The Laufen Mountain's Journey

So last week turned out to be a bit of a rest week for me.  I ran 10k on Monday, and it was a struggle.  I tried writing about it a couple of time, but the Blogger app is really good at not saving.  So that was a struggle too.  All in all, I felt drained last week.  I was letting some professional anxiety get the better of me, and it wasn’t fun.  I have been going at this full bore as well, and the reading I’ve been doing talks about rest weeks, with less miles.  I’m calling it, last week was a rest week. What a week it was though!  My wife and I celebrated 13 years of marriage, and are more excited about the future now more than ever.  We’re both eating better, exercising more, and just have a more positive outlook on life.  While I was resting up, we were setting goals for ourselves.  We registered for our first 5k that we’re doing together, and it has the coolest medal ever!  As part of my anniversary present Tiffany had me register for the Sea Wheeze Virtual Half Marathon.  In

Thursday I had an amazing run! With my 5k race complete, it was now time to focus on Detroit. Which is 106 days away! I wanted to get in a 10k run.  I needed to start focusing on long runs, get my legs and cardiovascular system used to going for hours.  I really had to push to finish my 5k.  So I was a little worried about how long it would take to be Detroit ready. I set out on my run to see if I could make the full 10k.  I didn't want to run fast, I wanted to run long.  So I found a comfortable pace (between 6 & 6:30 minutes per kilometer) and tried to stick to that.  I still had to talk myself through the kilometers though.  Get to three John and then you can walk.  Ok, there's three.  Now get to five, then seven, alright final push to ten! While I was running I was thinking about my goals.  Running goals, personal goals, professional goals.  Nothing was off the table.  My route around town was about 10k,  and I couldn't wait to be able to run two of those laps! 

I did it! First real 5k race is in the books!  It feels amazing to have set a goal, when I was first getting started, and achieving that goal.  It feels even more amazing and exciting that the journey is FAR from over.  I wanted to run 5k in half an hour, and I was going into this race comfortably doing under half an hour.  Yet, I was still nervous.  It was similar to the feeling I get prior to an exam.  You've done all the prep, now let's see what you can do when it counts ! My nerves were getting the better of me, what if I couldn't?  A couple of days ago I REALLY struggled. I'm lucky enough to have learned many life lessons over the years, and I'm smart enough (occasionally) to string it all together.  This was one of those times.  Sunday was a day devoted to the family and just going with the flow.  I went into race day the way I like to go into exams, relaxed.  Two days before I was stressing over things I couldn't control.  A little bit of time, and re