Sunday March 11, 2012
A dear friend of mine completed a half marathon in Honolulu, Hawaii. This wasn’t his first one; in fact he has been running now for several years. Prior to the race he posted his completion goal to Facebook. He informed us that he was hoping to finish in 1:40 or less. He actual finished in 1:41 and some change. His average pace was 7:34, that’s how long it took him to run a mile. I am so impressed with his running and his competiveness. This friend of mine has been my mentor in business, as he was once my boss. Now he is one of my inspirations in running. I have watched him over the years get better and better, faster and faster. Every time I get tired or think that it’s getting too hard, he’ll post something about one of his running achievements and BOOM I am inspired again.

Last night, while running on the treadmill, I thought about his race day pace and wanted to see just how fast that was and how long I could hold it. Right now I have been running most nights at a pace of 10-12 minute miles and a tempo pace of 9-9.30 minute miles. So at the end of my run with only a quarter mile left I decided to go for it. I pumped up the pace to 7.13 and booked it. OMG, that was intense. With less than a 10th of a mile left, I grabbed for the handles to check my heart rate only to see a flashing warning go across the screen telling me that it is not recommend continuing at this pace and then a HR of 160bpm. I didn’t think that was that bad considering I have pushed my hr upwards of 180bpm. Regardless that was one hell of a run. I have a lot of work to do if I am going to be able to keep a pace like that.

And now the motivational chant that I will repeat to myself over and over again… Just Keep Training. Just Keep Training. Just keep Training.