September 27th & 29th – 2.15 & 3.19 Mile Runs

The continued prayer is, “Lord keep me focused. Keep my mind stayed on You. Help me to bring You praise. I know You believe in me. Please help me in my unbelief. Amen.”

Both these runs were GREAT!!! Extremely challenging for me.

September 27th – 2.15 Trail Run
This was an unexpected joy. I know I shouldn’t get pleasure out of this, but Jordan got in trouble at the BGC so he got to choose between corporal punishment and a trail run with me.

He chose the trail run. He usually chooses the run, which is interesting to me because he whines the whole time like I’m dousing him with battery acid. Seems to me that he should rather take the 15-second spanking rather than the 45 minute run with me. But whatevs! I was happy to have a running partner!

He lucked out this time because we only did 2 miles. Usually, I run him for at least 3. Lately I have been running almost five! But we were losing daylight and the terrain on this trail was really loose. I didn’t want to risk a sprain for Jordan or myself.

I only got to push it a few times because I spent most of my time trying to get Jordan to keep up. But the times I got to open up and tear up the trail felt really good. Toward the end, I started doing a Marine Corp cadence with him. These are *so* much fun!!! This is the one we did:



It may not seem like it, but they really help and Jordan was able keep in step and maintain speed with me when we did a cadence. Once he learned the words, he wanted to issue while I responded. It took his mind off of what he was doing just enough so he could enjoy the run. It was great. There’s nothing like shouting cadence on a dirt trail with your son. Fun!


September 29th – NEW SHOES!!!!!
Time to break in some new shoes!!!! Every runner knows that there is nothing quite like the first time you tie on a new pair of running shoes!!!





Good stuff!!!
Now! Back to the run!


September 29th – 3.19 Mile Run
This run was great!!! In my previous blog entry, I got some advice from Coach Dion about how to gain speed. He seemed to indicate that I could cover my normal training distance in 35 minutes without hurting myself.

I laughed out loud when I read this because I have *never* been able to cover this distance in 35 minutes. Now, my 5k PR on race day is about 31 minutes, but that’s different as we all know. Race Days are amazing and you always put out more when you’re racing. But I was on the street and had to contend with traffic lights and I would be using the Fartlek method, according to his advice. There was just no way I’d be able to make it home in 35 minutes!!!

Even though I didn’t really think it would work, I was determined to follow his advice as much as I could. He is used to working with gifted runners and I wasn't sure how much experience he had with 30-something, mothers of two, who run recreationally. But he *is* an accomplished coach so I thought I’d give it a shot.

So I set out. He told me to do 5-10 second fartleks and imagine that I’m leading the race and the cameras are on me. I did this and it really helped!!!!

The first thing I noticed is that when I am running at 90%, my form gets *really* sloppy (which he also said would happen)! But I remembered those cameras and adjusted my frame. At my first audio cue, I learned that my average pace was 7:15!! I'd never heard *that* before!

I was able to finish the route in 35:31. The last 31 secs were on the clock because I didn’t stop my RunKeeper immediately when I ran up my drive way. I was too concerned with gulping down oxygen. Even Jordan said, "Why are you sweating so much? And why are you back so soon?!"

I couldn't give him a coherent answer. All I could say between gasping breaths was, "Coach.... Dion....!!!"

It wasn’t always pretty, but I kept to his plan and it worked. Go figure! Good coaching translates even across cyber-space. Thanks Coach!!!!

He kicked my ass, but he got results! I’ll have to be sure to drop him a note and say THANKS!!!! And also take back everything I said about him at mile two, when I thought I was gonna die!

Not only did I not die, I felt GREAT afterward! And no pain the next day. Amazing!!!