Sunday, November 7, 2010

PB, PB, PB!

WOW what a great fall!

I spent the summer training for my first marathon. I continued to do my interval workouts through my training but was really focused on endurance. When I crapped out at 39km, 3km short of my goal, I was a little disappointed. Don't get me wrong, I am happy to have finished my first marathon, I am not happy with my time. I am happy to say that all that work has not gone to waste.

I really thought all that distance was going to kill my shorter times. I signed up for a 10km 4 weeks after my marathon (which I figured would be a recovery run). I PB'd at the distance.

So I also signed up for a 5km which means a lot to me. The 2nd annual RememberRun in Preston. The start of the race (outside of the legion) was after 2 minutes of silence with bagpipes...a touching tribute for our veterans. As I had also signed up for the Road2Hope half marathon I was planning on running this at a slow 5km pace. Needless to say I was feeling really strong and ended up running faster that I expected. As I finished with a PB and a little gas left in the tank I was really surprised, and a little worried I may have hurt my half the next day.

Headed down to Hamilton early today as I was carpooling with my friend/mentor/coach John Carson who was running the full. Went into this race feeling really strong and ran that way through the entire race! I took nearly 14 minutes off my PB from the year before!

So in 2 weeks I hit my PB in the 5 and 10 and in one weekend I hit PB's in the 5 and the half. My running has never felt stronger. I am looking forward to doing around the bay in the spring and trying to get under 20 minutes in the 5km....I mean we all have to have a goal right?

M

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Getting Better

As I ran with the first time 5km runners tonight I found myself passing on some advice that I had been given not an hour before. The advice was a reminder of a speech given by Roy H. Williams (the Wizard of Ads) at our national PropertyGuys.com conference. The advice was related to business when given to me. To be effective you need to be consistent and do it with intensity. It rang in my ears as I ran. As I have found my life setting me up for other things provided me with what I needed when I needed it.

Looking back on my running journey it took me 18 months to really see improvement. 18 months of hard work. 18 months of consistent running. 18 months of intense work to improve my speed. It did not end there though. If those first 18 months were tough then the last 12 months have been hell....and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Can't wait to see what the next few years have in store!

M