From Sole to Soul: There's a race in my future

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

There's a race in my future

Remember when I told you a month ago that I was running again?

Well, I'm still running. Actually, I had to take about a week off because I caught the nasty flu-bug, but I've been up and going again. And the good thing is my cardio is back on track. I can feel my heart slowing down (in the good way!) meaning it's adapting to my training. I'm beginning to feel like a runner again.

And it's a good thing I've been training because I officially signed up for the Illinois half-marathon today, scheduled for April 30th. I was thinking this morning that I just needed to do it. I keep saying I'd like to run it, and I'll sign up soon... but we all know that that's just an excuse until the registration closes and I'm stuck not participating. But, now that I'm signed up, I have a goal. And I actually have to keep running so I can make it to the finish line in time.

It's been four years since I've ran a half. I did the Indy mini twice, which is a really nice course and a fun race, but I'm excited for the change of scenery. Halfway through the Indy course racers run a lap on the brickyard, and that's the hardest part. They enter at mile 6, exit at mile 8 and are completely exhausted from the heat on the blacktop. Everything I've heard about the Illinois half has been good. They say its a great course... a few rolling hills, but mostly flat. I can handle that. And hopefully I can handle a faster time. I clocked 2:14 the first time, and 2:04 the second year. I'm feeling a lot stronger in my running now a days than I used too, I've learned what my body can handle and not handle, so my goal is to break 2 hours. I registered myself at 1:45 which isn't too bad of a goal. That's 8 minute miles, and I know I can run that. I'm excited.

So here I am... starting my race season. If all works out well, I'd like to do a race a month through October, switching between running and triathlons... mainly triathlons though. Hefty goals, I know, but it's all part of my plan. And plus, all this running has lead me back to the world of endorphins.

And I love endorphins.

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Words of Hope

"My life can only ever be a lesson to me. The four key things that it has taught me thus far:
After night comes day.
After death comes life.
Even at your darkest time look around because you are never really alone.
You are loved."
-Pack up the Moon

"Forget what happened before, and DO NOT think about the past. Look at the new thing I am GOING to do. It is already happening. Don't you see it?"
-Isaiah 43:18

"I am your refuge and your strength. Even though the earth gives way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, do not fear. I am an ever present help in trouble."
Psalm 46:1-3

"But pain is hard to put into words and in life there is always pain. It's natural as birth or death. Pain makes us who we are, it teaches us and tames us, it can destroy us and it can save. We all have regrets--Some tragedies are of our doing and then sometimes things happen that are out of this world's control and when it happens, it can take our breath away.
Happiness is a gift. It washes its warmth over us and reminds us of beauty."
-Pack up the Moon

"I am dying from grief; my years are shortened by sadness. Misery has drained my strength; I am wasting away from within. But I am trusting you, O Lord, saying. 'You are my God!' My future is in your hands."
-Psalm 31:10, 14-15

"There's nothing better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve."
- Og Mandino

"I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life... to put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. "
-Henry David Thoreau

"Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The unfailing love of the Lord never ends!"
-Lamentations 3:21

Why I am a Runner

"I ran to be free; I ran to avoid pain; I ran to feel pain; I ran our of love and hate and anger and joy."
-DAGNY SCOTT

"Happiness is different from pleasure. Happiness has something to do with struggling and enduring and accomplishing."
-GEORGE SHEENAN

"The race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running."
-Nike running poster

"Think about the word 'amateur': It has its root in the Latin word 'amare', which means 'to love'--you do it for the love of the sport."
-Charles Carlson

"Learn to run when feeling the pain: then push harder."
-WILLIAM SIGEI

"Out on the roads there is fitness and self-discovery and the persons we were destined to be."
-DR. GEORGE SHEEHAN

"If you want to become the best runner you can be, start now. Don't spend the rest of your life wondering if you can do it."
-PRISCILLA WELCH

"Let me tell you something you already know. The world is a mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done. Now, if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you are because of him, or her, or anybody."
-ROCKY BALBOA

"You were born to run. Maybe not that fast, maybe not that far, maybe not as efficiently as others. But to get up and move, to fire up that entire energy-producing, oxygen-delivering, bone-strengthening process we call running."
-FLORENCE GRIFFITH JOYNER and JON HANC

"Running is a thing worth doing not because of the future rewards it bestows, but because of how it feeds our bodies and minds and souls in the present."
-KEVIN NELSON

"Running is elementary. It is elegant in its simplicity."
-JOHN BINGHAM, The Courage To Start

"The marathon can humble you"
-BILL RODGERS, four time Boston and NYC Marathon Champion

"In running, it doesn't matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say, 'I have finished.' There is a lot of satisfaction in that."
-FRED LEBOW

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

There's a race in my future

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