Almost February

It's been a while since I last updated this. Things are going well with training, each week from here on out my total weekly mileage is increasing more and more. The long runs truly do start to become, "long runs."

This past Saturday my training schedule called for a 5 mile run. I decided to bite the bullet and see what it would be like to run with a group of people fighting for the same cause. As I left the house at 7:30am Saturday morning I wasn't sure if I would be 1 of 10 people, or 1 of 100 who were participating in the weekly Mentor Program for the Riverbank Run put on by the Grand Rapids Running Club. When I pulled into the parking lot before the sun was up, I was surprised to see I could hardly find any open spaces! As I got out, a group began to form in the parking lot with a lot of friendly fellow runners. We received some instructions on the routes that were offered that day, along with where the aid station would be on how to navigate the cones setup earlier that morning.

As we started out it felt almost like being in a small race, except nobody was terribly concerned with pace. I'm pretty sure I saw people running from about a 7 minute mile, to a 13 minute mile. I personally was around 9-9:30. It was a great feeling knowing that there was support and motivation around at all times. I talked to a few people along the way, which helped break the run up. The entire run went by fairly quickly, and was more effortless than I had imagined it would be. It was a great having structure build into my weekly long run, and made the week worth of training runs well worth it. I can't wait to continue running with this new found support group.

Last Friday as I was coming around the corner towards home on a short 2 mile run, it felt like fire had taken over the toes on my left foot. With it being so sudden, I thought for sure it was a nerve issue with all of my back and neck related problems. I made it back to the house, took off my shoe and noticed that one toe in particular was sore to the touch. I pulled my sock off to find a huge blister had burst and peeled back a large amount of skin. Luckily I was able to bandage it up and it didn't give me too much trouble on the Saturday run. After the run Saturday though, I went with Emily and Lennon to Gazelle Sports and grabbed that new pair of shoes I've been putting off getting.

I started reading "Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen" about a week ago. It is an amazing book for runners and non-runners alike. I'm about a third of the way through it, and it is really encouraging to see what some people can accomplish with the human body. It makes my goal of finishing the 25k look like a half-day workout for some of the people in that book. That's not discouraging for me, it actually makes me feel good to know that people love to run, just to run.

Until next time,

Keith