Oh, The Places We'll Go

These four feet have been around the block a few times. Erica and I headed to Indy this weekend for my 5th mini-marathon... it would be Erica's 3rd.

2007 left me defeated and embarrassed. I wasn't going to let that happen this year and I took it more seriously than I had ever done before. Luckily, the hard work paid off for both of us. I really never had experience actually "training". Neither had Erica. We would just go out and run without much of a plan. It was around February that she hopped on runnersworld.com. They provide anybody and everybody with free training plans based on your present performance, desired distance, the amount of time you have to train and how hard it is you want to train. It's a pretty amazing little tool. So with a 12 week schedule in hand, I set out on the road to redemption. I would honestly say that without this schedule, I wouldn't have hit my goal. It was the combination of speedwork, tempo and long runs that made the difference. I could feel it in the last 5K on Saturday. And as much as Erica would tell me over and over again how ready she wasn't, she blew away her previous best by more than five minutes and came in under two hours with a 1:58:09. I was more excited for her than I was for myself. I bested 2007's time by nearly 20 minutes with a 1:36:36. I remember as a kid in the driveway shooting baskets that I'd never miss a shot from the same spot twice in a row. I'm glad that I still have the same fight in me.

On a sad note, my friend Nick wasn't able to run this year because of back spasms. It was literally a last second decision not to run and I know it tore him up, but it's more important for him to be healthy for some other races we have going on this summer... as well as later in life. So I didn't have my running partner and no one really felt like talking out there, so that really sucked, but I know he'll be a force in 2009. He was missed.

And I didn't take any pictures for one reason or another. The party at Nick's afterwards was a good time despite the 30 degree temperature drop and then we met up with my parents, my grandma, sister and my Uncle John in Dayton for lunch on Sunday afternoon. It was a great weekend and I'm already looking forward to next year.