Happy MONDAY! TGIM! QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Never underestimate the heart of a champion.” ~ Rudy Tomjanovich. THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Never under estimate the power that one individual can have! My friend and running buddy Eric Calder trained for a full marathon in 2020 but his April goal race got cancelled. So he said he still wanted to run. He organized and led the effort for a local neighborhood run named “The Done with 2020 run”. It was a 6.5 mile loop around the Balcones Woods neighborhood in Northwest Austin. You ran the loop twice for a half marathon and four times for a full marathon.
I ran the half marathon (13.1) mile version of this. And about 20 other people ran this as well. There were 3 full marathon runners.
It was a very chill and well done event. But so much fun! My wife Christy and our kids (Anna and Emily) came out as well as my mom to see me. It felt just like an easy going run through the neighborhood. The temperature was great. It was about 40 degrees at the start.
It was so cool! The route was agreed on before hand from a Strava map and we all ran that. The turns were nicely labelled with short arrows in the ground. (a nice touch for sure!)
The first three miles I was running mostly by myself until I missed a turn ha! I circled back and found a fun group of about 8 people all running a good 10 minute mile pace. I knew a couple of them and talked to them for a while and met some new people! Then I sped up and eventually caught B Mo and C Mo.
I came to find out that C Mo has just started running during the pandemic to deal with it all. And eventually found some people who were going to run this run and got a 7 week half marathon plan. She finished with flying colors at about the same time I did.
At the half way point (6.5 miles) I saw my beautiful, loving and supportive family. That was a great treat to have them there and I looked forward to seeing them. Thanks for coming out to see me and support my run! I took some pictures and talked to them for a minute and then headed back for my 2nd loop. They brought out race signs and everything!
B Mo went by his house and picked up his girls (4th grade and 1st grade) and they rode their bikes with him the rest of the run. I eventually caught back up to C Mo and B Mo at about mile 11 or so and ran the last 2 miles together!
It was a great event that had two water/food stations. How cool is that ? I grabbed a banana and some water at them.
Turns out Eric Calder absolutely killed the marathon 26.2 miles in under 4 hours (3:52:23 on Strava)!! That is a truly incredible super great effort for his first marathon attempt. His running partner Jason Buhro had a marathon PR as well.
I hit my goal time by running 10:00 minute miles!!
That just goes to show you how cool of a running group this truly is.
So never give up on your goals and keep on running
Happy Monday! From Coach Matt
AFFIRMATIONS OF THE DAY:
1) When I plan my goals and reach them I can celebrate them.
2) A goal is a dream with a deadline.
3) I have amazing potential with in me.