Summer Goals

I have so much on my mind this morning,.so I though I'd take a minute and write a few things out.

The summer heat is coming and its coming fast. Soon, even at 4:30AM it will be 90degrees. As I sit here at 8AM in 80 degrees, I panic a bit. I just finished an 8 mile run and it was quite warm. But it's only going to get hotter, much hotter. As I sit and reflect on my goal, BQ in St George, I think about what comes with this. Determination, dedication, discipline. Those three words are something I learned in college while playing volleyball. I played volleyball for years and even though those three words were taught to me in my last year of competitive play, I was coached and taught to live by those my whole career. I'm a fighter. I am competitive. I do not give up. I attempted to qualify for Boston in my first marathon. That marathon still is a fresh open wound in my mind. The things that happened leading up to that race was not right. There were things that happened that I hope no one has to go through. But, I know with this pain and fear I'm holding on to, its a set back for me. I panic at every marathon because of the things that happened at my first. The other day I heard, "you can't run another marathon until you forget your last." Well, I've run 7 more, never forgetting my first. It's time to forget.

I have a few goals for this summer.

1. Don't let the heat mess with me mentally. Summer training is hard, but I want to do my best and give it my all. Last summer I gave up a lot on runs because it was too hot. I may not be able to hit marathon pace because of the heat, but giving up is not an option.

2. Be positive. About everything. I've realized that being negative in things outside of running affect my running. "Come what may and love it" is something I want to apply to my daily life.

3. Enjoy the process. In my thousands of miles I've ran, I have learned that things aren't always perfect. So, instead of stressing over not hitting a certain pace or feeling really crummy on a run, I want to still be happy and enjoy running. Running saved my life. It shouldn't stress me out, even if I have hard trainings. I want to enjoy every run.

4. Family comes first. I have learned that it is better for me to run in the morning so that it doesn't take me away from my family. They need me. This means pushing the kids in the double stroller. It sucks. Its hard. It's slows my pace way down, BUT my girls love to come running with me and its just better to get it done first thing. I did this for my first marathon training, I can do it again...even if I'm pushing 20-25lbs extra. It's good training.

5. Weight training and flexibility are key for me this training. I've already seen huge progress just with in the last 3 weeks. Its good training!

First week of training in the books. I'll finish out the week with 24 miles. 10 of which were pushing 80lbs of kid weight in the double stroller. Plus also did bootcamp class and some weight training at home. Feeling pretty good. Definitely tired, but it's all apart of rebuilding!