Just wanted to provide a quick update on my training. If you haven’t been reading my 99 Days of Training Series I recommend you do so. They are basically a daily update on my training, along with some other inspirational and motivating things I can throw in.
As I’m writing this there is merely 25 days and 8ish hours until my first marathon, The Flying Pig in Cincinnati, OH. While training hasn’t went as smooth as I’d hope due to injury, sickness, or whatever, I’m still going… and now back at full strength. At the bottom of this entry I have included my Google Calendar for training… as you can see there has been a lot of hitting and missing, but the important thing is I finish out strong and have a good showing at the race. I’m not in it to win, or finish in a quick time… I’m in it to finish. With that said, I’d like to finish in a good time, but whatever I finish with is good enough for me.
This is my last big week of training before the miles start going down. I’m scheduled for 43 this week, including a 20-miler on Saturday. I have done the 20 one other time, and am looking to improve on it again this week. First I have to tackle that 10-miler tomorrow though. Bad thing is I’m out of town, but the good thing is I am at the perfect place for my running. As I’ve chronicled over the past few 99DOT entries, this is an awesome course, of which I have ran two-straight days of sub-10 (including 5 miles at 8:26 pace, and 4 miles at 9:51 pace).
In some other news, I have got back on the calorie counting. I have two goals going right now: 1) to finish my first marathon on May 6th, and 2) to finish my weight-loss journey by May 31st by hitting the 140lb lost mark. I was on good track until the last few weeks to achieve #2, so now I have to get back on it. This time around I’m utilizing MyFitnessPal, which so far is a million times better than LiveStrong, in which I used before. At last weigh-in I was still about 9.4lbs above my goal, but I was back in the right direction compared to the previous weigh-ins. I’ll check again Friday when I get back from my business trip and hopefully will be even closer. So far I’ve been doing good on the eating this week, and definitely rocking the exercise. I’m going for a big push over the last 7 weeks or so to get this goal.
One interesting thing that has came up recently is inspiration. This time it has circular meaning. Regardless of what I’m doing, I’ve been told by multiple people recently that I am inspiring. I don’t really feel that way.. I feel like anyone else: someone struggling to achieve what they want to do, and really desiring to do more. I really don’t feel like I’m being inspirational; I’m just trying to do what I need to do. I am very humbled that I am inspiring others, though, so don’t think I’m not happy about this. I am glad that in some way I can help others. I set out on this mission about two years ago to achieve something for myself, and thus for my family. I’m glad that along the way I’ve been able to give something to others without knowing it.
As for my inspiration… it is simple. Instead of words, here is a picture that shows my real inspiration in life:
