Don't Look Back

I was sitting in Sunday School and the teacher asked "Mark when you run in your races do you ever look back?" My response was "I try not to". His point was that God doesn't want us to look back at our past sin but that he wants us to look forward and run the long race of our lives. We are to ask God for forgiveness but continue to grow spiritually in his love. We are not perfect and never will be but God wants us to run the race with our head forward and our eyes focused on the goal.

I started thinking about my response, do I ever really look back in a race? The answer is I occasionally do but it is usually to see if anyone is trying to make a move on me right at the finish line. Sometimes I will pick out someone to "chase" but this is difficult because it is hard to find someone running the exact speed to push you yet not wear you out. Otherwise, whether it is correct or not, I view each race as one against myself. Trying to push my body and overcome the pain whether it is breathing and gasping for air in a short race or fighting off the muscle pain in your legs in a long run. In a race, I am running to see what I can do. How fast can I go and still make it. It is a fine line because you have to juggle the distance with your speed so you don't end up walking the last few miles. When you are running against yourself it does no good to look back.

Umm maybe I made a mistake

Here it is Tuesday morning and I still feel bad. Not so bad I can't sit at the computer and do work but bad enough that I can't really get up and move around much without feeling woozy. Evidently I pushed myself too hard once I got the cold. I've been pretty sick since Saturday evening and I look awful. I don't even feel like running 50 yards much less a mile. Looks like Mark will be taking a week off from running. I'm going to the doctor today to try and get some relief from this. Only a few weeks till Charleston 15 miler I hope I can rebound well.

Feeling better this morning!

Even though I was sick yesterday morning with a cold, I managed to eek out 4 miles. Afterwards, I felt ok. We went to Myrtle Waves Water Park and had a great time. I started feeling better sometime after lunch. This morning I biked 4 miles and then ran 6. The transition was not too hard but I hadn't biked very far. Contrary to what you may think, the beach is hard to run on. The sand and the constant slope of the beach make for difficult running. Throw in the fact that when you are running north the sun beats you in the face and makes you hot. Then when you turn around and run south about a 10-15 mph wind hits you in the face constantly and never lets up. I'm ready to get back to the hills and the hollers!

Sick!

Ugh! I caught a cold yesterday evening. It took all I had to get up and run this morning. I was going to do 7 but had to settle for 3. I actually felt pretty good after I got about a mile into it but it was so hard to get going. It was so hot I really felt like I was melting. The sweat was dripping so fast I couldn't keep my sunglasses dry. There are always several people running on the beach. I usually see about 10 in my morning run. I ended up running with a 47 year old lady from Roanoke the last mile or so. She, like me, had decided enough was enough a year ago and took up running to help with her weight loss. Tomorrow we are supposed to go to the water park. I am sitting here in the camper blowing my nose and clearing my throat constantly. This is not fun!

Update from the Beach!

(On a mission.... to get to the beach!)

Well It's day 3 of our beach adventure. Day 1 was spent traveling down, about a 9 hour camper pull. Day 2, let the triathlon/marathon training begin. I wore myself plumb out... it was my day for a long run so I ran 12.5 miles... mostly in the sand... yikes! by mile 11 I was begging for mercy. I started about 6:30am but by 7am it was really really getting hot. I'm sure it was already approaching 90 or hotter as I finished about 8:30am. The sand was really tough too. There's a big difference running in the sand. I ran on the wetter harder sand but still, whew, it was tough!

I recovered from the run though in about an hour and it was time for the ocean. This was my first time wearing swim goggles. Man do they make a difference. I am so much more relaxed with the goggles on. I can swim much further with them on. It sounds silly but it is true. I don't have to wipe my eyes every time I come out of the water to see where my girls are at. The first wave I road though ripped my goggles right off my head into the ocean and they were gone. I got out of the water and said we have to go get me another set of goggles now! So we went to one of the million beach shops and I got a pair of performance speedos. Bring on Summit Lake!

I swam with them in the pool and I could swim and swim. I'm not saying I'm ready for 1/2 mile or even a 1/4 mile but the goggles really helped me swim farther. Later in the evening (yes this is still day 2) we went back to the ocean and I did some swimming there as well. I was trying to swim about 1/10 of a mile up the beach against the wind/current. I got out past the breakers and started swimming. I swam and I swam and I swam and then I stopped. I had swam for maybe 2 or 3 minutes. I was right where I started! So then I tried a little harder and made a little progress. I ended up swimming some more and tried swimming with the wind and current and that of course was much easier.

Day 3 I let Audrey have the premium running time of 6:30-7am while I stayed with the kids. When she got back after about 30-40 minutes. I ran 3 miles. One mile of warmup and then two at about a 7:30ish pace in the sand. That was tough. Man was it hot. By noon today one of the bank thermometers said 101 F. We're having a good time and are getting ready to head back to the water now. I plan to do more running of course and a couple days I'm going to throw in a short ocean swim with a bike ride followed by a run. I'm going for it all!

Apology to readers

To all you who have read this blog from time to time, I apologize that I have not kept this blog up. I have wanted to blog, I have a lot to blog about I just haven't gotten around to it. I've had some great races this summer. Look for more to come soon. I want to start blogging once a week in this blog but we shall see. I'm getting ready for the Charleston Distance Run in September and the Marine Corps Marathon in October.