103 Days, Toddler Injuries and Dr. Sheehan

We'll, we're deep into 2017 and I'm quite behind on my goal of one post per week. Life happens and I'll chalk up the lack of posts to focusing on my family and coaching, both of which are completely true and part of my three-prong focus for the year.

The other included running every day for a year. That dream is currently alive and well. After today's brief shakeout and strides I'm at 103 consecutive days of running at least 2 miles or 15 minutes. I'd say 2-3 runs per week are 15 minutes to 3 miles at just faster than 8 minute pace. The other 4-5 days are 4-8 miles at what ever feels comfortable with no goal pace. After the run I allow the garmin data to tell me if I should do a short day or get another normal day in before a recovery is needed. 

I'm also doing a lunge matrix before each run and a hip strength and mobility series after each run. They are the recommended items from Coach Jay Johnson if you want to look them up online. My legs feel pretty normal and I ran the 2017 TCM Hot Dash 10 miler 2 minutes faster than a year ago on a much more challenging course. Overall I feel good and my runs are now habit which was my man goal all along. 20-25 miles per week obviously isn't a ton of volume. But if I get up to 25-30 a week over the summer I'll easily surpass my highest mileage total in at least 10 years.

In my reading I've been enjoying some classic early 80's Dr. Sheehan and I'll try to get some prime snipets put together for another post in early May.  There has also been some time looking back at Joe Vigil's classic text "Run to the Top" as I've enjoyed seeing the success of his protégé, and one of my favorite pros, Brenda Martinez. 

I'll wrap up this post with something from the parenting realm. I'm not an expert and my wife and I are learning day by day how to raise a very active 19 month old toddler. But in case you were wondering, it's not a great idea allow the boy to hop off a moving swing. After a wonderful few precious hours of family time on Sunday, our guy hopped off a slow moving swing and the landing created a fracture in his lower tibia. We spent the afternoon at an urgent care and then Wednesday at an ortho getting his first hard cast. It was pretty lame but we all love each other a good bit more and that was also one focus point for my 2017. Maybe we'll come up with something a little less traumatic next time.

Embracing Life on Good and Bad Days

Tomorrow is not a guarantee. Do not put off until tomorrow what you can do today.

Words never more applicable to my life the last few weeks. A bit more than a month ago I had a seizure. All that I remember was sitting in my office at work at my desk constructing an email to a recruit and talking across the hall to my supervisor. The next memory is waking up in the hospital with my wife looking down upon my body laying in an emergency room.

Things checked out at the hospital and I was cleared to leave and resume regular activities with the exception of driving a car, which will have to wait for three more months. Since then an EEG and an MRI have been conducted and there is a pending appointment with a seizure clinic. Things would appear okay.

But are they? How do you really know if things are every truly okay? The truth is there are very few guarantees in our lifetime. After this experience I have been forced to evaluate my lifestyle. The way I spend my time. Who I spend my time with and what we do with those encounters. I sat at my home office last week after a week of much needed vacation. I looked upon pictures of my wife and I, a curio cabinet holding my marathon medals and a laminated 11x16 photo collage from the North Central University cross country season of 2006 and finally some Bibles and books from Christian authors that I am currently reading.

In one sideways sweep of my head, I encountered the visual representation of the things that are truly important in my life.

My wife. The time we have together is so special, she is my world, my treasure.

Running, my outlet, my artistic expression, often neglected because of "life".

The team I coach, the people in that picture who were a part of a dual NCCAA National Championship season, represent my passion at its purest, most meaningful form.

My Faith. The blood and the water that give my life purpose; that allow me to be a husband to my wife, that give my endless miles a meaning beside just the monotonous shaping of my physical man. Coaching, the thing I've been given to do with my life, matters more than just finding new ways to be good at sport.

Does my day to day life allow complete commitment to those areas? Do I give myself space to recover from the grind of day to day life so that I can embrace both the great and the bad elements of living? The truth is I need to embrace each today for what it holds and commit to living in those moments completely.

For better or worse it took an unfortunate event to help me realize how fortunate I am to live a full life each day. I hope to do that more thoughtfully in the future. And I encourage you to do so too.