My week(s) in review

Wow I realized I haven't made a post in quite some time, not that anyone reads this blog anyway, a lot has happened in the last 3 weeks.

First off we went to Orlando for vacation, which was really nice. My mother and father in law went with us, which went a lot better than expected, they were able to help out with the boys and driving to/from, even allowed me and Deanna a chance to go out to dinner by our selves...at a nice restaurant, one without a kids meal...yeah I know that hasn't happened in like 6+ years.

While in Orlando we went to Sea World, which is amazing, probably one of my favorite vacation destination spots. Makes me remember when I was a kid and going there with my family, and now as an adult being able to share that with my kids really means a lot to me. We also went for an air boat ride, saw alligators and even got to hold a baby alligator. Spent an afternoon at Cocoa Beach playing in the water and sand, the boys really enjoyed going to the beach. We also spent time hanging out by the pool and playing mini golf at the resort. Vacation was great and I wish I could take another one really soon.

The week we got back, I had a bunch of special events planned at 4 of my stores, which was very stressful and quickly took some of the shine off of our vacation, I unpacked one bag packed another spent one night and 12 hours at home before hitting the road again for 4 days. All in all the store events went pretty well, didn't see the business results we wanted but this was really our first go round with planning and doing this type of event, so it really turned out to be a good learning experience. The end of the week brought the Bix 7 road race and let me tell you I was more than ready for the weekend after a crazy week driving all over Iowa.

Bix 7

I went into the race feeling very confident that I would do well and achieve my goal of going under 1 hour, I was able to get some good runs in the previous 2 weeks even though I was on vacation and traveling a lot. I finished last year in 64:08 and recently ran the Firecracker Run 10K in 49:23 so as long as I could get up Brady in under 10 minutes (last year took me almost 12 with all the congestion and people walking) I felt confident I could easily go under an hour. I hit the turn on to Kirkwood at about 9:45, which is right before the 1 mile mark, so I was sitting good to make my goal. I felt good and the long down hill of Kirkwood Blvd. allowed me to stretch my legs and let it open up a bit, at one point I looked at my Garmin and realized I was going at a 7:15 pace which is stupid fast for me and realized I was going to blow up if I didn't reign it in a bit. I eased it back a little but continued to cruise all the way to the turn and hills of McClellan blvd. Everyone thinks that Brady is the hardest part of the Bix and some even say is McClellan with the hill turn around and hill again, but no its the long slow uphill battle of Kirkwood blvd. All that wonderful speed and enthusiasm I had going down was getting sucked right out of me going back up. Fortunately for me, and for some sick reason, I like running up hill, I also like passing people up hill, knowing that I am able to dig a little deeper than they are and push just a little harder gives me an extra boost. I did pass one kid probably 12-14 yrs old and I told him good job as I went by him, he looked like he was struggling and I hope my simple words of encouragement helped him push on. Once I finally made the turn on to Brady again I knew the end was near, just a mile left to go and it is mostly down hill. Going down Brady for me is simply a controlled fall, I let gravity take over and fling my legs out in front of me to keep from face planting. Brady hill couldn't have come at a better time, I was running head long into "The Wall" and the relief of going down hill and knowing it was almost over is what helped me make it to the finish and under and hour. I made the turn on to 3rd St, saw the finish line, looked at my watch and realized I was going to make it but it was going to be close, I picked up my pace and passed a couple of people on the way to crossing the finish line in 59:02 officially. Afterwards I felt completely spent, that was the hardest I have raced and my body felt it. The one truly bad thing about the Bix is the post race, I realize that Hostess and Schnucks are sponsors and provide the food, but could there be any worse food for a post race party than cupcakes, Twinkies, chips and soda. What no Gatorade, bananas, bagels, fruit of any kind to be found? Honestly its really sad that an event as large as the Bix is truly missing out on that one aspect, well that and actually verifying peoples estimated finishing times, I should not be passing people from the corral ahead of me (the sub elite runners) walking up Brady St. hill. But seriously I have been to a number of races in the last 3 years and there is usually a wide variety of food, from bagels and fruit to cookies and chips, sports drinks and soda. Not everyone who participates in the Bix is a 135 lbs. toothpick that burns 5000 calories a day just standing around, some of us work extremely hard to lose and/or maintain weight lose with both diet and exercise and cant afford to mow down thousands of empty calories. Anyway I'll get off my soap box about the post race party and refreshments, besides I was able to find nutri grain bars oddly enough tucked way in the back and had a couple Diet Soda's to go along with my Popsicle (a must for a hot weather race). All in all it was a good race, I felt horrible towards the end but was able to push through and achieve my goal. Was pretty wrecked the rest of the day and day after but felt better by Monday and was able to get back after it.

This last week was single handily the best week of training of my life, in total I ran 47 miles and biked 92 miles. I had an amazing 10 mile tempo run on Wednesday that left me feeling very confident about my upcoming 20 mile long run on Saturday. Before Saturdays run I had been seriously questioning if I had what it takes to get through another marathon, I hadn't been able to do anything over 16 miles previously and that was a rough day, lots of walk breaks and stops. I think more than anything I wasn't confident in my mental commitment to 26.2 again. The first time around last year, I was committed to proving something to myself, that I could do it. This time I'm lacking that motivation or at least I thought I was. Saturday I was able to put in 21 miles in just over 3.5 hrs, which is the longest training run I have ever done, also considerably faster than my longest run last year, which I only did one 20 miler, this year I'll hopefully have 2 or 3 under my belt by the time the marathon comes around. After that run I not only feel confident I can make 26.2, but maybe even go under 4 hours, although that is not a primary goal this year, I have something bigger in mind, I want to complete my first Ultra Marathon in November a 50k (31 miles) run just outside Muscatine and Wildcat State Park. I'm going to use the QC Marathon as a training run this year for the 50k. I had planned on doing last year but was so physically and emotionally drained after the marathon that I hardly ran in the weeks to follow, so this year that is my "A" list race and my goal to shoot for. Can't wait, looking forward to the challenge both physically and mentally.

Sunday I was able to put in a nice easy 3.5 mile recovery run before church and then after lunch I hit the road for a 43 mile bike ride. I was really surprised at how well my legs felt after the long run on Saturday, was able to get some quality miles in, even hit 21+ mph for a couple miles on some flat spots in the bike trail. All in all I'm becoming quite impressed with my bodies ability to recover and adapt to the physical stress I'm subjecting it too, especially since I have been told so many times how running is bad for me, and even biking is bad for my knees. I have been able to do things recently that I never thought were possible out of my body and I love pushing it even further. The best part is everyday in my life has become an adventure, how far, how long can I push this? I don't know but I love testing my limits and surprising myself in the process. I really hope I can inspire others to do the same, my journey started with me weighing over 300 lbs and barely able to walk a mile, it just takes commitment to a goal and dream to live for.