Link 4 Life 2009

I ran the 5K in The Link 4 Life this past Saturday. It was a great event, the best part was the last 1/2 mile was in the Sedgwick County Zoo. I entered into this race on 3 days rest and felt great. I finished in 22:33 in 48th place out of 395 people. I feel good with this time considering only about 2 months of Running this year. This time is atleast 2 minutes faster than my first 5K on March 14th. I feel like have alot of time left in me some hard training.

Training

Sorry I haven't posted in a week or so, I've been a little busy. Thankfully I started my new job last Tuesday. It was about time, the Lord has blessed me once again.

I started training last week for the 10K Bank of America River Run on May 9th. I will get more detailed about my training this week. Last week I ran 20 total miles with several minutes of Interval Training (running at my normal pace then picking up pace for 1:00 minute at a time), and substituted more pickup workouts for a 5K race.

I now have a goal in mind and in view (River Run) and Running has turned into Training. I must be disciplined and faithful to my Training or it won't get me anywhere. However in Training I must not forget why I'm Training, it's because I love Running, and Running loves me.

I think sometimes in The Relationship with our Heavenly Father that we forget why and what we are doing, and who we are doing it for. We can so easily get caught up in serving, ministry, teaching, preaching, praying, Bible study, and evangelism that we forget about just loving God. All of those things previously mentioned are important to our walk with the Lord. Even personal prayer and Bible study time are most often intimate time with God, but are we doing those things just to be alone with Him or because that's what Christians do, so we have to do them. In our efforts and striving to be more Christlike and transformed let us not forget about The Relationship we have with our Heavenly Father.

Easter Sun Run 2009

Above are my most of my friends who ran in the event as well. Left to right is Kevin, me, Shane, Jennifer, Janel, Jason, and Alan. Jennifer and Janel both set PR's in the 2 mile race. Nathan who is not pictured won the Male 25-29 age class with a 34:52 10K time.

The Easter Sun Run was only my second race, and I thought it was awesome. Well organized, live music, BBQ, and over 2000 people. There was 10K and 2 mile race, I ran in the 10K.

My goal for the race was to finish in 50 minutes which was just over an 8 minute/mile pace. The race had kilometer splits, which means they called your time out as you passed each kilometer. My kilometer splits needed to be 4:57/km. The crowd was huge and it took me over a mile to get out of the crowd, I was passing people constantly knowing that if I stayed in the crowd I would be behind on my splits right from the beginning. I was hitting my split times and actually a few seconds faster up until the 5K mark. Right after the 5K mark I gassed, I had nothing left. I will get into that more in depth later. I got to the 9K mark and for the first time ever I thought I was going to puke from Running (not even Coach Krafts' Vomit Comet from 8th grade football could get me that close). I didn't, so I picked up the pace and made a decent kick to the finish line for what I had left. I finished in 52:18, which was just over 2 minutes off of my goal. I'm not upset, however I do feel I'm a better runner than what I showed on this day.

Why did I gas so early? (these are not EXCUSES, but experience gained and mistakes not to be duplicated)
1.) I was not ready to race a 10K yet. This race was only the 3rd time I had ever run that distance.
2.) I was overdressed. I'm a hunter and always check the feels like temperature, since that factors in wind, and in hunting you are pretty still. I was wearing a fleece jacket, which was too warm for this race. I finally shed it about half-way through the race. I would've earlier but the rules state that my number should be visible from the front at all times. I had to stop and transfer my number from my jacket to shirt.
3.) 99.9% of my runs are in the late afternoon or early evening. By that time I have eaten a few times already and have taken in a nearly 2000 calories. All races are in the morning, this morning I had only eaten 2 slices of bread and a 210 calorie protein bar.

What will I do differently?
1.) I will be more familiar with a distance before I attempt a race of that distance.
2.) Go with my gut feeling on how to dress instead of my head.
3.) I will either get up earlier before a race so I can eat more food before hand, or start doing more training in the morning with fewer calories eaten before training.
4.) Oh, and yes I did say TRAINING. Up to this point I have only been Running, not training. Starting this week I will begin to incorporate speed work, tempo runs and strength training into my Running schedule.

The Mental Game Part 1

I'm certainly no expert on or at running, but I think I have a good foundation. One thing I do know about running is that your mind set and thoughts while running is very important. Some people think about several things while running like planning their day, problem solving, sometimes anger, positive thoughts, or their pace and running form.

I tend to flow pretty well in my thought processes while I'm running. I tend to think a little about what songs on my playlist mean to me, problem solving, pace, and form. I'm not one who thinks that positive thinking changes your whole life or stuff like that. However, I do think a positive attitude will help you RE-act to life differently. I also think that positive thoughts help me run better. I remember when I used to run without music my thoughts were much more important to my pace. My favorite running shirt at the time was a gray Champion brand t-shirt. Often when the run would get tough or I would start cramping I would tell myself "Brandon you're a Champion, you can do this." Guess what? I did do it.

I have tried to listen to a whole playlist of secular music while running and it just doesn't work for me. Why? I feel like it quenches my spirit. I need to think positively, so why not listen to positive Christian music. My playlist now consists of all Christian music except one song.

When I'm running I like to still think of myself as a Champion, Hero, or Warrior. Some of the songs on my playlist will help explain.........................Warrior Poet, Echelon, Fireproof, and Rise Up.

I could talk forever about The Mental Game with Running and also how it affects our walks as Christians. So I'll get back to it another time.

No Running Today

Since I got laid off in December I have been doing side jobs for extra cash. I have been doing some work around a friends house the last few days. Well, today I took some bushes and concrete to the local landfill. While I was out there I stepped on a nail in a piece of trim. I was just wearing tennis shoes so the nail went through my shoe and stabbed me in the big toe on my left foot. I'm not exactly sure how far it went into my toe, but my sock was covered in blood. I'm going in the morning to get a tetanis shot. Tomorrow I will run, no matter what.

6.2 is what I'll do

I have decided to run a 10K race this coming Saturday, April 11th. The Easter Sun Run at Sedgwick County Park. I have only ran 6 miles one time and that was yesterday. So, to gain a little more confidence for the race I plan on running 6 miles Monday and Tuesday, then just 3 or 4 on Thursday and rest Friday. My goal though not blazingly fast by any means will be 50 minutes, which is about 8 minute miles.

Uncomfortably Numb

I wonder after almost every post I make "How many thoughts can God give me that can translate from Running to our spiritual lives?" Well yesterday He gave me another. As long as He gives them I will blog about them.

Yesterday I went on my weekend long run with my buddy. We ran 6 miles (this was my first attempt to running that distance) with 30+ mph winds. Well, my friend wasn't up to running the pace I'm more accustomed to, so I slowed down a bit and ran with him. Not a huge deal since long runs are about endurance not speed. Well about 2 miles into our run my left foot was feeling pretty wierd and about 3 1/2 miles in I had to stop and loosen my shoes. From 4 1/2 - 5 miles my left foot was completely numb! Don't ask me how that works, but it was. We had to stop at a traffic light for a couple of minutes and I stretched my foot out and tried to regain circulation. It worked, and then the last mile of our run I ran a faster pace that was more typical of my weekly runs. My foot didn't go numb in the last mile, it felt normal again.

You ask, "How in the world is Brandon gonna translate this into a spiritual matter?"

Well, the Lord gave me the thought that if we don't run OUR race and OUR pace, and we run OUR lives slower and not the way we were inteded to, that we can lose FEELING in our life. What I'm trying to say is that if we don't live the life God has led us to or we are not fulfilling our role in the Body of Christ or in ministry that we can lose our passion for things that we were once passionate about.

Case and point, me. I used to be very passionate about evangelism. Whether it be handing our tracts through drive-thru windows, going downtown and witnessing to people on the street, or going to county jails weekly to evangelize. Over the last couple of years I have lost my passion for this, partly because of trials and storms of life and partly because of lack of discipline in intimate time with my Lord. This run has certainly caused me to think and re-evaluate these areas of my life. I would challenge you as well to ask yourself if you have lost passion or zeal for something in your life.


Saturday, April 4th

Distance: 6 miles