What Motivates You?

One of the best things about the sport of running is that you can either be a participant or a spectator at a race.  I have done both and have a good time doing either one of them.  Of course, I love getting out there and running with all the others but there is something about standing on the side of the course and cheering for your friends and perfect strangers.  This past weekend I had the opportunity to be a spectator at the Mango Madness 5K here in town.  It is ran on the XC course.  I decided this year to not to run it because, well, trail running just isn't for me.

Now that summer is upon us, I decided to search the Internet for some tips on running in the summer.  My first summer of running was way back in 2011 and while I was still blogging I wrote this post on running in the heat.  Here are a few others that I found:

1. 20 Tips to Stay Cool on a Summer Run
2. SeasonalSafety Tips for Runners (this covers all four seasons)
3. Articles from Runner's World on running in the heat

I know I have written several times about motivation but that is one of the things that we all need and we need it often.  I pretty much did the walk/run thing alone for over a year and a half.  I really shouldn't say "alone" because I did have people that encouraged me and gave me lots of help.  The alone part is that I was alone during all of my runs.  My first run with someone else was on Christmas Eve of 2011.  The next time I ran with someone was on June 2, 2012.  It wasn't because I didn't want someone to run with me it was that I did want to hold someone else back if they ran faster than I did and that someone else was "everybody else".  I was a fast runner and had to take lots of walk breaks just to get through the miles I wanted to cover.  Little did I know that there was a someone that was faster than I but was willing to slow down to a pace that I could handle and help me along and encourage me.  Even though I ran alone sometimes, I ran with the group out on 350 for many Saturdays.

A few months ago, I discovered another source of motivation on Facebook.  There is a group called Truckin' Runners.  We aren't all truckers but we all are in the trucking industry.  When I first joined the group, there were like 128 of us.  As of this writing we are up to 190.  Most of the time we post our runs in the group but sometimes a newbie might ask a question.  It is a really great motivator because we know that if we aren't out there "gettin it done" and somebody post that they walked 2 miles in 38 minutes the we need to get off our rears and do something for ourselves.  I know when I see other people post their runs that I feel a little guilty if I haven't ran in a few days.


What motivates you?

That's going to do me for this week.  Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you each have a great week and I'll see you here again next week.

Running the Greenway Passage

This last week has been a busy week but I managed to sneak in three runs for the week for a total of 20 miles.  My first run was on Wednesday morning in Evansville, IN.  I was near a park and got up early so I could walk the half mile down to the park and get a nice run in.  While I was making loops around the park, I was meeting a lady every so often.  The second time she gave me a thumbs up.  The third time I saw her she was coming from a different area than I was running so I decided to go the way she was coming from.  I saw an asphalt trail and was looking at the sign with the map and trying to figure out where I was on it.  An older gentleman came walking by and I asked him about the trail.  He told me it was 6-8 miles down to the river but I told him that was too far.  We chatted for a few minutes and I found out his name was Don.  I found out that the name of the trail was called The Greenway Passage.  I headed out and ran about two and a half mile out and then back.  It was so pretty.  I took the two pictures in this post on the passage.  I ended my run with a total of 7.75 miles.

My next run was the next morning.  I was home and went out and got in another 4.25 miles and called it quits.  Since I was going to a baseball game on Saturday, I decided to get up early and run on Hwy 350 with Jeff.  This was also the weekend of the Gum Tree 10K down in Tupelo but I didn't have time to run the race and make it to the ballgame too.  Jeff and I ended up running 8 miles and my legs were tired!  It was a good run though.

If you don't already know, I am auctioning off a 2013 Coke 10K race shirt.  It is size X Large.  I was donated to me by my good friend, Rob Williams.  I am auctioning off this shirt for St Jude.  You can click on the tab at the top of this page for details on how to place a bid.  Since I am "conducting" this auction myself, I won't have any fees to pay to Ebay and the entire amount will go towards my fundraising effort for St Jude.

That's something that I forgot to mention last week.  I am running the St Jude Half Marathon on December 7th and I am so excited!  I really don't know what to expect but I do know what others that have ran it have told me.  It's obviously a feeling that you have to experience.  Of course, I will tell you all about it afterwards.  If you would like to make a donation to St Jude and help me out please click here and you will be taken to my personal fundraising site.

That's going to do me for this week.  Thanks for stopping by and if you'd like to have that race shirt, be sure to get in your bid soon.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

The race shirt & medal

This past weekend has got to be one of the most exciting weekends, if not the most exciting, in the city of Corinth, Mississippi.  Streets are blocked off, you aren't allowed to park on certain streets after 5pm on Friday, and the finish line has been assembled and looks marvelous!  It was the weekend of the 32nd Coke 10K!  This was my third year to run this great race and we couldn't have asked for more perfect weather.



Friday night some of us gathered at Pizza Grocery and had a great dinner together.  It is always good to get together with other runners and their families and get to know each other.  As we were discussing the weather outside, we were kind of worried about how the weather was going to be at race time.  During dinner, it was raining and didn't seem like it was going to stop anytime soon and it had turned off cold too.  I finally got to bed that night after putting out my running clothes for the next day.  I didn't really know what to wear so I laid out short sleeve and a long sleeve shirts.

Michael kissing Shrek?

After waking about 5:30, I checked the weather and the rain had moved out and there was 0% chance of rain at race time.  Jeff and I had decided we were going to run a little before the race and get warmed up.  I'm glad we did because it was cold.  During our run, I wore a long sleeve shirt but had carried two other shirts with me to change into because I knew I'd be wet from running just a little.  After we finished 3 miles, we knew we were going to be needing a short sleeve shirt and not the long sleeve.

Before the race, I had two or three people come up to me and introduce themselves and told me that they had been following me either on here or on my Facebook page.  Of course I thanked them for reading and we stood around and chatted for a few.

Jeff and Me

I really didn't know how well I was going to do but after the horn sounded, we were all off!  So many people were passing me and I knew I had started too far in the front.  After the first two miles, I started to pass some of those that had passed me earlier.  At the 5K mark I knew I was on pace to get a PR and I didn't want to slow down.  I continued on and when I crossed the finish line had a time of 1:01:16!  That was 46 seconds faster than my previous PR!  I was proud!

Post race was great too!  I had heard that many folks had set new PRs and some runners I knew won trophies.  The weather was just right for running and much better than it was last year.  I won't go into much detail about last years race since I wasn't blogging at the time, but let's just say it was a little warm.

Later in the evening, the rain moved back in and it was still raining Sunday morning.  I used the rain Sunday morning as an excuse to not run and hoping I get a chance to run during this week.  I ended the week with almost 15 miles and finally made passed the 300 mile mark for the year. My goal this year is 1,000!

Thanks for stopping by this week and I hope you have great week!

The Run That Almost Didn't Happen

Wanted to tell a short little story about my run that almost didn't happen yesterday.  I had to deliver on Wednesday in Jackson, MI, and then go back to Lebanon, IN, to load.  I was to spend the night in Lebanon and load on Thursday morning.  Since I didn't have my pick up information, I was going to get up early and go for a run at a nearby park.

Thursday morning came and my alarm went off.  I said to myself, "This bed feels so good and I'm going to lay here just a few more minutes."  That "few minutes" turned into more minutes and I was using every excuse to not get up and run.  I finally got up.  I ate some cereal and walked over to Burger King to get some coffee.  While I was gone, my dispatcher called.  I returned his call and was told my load had cancelled and he would look for me something else.  I asked if I had about 30 minutes and he said, "Sure."  I told him I was going to go for a run but I would have my phone with me.

I ran on down to the park, which was about a half mile away, and ran four loops and made my way back to the truck.  After an hour I had 5.62 miles in and felt good.

Thanks for stopping by and next week I will have all the news about the Coke 10K.  I can't wait!!!