Recent Gap

Wait....you mean I have a blog?

Death Valley was over two weeks ago and I have been absent from my duties since. Not good, so how about an update?

I'm not even really sure where to begin. Lets look at the training and see how its been going first: the week and weekend after my Death Valley Marathon put my body through some pretty good testing. I competed in the Mardi Gras 10K last Saturday, reversing my LSD from Saturday to Sunday. I was told to take the race seriously and I did. The result was a 3rd place finish and a new course PR, but the amount of stress I put on muscles really set me up for failure the next day on my long slow distance run. I was scheduled to hit it for 22 miles and to help set up my aid stations, I routed a loop around the house. After my first 7 mile lap, I refilled on water and fuel and set out for lap two. By the time I came back around for another refill, I was empty. I managed 14, but fell short of my goal by 8 miles. I can account for this by two factors: 1) the race the day before was pushed to hard at the end and 2)I was too close to home which made it really easy to stop. So...That was the week before.

Last week? Holy mackerel. The training schedule looked really good, but starting early Tuesday morning the unit had a two-day exercise that in planning looked like I was going to be able to continue to train, but in reality the events that took place ended up lasting over a significant amount of time. Tuesday was a 20hour day for me going from 0200-2000. Wednesday I got to repeat with a 16 hour day. Needless to say the training went out the window. Nutrition? What nutrition? Water? HA! Much to my own demise I sat on a case of MREs and water, but didn't make the time to stop and eat or drink. As a result my mileage was cut down from 22 to 18 for Saturday's run, which turned out well. Finally last night was an 8 miler that ended at 7 due to some upset tummy problems.

This week looks to be a good training schedule, full of challenges. I do have some speedwork, but the distance are a little shorter than they have been. But now here are some other things that have crept up on me and put some additional factors on which to think. My master's degree started back up again. Boo-koo reading and lots of typing. The question is: I have been counseled that following through with the degree and chaplain endorsement is going to be near improbable, if not impossible. What am I supposed to do with that? I can honestly say I am prepared to push it hard through this course of study, but I know full well that one misstep and I will miss my opportunity. What lurks on the horizon though is perhaps a way of escape and I don't think I can pass it up. I need to stop there and keep you in suspense. What matters is that I need to get to FEDEX and hope they are open today.