"Just a wo/man & her/his will to survive..."

I have had two back to back great runs over the past two days. Yesterday, I ran a tough 12 X 200 with a 200 recover jog on the IUPUI track and then this morning I ran a nice, easy recovery run to get the lactic acid out from yesterday. Yesterday...it was hot and about 85 degrees. I ran this same workout a month ago in 60 degree temperatures on a Saturday morning. Yesterday, I ran 46 seconds faster total for the workout than I ran last month. That's a huge difference over 3 miles. I'm not for sure when my next race will be, but I am hoping for a 5K so I can break the 17 minute barrier again.

I was listening to my iPod (iPhone) this morning while running and the song Eye of the Tiger came on. I love the line in the song that says, "just a man and his will to survive." Could there be any quote more appropriate for running? At it's core, running truly is about a runner's will to keep going---when it's hot, when it's cold, when it's raining, when it's snowing, when you're tired, when you're sad, when you're happy, etc.--Running tests your metal. It's tests your toughness and your resliency. I write about this often---this being that running help you succeed in life--but it's so very true. In this world at some point one's success does depend on "the will to survive."

Two thoughts before I head to work. One, I want to wish my friend Aaron Barnard good luck running Grandma's Marathon in Duluth tomorrow. If anything tests "your will to survive," it's the marathon. Second, I want to say, "dang, I miss the Lake Tahoe Relay." The Lake Tahoe Relay is a 72 mile race around Lake Tahoe. You run in teams of 7 and each person runs 10 miles or so. I'll post a picture below of my team from a few years ago. Maybe...I'll get enough people to read my blog, train, and then we can all go and run around Lake Tahoe together. It's beautiful, it's fun, and it's more about just having fun running than trying to win anything. Happy running to you...