The streak ended at 5. It ended because of travel. Well, it ended because I wasn't strong enough to overcome the burden of travel. I awakened at 2am on Wednesday morning, went out for 2 miles, and hustled to the airport for a meeting in Connecticut. With little to eat during the day, I gorged myself at the airport with a hamburger, bleu cheese and bacon, then hopped back on a plane which landed around 11:50. My head hit the pillow at 1am, and the next morning wasn't an easy one. So here we are. Day 1 again. I took our puppy around the lake for a walk / run this morning. It's best for everyone if he gets out. Puppies are great. They're best when they're someone else's. Our dog is a wonderful, cute puppy. But he's a puppy. He's full of energy and taunts our older dog with nips and bites and seemingly incessant energy. I say seemingly incessant because nothing cures that chaotic energy like a run. Today was over 3 miles, and we walked more than we ran, but it was exactly what he needed. We went out longer than he's ever gone before, which is a big accomplishment. His name is Apollo, and he has a rough time with loud bass noises. If there's a loud exhaust, or a deep bark, he cowers and freezes up. Today he did better than ever before. For the run out, he needed less cajoling and encouragement than other runs, which is encouraging for my running. It's tough to consider it a workout if I keep stopping to spur Apollo along. Many times, that "spurring" ends up being a tug on the leash. Half way out, he started crying. I wondered what it was all about and understood this to be a cry to be carried. Everyone around thought it was cute. Except me. This wasn't a "carry Apollo" trip, this was supposed to be a "run with Apollo" trip. The good news is he fell in line and ended up running the last mile consistently with me. The best news is he's been resting on the blanket ever since we arrived home. If I can get him this tuckered out every day, then every day will be a good day. The Plan I'll be running a 10K on April 2 with a friend. Not sure how well I'll do, and not going to try and win it. Between here and there, I'll be getting strong and making sure I'm consistent. I know what needs to be done. I just need to do it, and not overthink it. My name didn't get selected to run the NYC Marathon this year, and neither did my brother's name. We decided we'll try Marine Corps, which opens up soon. Given how difficult it is to get in to MCM, we'll likely not get picked. The good news is my youngest brother also wants to run. If we don't get into MCM, I'll try and talk them into the Space Coast Marathon here in Florida at the end of November. All that said, I didn't overcome the challenge of travel last year so didn't run a marathon and fell WELL off my plan to be fit. That changes in 2016. This coming week will be a challenge to that approach. I travel to Wisconsin tomorrow (Sunday night), then to Indianapolis, then New Jersey, then Chicago. And I'll make every run amazing!! The challenge will be to find cool runs everywhere I travel and share them here. Maybe that'll be the spark that prevents me from falling off the plan. Running in New Orleans was fun, and it was as much about getting out in New Orleans as it was the run itself. We'll see how it goes! |
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AuthorRun On, Sentences follows the path of the author as he evolves from a lackluster inaugural marathon time to pursue a qualifying time for the Boston Marathon. Along the way, he'll deal with the challenges of a short attention span, growing older and the chaotic calendar of a husband, father, corporate executive, and active member of the community. Archives
September 2016
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