Hank loves to walk. Almost as much as he loves the thought that there MAY BE a walk in the near future. If he sees me grab my running shoes and my socks, or if he hears me ask, "Do you want to go OUTSIDE?" or "Do you want to go for a WALK?" he responds by barking and twirling in circles faster than the Tasmanian Devil. Going for a walk is the best part of Hank's day.

Many of us are guilty of focusing on the goal and not the journey - in running, and in life. Many of us are also guilty of making promises to ourselves and not following through with them. It happened when I was training for Chicago. In the spring, I had plenty of time to train. I convinced myself I could miss one workout and it wouldn't matter. If I enjoyed the process like Hank, I would've probably done a better job following through with those commitments.

My program over the past couple weeks involves a run on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday. Walks happen on Monday, Friday and Saturday. The past two Saturdays Hank and I walked the bike trail that splits downtown Winter Garden, heading 17 miles northeast and 5 miles west to the county line where it continues for several more miles. Today we covered about five miles over seventy minutes starting around 10:30am. It was a good base building day.

The beauty of the past two weeks has been re-establishing consistency. Since speaking to my coach nearly two weeks ago, I missed the first walking day but have been on the road every day since. Striva shows since June 29th I've run 8 times covering 29 miles and logging 5 hours, 35 minutes. On the 29th I ran 2.7 miles (34:28) at a 12:37/mi. pace, and Thursday I ran 3.7 miles (34:56) at a 9:34/mi. pace. Any time you can shave three minutes per mile off your pace is good.

While consistency on the road has been the theme over the past two weeks, the time of day (focus on the mornings) and adding strength and flexibility to the training have NOT been consistent. To minimize the risk that a workout doesn't happen, miles need to be logged first thing in the morning. To maximize potential, strength and flexibility need to be sprinkled during the day. Doing both will add energy and enthusiasm to everything done during the day.

The week ahead has 40 minutes of running on Tuesday, 50 minutes on Wednesday and 30 minutes on Thursday, with the exclamation point being the Celebration of Running 5K on Saturday morning. I'll throw in strength training on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, and stretching every day. Three months ago, my goal for the final 5K of the summer was to run at a 9:00 per miles pace. Adjusting for imporvement, I'd be happy with a pace of 8:30/mi. (finishing at 26:21) and thrilled with a pace of 8:00/mi. (finishing at 24:48).

Or maybe I'll just follow Hank's lead by enjoying the run and the tall glass of water at the end.

I have a saying. Momentum is magic. It's true in every facet of life. When you have it, you know it. You also know when you don't. It's related to the state of flow proposed by positive psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, and in its purest form is physical. It takes energy, and it's easier to stay moving when energy is high. It's easier to keep moving in the direction you're headed once you've DONE something to get you started. That THING is called Activation Energy, according to Shawn Achor. Again applying physics, it takes SOMETHING to get momentum. That SOMETHING can be as basic as keeping your guitar in the middle of the living room instead of in the closet so you'll see it and practice it instead of having to walk ALL THE WAY to the closet to take it out (Achor's example). And while these principles of momentum and activation energy are from physics, the keys are all driven via psychology.

A week ago I met with Coach Katherine for the first time. She's a running coach with experience running and coaching. She's run Boston, and about half of her clientele consists of triathletes. We met at Panera Bread in downtown Orlando and the first thing she told me is she's 8-months pregnant. We spent an hour talking about running, goals, my history, her background, etc. We talked about my goal of running Boston in 2016, which she mentioned is aggressive (which I know). She said some of her clients have trimmed :30 minutes off their first marathon. I told her by the end of the year, my goal is to run in four hours or less. That's a LOT more than a :30 minute improvement.

The next forty-five minutes were spent stretching, doing drills and evaluating my form. She made a few tweaks, and I'm convinced solved my Achilles / calf problem.

We left agreeing that the week of the 13th would be our first week, and my initial mission was to get out and run a few days this past week. Nothing bold and daring like 5 or 6 miles. Just a couple miles at most, and work on my form. I walked away energized and ready to get 2014 started. Boston or Bust, right? And 1.5 to 2.0 miles is NOTHING.

Then the week hit. Hard. The picture above is where I spent the past five days, many nights not getting to bed until 3 and up at 5. The things in the upper right corner were my sources of energy - coffee in the styrofoam cup (we had breakfast at Perkins yesterday, celebrating my youngest son's 13th birthday) and my mug of green tea. The two screens were where I focused my eyes. What a mess. 

At the end of the week, I did have a sense of accomplishment, but was worn out. As a result last night was slow, hitting the pillow early and up easy around 8am. Running hasn't been a ritual since the Chicago Marathon in October. So today, I took my first steps.The weather was warm, and I took our dog Hank with me. The first thing I realized is I am back to being OUT. OF. SHAPE. So is Hank. The good news is I'm not feeling any pain in my calves / Achilles (although my right hip is tight). And the better news is I have momentum. No injuries. No pressure. Just some energy headed in the right direction.

Here are the stats:

Distance: 1.5mi.
Start Time: 12:41pm
Duration: 14:33
Avg Pace: 9:44

Well, run that for 26.2 miles and it won't be my 4 hour marathon. But I don't have to run a 4 hour marathon today. I DO have to put the right habits back in place.

The goal for the month of January is to run 2 miles in 14 minutes. That's a lot of work in 3 weeks when I can't even run ONE mile at that 7:00 per mile clip. Momentum is magic, baby. Momentum is magic.