Long Time, No Posts ... Mea Culpa

Myself and some of my SID pals at the CoSIDA 5K

Man, it's been a while since my last post, and I apologize for that. Life has kept me so busy over the past four weeks I've yet to figure out whether I'm coming or going. It's possible I stayed put and the world spun around really fast.

No, that definitely didn't happen.

Here's a quick rundown of what's been happening in my life: completed a crazy month of running, ran a 5K on a beach, learned not to run on the beach before dawn, completed my course work to get my masters (doing the happy dance), went to a national conference for my work/profession (presented on a couple panels), tried to enjoy some of the Florida sunshine while there, assisted my bride in running Vacation Bible School at our church (truth be told, I didn't do a whole lot. Just did what I was told) and celebrated my son's 11th birthday.

And summertime is supposed to be easy on me.

I won't go into great detail about EVERYTHING that went on since my last post. Not sure I have the time to write about all that, and I pretty sure you don't have the time to read all about it. So, let's get to the highlights shall we.

In June, I attempted to run every day of the month. Had never ran more than five or six days in a row before, but I just wanted to see if I could do it.

I did not quite make it. I ran a total of 26 times on 25 days during June. I missed a couple days due to traveling and fatigue. I was pushing my body harder than I had ever pushed it before and rest was needed. Also, I had a couple of trips during the month, and running was not always an option for me.

For the month, I posted a personal best 110 miles, besting my previous high of 103 set just two months prior. Additionally, I ran for a total of 18 hours, 38 minutes and 59 seconds and burned nearly 18,000 calories.

I also set a personal best for fastest average pace for a run when I posted an average time of 8:15 on June 26 during the CoSIDA 5K, which to be honest, I really don't think it was a legit 5K distance but I'll go with what they told me.

During my month-long journey, I learned a lot. Here are some of the things I picked up along the way.

• Don't underestimate the power of stretching. It is amazing how much better your body, especially your legs, bounce back when you stretch them out post-run.
• Ice is your friend. In the year-plus I had been running, I had yet to have any issues with my knees and IT band. Running day after day fixed that. Discovered icing my knees down (as well as my hamstrings and quads from time to time) after runs, in particular my long runs, helped minimize the pain and helped me rebound quicker.
• Don't run on the beach in the dark. Learned this the hard way. I went running with a couple of buddies (Dave Parsons and Alan Grosbach) in Marco Island, Fla. Since we had a long day of meetings ahead of us beginning at 7 a.m., we went for a run a little after 5. We thought it'd be nice to run on the beach. Problem was we were on the gulf coast side of Florida and it was still dark. We got a quarter mile into the run when I found a hole. Can we say "face plant"? Fortunately, I wasn't hurt, just disappointed it wasn't caught on camera because I know it had to have been hilarious to see.
• Running on the beach is for the birds. Why people run on the beach is beyond me. If wanted to kill my legs, I'd do hill repeats with 10-pound ankle weights on.
• Watch your pace. If you're going to attempt running multiple days in a row, adjusting your pace is key. There is no need to try to set world-land speed records every time you run. It's not possible to continually improve your pace time day after day. If you keep pushing hard, injuries will soon find you.

Well, that's about all I got for now. Again, I'm sorry I've been so absent over the past few weeks. All that is going to change as I begin training for a half marathon this week and working toward Mission 2:15!