The picture above is two of my close training buddies. This snap shot was taken at the Annual C's Halloween Party last Saturday. Thanks Jeff for a good time! And thank you Bob for the laughs.
James Allen
When you move into challenging areas in anything you do, doubt always creeps into your head and questions your abilities.
This week is a “step up” for the runners training for PR’s on the marathon courses of their choice. The pace has increased, the distance has increased and the speed workouts have become more intense. As I talk with the group of runners I have been fortunate to surround myself with, I hear the doubt snaking its way into their conversations with me. Can I hold pace? Can I do this distance and hold pace? I don’t think I can go this fast on the track? Each one of them has fears on their abilities to perform their training runs, but each one of these terrific runners and people have been able to conquer the apprehension that haunts them without question.
Sarah and Wren hit their paces with ease on Thursday. Now, must say, Sarah is amazing. Not only is she going through this intense training program, but she has taken on a role in her job that is more demanding and takes care of our daughters Monday thru Friday from 6AM to 10PM. Now, she does not do this all by herself, but she does take the meat of the day until I get home and then we tag team on the activities, homework, cleaning and dinners. Our lives our busy, but we seem to make it all work. Wren has been quite. I get my updates on Wren through Sarah. Sarah tells me Wren is a natural athlete and is breezing through the training with little concern.
Tracey’s reports to me have been spotty. I know my baby sister has a busy life with three kids with Bill working third shift for the airlines. She continues to find the time and with a few setbacks due to colds and flu’s in the family, she continues to forge ahead.
Ann Marie is just plain strong. She continues to question her abilities as an athlete, but she hits the mark (actually over shoots it most of the time) on every run. Like the runners above, her life is busy, she has had a minor setback early in the training and she will make it through this training and PR at Huntsville.
Michele the LSU swimmer ran with Brian this morning for 17 miles. Her brother has her on a different plan than the rest of the runners. I believe Michele coming to an end of a 50-mile week. That is some serious mileage. Brian stated Michele looked strong on her 17 miler this AM. I see Michele doing well also in Huntsville on her quest for the Holy Grail.
Bob & Jay. What can I saw about the Dynamic Duo? They are unstoppable. These two natural runners are getting stronger and faster every training week. I am witnessing each of them start to understand that running is just not, knocking one out as fast as you can go, but it is strategy. Planning and the mental aspect is just as important as the legs moving below you. Without a plan, you are lost. I think they on that page now.
I am enjoying witnessing the transformations in my wife, my sister and my friends. They are all going to accomplish their goals each of them started at the end of August with 7 weeks to go.
Now a little on my run this morning. Doubt has always been a nemesis of mine as well. Utilizing the Furman Program over the last couple of years, I too am developing as a runner and not as a person who runs. My run this morning to gear me for the Half Marathon and the 5K in December was 9 miles. The 9 miles I had to run was at a pace of 7 minutes/mile. With the amount of hills in the Alpharetta/Suwanee area, I even thought this was not going to be achievable. Last night I planned a route that would take me the full 9 miles that had a mix of hills, down hills and flats. I plotted my splits not on the mile, but on the two mile because I thought with the rolling terrain, I would be beating myself up to hit the pace. I left LTF at 5:30AM on my journey to conquer the doubt of my ability to run 7 minute/miles.
The morning was perfect for a run. The air was cool, there was no rain insight and a northern western breeze kept your core at the right temperature.
To cut this short in order for me to get some work done at get out of here to go to a Halloween Party tonight here is the course.
I need to work on being able to download items other than pictures.
At the end of the 9-miler I hit a time of 1:03:05. This is 5 seconds off the goal time. Heck, I will take it.
As humans it is natural to have doubts in what you can achieve, but if you never try then you will always fail.
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