The Battle

What if I told you that you were going to place 2^nd or 3^rd in a race, would you care, would you be happy?  Most people would be very happy with 2^nd or 3^rd in a race.  I mean look at the Olympics or the World Championships those that take the silver or the bronze are ecstatic. 

Now what if you gave up 2^nd because others would never know that you had a chance at 2^nd but you did not want to work that hard or suffer that much.  Would you still be happy?  Would the fact that you gave up eat at you? 

Today (9/20/2015) I had that scenario play out in my head.  About 6-miles into a 10-mile trail run I was feeling that feeling that all runners get at some point.  Do I ease up or keep pushing.  For me it was about do I ease up and take third or do I try and break the person behind me or at least make them suffer to pass me.  I had the conversation with my sub-conscience.  Ultimately, I pushed through and worked for that 2^nd place. My driving force was the knowing that if I did not give my all, how could I ask my athletes to do the same in their races.   If I came to practice and it got out that I ran a race a took third many would be, wow that’s cool, 3^rd place is good.  

For me I would have a difficult time knowing that if I had given up that at the next meet I would have a tough time asking them to give that much more to dig just a little deeper.  The kids I coach give it their all and I appreciate that but it is normal for coaches to try to get that little bit more to show these athletes that they can sometimes find that little bit more.  In life, pushing through those difficult times is important to know that persevering is going to pay off.  Now I just have to use that same mentality to learn how to fold a fitted sheet. 

Summer is Here

The racing season is upon us. Thus far things are going okay.  It started with a poor performance at the 10Kato on Memorial day.  The performance was not poor because I was out of shape, I had a terrible cough for about 2 weeks that I did not go and see anyone about.  So it is on me and if anything has served as motivation. 

Since then I have started my summer training and had two stroller races.  The First was Arlington 5k, normally this is a 4miler but it had changed race directors at the last minute so things were not normal to put it lightly. The race itself was not great I went out too fast with the stroller (6:05).  From there I struggled, but managed to stay in the top 5 overall. Only to be beaten by high school runners.  The most recent race was the Sauerkraut Days 5k in Henderson.  Things went well here I PR’d with the stroller with a 19:32 was ninth overall and only two none high school kids beat me.  I was able to manage a top ten overall and was again the top in my age group. 

The next race is a none stroller race on the Fourth of July in St. Peter and is an 8k.  

Starting off in the right direction

It seems that every year I say that I am going to write more on this blog.  And every year I find myself not writing half as much as I intended to write.  This is my attempt at writing more.  I am not going to give long drawn out what has been happening since the last time I have wrote.  That would be just boring and mundane. 

Instead, I will give an update how things have been going this year.  First, my goal this year is to run 2500 miles.  So far, this has been kicking my butt.  RunningAHEAD.com has a new widget that gives you the ability to have a personal pace bunny to keep track of your goal and how you are doing with respect to that goal.  This has been difficult because the weather has not been as it was last year.  I have managed to get a couple of long runs in on the weekends.  These have given me the ability to stay close to the bunny.  I feel that if I can keep it close through the winter when the spring and summer comes I should be able to get a lead on the bunny. 

Today I ran my first race since the Turkey trot back in November.  It was the Freeze Your Buns Run in St. Peter.  I did not have a time goal.  I knew that I was in reasonable shape and should be able a 6:45-7:00min pace.  I wanted to run the first mile completive and see how it goes from there.  The first mile saw a couple of guys jump out and try and take control of the pace.  The pace was not beyond my abilities so I stayed back, controlling my pace so that I would still save some energy for the little hills in the second mile.  It was around mile one that I caught the leader and hung by him for a few seconds. It was apparent that he was not into holding the pace he was at (he might have gone out too fast) so I took over and tried my best to keep my pace up.  I slowed down from my first mile pace about 25seconds.  This slowdown is expected but I was still nervous that someone would come from behind and get me in the next mile.  I was able to maintain the pace for the third mile and started to push to the finish in the last mile.  Still not knowing where any of the other runners were I was trying to enjoy the moment and still run fast.  In the end, I was able to pull off the win.  My time was 25:31 for four miles, not bad for this time of the year.

The year has just started and things are looking good.  Win or no Win the level of fitness seems to be there and that is what matters.  

No Wicked Sloths

This past week my mother was able to come down to visit my family and I.  She brought with her my running t-shirt quilt.  This quilt has shirts from high school and some from when I began to run again.  It was nice to see the shirts and reflect on how things went during those races.  One of the shirts came from my senior year in high school.  The theme that year was "No Wicked Sloths." It stems from the speech that our coach gave us before the regional meet. If you are not familiar with this parable, it is a common Christian parable that can have many different versions but all have the same message. 

It talks about a king leaving his servants (3) for a time.  One servant was given 5 things, another was given 3 and the last one was given 1 thing.  What the servants were given depends on the version that you might have heard.  We had been told that they were given talents.  The story goes on to say that the servants that received 5 and 3 talents wanted to please their master and did what was needed to double their talents.  While the servants that received 1 talent was so afraid to lose this talent that they did not use it at all.  When the king came back, the servants that doubled their talents pleased the king very much and were rewarded.  When the last servant gave back the king the single talent the king proclaimed the servant to be a “wicked sloth.”  This servant did not use their talents to grow their talents. 

I think that this parable works very well with runners if you have certain talent(s) and do not work at trying to make them or yourself better then you are wasting those talents. 

I see this in many teams, some of the kids come in with so much talent that we as coaches get excited for what lies ahead. However if these athletes are afraid to use their talents they will not expand those talents and see what they are truly capable of.  Then there are those athletes that might not have the talents that the others do but they are not afraid to use their talents they find through using their talents that they become more talented than they ever imagined.  As a coach, these athletes are what make the team what it is.  These are the athletes that others should look up to and try to emulate.  We as coaches and runners also need to look inward and try to figure out if we are being a wicked sloth or are we using and trying to expand our talents.  

   

A girl like her and a guy like me

Today is the day that I get to celebrate time that I have spent with a very special person in my life, my wife.  We have been married for eight years, and known each other for over 11 years.  Scary to think about it but I have known her for a 1/3 of my life. 

We have had a lots of fun over the last eight years.  We have also taken some big leaps together as well.  We moved over 500miles from home for a job that we had no idea how it was going to go.  There been some tuff times because of the leaps but in the end I think that we have grown stronger because of them. 

When my wife meet me I was not running at the time.  I call it my seven-year hiatus.  I was still very interested in running and the sport I just was not running.  After we moved to where we are now I started running again.  I did things the smart way starting out with very low miles (highest month was 92, 525 for the year).  At the time she did not understand what was about to unfold or how crazy runners get.  But she still stuck by letting me know how crazy I am, shaking her head as I get ready for a run in the freezing cold or the sweltering heat.  She has expressed her worries before my first marathon (thanks to the hottest Chicago and Twin Cities marathons in recent history).  Now she I think has come to understand my running and me more. 

So on our anniversary I thought she should know that even with all these miles ran and races paid for, I still love her more.  

Dead Heat

Jeneba Tarmoh and Allyson Felix did something that is so rare that USA Track & Field did not even have a policy in place for such an event.  Yes, I am talking about the dead heat that occurred in the women’s 100m final.  As I write this Jeneba Tarmoh has conceded her potential spot in this event, which to me is sad. 

This is a black eye for the sport of track and field at a time when the whole country could have seen one of the greatest things to happen to the sport.  I do not think this is on Jeneba Tarmoh, this is on USA Track & Field.  However, Tarmoh should have known that the results that are posted are always unofficial.  

Here is where things began to go bad to worse.  If there were a policy in place, nothing would be made of this but because there was no policy, we have a big deal.  The results that the officials can up with were in my mind not the best; coin flip, run off, or concede the spot.  Now the coin flip is just absurd, the run off should have been the first option given to the athletes and more time should have been given to athletes to recover and prepare for the potential run off.  I personal would have liked to have seen Felix conceded the spot because she did make it in the 200m and would have been on the 4x100m relay as well.  Nevertheless, this did not happen so we have this mess.  I hope the Olympic committee is paying attention.

How can this be prevented in the future…..well first off MAKE POLICY.  I would suggest that like the field events the semi-final(1) and the prelims(2) heat times are the first tie breakers.  If this was the policy here would have been the results:

Athlete	Semi time	Prelim time
Felix	11.23	11.19
Tarmoh	11.10	11.16

Tarmoh would have been declared the winner before this got out of hand and the USATF would have had an answer when they said they wanted one in the first place.  If the athletes had identical times in those heats then it goes to a run off. 

My hope is that USATF learns from this and sets a policy that makes sense.

Here we Go

It has been quite some time since I have written anything.  A great deal has happened since I have written however I will not bore you with a post that is a complete recap.  Instead, I will be looking at how this summer is shaping up. 

First, I had to come to terms that I am mentally unable to take of my son all summer.  It took about a week to find this out.  At first I did not want to admit this, but there is some things that I just cannot do.  I was trying to keep him busy and then try and work on things that need to be done for next school year (essentially 4 new classes). 

I have been able to get some real quality training in now that we are done with school this year.  Have had a couple of races in which showed some promise with the stroller.  I really enjoy going to small local races with my son.  It gives me an opportunity to race and be competitive and spend time with my son. 

This week (6-24à7-1) does not have me racing, so it is a full week of training and some higher mileage 50+ weeks.

During the summer, I have found that having some sort of a plan is very helpful.  It is well documented that just running will improve your running.  However, this is for those that are just starting out.  Those of us that have been running for a number of years need stimulus to increase our level of fitness.  Those that are just starting could do the same but in some cases, it is best just to build a base.  This summer I am able to actually follow the similar training plan that I had the summer before my son was born. Because of this I am able to try out some workouts that I want to run with my athletes in the fall and spring.   Last year I was able to just run, this year it is training.  So with training comes intervals, hills, these should get me back to the 3:04 marathon shape that I was.  The goal is and always will be to break three.  

Still here Just Busy

From the depths of the real world I have resurfaced on the internet yet again.  But I am not sure how long this will last.  I am in my third week of coaching JH (Junior High) Track.  If you have ever had or experienced this age group of kids you know that the energy that they bring is over the top.  If I can channel this energy and get them to work out and get faster maybe I will get a few to move on and contribute in the next level.  I have always viewed JH as a feeder for varsity, it is a way to mentally get the athletes ready for what lies ahead. 

Being this busy does have an effect on my personal running.  I went from a couple of weeks of sixties.  I have dropped to about fifteen to twenty.  Mentally this is hard but when coaching is needed that is what I need to do and not run because my training calls for me to run.  I have tried to get out after practice with the stroller.  Nevertheless, even this at times is difficult to do because I feel more rushed.  I try to make sure to get a stroller run in on the nice days. 

So if you are following this blog I can promise that I have plenty to say just no time to say it. 

Little Help Needed

Training this year has started out to be consistent; however, the mileage is not what I would like to have.  I am used to increasing my mileage up to about 40+ miles per week and now have only broke the 30 mile mark twice this year.  It is not because the weather is bad; the weather this summer has been nice this year.  I think that the lack of miles comes from my comfort level in taking my son out.  I could never get any good information as to how cold is too cold to bring him out-side and go for a run.  The weekend runs (ha no pun intended) are essential to my training and I am guessing most athletes with a full time job.  Any insight into how cold is to cold or any tips would greatly appreciated.

I have been able to get a first look at what races I will be running this summer.  Most of them look to be ran with the stroller so that will make this summer slower, but we are going to try and make some new good times, both on the clock and with my son.  The exact dates are still being worked out but should be putting something together soon.  

Winter Weekend Off

Consistency is the key to success I think this is true in some many different aspects of our lives but winter running consistency leads to success in the spring, summer and fall.

I find it interesting that in a short while (6weeks) the track season will be starting for a number of my students and athletes and I am very encouraged by the amount of them that I see working out in the weight room and running some miles around town.  Seeing this tells me that the change is near.  The runners and athletes are starting to understand that in our sport we need to train year round.  The training does not need to be intense but it needs to be there.  This change in attitude is one that I have been hoping for, for the last three years.  I tell the kids that the better shape they come in the farther we can take them.  What it took was having a couple of runners take the bite and try running and working out in the offseason (if there really is one) those athletes saw less injuries and more gains than those that did not run.  This year because of it we have seen double the students doing off season stuff on their own.   

This has also inspired the head cross country coach and I to run ourselves and make sure that we are ready for the season and able to keep up with the kids to some degree.  But the wonderful side-effect has been running more miles thus far since 2008 and close to even 2009.  This consistency is very promising as the spring and summer races will be approaching faster than I think.  This summer I have a feeling that my training will change some due to the fact that I will be pushing a stroller.  I like the training plan that I have ready to implement the only thing will be actually doing it.  It calls for more at pace running and some longer easy runs.  I am going to try and train the same workouts as if the stroller was not there but I think that the stroller will slow down my times and paces for some of the runs that I plan on running.  Getting beyond the fact that my pace might not have been spot on will take some time but I am encouraged by the fact that I will have an added training aspect almost every run, pushing that stroller.  So until school is out and track is still going on the stroller will most likely stay in the garage and wait for warmer weather in March and or April so then I can run more consistently on the weekends.  

The Year That Was 2011

In a race we are taught not look back because that is not where we are going, but one can reflect on what happened and still look to the future.  This is my attempt to reflect. 

This Year began much like the previous year (2010), I was busy doing graduate work and teaching and running as much as could. 

In 2011 I began the process of changing to a more minimal running shoe and transitioned into a pair of Saucony Kinvara’s.  Having read a good deal of literature on the benefits of going to such a shoe I decided to take the plug, but did so with the caution that is needed to make the change for a high supportive shoe to one that is less supportive.  The transition took the better part of the winter and was almost complete by the time track started in the spring. 

When track started in the spring my life was getting pretty crazy, my graduate classes where in full swing and my paper was coming due soon, not to mention that our family was about to expand.  Because of all the extra work that I was taking on I was finding it difficult to maintain a good weekend running regiment.  I did something that most would not suggest doing and that was race myself into shape or race to maintain shape.  In a span of three weeks I ran three races, two half marathons and one 10k.  

The crazy thing about running these races so close together was that I set PR’s in two out of the three races. The races that I did PR were not that easy of courses or the weather was not “perfect”. 

By the end of spring my paper had be written and my JH track season was done.  But then another chapter in my life began, my son was born.  

On June 1 very early in the morning my son was born after a very hard labor by my wife.  Many runners (male ones most likely) think that training and running a marathon is difficult but I was there with my wife and giving birth is more difficult for sure.  I know this because the next day my wife was walking like she ran a marathon and her facial cheeks hurt, which never happened after a marathon. 

The summer was crazy little sleep, not a great deal of running, but was able to get out and run when I could.  It started off by me going to Bozeman MT for a week to present and receive my master’s degree.  

This was a fun experience and was able to meet a great deal of people that have some very good thoughts on how to improve the classroom for students.  

When we went home in July for my son’s baptism I was able to get a race in.  The race ended up being very small and was my third overall win in a race.  

By the time we got back from North Dakota it was time to start thinking about cross country and school. 

The fall was crazy we had more kids come into the season with a great deal of miles ran and the team looked primed for the goal that we eventually came up short on achieving. The fact that this team did the hard work and still came up short is just one of those things in running you can do everything that you can and it still might not be enough.  Also in the fall I was able to come to terms that my race time will suffer if I do not get the proper amount of sleep. This was after two what I consider sub-par performances in the half and full marathon’s.  This is also around the time that I was able to get the greatest gift a running stroller.  My son took to it with no problem at all and enjoyed being in the stroller and going for runs with dad.  We ran our first race together for a Halloween fun run and ran well with the crowds and in full costume. 

My step-father Bill in Perth Australia  

The end of the year was met with sadness in the family. My step-father died suddenly after a surgery.  I tried to write about this life event earlier but each time I tried I find myself becoming angry and have more questions than I feel comfortable posting here.  I was able to be there for my mom at least for a short while, but it did not feel that it was enough. 

In the end 2011 was a year of polarizing opposite’s great joy and sadness.  I think that we can learn some things from 2011; life is precious and fragile, take every day as a gift every moment as it comes.  I am glad that 2011 is over because I am looking forward to what 2012 has for me and my family both running and non-running.

First Race for the Boys

This has been a long time coming.  But work has forced me to do some grading on the weekend and not write about the ongoing craziness that is my life the last five months.

On the Saturday before Halloween my son and I participated in our first race together.  I ran he slept as most of the strollers runs go.  As you can see from the picture he was football and I was the football player.  

Yes, I did run the full race with the pads and helmet on. At the race I found that warming up for the race with my son is different than if I was by myself.  At the start which again was a different experience for me.  Normally I like to place myself in a place close to the front.  However I was not able to take this normal spot because I had the stroller.  This time it was fine since it was a large race (1400+) and I was not putting any time goal on myself that would make this race more serious than it needed to be.  It was my first race with my son and I just wanted to enjoy it. As the race started out I had to play the game of making my way through all the walkers and other strollers that were not going as fast as I wanted to go (it was a race and when the gun went off the trigger in my brain just said to go fast).  It took a good mile or more to make my way through the crowds.  After I was able to make my way through the crowds I was able to really get going.  From then on it was smooth going.  I was able to actually get below a seven minute mile.  My final time was 21:43 pretty happy how things went for my first stroller race.  I did learn though in smaller races this summer that I will not be taking a back seat to the faster races.  I plan on starting near the front because well I still want to compete; it is a race you know.  

Changes in time and Season

So not blogging for almost two months means one of two things; 1, I have nothing to saw (not likely) or 2, I have been busy and not sure what to writ so I don’t.  The second is the most likely reason because I have been able to keep up on my Twitter but writing anything of substance. 

Prefontaine was quoted as saying that “a man can fail many times but is not a failure until he starts blaming someone else.”  Well I have been reminded of that quote a few times these past few months.  I don’t want to blame the fact that my races have not gone well because of my son but I have not been able to sleep.  We all know that having the proper amount of sleep is very important.  Because he has not been sleeping all that well 4-6 hours this makes for early mornings and long days.  So I am I a failure for blaming him for my slow times?

Not exactly I have just found the reason why my times are suffering.  If I look at the last two races I think this is evident.  The half marathon did not go very well and neither did my marathon.  I have the training to some degree maybe not to the same degree that I did last year but it all comes down to the rest and the ability to recover.  My training times have been okay but I have also not been able to get some of those very important at pace training runs in that are the backbone of my training.  So as I go forward I think that I need to come to terms of the new norm at least until he starts sleeping more at night then who knows what could happen, things could go back to how they were or not.  Either way this is the new norm for now.

Coaching Others and Self

This is my third year as an official assistant coach to the cross country team and forth with the team as a whole. This year is different than others in the past as the biggest school that beat the conference easily year in and year out left the conference.  This gives the other teams in the conference a real chance to do something as a team that has not been done in a very long time.  For us the first week of practice of cross country was a success, the athletes worked hard and some even came into the season in pretty good shape.  My role as assistant is the motivator kind of the cheerleader of the team if you will.  Every year I try and get more athletes to run during the summer this started last summer when I began the 300mile N.U.T.S club. We had two athletes make the club and they saw some the benefits of running these miles.  This year we expanded the clubs to include runners of all ages, 150, 200 and 300 miles.  As the athletes get older the club in which they are asked to reach increases.  The idea is that as the athletes run year to year they become used to the idea that running in the summer offseason is something of the norm.  This should make them better and more prepared for the season as they get older.  This was very evident that those that did run this past summer the shape were the times in the two mile that we ran on the second day of practice. 

I have been a fan of the pace calculator on mcmillanrunning.com and have used these time to help me pace out my own training.  This past January I was put on to vdot training at a conference.  I am sure that mcmillanrunning.com uses a similar calculator to achieve the time that it does.  This vdot training (Jack Daniels) is all based on finding where an athlete is at and have them run different types of training runs based on the paces from their timed two mile.  As the athlete gets in better shape the paces increase making the athlete work harder and therefore get faster.  It is this training that I have been trying to get the team to buy into.  This is difficult for a high school runner to do, many of these runners like to run but do not want to leave the comfort level and this training has you pushing your edge constantly.  I became very frustrated at one point this week when the senior boys were complaining that the pace was to fast but based on their scores it was just right.  I have been very fortunate that the head coach lets me vent to him during these times and prevents me from upsetting the team with my competitive nature.  To me it does not make sense as to why a person would not want to make themselves better and not settle. 

This is why I run and train as I do I want to get better every year.  This does not mean that I expect PR’s every time out but it does mean that I am going to try to run my best that I have each and every time and if I feel the performance is substandard that means that I need to make changes to my training so that I do not become complacent.  That is way I really like the vdot (Jack Daniels) and McMillan method of training I never seem to plateau for very long. This is why I created the mile clubs and why I try and motivate the runners to make themselves better.

Am I just crazy or does this make sense?

Running on vacation can normally be hit and miss when you can run.  If you have family that understands what it means to you to get out and run.  For me my family understands that I want to get out and run.  The problem is that my family is going through some changes if you have been reading, my running is becoming very sporadic but yet I am able to put in some consistent weekly miles.

On my vacation I went home (North Dakota) for three weeks.  During my vacation I was able to average about 30 miles a week and even able to run a race.  The race was very small (30people) and the first time for the town.  The race itself was not a bad route one big loop on the outskirts of town.  I was the only serious runner at the race even though I know of local runners that could run faster that can they did not show up.  Their absence is my gain meaning I was able to pull off a win.  The time was not good 20:32; the second place time was about 2minutes after so it was not even close. 

My training runs varied in length and scenery.  At the farm the scenery looked very much like this.  

When I was in Minot, ND the scenery was very different.  Minot had just started the recovery of the flood that devastated the city.  It was very difficult to comprehend the devastation even seeing the aftermath.  My family was not affected by the flood.  But there is still so much that needs to be done, the Red Cross is one of the best places to donate.  There is an alternative that is different, I Helped Rebuild Minot, here you can purchase a shirt that goes toward the purchase of sheetrock for those that have difficulty purchasing it.   

At the end of the vacation my wife and I were able to have our son baptized in the country church that my wife grew-up going to.  It was a beautiful day and was shared by family at the farm.  We ended up staying an extra day to recover from the very busy three weeks. 

Now we are back home things are getting back to normal, whatever that is. 

10k

The height of the pyramid is determined by the width of the base.  This is not a race report about a resent 10k that I ran; it is a report that I have reached a milestone in my running.  I have reached 10,000miles (7-23-2011).  These of course are just my documented miles.  The majority of the miles that I have run have come in the last four years (over eight thousand).  There was defiantly some years of really good mileage, over 2000miles, but as of recently I have been able to put in some miles that I am okay with and continue my base training before the coaching duties take over and my running becomes more focused to what the athletes need.  I was very happy to make this mileage point.  I think that now that I have this many miles under my belt that I should really be looking at pushing myself to new heights.  This is evident through the last few years; I have seen my easy runs ran at paces that I was running hard at five years ago.  This change is welcome and worth the time and hard work.  As my life is going through changes, again I look forward to see how the next 10,000 miles shapes me as a runner. 

Diapers the Beginning

In the past five weeks I have been able to experience the joys of changing diapers.  I know that there are still more to come.  In this very short experience I have learned that not all diapers are created equal.  My wife and I were given a good deal of diapers for baby shower gifts.  We received two types Pampers and Huggies.  In the hospital we were given Pampers to use.  When we came home we started using the Huggies and very quickly learned that not all diapers are created equal.  I understand that a great deal of time goes into the research into creating these products.  I found that there are a few reasons why I prefer Pampers to Huggies.

Both of the diapers have the wonderful indicator strip.  As a new parent and not sure when the child is wet and the child not being able to tell you this strip is wonderful.  The major difference and decisive factor is the tape, but running a close second was the elastic waistband.   I think that these two parts go hand in hand.  The Huggies seemed not to have the ability to hold the diaper around the hips of my son and therefore the we would have many leaks of urine at night and during the day.  The tape that holds the diaper on or closed works only for that time the diaper is on.  When the diaper is taken off and rolled closed for disposal the tape does not keep the diaper closed.  Pampers on the other hand does not have this problem and allowed me to tape and re-tape the diaper as I was learning how to change a diaper.  With Pampers, the urine leaks were nonexistent. The tape the holds diaper closed kept the diaper closed even after the diaper was taken off and then discarded. 

I have not been able to test any other diapers yet and would like to know if the generic brands hold up the same standard, the name brands do.  My son is now going into the next phase of diapers (number 1’s).  Making assumptions about how this next phase of diapers for these products is impossible but if you have any insight, please let me know.  

Fathers Day 2011

Happy father’s day to all dads out there.  This year is my first for all first time dads the first is very special. Though my son is still young, I have certain amount of pride on this father’s day.

I have tried to make father’s day a weekend event. On Saturday, I was able run my first race being a dad.  It went okay for being sleep deprived.  I was able to maintain a reasonable pace and did not have any aspirations of winning or even running a great time.  I had a reasonable goal of under 26min and was able accomplish this goal by running 25:50.  The rest of the day, however I just felt out it, my attention span just was not there.  I thought that taking a nap would have been a good idea but even that did not happen.  It was again filled with changing diapers and feeding. If you think that all diapers are the same your mistaken, I have a clear favorite, more on that at a later time.

On the official father’s day, I was able to start it early 5am, with a feeding and diaper change.  Normally I am able to get a small nap in after he is feed and diapered.  I have found this helps with my run during the day.  Well this nap did not happen apparently my son felt it necessary to make sure that I am up and “hanging out” with him trying to get him to calm down and take that all important nap. Needless to say I did not run today, I seem to be more okay with not running this Sunday than last.  I was able to get 40+ miles in this week, which is a high for the last 6 weeks.  I have found that running 8-10 miles daily will become normal.  To me this is okay it is something that I wanted to this summer but was thinking that I might be running a longer midweek run.  For now I am happy with the way things are going both personally and in my running.  

Flexibility

This morning at 1am and then again at 3am we were greeted with my son enhancing his lung capacity.  By about 4:30 in the morning it was my turn to try and calm him down.  I was able to but not till about 5am.  Then it was only for about an hour then it was time to have him eat again.  So my long run that I had planned for today did not happen.  About a year ago this would have bothered me.  I was however able to get a couple of runs in but it does not match the benefits of the long run.

I have begun to learn that my training will come second to my son for this summer.  For me this is a difficult thing to overcome.  For many years I was training to be competitive as a runner and have brought my times down to were I really feel happy about my training.  Last year at this time, I was coming off a small injury that really affected my effectiveness as a runner.  I was planning on this summer to be the full of very focused training. That has obviously taken a detour, I am looking forward to being a Dad but I am not ready to become less competitive. 

I article in RunnersWorld six months to a year ago dealt with moms that are runners and how to deal with the changes to the availability of not really training runs but running in general.  This is fine, but I want to know what to do when the Dad wants to run. 

I keep being told that this time will pass and he will be sleeping more “normally” in a few weeks to months. I not sure if I can handle that, I know that I need to be flexible in my training.  Maybe this father thing and flexibility with my training will be good for me.  Maybe this will make me a better runner in the end but for now it is a challenge for me mentally to deal with.  

A gift on National Running Day. (run not included)

Birth is a life changing event. Most of us are fortunate never to remember the actual process that it took, but our Mothers will remind us if it was bad for them. My mother never said that it was that much of a traumatic experience. My son however will most likely be reminded about how things went by my wife. It was very exciting but also very difficult on my wife. I even had to change the first diapers and do the first feedings because my wife was really put through the ringer. She is walking around as if she had some total body marathon all form a bed. Yikes, I thought training for a marathon and then running it was tuff, what she did was just amazing.

My son was born on National Running Day at 1:49AM, so I was unable to get a run in yesterday. Very little sleep and having to be a dad changed priorities for me. I was all talk about how I would be fine leaving to go back to school and go for runs even while in the hospital. Like I said that was all talk and that I will most likely get my first run in on the weekend but the earliest Friday. After that, I have no idea how to plan or make plans for times like these.

I am looking forward to try to be a good role model for my son. I hope that he ends up being a runner and is better than I was or will ever be. For now, I think that I am going to take all this in, and worry about running later.

runpd