10K.  Again, there were about 100 people set to run the 10K.  I talked to a couple guys and I was sure that I would have a shot to run very well.  However, at this point I had already run 12 miles.  The gun went off and we all started running and it was just me and another guy leading the pack.  The guy in front of me was clearly faster and I was way in front of the 3rd place guy.  It became very clear that I was on my own for most of the race.  At first, I was disappointed because I wanted to have someone around me to push me.  But...then I remember the purpose of yesterday--teach my legs to run marathon pace when I was tired.  So...I garnered up all the mental concentration I could muster and I just gutted it out.  I finished the 10K in 36:48 (5:56 pace).  All in all, it was a great day.  I ran 9.3 miles of the 20.5 miles ahead of marathon pace (6 minutes), I placed well, and my legs felt strong.  But...it just gets better.  To my surprise, the 2nd place finisher in each race was awarded a $75 gift certificate to Bluemile, my favorite running store.  So...I won $150 in Bluemile gift certificates.  Yes!  It's not very often that I win anything at a race, so this was just awesome. 

This week running once again taught me that when you set a goal, have the discipline to do the work to reach the goal, and do that each day, then the results will come.  I try to carry this principle into my daily life and that tends to work for me.  And...I'm not pretending that I'm some sort of elite athlete because I'm not--my times are not even close to the top folks in running.  But...running is about getting the best out of yourself and I'm very excited about what I can get out of myself next month in the Monumental Marathon.  Have a great day and happy running to you...