Even though I put in close to 4.5 walking miles at work today, I still consider this to be a “rest day” because I didn’t run, swim or go to the gym. The wife and kids met me at work and we headed out for a small bit of shopping and dinner. The shopping was for the older two, mainly for church camp items, and dinner was just an easy way out - easy as in not having to cook or clean after!
I am slowly psyching myself up for tomorrow’s run - a 15 mile trek that will be the longest distance I have traveled by foot since the Marine Corps 20 mile full pack hike (back in my early 20’s). Granted, this isn’t much further than the half marathons I have already run (three in just over a year), but there is still a mental part of running that many probably don’t understand. If one is not mentally prepared to take on a run beyond nine or ten miles, then that run will most likely not go too well. Mentally I believe I am ready to take on this long venture. On the way home from dinner I took a slight detour to get a rough idea of where I will be running to, and giving a short lesson in the GPS function of the iPhone to the boys. My plan is to start and finish at the house - running to East Fork Lake, down to one of the boat ramps and back to the house. I hope and plan on keeping the pace somewhere in the range of 9:30 - 10:00 per mile, nice and easy.
All of these miles run, logged, and counted for a reason. I run because I have a reason to run. I’m not just running to raise money for autism research, I am running to help raise awareness of the autism spectrum, autism research, and most importantly, because my youngest son, Noah, has autism. He keeps me going even when I don’t want to go any further - and when the pain settles in somewhere after mile ten, I will think of him and know that I have a good reason to keep going.
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