Equipment Upgrade

What I am about to say should not influence your motivation in a negative way - stay positive and stay motivated!

I have had to admit that I need help, so after a week of refusing to ask, and not really knowing what to ask for, I have broken down and invested yet again in new equipment. Here is a brief recap of my equipment expenses new shoes, compression shorts (a chaffing issue forced this purchase), and now LONG JOHNS! I have not run for the last week because it has been crazy cold for south Georgia and if you have ever seen my cold weather gear I go from two extremes nearly see through and thread bear jogging pants I bought over a decade ago from my college and snow pants that are just about as old. I then have a pullover that I have had for so long I don't even know where it came from or how I got it. See this is how long I keep my clothes and therefore I tend to avoid buying new things until absolutely necessary and the long johns are now totally necessary.

I have lived here longed enough to get used to the idea of two weeks of winter weather in January and the rest of the winter being above freezing. This past week my wake up weather was in the teens with the wind chill and that constituted going back to bed weather for me. I know, I know where was the tough guy who straps on the shoes and goes any ways - well I gathered myself back to bed and got a couple of of more hours asleep.

I am now ready to get back to running. Bring on the cold - I have what it takes now and I am back on the road. See you there!

Training, training and more training

I have a couple of thoughts to share this evening and one being that I have got to stop being so stubborn. As you all know I have been training for my BIG run in January and I have been playing fast and loose with the training program. I am now officially behind by seven work outs and unlike the last time I did not miss count a week so I have no breather room. I am going to have to go hard to get caught up and stay caught up, this has been ridiculous. I know better and should do better.

Now that being said I have been in a near constant state of training for over six months by the time marathon hits I can say unequivocally that I will be glad to put this event behind me. I will then be able to change up my training regimen for the 15k classic in Jacksonville in March before I take some needed time off from the training and racing schedule I have placed myself under.

I would just like to point out for no reason other than to say it and I believe I really like Bluegrass Music...it just connects me to my past in a way that other music does not...thank you to Pandora Internet Radio.

Now back to the discussion at hand - I had fun over the holiday weekend and I hope you did as well. I spent time with friends and family and for the first time in a long time I was not stressed or regretting anything. I missed my father-in-law in a major way and the calm and loving presence that he he was when I spent time with him. I did spend sometime working through my own emotions and I know I am not done with those emotions, but I know he would want me to move forward so forward I go.

I have been training for a long and I had friends come in from out of town and I was glad to have them here because for the first time in a long time I had people running with me (no my beautiful wife I did not forget our June race, but this was a touch different). Now, I have run with friends in July and family in June and again 9 years ago when the Brunswick Bridge opened, but for the most part I attend races alone and race alone, so this was a good time and a pleasant change from my routine.

At the race I had to constantly remind myself that this was not a race (but it was) and that it was just a training session (it wasn't) and I could move at a comfortable pace and not kill myself (I pushed - hard - my pulse rate was 91% of my max at one point). I finished last in my age group, but I enjoyed seeing the 300+ people in Savannah that I inspire to come out and race. I had no idea my influence reached so far, but lets face it when your steveinspired, your inspired no matter where you are. My friend Ben blew me away with his speed, it was really great to shout words of encouragement to him and know that helped him go farther and faster (steveinspired). I also appreciated seeing him at the end and having him return the favor with his words of encouragement. I later joined him and we gave encouragement to his wife Tara; it was a good team feeling. I should point out that Ben came in 2nd for his age group and that is wonderful and I enjoyed seeing someone I know walk away with his prize.

The best part about having friends in town is I had a training partner for the first time ever (again Meg I did not forget about you, it was just different). He pushed me outside of my comfort zone for my training and I think I had become more slow and sloppy then I had realized. I ran harder, kept my breaks, and felt better at the end. Now granted it was a short distance of 8 miles, but still it was nice, so I am going to attempt to push harder for my four mile run that is coming up to see what I can shave off for my benefit. I had watched a training video about working speed work into your routines, so I am going to see how that works for me and get a feel for adding some speed with 6 weeks to go. That may seem ridiculous, but lets see what happens.

I also have a small confession for everyone out there...I think I purposely let my phone die last nite so my alarm would not go off. Now, don't let this effect your determination to continually improve yourself, like I said I have a stubborn streak in me and I am working to show my self that at my age I can not pretend to be a 20 something instead of a man rapidly growing toward forty. I need to remember I am a marathoner now (presumptuous? maybe) and I have to take better care of myself. Sleep better, eat better, drink less, care for my aches and pains, and not be unwilling to seek help when help is needed.

So, I want to wrap up with this for everyone to consider - Coming in first matters to the person who comes in second, but the person who never gave up and finishes the race is an example of determination and will, they should be cheered as loudly as the person coming in first.

No sun running aka pre-dawn

I have been running a lot lately to make up for some missed runs over the last several weeks. As a result of that I have been running early in the morning and as we all know there is now no daylight until about 630a, which
means I am doing a lot of running in the dark. To resolve some logistics I bought a pen LED on light. If your keeping track I have now invested in running shoes, a hydration belt, and now a pen light. All this is done to improve my running efforts.

As a result of my efforts I have realized some things. The first one is that it can be spooky to run when it is dark. Now when I run I tend to spend a lot of time letting my mind wonder and now I have to stay way focused on where I am because of not only the dangers of running when you can't see; but the spooky factor.

Let's start with the dangerous factor and that being that I can't really see where I am going and run the risk of falling flat on my face (I almost did a few days ago), then there are the dogs that I can't see, luckily they are still put up for the most part. Then there is the funny people who like to turn their brights on so I can't see no matter what...I just really love those jerks.

Then there is the spooky factor. I don't know about you, but I used to watch a lot of scary movies when I was younger. Since I don't listen to my head phones for safety reasons, I find that I hear a lot of new sounds I don't often hear when the sun is up and there are tons of cars, other runners (these people do find me an inspiration) and bicyclers. These new sounds are like this: thump, thump, thump and beat, beat, beat and shuffle/scrape, shuffle/scrape and then the heavy breathing. I try to keep my mind focused but these nosies follow my non-stop until the sun comes up. The sad part is that it does not help me turn run faster, but let's me realize that I can't out run whoever is chasing me because I CAN'T SEE!

I always feel better starting about 615a because the sun comes up and my eyesight improves and the scary noises start going away. I can then successful put the thoughts of being chased by Jason, Freddy, the guy from Saw, Jack Nickelson from the shinning all out of my mind because the scary dark parts of my run have faded with the light. Ahhhhh running with daylight is great.

Which reminds me I have to get up super early to hit the road before the sun comes up. I'm trying my best to stay focused on that January prize.

Mobile Blogging

I have been neglectful updating everyone about my running and in truth I don't really have any new news. I have been training for a few weeks now and I am working hard at getting all of my missed runs caught up and it has been hard, but I am thankful for Meg being so indulgent with my training program. I look forward to a well thought out update coming in just a few days. Until then I just keep running.

All about my first 13.1

I know that many of you have been waiting to hear the report on my first 13.1 race and it has taken longer to write then I thought it would, but with how crazy life has been lately I just have not had the time. More details on that to come in the future.

So, let me tell you about my most anticipated and longest completed run to date. As with many of my big runs of late this was also a Disney run and if there is one thing I can say about Disney is they always do it right! It was a night race and that was something new to me I had no idea as to what to expect along the route or even what it was going to be like to run at night. Well, let me tell you that I had a wonderful time yes it was long, yes I was tired, and yes I literally feel on my face but people and characters were everywhere!!!

I started out my run knowing I had to keep it in check not to fast not to slow, you know how it goes, and then as I am conquering somewhere around mile two guess who roles out to meet me Chip and Dale (Now I met Mickey and Minnie before the race started) then along the route were bands, Goofy, stilt walkers, more people, more characters, and even DARTH VADER!!!!! I mean I was like a kid in a candy store with all these characters out to watch me run. I know I am an inspiration to tons of people, but an inspirtation to the Dark Lord of the Sith that he would want to chear me on - Man I'm good. OK now that I have gotten that out of my system let me tell you how the race went.

I was feeling good and thought I was doing well. We left from Wide World of Sports and then went through Animal Kingdom and according to the pace clock on the route I was well ahead of my 12 min training pace. This was my second race through Animal Kingdom and it was still a blast. We ran through that park quickly and the tree of life and other places were lit-up it and music was playing and park characters were out. It was really nice.

As I was making my way back on to the street to leave and head to my next park I was still feeling good about myself and making my way toward Hollywood Studios (which is in my head the biggest park in the area no matter what the maps say) we had a great DJ calling out college game scores and unfortunately UGA was not doing well that night so it was a bit of let down to know I was doing my best and they were stinking up the first half, but really it's about me at this point and I did not really cared about them...I know some of you may find that hard to hear, but it was true at the time.

So as I ran into Hollywood Studios I go through the front and out the back, but while I was in the part the route took me up and down every street, avenue, it felt like every where. In case you are wondering this is where Darth Vader was over by the Star Tours ride. They had us run through the back lot tour, the action/adventure stunt show, star tours, where the Tower of Terror is, near the area of the Playhouse Disney and on and on and on...then thankfully we were allowed to leave and head toward EPCOT. I was never more excited to leave the park as I was that day in my life.

As we were leaving the nice run by the river toward Epcot made a huge impression on me during that time I was tired, still a head of my pace and was past the 9 mile mark. I could not see Spaceship Earth yet, but I knew it was coming and that was enough. I need to also let you know that over the course of this race several people had been pulled from the race for falling behind the pace or becoming sick or failing apart. Something had happened to take them out and to know that I was still in was a big deal. One person had to get medical attention because they were over on the side of the route tossing their cookies and that is a sure sign of dehydration and that is one of my worst thoughts when running. I think am I staying hydrated enough for this? Am I sweating too much? Should I take a carb shot or just stick with water? Am I drinking too much water? All this may sound pretty simple, but I consider it all through the course of these long runs, because it can be threatening if I don't listen to my body and push too hard.

So, as I run and know at this time I could simply walk and finish in more then enough time and my heart fills with pride the old saying happens. Pride came before the fall...I literally tripped and feel flat on my face at this time. I am somewhere between the Dolphin and Swan resorts when SPLAT! I trip over the road, fall out on the grass, and spend several seconds trying to get back up until I had a panic thought which was "their going to take me out!" I then jump up and start running covered in dirt and cut and scraped and unknowingly tweaked my knee, but the adrenaline was pumping and I had to keep going.

I end up falling behind my race pace a little bit and finish on my practice pace. I was so upset and happy at the same time. I finished knowing I had literally left all I had on the road that night for that race and that is how I like to finish, but I felt foolish for allowing myself to take things for granted and not keeping my head in the race. I like to know that when I cross that finish line that I had done my best and over came all the obstacles that were faced as part of this run and training for this run.

Needless to say the next morning when I woke up my knee let me know it was hurting and my feet wanted as little walking as necessary. So I took it easy around the hotel and my loving wife drove me home, it was a truly great weekend. We did not go to the parks, but the kids did not seem to mind and that was a relief, because I was sure it was going to be a fight. Knowing that while I ran the kids were good for Meg also made me feel good, because it was important to me that everyone had as little stress this weekend as possible and I would like to think that happened this time. I know many people will think I am nuts with all the running and racing and expense, but I just enjoy it so much and it makes me feel like I did when I was on the swim team in college. Me against myself going for the best and if I manage to pass a couple of people along the way all the better.

Up coming how my life has changed recently and my adventures with my new shoes.

Mistakes and poor planning...It happens to us all

Writing a blog can sometimes be hard even when it is a topic that you are passionate about, for me I enjoy running and making this blog about running has its easy days and hard days. Today seems to be a hard day. I want to talk about how great the training is going, but the truth is its not...I have been stalled this week and last because I miss counted the weeks to the half and now I am bored and feeling over burdened and I have only not run for a day, but running is away for me to wash away a lot of the stress that has been cropping up lately. I have also been looking past my 1/2 marathon, which is in two weeks, to my full marathon and I think that also plays a big part.


Additionally, I don't think I have planned this outing very well at all. This Disney trip has been a fiasco and we have not left yet and that is primarily because I thought "lets change our rhythm" and now it will not turn out like I would like and that may be why I am looking further down the road. Here are some of the areas where I have made mistakes (for those of you who do not know me very well I despise making mistakes...hot flushes of embarrassment every time) and here is where I have learned as well. First I messed up waiting too long to make the reservations for the hotel, did not read the information on-line closely enough to detect the differences with tickets, I have don't feel that I am leaving out of here with all my Disney ducks in a row (no offense Donald, Daisy, Huey, Dewy, Louie, Uncle Scrooge, etc.) and while it is Disney and therefore "magical" it will be different from the last few times.

I also made a classic blunder on two fronts I got sick and it is hanging around for more than my traditional 48 hours and I took my running shoes, my ONLY pair of running shoes and ran a beach run just two short weeks ahead of my big race. Who does that? That's like putting dirty oil in your car on purpose. Now they have been sitting in the back of my truck since Saturday because I fear checking on them, but I am not about to break in new shoes two weeks before a race...I mean I am not that stupid. I was really hoping to take them to at least the 600 mile mark and I will be lucky to get another 30 out of them.

Then there is the classic over confident athlete mistake of looking too far down the road and I have stopped focusing on the run at hand and I have started thinking down the line to the big marathon in January. I have started reading more articles online about how to run, hydrate, eat, wear, sleep, train everything marathon and I have not even gone 13.1 yet and therefore I think I have stopped taking this challenge as seriously as I should. 13.1 is a long way and to date I have only gone 10 and it is hard for me not to get cocky...focus -Davis - focus!

So, here I am changing a lot of my rhythm to my run and I am unsure it all agrees with me, maybe I am just still trying to get over this cold/allergy/sinus thing and my head is just not on right or maybe I am realizing that 13.1 should not kill me and I want to be a strong finisher and the tweaks are good. Or maybe I am focusing on ancillary problems and  they are sapping my strength and motivation. That being said I think I am going to be motivated to go to bed, because if I am going to keep calling myself an athlete then I need to start acting like one and take care of body because unlike Steve Austin I don't have six million dollars if something breakdowns.

And now I have a chiropractor

Well here I am updating the blog for the first time in several weeks. It has been a a wild ride and now I have an opportunity to talk a little about how my training has been progressing.I only four weeks from my first half and I have finally given into a couple of things that, if they don't kill me can only make me stronger, of these I have decided to start seeing a chricoprtactor after I was given a free consultation. I openly admit that I was worried about these bone crackers making me go snap, crackle, and pop. I am not sure what happened on my first visit, but the magic mirror made me look like Quasimodo before the adjustment - then later pow the magic mirror made me look more like a man. So I agreed to come back for a follow up and I am not sure again what the did, but I felt better this time then the first.

Well I have been spending more time stretching my muscles since the adjustments have caused for me to change my biomechanics. I'm looking forward to my first run tomorrow to see how things are working (here's hoping). I must admit that part of my motivation is to have a great marathon and finish strong and to that end I think a holistic approach that is drug free will make a difference.

Then there is the nutritional changes I am undertaking an example being I'm now taking vitamins, I know "what's the big deal" well the last time I took a vitamin they looked like cartoon characters. Then there's the nutritional changes I have been making in my runs. My half marathon is a stepping stone to my first full marathon. That means I have been debating sports drinks and gel packs and the like. I have not reached a full conclusion yet, so I will wait to talk about that more later.

Facing Facts...ugh!

I can hardly believe it has been almost a month since my last post...wow...So as I have been training I have been having to face some facts. One fact I had to face is that there are no water/pool shoes in Brunswick for my size feet. Now first off understand that Meg, whom I love, thinks they are ugly on anyone older than Sam. Well, if you had seen my nearly lost toe from my swim two weeks ago you would understand...I mean there I am minding my own business swimming in the ocean avoiding sharks and horny sea turtles (you remember from a former post my fears) and I go to stand up and some sea creature cut the bottom of my big toe!

I mean come on I did not intend to step on it, did it really have to cut my foot in half. I mean first I freaked out and then I figured out that there were probably a school of great whites coming north from Australia to hunt me down so I had to get out of the water. I had determined that I would get water shoes and then I would be protected from toe cutting/eating sea creatures. Well, I am headed back to the ocean Saturday and I am hoping that sea creatures and the school of sharks have given up on eating me and gone back out to sea several hundreds of miles away.

The next fact I had to face was a bit more difficult for me and that was that the big shiny Superman S I wear on my chest has been getting a little tarnished...the fact is I am not running the Goofy race and a half at Disney. Excuse me while I wipe away a tear. Ugh...OK maybe I was over reaching a little...Sure I would have been training for 6 months, sure I would have run my first 1/2, a three race challenge, a double pump, probably a easy 5k, all before my full marathon, but in truth I have no idea what condition I will be in after my half and so perhaps I should take it a little easy this time around.

Now, Meg, I admit that you might be right and that is a big might...I mean come on I am a driven person who sees a challenge and does not think "Hmmm that may be too much" NO I see it and think "Lets kick some ass! Lets own that goal!" So, it does pain me to not sign up for the race...but there is always next year...insert diabolical laugh.

Let last fact I have started to face is that I need more mental training. I have decided to go and get a sports physical and maybe see a chiropractor to have some foot and ankle evals before I get closer to race day. These things are important because I know mentally I have the race, I mean mentally I own it and I could do it tomorrow. However, it is the recovery I have to be ready for and so the more mental training I could do to prep for recovery the better I will be on my long training runs and recovery from the big race.

Well there you go some new facts I have had to face and deal with...what an eye opening month this first month of training has been.

A blister - Damn it! AND a rock in my shoe!

Ahh the run...it was short 3 mile run, I say short because I am training for my 1/2, as I was running I realized that I have a problem a sharp shooting pain that ebbs and flows with the movement of my shoe. What could it be but a heel blister. I stop and look and it is a heel blister...right where a very old bruise has been for several weeks. I know there is nothing to do with it out on the street so I lace back up and hit the road. As I run I start thinking about the pain and the thoughts (or conversation in my head) goes something like this....(insert wavy flashback sequence)

"Man this really sucks, my heel really hurts, how long has that blister been working its way out of my heel, I mean the bruise has been there forever" - Running is going on, not hard but steady. "Oh well at least it is going to heal finally and then I wont think about the bruise." Running continues, no major problems have developed. "Man I really used the word heal/heel a lot recently...oh well...oooo a new song on my run list, I really like this song" Running faster to my new song. "I bet I will limp later walking to the house, I am almost done, lets try to push it out" Running even faster to my new song...

and then this happened...(reinsert wavy flashback sequence)

"Ow ow ow what is that?" Now walking funny, "Is that a pebble in my shoe? Oh come on, I just want to finish" now getting ready to take off my shoe, I look like a giant hippo on two legs bending over and not looking graceful at all as I fall to my rump trying to get my shoe off. Insert frustrated face. "That little thing was making all that pain? Stupid pebble." Put shoe back on and got up to get started down the road again. "Aw man my new song is over, it was really good...oh well I think that is Metallica coming on next I can run that to the finish, stupid rock and blister"

And then a healthy finish and walk home...shoes off and foot tended too. Well, there you go a small look into my internal dialogue when I run, hope you enjoyed it.

Something new and different

I tried something new today as part of training for my 1/2. I decided that it would be fun to do an open water swim off the coast of Jekyll today. I was reallying looking forward to this event and plan on doing similar swims in the future. When I was in college, for those that don't know, I was a lettered varsity swimmer. That means I joined the swim team, all 6 of us, maybe 7, and stayed around until the end of the year. Swimming in a pool or lake is much different then the ocean for example there are currents, rip tides, waves, man eating animals, etc. Please pay close attention to the last thing listed.

For those of you who do not know south Georgia beaches are crummy even at high-tide the water is never pretty and blue it is brownish and cloudy. I will not bore you with the reasons, but I will say that here in south Georgia we have lots of marshes and some of the most extreme tides in the world. So, all that being sad let me now tell you about my adventure in this swim.

I walked down to the beach and noticed that I was one of only about a dozen people on the beach and the  water looked like it was full of oil, I mean like pitch black. I put my foot in and out several times to double check to make sure there was nothing oily sticking to me. Now logically I knew that the oil was not here, but hey a little paranoia works well for upping the adrenaline. The tide was out and I mean waaaaay out. I started walking to the water and noticed that the sand changed almost suddenly to mud and muck. I was walking maybe 6 miles out to find deep enough water to swim in (maybe more like 50 yards from the beach) and I was standing in ankle deep muck and waist deep water. Having noticed that at this point I was the only one in the water I thought hmmm maybe sharks. Do you hear the jaws theme yet? I did. So I waited several minutes and decided since I was still standing it was OK to start swimming.

Well, I started swimming and the longer I swam the more I was convinced that I was being chased by a shark so after two stops where I had to look up and check my surroundings, and no sharks, I decided to swim a bit longer. Well, I was sore from my strength training work out Monday so I switched to swimming the breast stroke. Now that is not a strong or quick stroke by design and the entire time I was in this pattern I was going nowhere. I knew this because my landmark and I stayed even for the next 20 minutes. I was not worried about going nowhere because it felt like a "forever pool" set up. I also felt safer with this stroke because I as able to keep my head up and look around. I mean since I was going back the way I came I was sure I would see the shark chasing me from before, right?

While swimming I noticed that I was so close to the bottom that a properly executed stroke would cause my hands to rack up muck, so I modified it a little to dig my hands less deep on the return stroke and realized that I looked like a sea turtle. You know slow, fat, and round. When this thought came to my head I was hoping that there were not any sea turtles with eyesight problems and they would think I was a sexy sea turtle in need of some attention...so as I am swimming looking for sharks and worried about being violated by sea turtles and all the while going no where, I figured I had enough and stood up to leave. During this swim time nature was all around me especially the biting fly that bit my head and kept trying to eat me every time my head was above water. Now as I was leaving I was bit by a little fish and felt something sharp and prickly poke my feet.

So, I was now leaving the water at an accelerated rate, remember the adrenaline thing, to avoid any other attacks by nature and after running back onto the beach I realized that I was probably out deep enough to have found Spongebob, if I looked hard enough, and decided that high tide with sand sure beats low tide with muck. Will I do this again absolutely! Will I try to conquer my fear of being eaten a live? Yep. And will I over come my fear of sea turtle assault? I think I have already done that, I mean they are slow and heavy and I am pretty sure I could take one on if it came to close. The little biting fishes there nothing but uncaught dinner. The biting flies that is another story all together. That being said look out beach and ocean I will be back!

Hardcore Running aka Adverse Weather Conditions

When it comes to being hardcore lets face it people find hardcore activities something to be envied or accomplished depending on who you are as a person. I mean I think jumping out of a perfectly good air plane as hardcore others see it as just something to do. I think bull riding is hardcore, and I would love to give that a try, however, right now I think training to push my body to the limit by running 26.2 miles at the end of the next 6 months is hardcore and others find that to be just crazy. So, that being said I like the idea of doing hard things and this is the case with training for my first 1/2 as part of running my first full marathon. Unlike some people I don not enjoy running in the heat, I know, I know I live in south Georgia how could I not like running in the heat it is hot down here like 10 out of 12 months of the year. What I really enjoy is running in the cold...not below freezing death on your doorstep cold, but cold enough that the wind cuts into you a little and it takes a mile or two to warm the muscles, I think that can be considered hardcore running. I also think that running in the rain can be, like all hardcore activities, either really stupid or really cool.

To that point I submit to you that if you go out to run when it is a torrential downpour not hardcore...kind of dumb. However running outside, as I was today, and the rain comes well that looks much better there is less of a stupid element to it. i know what your thinking - How will the people driving by you while your running know the difference? Well, granted they won't, but you will and it makes it easier to push through the run and feel good coming in to the house and then your significant other is not so quick to make fun of you for being caught in the rain versus leaving in the rain.

So, as the summer rolls on I will be out there either early in the morning or late into the evening picking 'em up and putting 'em down as the training goes on and will I be hardcore? I would be content to not fall over from too much heat. I will wait for those late day thunderstorms to help me look hardcore.

The Joy of Healing

Well, I have been off the road for about 10 days now I must say that it has not been a good 10 days. I have hurt and cramped and felt thick in the middle. It has not been as fun as I thought and the worst part is my training regimen for the 1/2 marathon is 18 weeks and I only have 14 to go if I start next week. AHHHHHHH! I have three training runs from my 5k left over. So it looks like I will be finishing that off this week and then I start next week picking up at the 4 week mark and get going again. I am looking forward to it. I am not sure what has been the benefit from the healing time. I mean sure I have slept later and my feet don't hurt like they used to and I have downloaded some new songs to keep me going and motivated to stay in motion...so really what was the benefit?

So, now comes the super important mental switch. I have to find the motivation to throw the switch and get running again. I think I will allow myself to splurge and buy some good running sun glasses to help me in these summer runs. I also think I could use about 3-5 more running songs. I am leaning toward LL Cool J and a couple of other artists to keep me moving. On the other happy note when I add new songs I tend to dance while I run until I successfully incorporate them into my running brain. The odd thing was I thought I was good on the training until next week since I thought it was 12 weeks, but apparently my training site changed the plan and now it is 18 weeks, oh well.

You know the other thing that comes to mind is that since I intend to run the Disney Marathon in January I will be starting in the middle of that training program as well. Should I consider this a year of short cuts? Or should I take my left over weeks and make them into my 15k training program for Jacksonville? Decisions, decisions.

The race is run!

The race has been run now for about 48 hours and it was an absolute blast. I think the 90/10 change occurred for me at some point Saturday. I knew I was going to do it and kick some tail in doing so. I had trained my body for weeks and I knew I could do this physically and then as I looked around at all the other runners I simply needed to know that I owned them, no matter what I was going to take them on and beat them.


This kind of talk is necessary to flip that mental switch to remove doubt. There comes a point in every athletes life, where the physical does not matter at all due to the training it was now only you and your thoughts that cause for the race to be a success or a failure. Once you start there is no going back there is only going forward! I love it when that happens when I reach that point of serenity in my thoughts that makes running fun and the races worth running.

Of course it helps to get a medal and some lovely parting gifts on race day and now the moment all have been waiting for a picture of the medal that I and my wife won. I am such a sucker for a medal!
 

Race Day in less than 1 day and 1 hour!!!

The best part of all the training has now come full circle; this has been race week! All the sweat (there has been a lot of that), all the pain (some of that), all the music (new and old), and having for the first time ever my wife with me makes it all worthwhile! Now, I know that there is probably nothing in this world less fun than going to an endurance race if you are not in the race so I am very appreciative of her being at my first race and now running with me. This will be fun and there needs to be a good attitude and loads of laughs; in order for yours truly to accomplish this I have thrown away the idea of personal bests, I can shoot for that in my July race on St. Simon's, I just want us to enjoy ourselves.

That being said I am starting to get ramped up in a big way for the race...the bloods pumping a little quicker the slight taste of adrenaline is hinted at when I swallow...its GO TIME BABY!!!!! Time to dial it back a notch again....man that can be hard. I just love countdowns and this is going to be one for the books. Tomorrow will be my last pre-race post when I expand on the 90/10 split from earlier and I believe that will set the tone for what needs to happen when it comes to flipping the "switch" to mentally be prepared.

So, I think I am going to try and let my mind wonder and not focus on the race. It has been really difficult since Monday to not look at the map everyday and scrutinize the website everyday, to talk about the race everyday, but I would have driven people nuts if I did, so I am trying to be considerate, but trust me there will be an extended recap of the race and the adventure. I am ensuring pictures by bringing my phone and since it has a flash I don't worry about the lighting!! Now if only the weather holds, talk of rain is at 40 percent, but that I can safely say I have been checking daily since Monday....I mean I need one little indulgence to me mania side (insert maniacal laugh here),

It could be the music

It is no secret that my runs have been averaging 12 minute miles for the last several long runs leading up to the race next week.What may be a secret is that I have changed my run music, well that may not be entirely true, I have actually replaced my music with OTR and that has had a negative effect. See when I run short runs I listen to music and get lost in the beat and run accordingly. On the long runs I have mistakenly convinced myself that radio dramas are good ideas, they are not! They drag at time, I want to listen to the story line and that tends to slow me down and take away from the energy I put into running. I was pretty convinced that I could run with just about anything playing in my ears. I am clearly wrong. I went running today and my ankle bruise held up well, but I was still slow and pitiful and the only thing that could make sense was what was going on in my head. Even when I run to just the sounds of nature I run better, so clearly I need to have better tunes. I am going to go back to my old run playlist and try to find a few new ones to add to the list, since change is the spice of life I now know that for training OTR is not a good spice, I may need something new to work from. This one is particularly short because I am tired and need to get to bed. I have an early run in the morning before church...7 miles and then a pool party later in the day. Next week as we start the race countdown I hope to express well my excitement.

A little bit o'pain

It has been a few days since my last post so I thought I would talk about what has been going on since my last post. I have managed to put down 15 miles in 3 days and I was terribly tired those three days. I have managed to drop a couple of pounds and then put them back on, but that's OK since they were never off long. Then something strange happened to me this week...I was going to work hard at catching up on some missed work outs while the kids are out of town and then I would not have to make a choice about finishing my calender or letting it go (and that does not sit too well at this point). The strange thing was that I listened to my body and I mean really listened for a change and did not push hard.
Let me explain more of what I mean...I am currently dealing with heal pain and the first thing that ran through me was panic, self imposed, but panic none the less. See, I had a crazy wacky idea this year and that was to make 2010 the year I did it all! Every Disney race out there finishing strong with the marathon in January and then have a more normal running life regarding runs, medals, t-shirts, etc. but I wanted this and I wanted it bad. See I consider myself a driven person, but not always a finisher. I often start things and have difficulty staying focused on the prize to complete tasks in a timely manner. Examples: I have a book on my night stand for almost a year (what the hell?), I am a week and a half late on going through paperwork of a former employee, I have yet to wash the truck (which I wanted to do this week), and the list goes on. Well, I was tired of being that person so I decided this would be a way to start and finish something with out getting distracted. I think at times I slip into three year old mode and I see a new shiny "thing" and move toward it when I am not done with my current shiny "thing". Frustrating!

Now back to the panic  - I was worried that it would be bad heel damage and would put me out of running for two to four weeks that would eat into my marathon training schedule. That left me one choice keep training through the pain...well I didn't I could just see in my head with every step more fibers of my Achilles tearing away from the bone and running be a "once did". You know those statements "I once did run a marathon, I once did swim for my college at the varsity level..." these are all like old war stories and since I have yet to be running a year I did not want to have those war stories yet. I wanted to be able to say I ran the Peachtree Road Race, the Boston Marathon, earn the Disney Coast to Coast Medal, and even one day do an international run (now that would be fun!).

Well, last night I stretched and massaged to try to work out the pain. I was not seeing any reasons, no tale tale stretch marks, no bruising, no cuts, nothing. I went running again today and it still hurt the pain was different, but it hurt all the same, and that was a whole different set of worries. Feeling worried I asked my gracious wife to rub my heel since I really can't reach that far. Thanks sweetie! I noticed something the pain was isolated and not through out the foot. That meant a possible ray of hope; it was probably not serious! (at this point insert singing angels) So, I rubbed my ankle and it was true - isolated pain. Now detective work to find the source..then I noticed it a small round and deep brown bruise! A bruise I can handle that I have those all the time. I was thrilled it was a plain old fashioned inconvenient bruise. That also means I probably stepped against something and did not realize it until the bruise came to the surface. That raises separate questions related to footwear, but that is a different post. So, this means a few days off the course and I should be fine. So, while I internally wrestle with the changes to my training schedule I have to remember what Hal Higdon states about his programs and that is that they are simply recommendations not iron clad rules to run by...sigh!

I find it irritating to break in the middle of my routine, but that is OK I would rather treat it while it is small than let it become something big. I think I am going to use this as an example to myself that if I want to be a finisher then I need to get back to finishing my tasks, not just my current shiny thing...which reminds me I think starting tomorrow that book needs to really get read.

Long Run - Race Training Report

Sunday was a long run day and today was routine so I will not worry you with routine, but Sunday was long...really long...I basically ran a 10k. Now many people may see that and cringe, but I see it as an opportunity to test myself for my long range goal of a half-marathon. Well then, that is not such a long run, it was basically half of a half and that is nothing. That being said I want to direct your attention to the glass half full approach to this run.

Like most things in life you can be a downer or an upper. I try real hard to be an upper, even when I don't feel it, I figure so many other people have problems why bother them with mine. Well, I could go on about this, but as noted in the past I feel that running helps me to clear my head and center my thoughts, and it does, but when that fails I have to remind myself to keep "my side of the street clean". What does that mean you ask? Well, some AA friends of mine explain it like this: I have to do what is best for me and you can get on board or try to junk up my side of the street. If I let your stuff get in my way I will never get where I am going. Pretty good right? I mean what does a runner hate more than having to go around things and artificially extend a run...ugh!

That being said I am talking about a major shift for many people and that is because their Eeyore side has taken over and maybe they are not taking as good care of themselves emotionally, spiritually, physically, relationally, whatever and that stuff drowns out their Tigger (if you know anything of Pooh Bear you know the analogy I am attempting to draw). Now as a counselor I often tell people to fake it till the make it with their emotions, because despite what you would be lead to believe it is way harder to break an Eeyore habit than to start a Tigger habit. Basically, Tigger takes energy and work and Eeyore lets you wallow in and meet your daily goal of sorrow. So, how do you keep going and keep things up and not down? How do you put one foot in front of the other day in and day out? How do you make it worthwhile when your mind and body tell you to give up? (Mine did by the way - today! My mind and body told me to stay home and sit on the couch and it was tempting).

Well I will answer the first question this way - No one makes you feel anyway if you don't give them permission. You have to start out knowing it will be a great day (even if you don't think so, tell yourself anyways, I do) and allow for bumps that don't cost you your cool. When you loose that you loose a lot...including respect and trust from others. Next question keeping in motion - well once you get started don't stop, but be clear why you started and remind yourself of that when the bed is extra warm in the winter or the rain is a little harder than you want it to be.

When that fails you need to make a change - either your motivations for doing or what it is that you do...it is OK to change like a reed in the wind, you do not always have the be the steady oak, just feel good about your choice and try not to hurt others as you change. Last question, well that is a bit trickier...if your mind and body tell you to stay away from something, or stay home to avoid something, or stay in the craziness of things,  when the healthy thing is the opposite than step back look at what brought up that dialogue (i.e. question 1) or  your motivation (i.e. question 2). Go away to center your thoughts if that is what is needed, take a time out, surround yourself with friends, family, or loved ones to make yourself recharged and whole again. Do all the things that are necessary to bring you back to your Tigger. You may have to reach far far back in your file cabinet to when that was, but once there look at what worked make the needed adjustments and make that leap. Just a word of caution when you leap make sure people know...if not they may try to tie a bungee to your butt and snap right back to where you don't want to be. This may sound simplistic, but it is supposed to be, life is not meant to be hard.

Well, that does it for now, I have a tempo run tomorrow and my mind is already telling me how much I don't like them. So, I start telling me why they are important and start making plans to do it a little different. I will let you know if it is a success.

90/10 Split

They say that when you train for anything it is 90% physical and 10% mental. That means it is all about training the body and a little about training the brain. It does not matter what you think or what you feel, what does matter is doing the exercises. I want to talk about that 90% for a long time before we get into the 10% since that is the easiest part in my opinion of any training program. Now back the physical...will it hurt? Yes. Will the pain go away? Yes. Will I possibly feel like shit for a while? Yes...but after a while when your body adjusts you will feel better so much so it may be hard to imagine not being active (vacations are allowed of course) and not engaging in the activity that has got you where you are. Maybe that makes you an endorphin junkie, but who cares. Your out there your doing that which most people would think is crazy, but at the end of the day your body responds with shaping up and being able to do things that maybe a year, a month, a week, or even the day before you thought was impossible, well that's the 90% and that is what separates you from the couch potato across the street or in the cube next to yours. You look better, you feel better, your mind and body are in greater symbiosis. Now does this mean that everyone has to run and run and run...well no duh! There are many for a number of reasons that can't and shouldn't, but that is not an excuse for making your body the best it can be and knowing when you walk around that you are the one getting the second looks because, you put pain and excuses aside and worked through cramps and soreness until your body grew accustomed, you deserve it.

Now for the mental 10% that is easy I can sum it up this way with a quote from one of my most favorite TBS movies, as an aside if I ever actually owned it I would have no idea what to do with myself, and here it is "Pain heals. Chicks dig scars. Glory... lasts forever" - Shane Falco from the movie The Replacements. That pretty much sums up the other 10% when you are training well that and one other movie quote that has been a guiding influence for me in a lot of what I do when I want to set my mind to something and as Master Yoda to Luke Skywalker in the Empire Strikes Back "Do or do not there is no try" (honestly did you think you would get by with out at least one Star Wars quote). When I break down the 10% that really is all there is to it and I know that because in my bathroom I have strategically hung my metals from my races so far and when I see them I think about how cool it was to cross the finish line every time (a little glory) and knowing that all my training made sure it was a possibility and not an impossibility (doing and not trying).

Later as I move closer to my next 5k in a little less than a month I will talk more about when the split shifts and how to handle that, I think you will find it interesting. Oh and did I mention that I am in the process of planing my first 1/2 Marathon!!! I am totally looking forward to that and more to come on how when my OCD kicked in this week I talked myself into doing something totally nuts, but I can and will accomplish my goal...reference quotes above.

Two updates in one...

Yesterday I tried to do things a little differently, I took an easy run. I decided to not push myself too hard and settle into a slow run pace that I was used to when I first started...that is a 12 minute mile pace if your wondering. Now, I am not speed demon, but that felt slow. I mean to stay in that range I walked and walked and walked and still managed to get home at 36 minutes. In the end I forgot the fun that an easy walk/run can be and it allowed me to enjoy the outdoors. Simply put this was a mindful experience where I tried to stay in the moment and look around and not loose myself to the run and the music.

Now coming part 2...

Today I did my 400's and once again 400's are like tempo runs horriable and unsure why I do those...I mean why are those on my training calendar anyways! So, I did my 400's and I don't know what olympic speed is but I stayed aroudnd 2 min each way some were slower but none were faster. So in two weeks I will be doing 400's again and I have decided to try to break that 2 minute mark and who knows that may be the key to me becoming really strong during the 5k. I now have started to think of that as more of a sprint run since I will be starting my 1/2 marathon training in about 6 weeks. Man I am looking forward to that...oh one last point of interest I have finally put over 200 miles on my shoes. I am up to about 225 now. That means only 475 more miles to go before I get new shoes and that is going to be several posts in and of itself, that is a big big big choice.

Well that is all for now...oh one last thing I am looking for a neat tag line to sign off with any thoughts would be considered.

Test and Rest

Well, this past weekend was to be a 5k test run and I was unable due to work and vaction schedules, but I did not let that get me down. I ran on Sunday as if I was in a race and it turns out I kicked some butt on the run. Ready for this I was running an average 9:38 a mile and I never thought I would break the 10 min mile mark. I don't know what to think of all that. It was not easy and yes I was panting and hurting after the run, but it is good to puch oneself from time to time so that you know how hard and fast you can run. Now I am about a month away from my next 5k in Disney.

However, I also have to rest and I love Mondays since they are rest days on my training schedule and I am taking it easy tonight. Part of me is a little bored with the training program right now and I think I need to change scenary on my runs, but that is just part of what happens. I have also decided that I may need to change up my run list a bit and that will help break the montony. However, that is part of being mentally tough and it does allow for me to clear my head and reach a point of calm. So, it is ok if I find a blank spot as I run because it helps me to find my center. I know this may sound strange, but there is peace in the rythm of the breathing, footfalls, how the shoulders rise and fall...it is so worth the run.

Now on an unrelated note I have decided to look at what else I need to do to change my runns to increase speed and endurace. One way to do that is to loose a few pounds, so I decided to re-embrace one of my favorite dinning plans and that is the atkins high protein diet again. This will be fun and I am looking forward to get this wieght down before I run my first 1/2 marathon. I don't want you to know yet what the weight is I am looking at, but rest assured I will update you as time goes by. I will start tomorrow and we will see how it goes.

Watching what and when I eat

Rarely will I update on my mobile, but I felt this was a good test subject. Lately I have been going running an hour after eating and that ia not always a good idea. I am really struggling in the runs lately and I believe that it is a number of factors as detailed in my previous posts. This one could be the most important.


When in training monitor your calories and what you actually eat. Running tonight after a dinner of leftover chicken and pork chops, along with various snaks while warming up dinner, ruined my training run.

I don't need to run totally empty, but eating a full dinner and waiting an hour is not conducive when I run for time. So remember that training is the act of prep, but it is also day to day reinforcement for success otherwise you can slip and create reasons for failure.

Tempo runs are not fun

OK, what are tempo runs? Tempo runs are where you run for an indeterminate distance for a set amount of time while doing warm up run, 80% effort run, and cool down run. Now this is why they are not fun for me...I have a hard time with a long warm up and then to run at 80% what does that mean? and a cool down? I don't get it, the training plan tells me to listen to my body and run accordingly. My body likes having a set mileage to go and let me run and run fast. Well, I ran about two miles tonight doing a tempo run and I am not sure if I did it correctly, but I listened to my body. My body and my mind were not 100% into the tempo I can feel myself wearing down a little on the training schedule and that means I need to get mentally tough and re-frame my brain. I remind myself that half of the good feeling that comes from completion is pushing when you have no motivation to push. It has been a long time since I have hit a physical wall and at times those can be the easier ones to over come.

What a run? or was it walk?

It is important to listen to your body when you train. I know that from personal experience. When you don't it can hurt you and your training experience. Tonight was a prime example - as I ran it occurred to me that I hurt. My ankles, knees, lungs, all of it and probably the most important warning sign was that I could feel my left calf mussel knotting up. Now this means that as I ignored my body the louder it talked, yelled, and hit me to let me know that I was doing too much.

So, I stopped and walked and walked and walked and then ran more. It was a horrible training run, but I had to keep up with the calender. It also made me realize that I had to change a lot of  things about how I treat my body. Least of which is hydrate, stretch and rest. Well, in reflection I am now going to hydrate, stretch and later rest.

I think that rest is the part that is hardest on me, I feel everyday that things are left undone so I stay up later to get them done, but maybe it is more about organizing my time away from the family better so that my time with the family is better...hmmm now there is a thought, lets see how this plays out.

Speaking of undone things I need to start making headway on my Motivational Interview book...

Runner Notebook

     I have just returned from a very long conference in Marietta. It was an important conference in order for me to keep my license so I can continue to work with people that need therapy and other types of help.

                                                                   This is where I stayed

     Well, since this is about my running and not about work let me get to the reason every one reads this blog. I did manage to keep to a schedule while at the conference. I got my three miles in on Thursday, but unfortunately it was on a treadmill, so no real challenge there. I took Friday off in accordance with the schedule. I did manage to get out for a few minutes Friday and do some sight seeing, so it was not a total rest day. I went to a local Confederate Cemetery. Now, if you don't know me that well, I truly love history. It is a passion I have had for years and I have been somewhat neglectful of that aspect of my life. When I got to the cemetery and began to walk around and read the writings of "Mattie" a woman who for the majority of her life was part of the women's club that maintained the cemetery. The best part was she lived to be over 90 years of age and was alive when the Civil War was taking place and her due diligence over the course of her lifetime to a cause and a people she loved and believed in spoke to me. I felt as if there was an electricity running all over my body as i read her story and the story that was etched into so many makers. I was so energized and made me remember how much I miss being connected to the history of my state and nation.

This is the nice lady who kept the journal for all generations

     However, I took that energy and thirst for history and on Saturday channeled it into a 4 mile run up and down Kennesaw Mountain. Now two things to keep in mind, in South Georgia there are no mountains and mountains go up the whole way....I know THE WHOLE WAY! That is until they go down and down is better. Well the run was exhausting and I have been having some cramps since returning home, my legs ache, but it was totally worth it as you can see from the picture the views were phenomenal. Not to mention the smells and sounds that were a feast for the ears and nose. There was so much honeysuckle that almost the entire run had an amazing sweet smell to it that was intoxicating. I heard bugs, squirrels, a doe (and saw it) while running. I had such a good run up the mountain, that I decided to hiking back up the mountain to further enjoy the mountain and look up on some of the most amazing views and of course look at how the mountain battlefield played such a role in the defense of Atlanta.

This was the view of Atlanta and Stone Mountain from Kennesaw Mountain. You can not see it well with my camera, but you could see it so well with your eyes. Amazing

I will not fool you the run time on Saturday is deceiving because going the mountain was so much easier. Over all the runs were good and the outside walking and exploring were a great way to blow off some of the frustration of a conference that did not live up to expectations. Well that concludes this entry. Tomorrow it is time to get back on the program. I will probably be doing a bit more running this week than planned to make up two missed runs from last week on my travel days, but that was a cost I was willing to pay.

As a side note, one of the best things about heading to the mountainous north is I get to visit two great Georgia land marks.

First The Varsity - No explanation Needed

The other was the Big Chicken - Yes it is a KFC, but where else in the world is there a BIG CHICKEN!

Yes I ate at both of these places with no feelings of guilt what so ever. Were you not paying attention, I RAN A MOUNTAIN AND HIKED THE SAME MOUNTAIN ON THE SAME DAY!!!!

Runners Notebook

Today was my first day back after a recovery day (read as rest) and man was I going slow. I mean I lost a full minute off my run. I am not really worried about it, because I ran in the rain and drizzle and that makes me look hard core. It was a pleasant run, but I knew it was going to be a while, it took me 5 minutes to get to the red light. Five minutes, was I even moving? Well during the run I felt good and had a great pace. I then started having thoughts and basically I decided that one of the best parts of my entire day was the enormous FULL rainbow that I saw for the majority of my trip to the starting block. All the colors were present it was amazing and that was when I thought to myself - I really enjoy and need those runs it helps me sweat, feel good, and allows me to compete against my greatest rival - the clock! Ah what a great evening run. Now I am going to go and nurse my sore hip-flexer. ouch ouch ouch....

Long Run - Race Training Report

The following transcript is from a new feature called the Race Training Report:

Reporter: I am getting ready to interview the anchor of Team Davis...So, Steven tell how you feel about your training run today?

Steven: We here at Team Davis ran a good practice.

Reporter: You appeared to have a strong start, but there were some problems around miles 3 or 4?

Steven: True, it was a strong start and the equipment was working well at the start until the heat began to wear on everything. I would say that things were going well at mile 3, we had a small need to relieve a build-up of fluid and take on some hydration. It was as mile 4 approached that things became difficult.

Reporter: I noticed that you slowed your pace and began to take on a lot of fluid, was that part of your strategy? Or were you having performance difficulty?

Steven: It was really a combination of the two, the high heat began to slow everything and fluids were needed to prevent equipment failure. It was part of the strategy to stay hidrated, but in this heat it was hard. We suffured with a very slow pace, but was able to pick up at mile 4 when the wind was at my back and their was much needed shade.

Reporter: After you finished, how did you feel about your time? Plans for managing the heat?

Steven: Well, there will difenetly be some retooling at Team Davis headquaters. Our time was ok, but better prep will lend itself to better times. As far as the heat is concerned, Team Davis will begin to look at earlier runs in the morning or later runs in the evening. We may also evaluate our training routes to ensure more coverage with shade to keep the heat down.

Reporter: OK, Thanks...Well you heard it here first folks, it looks like Team Davis has room to improve and will be looking to make changes by next Sunday's long run. We are looking forward to interviewing the members of Team Davis in the future. Back to you in the studio.