one of the best quotes!

You don’t win once in a while, you don’t do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is habit. -Vince Lombardi

On Inconvenience

“When you hear some teachings that ring true to you, and you feel some trust in practicing that way and some trust in it’s being a worthwhile way to live, then you’re in for a lot of inconvenience. From an everyday perspective, it seems good to do things that are kind of convenient; there’s no problem with that. It’s just that when you really start to take the warrior’s journey – which is to say, when you start to live your life fully instead of opting for death, when you begin to feel this passion for life and for growth, when discovery and exploration and curiosity become your path – then basically, if you follow your heart, you’re going to find that it’s often extremely inconvenient….comfort orientation murders the spirit.”

Pema Chodron – “The Wisdom of No Escape

change(s)

Change. Big Change has happened for me. Well, I guess BIG is relative. All work related and all good. Still doing same job, just at a different place. A new place. Oddly enough, it’s only about a 5-7 minute walk from the OLD place. But…lemme tell ya, there’s a whole lotta different in that 5-7 min walk.

My whole routine has been changed. I didn’t realize how much it needed to change. This change was an ELECTIVE one, but I see now how much I need it. I feel different. Lighter. While at Chipotle yesterday for the first time EVER, a song i liked came on and as I made my way to toss my plate in the garbage, i was dancing. At lunch, in my work suit. Hmmmm…..see, I needed the change. Or….maybe it was just that happiness at eating at Chipotle for first time and loving it.

keep on

trying to think of what i want to say.

for one, i want my hour back. damn you spring forward.

on my run today, i passed two ladies who were walking. one was in front of the other. the one in front said, “we keep walking. we don’t stop. that’s our motto. we keep on.”

sounds good to me.

A solid 9 miler on the Silver Comet to finish the week. looking forward to my next race which i believe will be a half-marathon in Clemson, SC; only about 2-2.5 hour drive from Atlanta. April 2nd.

morning

Looking out my window, there is still morning darkness. It rained a bit in the night and seems like there are still some drops falling. I hear the remnants of the rain as the cars whoosh by in the distance. I see a lot of vehicles on the road already and am so curious as to where they are going. What does their day have in store for them? As I write, I am enjoying a lovely cup of Peets Coffee (of course) The blend is a new, limited offering of Sumatra Blue Batak. I prepared it via French Press, my new preferred method when in my abode. I wish I could describe the flavors in a way the “experts” do. I was able to offer those kind of descriptions with wine when i worked in that industry, but I haven’t ever really gotten the descriptions down on the coffee front. Hmmm… Let me have another taste and try again…nope, can’t do it. All i can tell you is it is good. And different from other Peets coffees. this I can tell.

I’m sipping from one of my small mugs. It says “DREAM”

Getting to the Starting Line…

After 2 weeks of not feeling good, physically, it was truly a last minute decision to make the 3.5 hour drive from Atlanta to Albany, GA. Physically, my body has felt like a mess; major fatigue, stress, anxiety, not sleeping, etc…I have not gotten a fever or anything like that…my body was just shutting down, i believe, from stress….hence the major fatigue. Lots of things going on outside of my running life. 🙂

So, there I was at my office Friday afternoon, trying to decide if i should drive to Albany. Basically, I just said, “screw it, i’m going. make the drive and see how i feel in the morning.”

3-4 hours later, I was in Albany and at the small expo at the Hilton Garden Inn. For those who don’t know, Albany is a pretty small city in south Georgia with a population of about 80k. While there, I learned that Ray Charles was a native and they have a very cool statue of him playing the piano in the area.

The little expo was cool! Better than some of the much bigger expos I have been to…although maybe its just that I like smaller expos now. Less people. Less craziness. I really liked the small town feel of this one. I grabbed my race bag, some Snickers Marathon energy bars, a couple of GU’s and that was about all I needed. As I walked around, I became more and more excited; just being in the atmosphere was great! I was excited to run, body willing.

I decided to go to the pasta dinner right there at the hotel. While eating, I talked to my fellow table mates and got even more jazzed for the run. Then, runner/author/speaker, Scott Ludwig, gave a talk and that put me over the top. A serious runner who has run races such as Badwater Ultra, Western States 100, etc…He regaled his experiences from such races for us as we chowed down pre-race pasta. I was in runner heaven. For me, Badwater, is a true dream….(for those who don’t know what Badwater is, Goggle it!!!)

Thankfully, I got to bed fairly early and when I woke, I felt rested and ready to test the waters, so to speak. Going to the starting line, I felt better and better. Adrenaline was definitely my friend! Even as lousy as I had been feeling, I was still going to try to push it and go for a PR. This was to be a flat, fast course so why not give all I could and see what happens. Right out of the gate, I felt good. Miles were passing and I was doing ok. 9:00- 9:15 pace approx. By mile 6, I was 56 min and I just kept thinking, keep this pace and I will be ok. Aerobically, I felt fine but I could feel my legs start to get heavy. My mind was constantly going, checking my watch and trying to calculate my next mile, etc…I was so happy to be out there and to be doing as well as I was. The weather was perfect. A cool <60 degrees. The course was flat with quite a few turns through some quaint & pretty neighborhoods. The volunteers were abundant and amazing. I didn’t want to stop at all at the water stops, but I did to get the GUs down. Mile 7 felt ok, but now thinking there’s no way I can keep this pace up. Mile 8; right after the water stop, i “latched” on to a couple who were running faster than I. I wanted to keep up with them as much as I could — it lasted a little past mile 9. I could not keep it up, but I was thankful for that mile. After that, I knew I could not sustain the pace so I began to relax a little and I slowed down. Legs were getting tired. I stopped 2 times and walked about 1 min each time. I think somewhere around Mile 11, there was a great group of young, black, teenager girls who were volunteering and cheering loudly. They made me smile. Even so, I just slowed my pace and wanted to finish with a decent time.

Soon enough I was heading down the last stretch to the finish line right along the Flint River. Official result 2:06:27

Crossed the finish and was greeted with a smiling volunteer who put a medal around my neck. A good day.

Gear Worn:

Shoes: KSwiss K-Ona

Shorts: KSwiss

Shirt: RUNATL shirt from Big Peach

Blue Nike Bandana

Watch: Nike

Onward! Determined to get my body better and ready for a finish under 2 hours. I know what I need to do.

Run Smart. Run Strong. Enjoy every step.

Will run for Snickers

How-dee!

So…i’ve been trying to decide what race(s) to do. BIG decisions, you know. What race(s). Where. When. How much to travel to and fro. Terrain. Distance. You know…all the important criteria when trying to decide. I think in an earlier post I mentioned I might sign up for Atlanta(Publix) Half-Marathon on March 20th. I was all set to do so, quite reluctantly, I might add, when I changed my mind. Why the reluctance in the first place? Because it’s HERE…in the place I live…on the streets i always run on…and I have already run it before….and I wasn’t crazy about the race….and i didn’t feel like shelling out $100 bucks to run a local race that I wasn’t excited about. So. I changed my mind.

Instead, I decided to run the…..SNICKERS HALF-MARATHON on March 5th in Albany, GA. Albany is South of Atlanta, about a 3.5 hour drive. I plan to leave work about noon or so on Friday and go on my little road trip.

In case you were wondering about the title sponsor of the race (SNICKERS) The MARS Company has several plants in the US. The plant in Albany, GA produces the SNICKERS^®MARATHON Energy Bar

(among other products, but not the regular SNICKERS or even the bite sized Snickers. The regular one is made in WACO, TX & the bite sized is made in CHICAGO, IL. (ok. now you know some potential trivia knowledge. remember me if you win big)

So, I’m excited to run my first race of 2011. In terms of my running mileage so far this year, here it is:

January: 77 miles

February: 66 miles

These are definitely LOW mileage months, but I’m ok with that because I feel they have been more quality miles. The course this Saturday is flat and fast and many people who are running the FULL MARATHON use it as a Boston Qualifier. Even though I feel my miles have been of better quality as of late, I’m not sure I can break the 2 hour mark this time. I have not been too concerned with this goal right now cuz I have a lot of other things on my plate, but I definitely still want it! I’m just glad to have picked a race and will be glad to run in some new territory.

p.s. there is a 5-10% chance I will not be able to run the race due to a possible work commitment, so I will keep u posted.

Does anyone notice anything different about me in this picture? If you get the answer right, I’ll send you a SNICKERS.

Cheers. Run Smart. Run Strong.