Ending the Week on a High Note!

I the ran my second 10K in two days and it was awesome!

As I posted yesterday, I was up to 22 miles for the week and I was a little wary that this morning I would feel totally fatigued and tired.  Fortunately, I came home from work and my wife Angela and I had an early meal of pasta and then napped on and off until 9:00pm when we finally turned in for the night.  Angela is getting over a cold and I was just physically worn out from the week so crashing early felt really good.

When I woke up this morning, I felt great and was raring to go!  Yesterday morning it was 70 degrees and humid while this morning it was around 35 degrees and dry.  Perfect running weather!  I got dressed, gathered my water, my race number and time tag as well as a banana and Kashi bar to eat for breakfast.  I drove over to the parking lot near the finish line to catch a shuttle to the starting line.  I hung out for a few minutes listening to the radio and eating my breakfast.  It was about an hour and 15 minutes before the race so I wasn’t in any rush.

My friend and fellow GBI runner and boot camper Susan was running the race so I told her I would look for her at the starting line.  As I walked to the line to get on one of the shuttle buses, who is walking up at exactly the same time?  Susan!  Talk about perfect timing!

This was my second Charles Harris race and I have to admit I didn’t know much about the history other than the fact that proceeds go to fight leukemia.  As Susan and I rode to the starting line, she told me that Charles Harris had been her principle when she was in grade school at Shamrock and had fond memories of him.  He died of leukemia at the age of 43 and his family started the race to raise money in his name.  When we arrived at Tucker High School which is where the starting line is located, it was amazing to see how many folks Susan knew.  She came across old classmates, teachers and pointed out Charles Harris Jr. and a few other members of the Harris family.  It was like having a class reunion at the starting line!  Very cool!

Susan and I started from the back and it was a good 30 seconds until we reached the starting line.  I turned on my Garmin as we crossed the line so I would have an accurate time.  We hung together for the first two miles and then Susan waved me to go on and thanked me for pacing her.  What I didn’t tell her is that she did as much to pace me those first two miles.  While I felt really good, it took those first two miles for my legs to come around.  They were still feeling stiff and a little fatigued so I was really pressing to keep up with her.  Around mile 2 the legs started loosening up and I really felt good about my pace.  I was running a 9:30 pace which is really fast for me and I wondered if I could keep it up.

At mile 4, I was still holding pace but I was having a case of the negatives for some reason.  My mind kept telling me I couldn’t keep up the pace but as I did an inventory, I found my legs felt good, my lower back wasn’t stiff, my breathing was OK…,absolutely no reason why I couldn’t keep it up.  I started my mantra of positive words and also kept hearing my friend Jason’s voice from the  morning before telling me I could break an hour.

I hit mile 5 and looked at my watch and realized I had a very real chance of coming in under an hour.  With a half mile left, there are a couple of hills and I remembered them from the previous year as being really intense.  This year, I was pleasantly surprised that the hills didn’t provide much of a challenge at all and I was able to run right over them.  Then the finish line appeared in the distance and I felt that rush you get when you have just enough left in the tank to finish strong.  The strange thing is that while you can see the finish line, I swear it moves backwards as you towards it.  It feels like you will never get to it!  As I approached it, I saw that the time said 59:15 and there was a finish line MC telling all the runners that there was 45 seconds if you wanted to finish in an hour.  While technically this was not true as the timing strip doesn’t start your time until you cross the starting line, I still took the challenge to make sure I finished in under an hour and crossed the line in 59:45!

It felt really great to maintain that pace through a 10k and finish a minute and 15 seconds faster than last year!  Susan had a personal best as well and we did the high-five of satisfaction for a race well run!

It’s been a great and challenging week.  I’ve run farther this week at 28.5 miles than I have ever run over the same period and ended it with a 10K PR.  Can’t wait to reward myself with a day off tomorrow!

Stats from the race:  Charles Harris 10K Race-6.2 Miles by eyerh66 at Garmin Connect – Details.

When It’s Supposed to Rain…

Yesterday I sent an email out to our GBI group warning that it looked like rain and thunderstorms for our 10k challenge run in the morning.  Everyone agreed that if it was raining, we would postpone until next week.  The Weather Channel said it would rain, the local news channels said it would rain, the guy on the radio said it would rain.  Yep…it was going to rain and probably storm.  No way we were running this morning.

Of course, because it was going to rain and I knew we would not be running, I took extra helpings of pork tenderloin that was “melt in your mouth” good and homemade ice cream that my wife had churned.  I had some corn polenta but not as much carb as I should have had because…well…it was going to rain so I wouldn’t be running!

I set the alarm to wake me at 5:00am.  This was really just precautionary as I told everyone I would send an email out at 5:00am to cancel if it was raining.  5:00am came and the alarm went off.  I looked out the window and……nothing!  No thunder, no lightning and no rain.  I looked at the weather app on my smart phone and there was nothing on the radar.  In disbelief, I sent out an email trying to sound enthusiastic that all was dry so let’s run!  In my own mind I was just trying to psych myself up while cursing the ice cream.

I drove over to the meeting place and I was the first person to arrive.  I was really having a hard time psyching myself up and I started to have the “Let’s see, if no one shows up by our start time of 5:45am, I will give it 5 minutes and head home.  I wonder if I will be able to go back to sleep.  I could just go ahead and make coffee and see what is on TV.  Or I could….” conversation with myself.  Then Jason pulled in followed by Mike and Betsy.  OK!  We are running!

Betsy has never run a 10k and is signed up for one next weekend so the idea to do the 10k challenge came from a conversation we had regarding training.  In a nut shell, she wanted to do a 10k run before the actual race to prove she could do it.  When she pulled up my motivation returned as we all wanted to make it a good run for her.

We started out at a good pace through the warm and humid morning.  The idea was to run the Avondale Estates Labor Day 5k course twice.  We would run it in one direction and when we returned to the starting point, we would turn around and run the other way.  Ann and Susan joined us on the second lap and it was nice to have their energy and company. 

While we ran, I started feeling fatigued at the half way point.  I started doing the math and realized my problem was that I had already run 16 miles since Monday, not counting the sprints that we did Thursday morning at boot camp in between ab exercises.  I was at 20 miles which is the most I have ever run in a full week and I still had 2 more to go.  This coming after a 7 mile week while I nursed my back. 

Once I realized why I was struggling, I felt better because I was entering new territory.  When I factored in that tomorrow I will run the Charles Harris 10k, I will have approximately 28.5 miles for the week!

We finished the run at around a 10:20 pace which got us to the finish at about an hour and 4 minutes.  The hills and humidity made it a challenge but we were all pleased with our time.  Especially Betsy who KNOWS she can run a 10k! 

Last year I finished the Charles Harris in just over an hour.  My time chip result was 1:00:30 so it was really close.  As we ran this morning, Jason kept giving my pep talks to break an hour this year.  Every few minutes he would pull up beside me and say “Yea, you can definitely break an hour this year.”  The nice thing is that by comparison, the Charles Harris course is much easier to run than the route we took this morning.  It’s one of the few races that you will find that is almost completely flat or down hill…until the last quarter-mile where you have your heart broken by a steep hill leading to the finish.  At least it was heart breaking last year when I was running it for the first time.  This year I know what to expect and I have a feeling I am going to keep hearing Jason’s voice telling me I can break an hour!  Now if my legs just hold out one more day…..   

GBI 10K Challenge-Avondale Estates-6.2 Miles by eyerh66 at Garmin Connect – Details.

Hills and Humidity!

I don’t know if it was because it was my third run day in a row or if it was the hills, the humidity or the blistering pace but this mornings run was very challenging. 

Fellow instructor and GBI runner David (along with his running companion Bogey) put together a route that definitely had hills.  All of our runs are hilly but this one was that and then some.  And maybe the pace wasn’t actually blistering but we have two strong runners, Ann and Paige, that set a challenging (there is that word again) pace that really pushed everyone through the run.  By the time we finished, we were running  at 10 minute miles.  I realize this isn’t breaking any records but considering the hills and the mix of  varying running levels, we all felt like we had really been moving.

The temps were supposed to be in the mid 40’s this morning but it never made it south of 52 degrees.  It was warmer than expected and you could feel dampness in the air that only means one thing:  Humidity!  Every southern runners arch-enemy.  You expect the humidity once spring arrives but in February?  I guess it won’t be long until we start saying things like “It feels like I am running with a wet paper towel over my face” or “It feels like we are running through dog breath”.

I’ll be looking forward to a cross-training workout in boot camp tomorrow and then it is two consecutive 10k days with a GBI run of 6.2 miles on Friday and the Charles Harris 10k on Saturday morning.  The Charles Harris race is a qualifying race for the Peachtree Road Race on July 4th so hopefully I will have a strong time.  Of course, I ran the Charles Harris last year and everyone in our boot camp was accepted in the lottery for the Peachtree except for me.  I felt like Charlie Brown in the Halloween episode where he keeps getting a rock in his bag while everyone else gets candy.  Maybe this will be the year! 

GBI-Oakhurst Church-3.66 Miles by eyerh66 at Garmin Connect – Details.

Related articles

• Heat and Humidity and Hills, Oh My! (keepingmypace.wordpress.com)
• Running Uphill Both Ways (henryruns.wordpress.com)
• Running the Big Waves (henryruns.wordpress.com)

Running Through History

 Finally got my long run in and what a run it was! 

I woke up the morning after my niece’s wedding 30 minutes late as the alarm didn’t go off, threw on my running clothes and headed downstairs and out the door of the hotel.  I turned on my Garmin and waited…..and waited….and waited….for the satellite connection that finally came. 

I decided not to plan a route and instead, ran a sort of outline that I then filled in as I ran.  Starting out, I ran straight down East Bay Street from the hotel and eventually turned left MLK Jr. Blvd. and followed it for about a mile.  I then turned left and continued to the next street where I turned left again and ran straight back to East Bay Street.  At East Bay Street, I turned right and then right again and headed out for another mile.  I kept repeating this so I basically covered most of the streets block by block until I ended up back at the hotel.  I timed it pretty well as I only had to do one extra loop around the block to get in my 9+ miles once I arrived at the hotel. 

It was interesting running on a flat surface the entire time and for a while I kept having this feeling that at every turn there would be a hill.  I guess it is the psychology of running hills every day that your mind just naturally expects it.  I am happy to say that the 9.15 miles is the longest I have ever run!  I did run a 15k trail run last year but at the end, all of us Garmin folk had around 8.8 miles on our watches so technically, we didn’t run the full 9.3 miles. 

It was such a great way to see Savannahand experience all of the squares with their statues and trees with spanish moss as well as the historic churches, cemeteries and amazing architecture.

Image via Wikipedia

It really was like running through history!  There were several “wow” moments all along the route that made running through the city a real pleasure.  I found Savannah to be very runner friendly and would definitely recommend it as a run-cation!

 

This morning my legs were still pretty stiff from the long run and the long ride home but I got up and did the long run that was scheduled for boot camp this morning.  I was happy to run at a slower pace and let my legs relax a little and loosen up. 

This week should be interesting as we have a run tomorrow, regular boot camp Thursday and then a 6.2 mile run on Friday as we close out our GBI run group for the winter.  I follow-up the GBI run on Friday with a 10k race Saturday morning.  I’m thinking two 6.2 mile runs back to back should be enough for my weekend long run and I will rest on Sunday.

Info from my Savannah run.  Check out the map for the organized spaghetti route!  Solo Run–Savannah-9.15 Miles by eyerh66 at Garmin Connect – Details.

This mornings boot camp run:  KITF-Agnes Scott-3.3 Miles by eyerh66 at Garmin Connect – Details.

The Hotel Gym…..Ugh….

This morning was supposed to be my long run where I ventured out onto the flat streets of Savannah in search of adventure.  Would I find the entrance to the Talmadge Bridge and run across the Savannah River?  Would I stick to running beside the Savannah River?  Would I find a cemetery at every turn and run through them as I do back home?  Would I get lost?

Well….none of that happened.  Instead, it started raining last night and we woke up to thunderstorms this morning.  I was guessing this might happen as we watched the weather but I was hopeful.  So as I laid in bed listening to the rain, I fought all of my urges not to and went down to the hotel gym.  Really more like the hotel room with a few pieces of equipment.

For cardio I had my choice of dreadmill or elliptical.  I couldn’t face getting on the dreadmill so I went for the elliptical since it is slightly more interesting as you engage your arms.  As I have written before, working out indoors for me just feels really weird.  Even in boot camp we move to an open air parking deck when it rains so technically we are still outdoors.  It just feels really odd to me to be in a room with a tv on working out.

I didn’t measure my distance but I did the elliptical for about 30 minutes.  I then moved to the exercise equipment and did some arm curls,  pull downs, shoulder lifts, leg curls, etc.  When I finished I didn’t have the usual buzz that I get from a really hard workout or long run but I was happy to have been active for an hour and to have broken a sweat.

Fortunately, by the time I got back to my room and we decided to go to breakfast, the rain began to subside and we were able to spend the next 3 hours walking around Savannah.  My wife Angela, my stepdaughter Raeann and I did the tourist thing and walked along River Street, the Market area and several squares.

Raeann and Angela with Talmadge Bridge in background

Angela and I in front of Talmadge Bridge

We probably walked at least 3 miles so that was definitely something!

Heading to my niece’s wedding in just a little while!  I’m a very proud and excited uncle!

Back in the Saddle

My last run was on Monday and while I’ve only missed three days of any kind of exercise, it felt like forever!  I realized after the run on Monday that I needed to just relax my back and let nature take its course.  As I am sure most runners or active people feel when they are suddenly unable to do what they love, I get kind of grouchy and my mood slumps noticeably.  I think it is equal parts feeling restricted and lack of the daily endorphin buzz.  Since I had to miss two boot camp sessions, there is also the feeling of letting the other instructors and boot campers down.  I guess putting all that together is why it feels like three days lasts forever.

I met fellow instructors and GBI runners Jason and David this morning to go for a run around my neighborhood.  I’m always weary when I have had a few days off but I am happy to report that everything went well with the run.  My back did not give me issues and aside from a little stiffness in my legs at the start of the run, I felt very comfortable.  Jason, David and I kept to the same pace and had a “running” conversation throughout.  There were conversations about eating raw bacon, bird watching, the book Born to Run and being distracted while watching soccer at a bar by someone who had just reached the 1000 beer mark at a local restaurant called “Taco Mac”.  The run flew by and was very enjoyable.

To try to catch up on my running schedule I will probably run another 3-4 miles tomorrow and then we are off to Savannah for my niece’s wedding.  The wedding is Sunday evening so my plan is to go for a long run of about 10 miles through Savannah.  I’m looking forward to this adventure because it will be unfamiliar territory and completely flat.  Very rare when I get to run on a completely flat course.  Of course, there is the Talmadge Memorial Bridge

Image via Wikipedia

that stretches over the Savannah River so if I start missing hills, I will take to the bridge!

Information from this mornings run.  Since I messed up starting my watch on Monday, apparently it recorded about 1/10th of a mile so when I loaded the run from this morning, it also included that bit in the total and on the map:  GBI-Avondale Estates-3.75 Miles by eyerh66 at Garmin Connect – Details.

Morning Stretch With Paul

I woke this morning to 26 degree weather and a stiff (though not painful) back.  I was really anxious to run since I missed the long run yesterday and since I was able to stand up straight without actual pain, I decided to go for it! 

I put on all my layers and headed downstairs to feed our cats and do some stretching.  Our cats are not currently getting along (really long story) so we have them separated with Paul in the basement and Brock on the upper floors.  I went to visit and feed Paul and decided to do my stretching.  Paul enjoyed the stretching immensely as each time I changed positions, he would figure out a different route to walk around or through me.  For instance, when I was on all fours and about to go down into child’s pose, Paul would do figure 8’s between my arms while whapping me in the face with his tail.  After Paul assisted me in stretching, I felt relatively loose and headed out into the cold morning. 

Brock and Paul when they used to get alongBrock and Paul in Cahoots!

We ran a familiar route this morning from a coffee shop called Dancing Goats that fellow instructor and GBI runner Paige put together that’s about 4.2 miles.  In contrast to Friday in which the weather was pleasant and had that Friday energy, this morning was cold and we weren’t very talkative at first.  It probably took us about ½ a mile for us to warm up and start talking about our weekend.  I shared my ironic massage story and another instructor and GBI runner Ann suggested that once you have been running for a while and your body gets used to it, it’s possible that a massage can totally throw you out of whack.  I think I will have to agree as while my back didn’t bother me to much, my legs were experiencing all sorts of little pains.  I only missed two days of running but to me it felt physically like it had been a week.  

Unfortunately, after the run my back has stiffened up again and it’s been difficult to walk or stand completely upright.  I feel like I am 97% upright but just missing that last 3%.  I have on a Icy-Hot patch and a chair massage device that I keep turning on to try to keep me loose while doing stretches when I can.  I want to run again tomorrow to try to make up for the lost day this weekend but I also don’t want to prolong the back pain.  I’ll keep working it today and hope for the best in the morning. 

My niece is getting married this weekend in Savannah so I am planning to do my weekend long run while we are there (assuming my back allows it).  It should be interesting as Savannah is very flat so it will be my first time running 9-10 miles on a completely flat course.  I’m very curious to see how different it will feel from always running hills.

I actually forgot to start my Garmin this morning but luckily had the route saved and I knew approximately how long it took us to run so I was able to manually create the activity:  GBI-Dancing Goats-4.2 Miles by eyerh66 at Garmin Connect – Details.

Sunday Morning Irony Blues

Yesterday was an off day and I was really looking forward to it.  My wife and I decided to celebrate Valentines Day with a trip to a spa and an evening out with dinner and a play.  I was particularly looking forward to the spa because I was going to have a 90 minute massage while my wife had a massage and a facial.  I had visions of walking out of the spa feeling relaxed and energized; after all, I did not have any specific pains but only the occasional tightness or fatigue in my legs and lower back so I thought a massage would be just the ticket.

Overall, I did enjoy the massage. The masseuse was having some sinus issues causing her to sniff often and had to turn away for the occasional cough but aside from that, the actual massage was good. She found an area on both of my calves that was really tight and when she put pressure on it, I could feel it in my whole body.  The area was on the outside of the leg on the edge of the calf muscle (not sure if it was the calf muscle or another thin muscle running parallel to it) and she worked it until the muscle finally relaxed.  I also told her that my lower back tightened up occasionally and while she gave this area attention, it didn’t feel like she did anything out of the ordinary.

The masseuse had me flip over and while I turned, I felt a twinge in my lower back but for whatever reason, I didn’t give it any concern.  The rest of the massage went well with focus on the hands, feet and neck. When the massage was over, the masseuse left the room and I just laid on the table relaxing and enjoying the feeling.  Then I got up.  The first thing I noticed was that the area on my calves that had been worked were really sore.  This wasn’t completely unexpected but as I hopped off the table, my lower back in the sciatic area really hurt to the point of not being able to stand up completely straight.

I finished getting dressed and went out to the waiting area to sit on a sofa.  As long as I was sitting down, my back felt OK but when my wife finished with her facial and I stood up to leave, the sharp pain was there and again I could not stand up completely straight.  Talk about being completely disappointed!   The funny thing is, I don’t necessarily think it is something specific that the masseuse did (though this may be completely naive) but I think it was more of an overall reaction to the massage.  I have had sciatic issues in the past and it just tends to come and go with no apparent reason as to why it comes and goes.  I usually just blame it on being in my 40’s.  The irony was not lost on my wife and I as I shared what had happened.

So I spent all day yesterday in pain every time I went to stand or walk any distance.  Fortunately our activity last night in going to dinner and a play was all in the seated position so I was able to enjoy both.  We had a wonderful meal and the play, a comedy called “Ladies Man” was very funny and had us rolling!  When we got home I applied some Bengay which felt really great though the scent was not appreciated by our cats or my wife.

My real concern is that this morning was supposed to be a long run of 10 miles as I move closer to my first half-marathon.  Aside from my back woes there was another factor working against me as the temperature was heading south (figuratively and literally) yesterday and the prediction was that we would wake up to below 20 degree temps with a wind chill in the single digits.  The weather folk hit it right on the nose.  I love running in cold weather and don’t even mind if it is below freezing but this would have been a little much even if my back wasn’t hurting.  I think my wife was relieved that I wasn’t going to attempt it.

As I sit here and type my post while sitting on a heating pad, my back is finally starting to loosen up a bit and the sharp pain has reduced to more of a dull ache when I stand up. Hopefully this trend will continue the rest of the day and I’ll be running by tomorrow or the next day.  My concern is missing a long run day and how I should try to make it up.  Do I take one of my easy runs this week with the GBI and turn it into a long run or do I try to increase all my runs this week (maybe run an extra mile or two before a group run) and then continue as normal next weekend?

I’m curious to see what others have done in a similar situation and what suggestions runners may have in dealing with a missed long run.

A Really Enjoyable Run

Some mornings you get out of bed, lace up the running shoes and your not quite sure how it’s going to go. Fortunately this morning was not one of those mornings and I could just feel it would be an enjoyable run!

I pulled into the parking lot of the shopping center that we start from when I lead runs through my neighborhood.  There were a couple of cars already there but as it was a cold morning of about 37 degrees, everyone was staying inside until the last possible moment.

I got out and started doing a little dynamic stretching and cars started filing in.  Awesome!  A large group! 

You could feel the energy as everyone left the warmth of their cars and gathered together to stretch and catch up with each other.  We did this for a few moments until we were sure everyone had arrived.  Then I gave the “Let’s Go!”

I felt really strong and into the run this morning and enjoyed listening to all the conversations going on as we got moving.  It was very social and everyone seemed really into it.  There were some jokes about the course and the hills since last time we did a little detour that took us up a very long, steep hill so we could get in our 4+ miles.  I assured everyone that the course I laid out was 4 miles and we wouldn’t use THE hill.   What’s great about my neighborhood is that while there are hills, most of them are long and gradual.  There is also almost no traffic as we might have had 5 cars pass us the whole route.  We had a lot of different paces going on but we always do front to backs so we can keep everyone in the group in view and it also helps socially as people tend to pair up with different folks each time. 

While it was cold, the air was very still so it ended up being perfect for running.  No matter which course we take, we always end up running around the lake that is the center piece to the neighborhood.  As you approach it on the downhills, you can literally feel the air getting cooler as it comes into view.  Sometimes a duck will break the silence with an outburst of quacking but not this morning.   Must have been too cold! 

When we finished the route, one of our runners, Betsy, asked me about doing a 6 mile run as she has a 10k race coming up in March.  We talked with another runner, Susan, and the idea started formulating to make this a goal for the group!  Many of our runners have really been increasing their distance on our 4-5 mile runs but we thought it would be a great challenge for everyone to run a 10k distance since we are nearing the end of our winter run program.  It was just about this time last year that I completed my first 10k and it was such an incredible feeling!   I’m really looking forward to watching everyone push past their limits and reach this awesome goal!

My wife and I are celebrating Valentines Day tomorrow and as part of this, we are going to a spa where I will partake in a 90 minute massage!  While I generally feel good, I do have some fatigue in my legs, tightness in my lower back and few other things here and there so I am really looking forward to it!

Sunday I go for a solo long run of about 9-10 miles as I build towards my first half-marathon on March 18th!    

GBI-Avondale Estates-4.16 Miles by eyerh66 at Garmin Connect – Details.

Taking it to the Quad!

It was quiet and cold out on the quad as I prepared for the mornings boot camp workout.  The moon shone brightly behind the vacant building known as Campbell Hall, casting an eerie light across dew soaked grass.  I could hear my own foot falls on the brick path that circles the quad as I hurriedly set out both lantern and exercise sign at each station.  For the boot campers would be on the quad soon enough, desiring a workout of mammoth proportions and I must be ready to lead them in exercise!  For that is the mantle under which I labor and the pledge that I have taken……. 

OK…so I’ve been having some fun creating parody newsletters to send to my fellow boot camp instructors to try to lighten the mood as we get ready to launch boot camp full-time in March.  I guess I haven’t tired of it yet! 

It was cold and quiet (just the way I like it) this morning as I set up for a workout we call “12 On The Quad”.  We have six workout stations spread out around the grassy area we call the “quad” and each boot camper does 12 reps of each exercise and then completes a circuit by running out of the quad, around the library and back to the quad for one circuit.  Each boot camper does as many circuits as they can in 30 minutes.  The exercises are:  Legovers (take a chair and while standing behind it, you lift each leg over the back 12 times), Dips, Burpees, V-Ups, Man-Makers (in push-up position lift your right arm so your elbow is above your back, repeat with the left arm and then do a push-up) and finally squats.  It’s a great overall workout and really keeps everyone moving.  

Since I was leading, my job was to focus on correct form and to motivate.  I basically ran in the opposite direction so I was passing people going the other way.  I went between each station, checked form, dropped down to exercise with campers as they hit each station and cheered everyone on!  While I wasn’t necessarily always doing the same number of reps (though sometimes it was more) or the same exercises in each circuit, I had a really great workout!  

The students who take boot camp as a class are really awesome and have great energy.  They really push it when they work out and their attitudes are infectious!  After about 20 minutes the fatigue begins to set in but everyone kept at it until the final seconds.  I like to think that we are a team that practices hard and supports each other to reach our goals!  We may not be playing another team but we sure stick together in battling through a workout! 

Tomorrow morning I lead a run around my neighborhood that I am really looking forward to.  I’ve had two great cross-training workouts in boot camp this week but the road is calling me!