Praying and Running

I really just finished week 5 according to the plan with the week late start mentioned in the previous training update. About that plan, it went pretty much by the way side over the last couple of weeks due in large part to running Blister in the Sun Marathon on Sunday the 8/2/2015. More on that when I get to it. As I eluded to in my last post, I have really been struggling with getting going in this cycle and I think a lot of it had to do with the vacation to California and then rushing and trying to cram workouts in to get caught up. In the future I think I would simply trust my fitness enough to know that I could have sacrificed that first week and maybe even the second week in order to not start out the cycle stressed and tired. Enough with the psychology and on to the training. Week 4 only had 1 real workout which was a 20 mile long run and 2 other "kinda" workouts with 14 and 12 mile medium long runs. No tempo or race pace workouts scheduled but I skipped the race...

It's marathon training season again. I went back and forth over the off season trying to decide on which training plan I would use this time around. I have always used the plans in Advanced Marathoning by Pete Pfizinger. Because I get bored easily, I was tempted this time to go with Jack Daniel's "Final 12 Week" program found in "Daniel's Running Formula vol. 3." In the end I came back to Pete; "stick with what you know" Since it was by far my best marathon ever, I will be trying to replicate my build up from the last Monumental with the paces just a little quicker to help propel me to a new PR. I got a late start with this cycle because we were on vacation in California the week I should have started. So I basically I planned to run the workouts from week 1 and 3 for the first 2 weeks. I faltered a bit because I had a hard time getting into the groove and getting my mind into the right place. It takes a lot of physical AND mental effort to t...

Planned Parenthood is on the ropes again. We've had them here before and allowed them to duck, weave and bob their way around until the round was over. It's time to take the knockout punch. We have had politicians say they are going to take that big right hand cross before but they always end up just covering up at the first flailing Planned Parenthood does. We have a bunch of republicans once again boasting that they will throw the knockout punch by making sure Planned Parenthood's tax payer funding dries up. This article is the latest example and I have a couple of things to say about it. "The Kentucky Republican and presidential candidate released multiple statements Friday promising to use “all legislative vehicles” to “defeat and defund Planned Parenthood” next week." First, the article indicates that Senator Rand Paul will make amendments defending Planned Parenthood to important senate bills that need to be passed. I say, go for it. Any and all mea...

There is no off season for a runner who wants to hang on to hard gained fitness. I just finished up my spring marathon season with my goal race at the Carmel Marathon on April 18th, 2015. It was a long, tough cycle and I was wore out by the end. I ran 90/100 mile weeks and suffered 2 minor injuries. I didn't blog much about it because, honestly, I was wore out from the miles I was putting in. That being the case let this serve as not only an introduction to my post about my summer plans but also a training wrap up and race report for the 2015 Carmel marathon. It was a hot day for running and as a result I ran about 1 minute and 40 seconds slower than my goal. I am satisfied with the performance knowing that I put in the required work but the goal was submarined by the heat. I'll look at it as an investment toward the fall 2015 season. Now that that is out of the way I could be entering the off season, right? But I know how hard it is to get to a high level of fitness and I ...

St Jerome said "Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." I can identify with St Jerome on a few different points, today this one is really jumping out at me. One of the best things I have done to make God more a part of my daily life is reading the Bible. Frankly, most times as I sit there reading, I don't feel any different than when I am reading a training manual, technical document, or anything else. I am just reading. But I was reminded today that God is still working and still present in that time. This morning, Last night I learned that someone I care deeply about is in a funk. She has worked hard toward a couple of goals and made significant progress but she is just having a hard time right now. I didn't really know what to say to her. This morning, on waking I had a verse from the Gospel of John running through my head. I didn't immediately make the connection but as I was out running this morning it dawned on me. She is in a funk and thinks she...

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding Indiana’s RFRA that passed last week. The main subject of controversy is being beat to death and I think most people have made up their minds so I won't try to convince you one way or the other except to say that for myself after reading the bill’s synopsis and listening to the people who have actually read the bill it doesn't sound like it legalizes discrimination. Instead it attempts to protect small business owners from being forced into participating in something they find objectionable on the grounds of their faith. That being said, I’m not a lawyer or politician and I won’t speak from the perspective of an expert. I’ll say this, I don’t believe that there are more than a small handful of people in the entire state, let alone the elected government, that would actually like to see discrimination legalized so I don’t believe that there is a statehouse full of these evil little people who would advocate treating anyone in ...

Race Stats Date 1/18/2015 (7:05 AM) Gun Time: 3:40:50 Chip Time: 3:40:45 Overall 1/136 Male 1/63 For Christmas this year I received a trip to Florida and entry into the Clearwater Distance Classic 50k from my wife and daughters. I had been looking for a couple of 50ks to include as extra-long long runs in my training for the Carmel Marathon this year. In the past I have just done these as self-supported runs but that is a very daunting way to go about it. I figured with a fully supported race and plenty of other runners it wouldn't be such a mental task. My wife and I left for Florida on Thursday afternoon. We flew out of Indianapolis and into Tampa Bay. It was great to get away from the single digit temperatures for a few days. The race wasn't until Sunday so the plan was to spend a few nights at our favorite Disney resort and then drive down to Clearwater on Saturday Morning and check into our hotel for a couple of nights on the beach. I slept remarkably well Satur...