Fall Marathon Season.
Summing up my training journey and learning about consistency and preparation has been an experience like none other. There is a deep satisfaction in knowing that you have completed a long, enduring journey to the best of your ability under quality instruction, thanks to Marathon Training Academy. Having that feeling heading into Chicago certainly lightened the load of running my first marathon in almost a year. Even having run three marathons previously, each time feels like the first time all over again. I was eager to go out and take it on!
Summer Running.
The Summer Olympic Games boosted motivation and inspiration during an intense stretch of marathon training. Besides the games, there was a lot of good content to help put things into perspective. With a four-year break, many changes between events, and for me, this was the first event that I ever really paid much attention to while competing in a sport myself. Olympic athletes make it look simple on performance day. It was a good reminder of a parable from the Bible that reads ‘What you see is temporary, it is what you cannot see that is eternal’. The lights, the metals, the cameras, they all come and go relatively quickly when you put into perspective the four years or more of training the athletes put in.
Fun Run!
I want to give a special thank you to my wife for planting the thought of writing this entry. While taking a photo of the kids and I at the finish line at Manahawkin Lake for the Stafford Race for Hope sprint triathlon, she yelled out that I was going to put it in my jlog. Although I had no intention of doing it because it was just a fun run for me, she put it out in the universe. And the picture came out beautifully! I had to take accountability and proceeded to reflect over the month of June on that day and about the heat of marathon training that is now getting into high gear!
The Brooklyn Way!
It has been a springtime of decision-making. It has also been the healthiest and the most physically active yet for our family. My wife is on a roll in her orange theory classes, scoring on the leaderboard consistently, as she and I run in and out of the house for my runs and her classes like a relay race! Our two sons are up now riding their bikes on two wheels and scored their first trophy from the Memorial Day 5K event!
Rookie Of The Year.
The seed began to sprout in the winter of 2022. On a family vacation to Aruba with my wife and kids, I was up at the crack of dawn every morning clocking my 3-4 mile jogs, while not having a clue what endurance training was going to be like nor what the running term; ‘pace’ meant. We had a few vivid memories from that family trip in February of 2022.
On To The Majors.
2023 was a productive year all around. I developed and sold a plan for the first half of the year and in the second half I entered into a full-time management role to implement that plan. It was overwhelming in more ways than one. Running was at the root of my days and my weeks and it always helped put me back on course when I was feeling overwhelmed. I also began to journal and pay more attention to self-growth practices from others with experience. I began to simplify, to learn to say no, and to focus the scope on impact activities.
Running For Growth.
Developing sustainable growth practices is a skill that takes time and effort. Forming good habits that stick and contribute to the best version of ourselves regardless of what environment, weather, or season we are in is a long game. Thinking back to a night at home when my mom was over, we sat to watch the documentary of Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was a good story of grit and determination, a relentless pursuit of reinventing and reimagining different versions of success with failures to learn from along the way. One part of the story that had staying power in me was his recollection of the story of Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb Mount Everest. When he was up on the top, they asked him, ‘What was it like being on top, and finally reaching this peak’. He said, ‘I looked around and saw another peak, and immediately started making a plan on how to climb that peak’.
Conquering Rome.
The day after Thanksgiving 2022, the week after the Philadelphia marathon, I was out running and watered the seed thinking ahead for the 2023 NYC marathon. Now with a guaranteed entry spot, it inspired me even more to get there and to do better.
2024 And Beyond.
When I first started running, the purpose was not very clear. It might have been that my mind wasn’t very clear and naturally with the experience that I had with going on runs, I gravitated towards an activity like endurance running as an outlet for the things that were on my mind. I was also going through major changes, I was new to parenthood, new to home ownership, new to marriage, and a life of many responsibilities from not so many prior. The more I ran, the more the purpose became clear. It was to face change, head-on, something that I always had a fear of doing and would avoid in the past.