#38: Over one hurdle, many more to come

REDEMPTION TOUR STOP 1:


It's been another busy week, but another baby step in the right direction.  I started the week knowing it was going to be a trick to balance another jam-packed work week with another training step and, if I was going to take a recovery day before my first event of the "summer redemption series" (Teterboro 5K), I was going to have to get things done early in the week.......so after my 65-ish mile bike tour from Hunterdon to Fort Dix last Sunday, I decided I'd make the run and swim workouts primary this week. Got a solid 45 min swim session in and a good tempo run in the soupy humidity that July seems to bring.....but unfortunately, it ended there.  Wed and Thurs turned into longer working days and Friday was the planned day off, so it was a definite "recovery week", whether planned or not.  This was a bit of a downer for me, so I definitely took some solace in a solid first show on my redemption tour by shaving almost a full minute off last year's 5K time and moving up 19 spots in the field.  This was about 12 seconds faster than my goal for the day and put me within striking distance of my 2011 goal for that distance.....cool.  What's even better is that team PSEG (who I ran for these last 2 years) came out on top this year as overall fastest team by somewhere between 30 seconds and 7 minutes depending on how you score it.  OK, so I might have had something to do with the recruiting this year.....but redemption is redemption.


This coming week is the next stop on the "redemption tour": The NJ State Triathlon in Mercer County Park.  I can't over-do the early week miles b/c I've agreed to support a fundraising effort for a couple members of the "Pro-Activity Family" who are making their push to raise $2000 for the Koman walk for the cure.  I've agreed to run a leg of the (potentially) 12 hour run our staff has signed on for.  So as long as I don't burn my legs too badly and with any luck (assuming I've learned enough to pace myself correctly on the bike and stay properly hydrated) I can have a strong run, which will be about the best barometer of success compared to last year.  With the likely cancellation of the Hunterdon 1/2 Ironman, the NJ State Triathlon will represent a shift from primarily triathlon training to primarily run training (with some swimming and biking as recovery) so I can finish the summer strong and be in the right position to attack some fall road (and other) races:

• Weekend of 7/30: I'm signed up to run a few legs of the "River to Sea relay" for a team called the Hunterdon Hill Hobblers.  They were down a man and called me up from the bullpen.  Hope I can live up to the expectations.
• Weekend of 8/5: 2nd Annual PACER Rediculous Relay (250+ mile relay from High Point to Cape May)
• Labor Day Weekend: Rock-n-Roll 1/2 Marathon (redemption tour stop #3)
• Skylands Sprint Triathlon (9/11)?
• O'er Hills & Far Away Race 10/8
• AC Marathon 10/16?
• Flemington Turkey Trot 11/24

And so, there is still much to be done.  This week was an important milestone, but I'm definitely not there yet.


IT'S NOT ALL HARD WORK


Even after a taxing, but ultimately fulfilling week, the week ended with a glimmer of (what I hope turns out to be) the future.  Today, we decided to throw out an invite for people to come in and watch the Women's World Cup finals at BaseCamp31.  The kids were pumped, painted their faces and we put some of the big screens up so people could get into the game.  Some of the PACER folks stopped in for the monthly social (happened to be on the same day) and we all shared the space and got into the game; and even though it didn't work out the way we had hoped (Japan takes it in shoot out) it was really cool to sit back and see people from different groups all come together and get into the game.  The kids seemed to enjoy themselves and b/t Lindsay behind the counter and some of the healthy treats the PACER folks brought to share, it was a good atmosphere.  With any luck we'll have more and more moments like this and more and more people will come in and be part of it.........recharging for sure.


AND MORE TO COME.....


And, although I still can't mention some of the cool stuff happening on the Pro-Activity side of the world b/c the details are still not fully ironed out, but this week we got even closer to another exciting development in the evolution of Pro-Activity.  Some fun conversations and some even more fun "what-if" mind gymnastics......bottom line is, it could be cool if a few more things fall into place.....stay tuned.


And so summer racing has started with promise.  Probably the weirdest thing for me is that there's definitely a mental shift.  I'm looking forward to training and wishing I had more time to commit.......strange.


MOST IMPORTANTLY, THANK YOU.


I'm sort of surprised, but I'm nearing the 2500 hit mark on this blog.  When I committed to it, my biggest goal was to get 1000 reads and to complete an Ironman; and although I'm a little surprised people are interested enough to stay tuned......it's been very cool for me and I thank you.  Seems strange perhaps, but in a way, I draw inspiration from it.  So thanks for reading and following along.


And for now.....that is all.


Mike E.