I'm still here

I know it looks like I may have abandoned my blog and maybe running since my last post BUT...I'm still here. It's just been a rough year. A few weeks after Little Rock, my boss of 8 years, my mentor, my pseudo-father killed himself. As you can imagine all of this, this blog and my running and what ever goals I had for the year were put on hold. I was going thru the motions but not really connecting to anything.

By the end of March I had pounded out so many miles trying to make sense of what happened I managed to give myself quite a knee injury. I would like to say I took enough time off to heal it properly but I didn't. In fact in April I ran the Hog's Hunt 25k and ended up face down covered in mud on the trails wondering how I had even gotten there. I guess you have to move on. I pushed thru running a little here and there until June came when I started back up running with the Cyfit group. My little group of me and 4 other dedicated runners saved me. Week after week they were there, in the heat, mile after mile. Our coach, bless her she's one of a kind, told me after I spilled all that had been going on since we last ran together said to me, "I'm not going to give you my number, that way you can't skip runs on me." She knew being out there with them was just what my soul needed. 

Nutrabolt Half medal.

So now this season I have set a goal, my first 50k. The Miracle Mile Match in Waco on January 31st. Along the way now that racing season hit Houston I have run 3 half marathons, the Buffalo Stampede, the Nurtabolt, and the Harbor Half (which ran out of medals and still owes me one) and the BCS Marathon last weekend. Still on the schedule before Waco, I have the Santa Hustle and the Kingwood Marathon January 1st. 

I would like to mention a few things about a some of the races listed above. The Buffalo Stampede is a nice small home town race, it was a repeat for me so nothing new to report on it. The Nurtabolt race is put on by the same folks who do the BCS Marathon. In fact if you plan on doing BCS I would do Nurtabolt as a warm up since. It will give you a good feel for how to run the hardest parts of the marathon. The Harbor Half was a beautiful run along the Corpus Christi bay water line. Only complaint is that they ran out of medals and promised they would send them out to those who didn't get them. They said they were shipping on Dec 3rd but I have yet to receive mine.

As for BCS, I have now run both the half and the marathon they put on. This years race was in horrible weather, again, rained pretty much the entire time. I couldn't feel my toes, pretty much the entire time. In the end, I really had quite a fantastic time. It's a marathon so yes there were some rough spots but keeping going is the name of the game and that's what I did. One of the head coaches for the Cyfit group told us this story about how the Navy Seals have a 40% rule, your mind gives out at 40% effort but your body still have 60% more it can go, and it stuck with me throughout the race. In the tough moments, even if that 60% was me telling myself I could do anything for a minute and then running for that minute, it helped me get to the finish. 

 Looking forward 2016 is going to be a big year. I have booked the follow, so far:

Kingwood Marathon Jan. 1
Abb 5k (part of Houston's marathon weekend) Jan 16
Volunteer Houston marathon Jan 17
Miracle Match 5k Jan 30
Miracle Match 50k Jan 31
Katy 5k and hopefully volunteer Feb 6
The Woodlands 2k March 4
The Woodlands Half March 5
Seabrook Half day one March 19
Seabrook Half day two March 20
Clear Lake 10k June 5
Cypress Half Nov 13
Route 66 Marathon Nov 20

I'm tired just reading that.

Happy Running