A bit heavy....Jan 17 - Jan 23

SUN
9 miles around UNR in AM; 20 min. bike PM
*happy that sixty-four minutes of running seemed to pass quickly

MON
12.5 miles along Extended BLC w/ Sean
*by four miles we were already rolling 6:20's, but that pace felt chill in terms of turnover
*tired by the end, but put in 36 miles in past three days

TUES
10 miles on Fat Kid w/ Ron
*route sits at base of Sierra-Nevada Mountains which means today I ran aiming my body to the left so that with the wind I'd actually run straight and stay on the shoulder of the Mt. Rose Highway as opposed to playing chicken with the traffic

WED
5 miles w/ Steve-O
*wind/snow continue to hit Reno, and health down a notch so kept the run low-key
*I FOUND CHEESE!!! Literally! A box of mozzarella bricks must have gone for freedom off the back of a truck and tumbled off the highway and into the fence we ran past. Carried one brick for a while planning to bring it back home (and after that not sure what), but it got heavy so it was eventually tossed

THUR
12 miles along new BLC route solo
*snowing out - provided cushion on the city streets
*love it when ten miles turns into twelve

FRI
13 miles on Orgasmic Donut w/ Ron
*planned an easy day of eight, legs felt like they wanted to only do six, and made the mistake of trying to create a new loop which ended up being thirteen
*if you want the story behind the route's name let me know

SAT
9 miles along Truckee River solo
*sun finally makes an appearance!!!

WEEK
70.5 miles!!! Build back: 50-55-59-64-64-68-71-70.5
1-I can feel the body slimming down a bit. "You look a bit skinny" = I must be getting fitter.
2-Accomplished abs/stretching/extras much better this week.
3-Didn't sleep well for most of the week: didn't fall asleep right away, woke up during the night. Really annoying. Then the mind freaks out ("Aaahhhh! I need sleep! Go to sleep!") which doesn't lend any solution.
*I think, as opposed to training for fun and really enjoying the experience, my body/mindset are beginning to shift back to serious mode. Example: "Cool, I get to run ten miles today" vs. "If I don't get ten miles today that sets my week back and I have to make it up." Example: "Gotta' get to bed and sleep right away to get my rest or else I won't be as recovered tomorrow" vs. "Long day - good run - time to chill and fall asleep."
4-Body/mind starting to tire.
*The "honeymoon" period of once again running 70/week is wearing off. Reality now begins to take hold: this is a lot of work and stress does mount on the body....I do tire. Up to this point I felt absolutely jacked about each and every run. Towards the end of Saturday's miles I had to pep talk the body a bit - this was cool and fun and just needed to be enjoyed. Thankfully it all finished with that mindset. Yet it was a big change from the trend of the past few weeks. Gotta' find ways to stay so fresh and so clean clean (eat right and A LOT, sleep well.....any other tricks you know of?).
5-The right ack-illes is making noise again.
*The tendon injury put a premature stop to the first fall of training (2008). Praise God, a great P.T. healed everything. Each run I keep a closer eye on things and have started the main exercise from the P.T. again. I also wear a compression sock at night to help with blood flow.
6-The age old question once again arises: How much does a runner push out of their life in the pursuit of dreams?
*A few outside-of-running activities presented themselves over the past few months. And I'm not sure where to draw the line. This is especially true with the opportunities related to church. I feel like saying "No" to church is saying "No" to God, which for me personally is for some reason a big no-no. I see the Lord's work as very important and thus why would I say no to something important? Yet an issue in all this is that I've never intertwined faith/running. Running has always been my thing, almost seperate of God. Thus doing running makes me feel like I need to do church "stuff" in order to balance out my pursuits with God's pursuits. This all screams of works righteousness (aka to appease God we must DO something). All wrong. Out of a contrite spirit, the Lord wants our time/talent/treasure as a "thank you" for what He did for us.
*Life = black & white. Do it 100% or leave it. Hence the decision to move to Reno to pursue training and leave teaching. And this spills over into these other areas of life. Being involved in a new church is really, really cool. And thinking about helping a non-profit educate people about homelessness in Reno is also appealing. Both of these avenues are worthy of hard work; the kind of work a person does as their career path. So I guess I see these opportunities and see that I'm not delving in 100% and that does produce feelings of sandbagging. One way to relieve said feelings: ditch the whole shabang all together. Hence, the original question: how much does a runner push out of their life? More appropriate response (which I think will take adjustment): I've chosen to be a B.A. runner right now and I need to recognize using gifts/abilities of any kind (when done correctly) praises God. In the mean time I can be okay with dipping a finger into other areas. While other praiseworthy opportunities exist it does not mean they are the correct choice. In another word: focus. God is giving me choices in life! A lot of sweet choices! I get to pick! How 'bout them apples! I'm choosing running and my dreams to mix it up at the Olympic Trials in two and a half years. In the mean time I can dabble and BE OKAY with just dabbling in other areas.

Guest lecture finished. Thanks for reading.

Props to a few WSU runners: Jono, Chelsea, and Dan. Jono and Dan both ran the mile at this past weekend's WSU Indoor Invite with the first hitting 4:14 and the second 4:19. Chelsea ran the 3K, and while not so happy with her time she did finish the week with 93 miles. Dang girl! Please let me know if you have any results/accomplishments (even unrelated to running) you want broadcasted here!

Patience and miles.
-tim