Hello and good morning. Just ran a very nice and easy six miles this morning. I finished the week with 40 miles run. Over the past six weeks I've run at least 30 miles per week and have run just over 200 miles for that stretch. I'm feeling good about the progress and I can feel my legs getting stronger. I've been thinking a lot about the Monumental Marathon. I'm 25 weeks away from that race. My plan is to spend the next 13 weeks doing two things: (1) Building up my base mileage and (2) working on building the number of miles I can run in a row at a 6 minute per mile clip. Twelve weeks out from the marathon will start my marathon specific training, which will see me run long runs of up to 24 miles. It's going to be a very active 25 weeks.
I've been reading the book "Run" by Dean Karnazes--as I've mentioned previously. In the book he talks about the idea that most people have no idea of what their limits are because they do not test them enough. I've decided for this marathon on November 5 that I am going to push myself to try and run 2:39:59 or better. In order to do that, I've got to condition my body to the point where it can run 6 minutes per mile for 26 miles. That would put me at about a 2:37:30 pace. The best marathon I've ever run is 2:48 (6:26/mile average), so that means I have some work to do. I have to be honest and say that it's a scary goal because it's a risk and probably a physical stretch for me. It's going to take a lot of work to be able to run that kind of time. But...a goal probably is not worth going after if it does not scare you just a little bit. And...it's not that I'm scared of failing because I have failed before. It's more that the goal is really aggressive and it's a major challenge--one that I embrace!
Here are the three best things from last week:
One, the IUPUI Housing and Residence Life Student Leader Banquet on Tuesday evening. We have such an outstanding staff (as I mentioned in a previous post titled "Blessed."). The job that I have is wonderful and I'm lucky to be headed to work each day. "It's a great day to be in Res Life..."
Two, I hit 40 miles for this week and that's the first time I've hit 40 miles in a week since my Kidney Stone episode last November. It feels good to be out there running with meaning again. Training for a marathon is a major life commitment and it requires focus each day. I'm very excited about my progress thus far.
Three, Myles recovering nicely from being sick. As the folks who read this blog consistently know, I love my dog. I really hated seeing him suffer last week and it's hard because he is unable to talk (although I did nearly convince a guy yesterday that Myles spoke fluent Spanish). It was hard to watch him hurt. He's all better now and is as feisty as ever. Hooray for Myles.
Have a great week. Thanks to all of you who have been reading this blog and happy running to you...
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