Getting ready for Disney

"Some runners judge performance by whether they won or lost. Others define success or failure by how fast they ran. Only you can judge your performance. Avoid letting others sit in judgment of you." HAL HIGDON



This is truly words to live on. On my last couple of runs, I have pondered this quote and it has finally hit home with me.

Friday night I went running with Steve and we talked about a lot of different things. We discussed running tactics, work problems and overall life discussions. One of the things that was brought up was the issue of speed or not. We ran 6.5 miles tonight before calling it quits and showing Steve on of favorite eating places and getting some chicken pad thai. I think he is hooked now.


Saturday I ran with Steph as we prepared for our last big run in prep for Disney marathon. We had talked about going 20 so that I would have 26.2 in 2 days. Well we got in 15 before calling it a day. We talked about everything dealing with Disney cause Steph ran the half last year. We both agreed that the humidity was up and there was no reason to stay out and possible injuring ourselves. We agreed to walk back to the track on base and wait for Kenny to bring us some much needed Subway for lunch. Kenny drove around in front of us the whole time handing us water and pretzels if needed. If that is not the coolest thing I don't know what is. Tommy was out running some 18 miles with Carol riding in front of him also helping him out.


During both runs, it was brought up about speed. Looking back at the quote above, I think it sums it up the most. Judge yourself on your own improvements/faults and not on someone else. You are the only person who truely knows how you rank!!!!!!!!!

Disney might be off?????

That's right. You heard it hear first. I might not be able to run Disney. I am still upset and it hurts me to talk about it. I don't know what I am going to do about the whole situation. I will try to pull myself through this grueling time and discuss it.


I am had a great day at work and some friends of mine called me to see about going horse back riding with them to just go out and have fun in the woods. After we were going to camp out and roast marsh mellows and sit around the camp fire.


It has been a long time since I have been on a horse. But it did not take long before I remembered what to do. It was like riding a bicycle. Before long I was riding like the wind, jumping fences and looking like John Wayne.


And then it happened. I feel off the horse and got my shoes hung up in the stir ups. I was being dragged around like a rag doll. I literally saw my life flash before my eyes. I thought I was going to die. But there in the distance was my hero. The store owner of Wal-Mart. He rushed over and unplugged the horse carousel before it did anymore damage to me. I was so thankful he got there when he did.


He even gave me my 50 cents back and told me that the ride was probably too much for me. Have a great weekend and don't always believe everything you read.

Track work

Tuesday nights are normally for our track workouts and speed work. Well I decided to just go out and run so that I don't injure myself.

Tonight I started about 5:30 before everyone showed up and started running at a 3:1 ratio. Normally I have doing 5:1 and I wanted to compare the two and see if there is a difference. It was cold at first but after the first mile it really warmed up.

Michelle kept me company for the first of my 2 miles while we talked about our possible plans at Disney. We are both doing the full marathon and trying to plan out speeds and ratios for what we are going to run.

Amy and Troy showed up and everyone started doing mile repeats, well everyone except for Amy and myself. We continued on 3:1 runs with an 10:27 pace for 8.22 miles. I figured that out to put me on pace for 4:34 marathon if I was able to maintain that pace. My goal is to PR at one of the races with a time of less than 5:08. I think I might have a shot at it:)

I am going to take the next couple of days off so to all a good night and Merry CHRISTmas.

Sunday run???????

Today I was suppose to get in a long run for at least 20 miles. I only have 3 weeks before Disney and mentally it is not looking so good. I need some good runs to get me going again.

Last night, Mandie and myself went out with some of my running friends, Steve, Troy and Amy. We went carb loading in preparation for today's long run. I had lots of pizza to get me ready.

I got up this morning and started to go put the door. I had everything ready. Cereal, lights, shoes, socks and clothes. I headed out the door and got down my driveway and forgot my Garmin. So back inside and now I am running behind schedule. Troy and I meet at the triangle about he same time this morning to start our long day.

We started out on our journey, both of us forgot our safety vests :(, at 5:45 a.m. I got about a mile into the run and the storm let loose on us. It did not take long before my shoes were soaked and my contacts were drying out from the hurricane force winds so it was back to the truck for me. I did not want to take a chance on getting blisters or making my sinus infection any worse.

I went back home and took a nap and later on that morning I took my son to WRAFB to see a model train exhibit and to look at airplanes. I had decided to run later on today.

Well it was now about 3:15 and I had put it off long enough. I need to go running. So I was off to log in some long mileage. I got about 3 miles into my blustering run when I encountered my soon to be new running partner for the day, Bambi.

I was running down our river walk when this deer that I have seen before comes up to me wanting something to eat. I had to take this picture. Some man was out there petting it on the head. When I tried to start running, it would jump in front of me like it did not want me to leave. So I stayed for a while watching it eat and have its picture taken from the people who were passing by.

Well once aging I misses out on my long run but today I got a chance to change my long day to a nature day and also got time in exchange to spend quality time with my son. I will have plenty of time to go run with a mouse but not to many days to run with a deer.

Have a great week.

Running with friends

I had a great run last night with my friends Amy and Steve. We ventured off for a 4 mile run. We left from downtown on our way to meet up with the Mercer run group. We went through the campus that has some hills through it but when you run with friends it makes you forget about what is around you.

We were suppose to meet a specific time but we were apparently a couple of minutes behind schedule. I did not realize that some people in the world are so anal about having to go on a fun run at a specific time. Then as to add salt to a wound, I was told that I was not running fast enough. I have never classified myself to be on great speed. I am a runner, not someone who goes everyday of my life trying to prove something to myself. I know that I am getting better over time and not going to push myself to a point of possibly injuring myself.

One of the guys in the group who loves to run long distances, Kevin Hatfield, has celebrated his birthday last week. He is going to attempt to run 300 miles next week. Kevin is the one who puts on the annual Bartram 50K race that I am going to do again next year. If you love to run trail, grass and gravel through the forest, I truly recommend this race to anybody wanting to run from 5.25 miles ( 1 lap ) to over 31+ miles ( 6 laps ).

When we got to about 3 miles Amy, Steve and myself broke off from the rest of the group and continued back to our cars. We turned on our downward approach to the finish and started to pick up the pace. At one time, I looked at my watch and it said we were keeping an 8:30 pace. Amy told me she thought we were going a little bit faster than normal. We got near the finish of the run and I looked at Amy and asked her if she was ready to turn it on. We were about 1/4 mile out and then we were off. Finishing strong with a 6:15 mile pace on the end. WOW!!!!

Amy had to leave to go to Fit Camp so Steve asked me to finish up a cool down lap so we went out for another mile. We were going for a few minutes and Steve told me we were keeping an 11 minute pace. He laughed and said this was faster than his normal pace and wanted to slow down a little bit. We then finished up our COOL down lap and headed home to change clothes and head to a Christmas party that was catered by Olive Garden so I had no problems getting some good carbs back in the ol body.

I am taking today off cause either tomorrow or Sun will be a long run for me 16+ miles. I don't have much time left to get ready for Disney so the runs I get in now are maintenance runs. 3 weeks to go and I am so ready for Mickey Mouse.

Court day

Today I had to take off from work and serve on a jury trial. I have never had to do this before because normally any public safety officer normally gets out of jury duty. Well this was not the case for today. I got picked. Luckily it was a short case and only lasted half a day.

When we got through we took my son to see Santa and get some pictures made and then went to Ryan's for supper for an early carb load dinner for this weekend :) So much for my diet. Maybe by Monday I will have run off what I just got through eating. I have learned in the last couple of weeks on how to eat right ( 6 small meals a day ) and for the next couple of days I will get the weight right back off AGAIN.


Tomorrow I am going out for about 4 or 5 miles before going to another Christmas party with lots of good (Carb loading) food. I am trying to psych myself up for this weekend and get another 19 or 20 miler in for Disney that is about 3 weeks away. WooHoo!!!!!


See yall later and could someone pass me the Tums :)

Tuesday track workout

Before going to track workouts tonight, I met up with Steve and Amy for a pleasurely 3 mile run down at Central City Park and ran around the 1 mile track. It was still a little muddy in some spots from the rain we are still getting. I think tomorrow I will work on my ark :) Tonight was Amy's first night back to running after having foot problems. We kept it easy while trying to talk about why cars were parking and flashing their lights at passing cars. Thanks Steve for the 411 on 5-0.


Tonight at track workout, Kerry told us we were going to work on short runs. Yeah, my favorite. We were going to run 100's,200's,300's then 400's with 3 repeats. On the first 100, I lined up on the front row, ad we were off. WOW.



15.42 with an average pace calibrated at 4.08/mile pace. OMG I thought my shoes were going to fly off my feet. We then lined up for the 200 and we were off.



35.12 with an average pace of 4.16/mile. I know thought I was crazy. I was staying in the top 4 of the whole group. Now going to the 300's I slowed down just a little to 1.15 cause my sprints are only good at short distances like when I try and Sucka people at the end. We were getting ready for the next round after I skipped the 400 when we started and one of the guys pulled a groin muscle. OUCH. I stopped to go get him an ice-pack and to rest up for the next group of runs.



I guess I proved once again that I will not accept the fact that I am slow. I might be overweight at 254 pounds but I carry it faster every day. I know that going to track workouts I will improve on my time gradually just like my weight loss. Once again I would like to say a special thank you to my friends that will take the time to run with me and let me vent off some frustrations in my life so that I can go on another day.


Have a great day and keep up the good work.

Weekend run

Today I slept in late cause I did not get to sleep until about 4:30 this morning. I had a crazy night and could not sleep from one of those late afternoon naps. I went to my Christmas party at work and missed getting ready to go to the Christmas Lane run because I hate to be rushed. My wife kept informing me that we would have enough time but I hate to be rushed. I would not have had enough time to get there and stretch and just get my mind into the race. I was mad.

Today I went out for what was suppose to be a long run for preparation for Disney which is 4 weeks away. Well I got in 2 miles. I just kept looking at all the mud puddles that were still looming from the 4 1/2 inches of rain we got this week and reminding myself about Bartram. I am tired of the cold rain. This week we are suppose to have temps in the 70's for our highs and it will be strange for December weather.


I know physically I am ready for my adventure at Disney and then to follow at Aviation some 6 days later but I am having issues mentally trying to get myself pumped up. I know this is really normal for me but I am so ready and I want to get more excited. I am going to try and get back into the normal running schedule this week so I can get my mind back into it.


Have a great week.

Tuesday night track workout

I had to work late Tuesday night but I was able to get out and run for a little while during track workouts. The group was running 5-4-3-2-1 minutes then taking breaks in between. I got there during the start of the 4 min. run and had to catch up with the pack. It was more of a warm up for me cause I did not get time to stretch.

The three min. run went a little bit faster.

The two min run was a little more faster as I was able to stay with one of the fast runners for 1 1/2 min before calling it.


The the 1 min. sprint came and man, where did I get my power from. I was able to start near the front and pass everyone except for Troy and some other guy. I ran a 5:32 pace for almost a complete min. which was about somewhere between an 1/8 an 1/4 mile marker. I could not believe myself not could some of the other runners believe it also. I just wish I could keep up that speed for 26.2 miles.


Well it is really raining here pretty hard and I am not going to get a chance to run until Sunday so for now, have a good weekend and I will see ya later.

Just when you think it's bad......

I would like to go on record as saying just when you think you have it bad, someone else has it worse than you. When your feet hurt, someone wishes they had feet. When you get mad at work, someone wishes they had a job. Do you get my point?????


As I was running yesterday with one of my friends that I will not mention their name, it was layed on to me that this individual has it worse than me. Normally I think about everything that is going on with my life and ponder how could it get worse. Well I was told last night that my life is a cake walk compared to others. This person is so right. We all need to be thankful for what we have and not try to be something or someone were are not. I am going to try and be myself and thankful for everything.


I know that this has nothing to do with running you might say but it does. When someone asked you to go running, you might think that this is going to be just another run like any other day. But in fact, someone might need to just let off some emotions or someone to talk to while running. I have found that this is some of the best ways to vent. Find a running partner and just go. Don't look at the watch for distance nor time. Just run and let it go.



We might have only gotten in about 3 or 4 miles of running, but it was the simple fact of having somewhere there to listen when needed.


Have a great day and I will be off to the track tonight for some track ( speed ) work.

Sunday of rest

I decided to take a day of rest. I ran the Reindeer run yesterday and wanted to see how the ol body was doing after my big run. Well everything looks and feels great with one little exception and that is a sore big toe. I have been soaking it with salt water and taking Advil for swelling and pain so I decided just to take a day off and sleep and watch football. I now know that the Disney marathon is going to be OK and I wont be going for any PR's that day. I am going to try and go for a PR on the next weekend after Disney at the aviation marathon. Until then, enjoy the day and maybe I will go for about 5 or 6 tomorrow.

Reindeer Run and Santa Stroll

Today was my fist race since finishing my 33.07 mile race this weekend. I am still having old and new issues of black toes. One of them is swelling with allot of drainage. OUCH!!

When I started out this morning was the most pain I have had from my toes all week. The rest of my body feels OK. I was contemplating on whether or not to run this morning or to bow out gracefully. Well, once again I decided I had to go. I am glad I did.

This morning was cold about 29 degrees with no wind. It was a great morning to run for the children and to see Santa so that I could drop some hints about what I wanted for Christmas. :) I hope he was writing it all down.

I decided to run this morning at a conservative pace with Steve and Amy so that I would not injure myself. We started out and were on a great pace. When we passed our first mile marker Steve advised me that he was on a PR time for his 5K. We stayed together for the first half of the course and then I had to see if my legs were truly OK. I picked up the pace and told Amy not to school me today. When we turned for the last 1/2 mile downhill I said I have to go to prove this to myself. I finished today at 32:16 which was no PR for me but it was great to get back out and run with no problems.

I tip my hat to Steve, Troy who won first in his age group, Neel and to all the others who had PR times and awards today. It was truly a great day for a race.

Post track workout

I went out for a possible track workout and got in a mile for calling it a night. The temp were falling, the wind was howling and my foot was starting to hurt. My big toe on my right foot was starting to swell up again and I did not want to take a chance of inj..... I don't want to say that word. I hope to rest up the rest of this week and hit the road Sunday for about 12 or so just to get loose again. Until then, keep running.

Back to training

I am feeling alot better today. I went back to work with a little soreness in my feet and left knee but it is nothing compared to what I have heard from others. I just found out that my running partner Amy is not going to run Disney with me due to her feet problems. I will now have another fan to cheer me on while I am running but most of all she can keep my wife company for me.

I am thinking of going to track workout tomorrow night so I can get out and losen up some of these tight muscles of mine. My shoulders are very tight right now. My toes are still hurting while I am having to drain the fluid off of my big toe on my right foot.

I will write back hopefully after a good night of SLOW track workouts.

6 Things to make me happy

As I am sitting here getting caught up on reading the blogs I just noticed that I have been blogged to make a list of 6 things that make me happy.

1. Jesus Christ. Who has given me the ability to run and help others. Without him listening to me while I run, no-one else could get me through this. There have been many days that we carry on conversations on some dark and lonely country roads.


2. No pain. As I have increased my mileage, I finished a 50K yesterday, I have been very lucky not to be injured. Right now I am sore but I think it will pass with a few days of R/R with Advil.


3. Running. I have found that running helps me to release my anger and issues through pounding the pavement. I am a paramedic and some days I feel like going to a bar and drinking my fears and tears away but then I remind myself they will still be there. Running helps me not to be on medicine.


4. Family. If it was not for my family to keep me involved emotionally in running, I would not know what to do. My wife is so supportive of my running decisions after I tell her what and where I am going to run next. I always know that she will be there with me.


5. Friends. Need I say anymore. When you get friends to run in the soppy, wet and cold rainy mud puddles for 33 miles, who else could you count on.


6. My job as a paramedic. This is where I am thankful for the knowledge that I have in case someone gets hurt and I hopefully can help them in their time of need. Also it helps in case my running partners hurt themselves.

I am now known as an ultra-marathoner

Yes, I did it. First of all I would like to say a special thank you to my wonderful wife, Amanda, for going with my yesterday and having to wait on me to finish the race. For almost 8 hours she would have to find stuff to do but later she informed me that she helped out runners, preparing food and drinks and keeping a little puppy warm for most of the day.

We arrived a the BLACK and FOGGY Bartram Forrest to race for my first ever 50K. It was raining and did I mention it was dark and foggy. I thought about starting early but I could not see very well even when my flashlight. Steve Purdue pulled up and convinced me to wait until the sun rose and what a beautiful site it was coming up through the trees. We were walking to the start line when out of the blue we heard, BOOM, BOOM. Deer hunters were out in full force. I looked at Steve and said "That was the unofficial starting gun". And we were off and running.

Rain, mud and slippery conditions made this day and exciting run because you constantly had to look were you were stepping. As we started out we were told that 2 other men started about 4:30 and was taking their time for the marathon. Later on I found out that one of the men was the founder of the 50 states marathon group that had about 3 months ago attempted a marathon in Antarctica and slipped on a glacier and broken his hip but was still out there today attempting a marathon. Steve guided me around the first lap showing me how to follow the rad and green flags that Kevin went out there and marked for us. Steve and I have run before together down on the river walk so it gave us a chance to get caught up on some old times. BTW Steve, go Yellow Jackets!!!!!

Lap 2 and I told Steve to go ahead and run his pace because I was slowing him down and he joined in with Jerome and went ahead showing me the way. I was trying to figure out what kind of pace I wanted to follow for the day with my 5:1 ratio. I got a chance to see Donna and Stephanie when I was going up the long and lonely hill on the way to the aid tent in the figure 8 section.

Lap 3 and I picked up some more runners with me. Amy, Leora and Steve joined me on my wet and tired run. It was funny to listen to the three and figure out how was going to say something about their shoes first. I myself was now on my second pair of shoes. Steve originally said he was just coming out for a cheerleader but I did not want to see him in a cheerleaders outfit so he ran with us on just a few hours of sleep. We ran and trekked our way through the course and by now it was getting for soupy out there.

Lap 4 Before starting out for the next lap, I found the salty potatoes that everyone raved about last year. MAN were they good. They were about 1 more shake of salt away from high blood pressure. And the rice crispies, well what more can I say. I felt so good on this lap. It really felt like I had not been running at all. I don't know if it was the salt or if I was starting to fall into a grove and get comfortable.

Lap 5 BOOM not a good lap. Amy was sitting this lap out due to some knee issues and Leora kept running through the aid station cause she told me she could not stop because she would not keep going if she did. My body at this point was starting to talk to me. Leora, Troy and Steve was now trying to keep me motivated to finish my journey. I was attempting to put the pain in my body somewhere in the back of my mind and think about all the good things going on today. Steve just finished his first 10K, his first ever run into double digits and his first ever HM with a total mileage somewhere around 15 0r 16 miles today. GREAT job Steve. You have really come along way fast but just don't over due yourself and get hurt.

Lap 6 It is now me and myself to finished my journey into the record books in my journal. I did not speed allot of time at the aid station because I did not want to talk myself out of finishing the last lap. Tommy Chambers asked how I was feeling and I don't really know what I said as he looked at me and said "Don't get cold out there" About a mile into the last leg and I was running through the section with trees on both sides of me and a big deer came running out he woods. I stop in my wet and cold tracks to look and marvel on why I was out there i the middle of the woods. I looked around the just bask in the presence of what our Father has given us. At this time it was time to hit the figure 8 one last time. As I was going up the hill approaching the aid station, I thought to myself that I could just wait a few minutes at the tent then turn to the cars and finish the race by cutting off some miles. Well not was wrong and I knew I could not live with myself knowing that everyone else finished the entire distance. So I continued the journey with catching up with another runner form Arkansas I believe and we talked and ran. We discussed his journey over his career of marathons and his stories of the good and bad. We then started to discuss politics and before I realized it we were about 1/2 mile from the finish line. I told him to go ahead and finish in front of me because he deserved it more that I did and he told me that we both get the same thing out of the race today, memories. I approached the finish line to see last few spectators still hanging around the greet me in. It was now over. I did it. WOW I am now totally spent. My cold and wet body was almost to tired to eat a delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwich. My feet were soaked, my muscles ached but I was still able to hold up my ginger bread man and say " YO Amanda I did it"

A very special thank you to Kevin for putting on a terrific race from the goody bags, the entire wonderful feast of food, drinks and aids for keeping us going through the entire day and just a great and low keyed race that just made it wonderful.

I have to say thank you to Tommy for helping me take off my shoes, sorry I yelled at you, and helping me to apply Vaseline to my wet and injured toes. Hey FM I hope you got a good picture of that.LOL

Thank you to Amy, Troy, Leora, Steve Purdue and Steve Gatlin for running with me and helping to push forward when I was getting tired. BTW Leora, have your shoes gotten dry from jumping in all those mud puddles.

Once again congrats to Steve Gatlin for breaking so many mild stones on this running today and to all the others who braved the cold and wet conditions to run today. What a great time.

Happy Thanksgiving to all

A special Happy Thanksgiving to all whom read this site. You must have nothing else to do :)


Thanks to Steve for pushing me last night during our track workout. We were running ratio runs until the end of workout when we looked at Dave finishing up and said "Let's get em". We ran our last lap at a 6.00 mile pace. WOW. I could not believe that I was able to keep up with them. It was fun in a crazy kind of way.


Well no more running until Saturday. The Bartram 50K is my next run. This will be my first attempt at an ultra-marathon :) :) I still can't believe that I am going to do this. Amy said she is going to show up somewhere around my 3rd lap so that she can join in and help me finish. I will need all the help I can get from everyone. Hopefully I will be able to give a race update on Sunday and let everyone know what happens. Until then, Happy Thanksgiving and remember to pray a little prayer for everything you do have and have had in the past.

What a great day to be........ ME

What a great day I had today. I started off this morning by getting on the scales and it showed that today I weigh the same thing that I did my senior year in high school some many years ago. I have now officially lost 54 pounds with the help of diet and running.
Another great thing was I was able to get out and run 5 miles today with no effort and no problems. I actually went allot faster than normal. It felt great. I am trying to cut back to get ready for my 50K this Saturday. I got a chance to run with my running partner Amy and we had a great run and talk. She is going through some issues with her legs and feet but I think she is better now.
I had to ponder on a situation that I thought about today and asked myself "Why do we try and put ourselves in the same category as someone else?" I mean we are always trying to be a good as an Olympic tack star, professional sports player or someone in your local running community. Why cant we just be satisfied with our own abilities and stop pushing ourselves into something or someone we are not. I myself have come to the understanding that I have gotten a little smaller, faster on the course and allot wiser through the years and I am happy. I know that I will not be a fast as some of the people I would like too be but that is OK. I know that somewhere there is someone out there that would like to be as fast as me and you. I don't want you think that I am getting a big head but really someone out there is always trying to catch up with you. Don't ever forget that because that is what drives me to continue to run every time I get a chance. Until then, I will continue to give it my best and try and catch the next person before he or she catches me.

Have a great day and be happy with yourself because you have to be happy about yourself before you can be happy to someone else. Wooo, that was heavy. It almost sounded like something off of the Jerry Springer Show. LOL

Slideshow

Taking the weekend off

Sometimes we just need a break. I have been thinking so much about my upcoming races that I have signed up for: Bartram 50K, Disney marathon and Aviation WRAFB marathon. Well this weekend it finally hit me that I need a mental break. I have neglected my family in the sense that I have made running my priority and that is just not right. So that is why I am taking this weekend off to sit back and look at things that I have not seen in a while.

I just got through reading Amy's blog ( my running partner ) and she is very upset right now. She went out running with some friends that are not running the same speed that she is used to, alot slower than she runs. She said that she is feeling so legs pains right now and not wanting to run any more marathons ever again. I am sorry to hear this.

I felt the same kind of pains when I used to run with some other runners that did not run the same pace I did at the time. I don't know how I got over this but I was able to overcome the pain. I feel now that no matter what pace I am out there running, sprinting or just shuffling along that I always remember that I am getting exercise and I don't think "Am I running too fast or too slow right now" and that is when I tell myself "You just need to tell the person beside you Thank You for helping me to get out there today and just run". For some reason this just works for me and I am able to overcome any twinges or pains that might pop up.

My wife had a death in her family this week and we are dealing with the whole funeral thing this weekend so that is another reason why I am not out there pounding the pavement. I will start back tomorrow with a good 5 or 6 miler any some pace but at least I will be out there. As far as Bartram goes, I will go to run the 50K at my pace hoping for a 5:1 run?walk ratio but no matter what it is, I plan on finishing the run with a smile knowing I can look at someone that day and say "Thank you for helping me out today".

Then I will be off to my next run with the intentions of possible helping someone else. Have a bless week my friends.

Macon College trail run

Last night I met up with one of my running partners, Steve Gatlin, and we got in about 4 miles before freezing to death. The wind was very cold. We had to take detours through the college due to construction on the trail course. Steve is working his way back into running and is always telling me that he is slowing me down cause it looks like I am trying to run his speed. Bull!!!! When I go for a run, I go at whatever speed it takes me to stay motivated to just keep running. I have some nights I just go for speed but that is normally done at the track workouts. When I am out with friends, speed does not matter.

I am working my distance up further so that I can get ready for the Bartram Trail 50K next weekend. This will be my first 50K ever!!!!!! I have made up my mind that I am going to run whatever pace and when I finish, well, I will be through. It does not matter to me what the time will be because it will be a time to remember for me. Oh, that almost sounded heavy. :)

I will be taking off Saturday from running due to helping out with an autistic children's function this weekend but I hope to get in at least 15 miles on Sunday. Until then, keep up the good work.

I met up with the MTRC this morning to go out for a normal Sunday morning run. I needed to get about 15 or 16 miles in today to kind of stay on track with my marathon schedule. Boy was it cold today. 38 degrees with the wind blowing everything around keeping any unwrapped skin frozen. I went out with Leora and she said she would run anything with me even if I had to take walk breaks.
So off we went thinking man it is cold. We got to about 1 1/2 miles and noticed the front of the pack was no where in site. I guess the thought if they ran faster they could get warm faster to go ahead and get finished. We started our run in Macon Ga and went up into Bolingbroke Ga up to I-475 and turning back to turn onto Estes round. We made it to the first water stop at about 5 1/2 miles into the run. I was thinking the whole time I would to love to be back in my bed this morning.
We then pushed forward to continue on our frigid jaunt through the country side seeing a family of 4 deer in an open pasture. We even found one dead on the side of the road with an empty .45 auto shell on the road. When we finished with our second water stop and got to about mile 10, Troy pulled up and asked if we wanted a ride. Well dummy me said no and continued on the journey forward. We made it till about the 12 1/2 mile marker and finally walked the last 1/2 mile into the parking area. Kevin decided not to run home this morning opting to ride home with Leora. FM kept him company and warm while sitting his car until we finished. I was sorry to keep him waiting this morning because Leora told me he was going to run home after the loop cause it was just another 3 miles home.
Well on my way home, I could not figure out why my run was so terible today. I had no energy, my legs were hurting and I forced myself to continue. Before I got out this morning to go into Wal-Mart like I normally do after my Sunday runs, I looked down at my shoes to notice I had on the WRONG shoes. I was wearing my old shoes with about a million miles on them. Now I know why I did not feel so good.
The moral of this story is to try and put out your clothes the noght before so this wont happen to you.

New site

I am in the process of changing over my blogs to my new site. Check back later for more results.