Learn from the past, enjoy the present and look forward to the next day....

What are you looking at? What you see affects the decisions you make. Make your atmosphere worthy of your attention. If you like flowers around you, buy them! Do not wait and hope someone will send hem to you. Take the initiative. When you are set up...you won't be up set! - Rex Crain   Week 6 means 1/3 of the way to the goal of finishing my first marathon.  To think there was a time where I would never have considered doing something like this....To think there was a day where day 1 was complete.  Seems like yesterday....   Monday - Rest Day   Tuesday - 3 Miles (26:27) Considering my last week, I was obviously aprehensive regarding today (and for that matter, the whole week)  But today's run was encouraging.  Looking at all the positives, it was under a 9 minute mile pace and while I was very sore, there was no sharp pains.  Made for a great day and from what I am learning....Learn from the past, enjoy the present and look forward to the next day.   Wednesday - 5 Miles (44:09) Still a little sore, but compared to last week, its totally like night and day.  Only thing that could have gone better was more open treadmills.  At the community center, there is one treadmill that is not restricted for some reason.  The rest are programmed to stop after a half hour.  So a minor inconvenience, stopped after 3 miles and finished the rest.  There was a small tweak in my knee around the 4th mile, but I figured that had to do more with me stopping then starting back up.  Felt really good after the run and made sure to stretch and even doubled it up.  I planned to head to the Ultimate U after work for a circuit training class, but by the end of the day I just listened to my body and decided to relax in the evening.   Thursday - 3 Miles (26:15) Seems to be a norm for me on Thursday, but by the end of each week, I'm a bit sluggish to wake up in the morning.  Tempted to run after work, but got my usual encouraging text from Jodi.  One of my running partners for Cleveland, she keeps me motivated and focused to keep my eye on each run.  She also gets up at 4:30 AM for her runs since she has kids, so is done by the time I even think about running.  She texts me her run times and of course to be funny today, since she is pacing me next week for my half marathon, I decided to follow her lead....And I ran the exact time as her, plus one second.  Only fair since she is the pacer for her to finish ahead of me  :-)   Friday - Rest Day   Saturday - Cross Train Headed to the gym for some cross training.  Did about 45 minutes on the eliptical and was able to do some weight work and core exercises.  Finished off with some stretching and headed to Shane's for his yearly Birthday poker get together.  Very low key, but a great night of friends and relaxation.  Best quote of the night came near the end...His brother just out of the blue..."I think it would be cool to own a pet midget"  LOL...Seriously?  We were in tears with the discussion.  Guess you had to be there.   Sunday - 7 Miles  (1hr, 7min, 32 sec) At the beginning of training a fraternity brother of mine mentioned that if I ever wanted someone to run with let him know.  Haven't seen him in at least 10 years, so I did not know how much he ran.  He played soccer in college and was always in shape.  So this past week I asked and he said he would run.  But suggested Sunday since his schedule had him running 17 miles Saturday and Sunday was "only" 6.  Come to find out he's training to qualify for the Boston Marathon in April and his goal is to run a marathon in every state. Was a great run, all things considered.  The cold came back to Columbus and there was rain and sleet most of the afternoon.  My friend Kim mentioned last week that I was nuts because anyone that runs for fun is insane....lol  I'm sure she was partially kidding, but me running in this weather leans towards her point...heehee.  Toughest part about the run was the conversation.  Was a great distraction though, and considering the pace I was somewhat surprised I was able to carry a conversation.  Running by myself, I obviously refrain from conversation, but running at that pace is a bit tough.  Rain and cold were not much of an issue.  Was able to catch up on alot of things and focus on my breathing all at the same time....How about that for multi-tasking!  In the end, finished at about a 9:30 pace with a fast mile of 8:09 Had some knee pain as I got home, probably the IT Band, since I realized I did not wear the brace.  But did my usual post long run ice bath and seems to be ok.   Looking forward to the week ahead.  A bump in mileage during the week and finishing it off with a Half Marathon in Dublin, OH.  Jodi is coming down from Cleveland to pace me and my ultimate goal is to break 2 hours.  She was in Austin, TX today running the LiveStrong Half Marathon and finished with a 1:56 and sounds like a plan for next week.  But while I managed to hold a conversation throughout the run today, I told her that I probably won't be doing too much talking during.  So we will have to catch up before and after.  Gonna be a great week....The projected rain and snow for next weekend not going to damper the great weekend.  :-) To quote the Black Eyed Peas....I got a feeling...   Until next time.....