June 5, 2014

Well, shame on me. I haven't written in a while. Good Morning brothers! It was a year ago that I ran the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon. While it was my best time (just under 5 hours), I was a little disappointed and discouraged. There was a long uphill section of almost 3 miles that nearly did me in and made the last few miles extremely painful. I had been on pace to finish between 4 and 4 and half hours and barely finished under 5. I decided then I would not run that marathon again.

I also ended up being burnt out on running. I had run so many miles for so many months I just couldn't find the motivation to go out for a run. But now comes this Chicago challenge and opportunity of running with my brothers and I'm loving running again!!

I am also hoping to avoid the burn out in a couple of ways. First, I am listening to audio books. I actually look forward to the run so I can hear the rest of the story. Second, I am following my big brother's advice and trying a method called Run Less Run Faster. There is a lot more cross training and varying runs in this program and I hope this will help me avoid the burn out as well.

The good news is I am feeling good. I have not drank Mountain Dew for a couple of months, I'm taking vitamins for the first time in my life, and I am running pain free. I ran last night around 7 pm. The weather was perfect, the pace was easy (9:15-9:30--the pace I would like to run during the marathon) and I had gas in the tank when I finished. And the hard training has not yet begun.

Lord willing, we will all stay injury free. We are all now on the other side of 50 and I am the baby of this family! Hoping for another good run today. If you are reading brothers, have a great day!