Saturday, March 7, 2009

Back on Track

First off, thank you to all for your kind thoughts over the past week. The blogging community is awesome! Brenden is doing much better and life in our house has returned to its quasi-normal state.

Today was my wife’s first venture away from the house without Brenden, as she deserved a much needed break. Of course, her break was just another household chore - grocery shopping. As this was my wife’s first time away without Brenden, it was the first time the two boys and I hung out without Mom. We had a good time.

Prior the grocery trip, I went for one last long run before the 50k on the 21st. It was kind of surreal. With two young kids, I don’t have the luxury of rolling out of bed at a normal wake-up time and then going for a long run (well, I guess I could, but Mom would not be very happy). I helped with Brenden’s 4:15 feeding and was out the door before 5:00. Unfortunately, Mr. Joe has a sore spot on his paw and he did not accompany me this morning. My wife said that he was most dissatisfied when I left without him. I got twenty-four miles in and felt pretty good and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise. I was getting fatigued around mile fifteen, stopped and walked for a few minutes, stretched my legs a little, took a good swig of water, and felt great the rest of the way. Running mirrors life sometimes, there are peaks and valleys, just keep on keeping on. Despite the stopping, I ran the second twelve miles faster than the first, which surprised me. Strictly from a running perspective, I would have liked to get in a few more miles over the past couple of weeks in preparation for the 50k, but some things are infinitely more important than running in some silly race.

4 comments:

Live/Love/Life said...

That is awesome - All the way around.
Glad to hear the baby is doing better and keep on running.
I can't wait to be able to run 5 miles without stopping. : )
I think you should do the Boston Marathon and all your blogging buddies can be on the sidelines with your wife and family cheering for you. : )

Brian said...

Going from being able to run three miles, to five miles, to ten miles and beyond is not as difficult as you may think. Just keep working at it and the easier it will become. To qualify for the Boston Marathon is a goal of mine, but I have my work cut out for me in cutting more than 15 minutes off my marathon time. I'll just have to keep working at it until it becomes easier:)

Fooseberry said...

I am amazed at the amount of running you do so I can't imagine you need to shave any time off for the Boston Marathon but I second Perplexed. I would be on the sidelines cheering too.

Brian said...

Fooseberry - You guys are awesome! Running far is more about putting in the time to condition yourself to accomplish the task. Running far fast, however, has a little bit more to do with talent, along with hard work. I might have the talent to run far fast, I might not, but I'll give it my best shot.