Friday...

You know that feeling you get (I sound like that guy on the Whataburger commercials) on Friday when you're extremely tired from the week and all you can think about is relaxing on the weekend? Imagine adding physical exhaustion to your mental exhaustion and THAT'S how I feel each Friday!

Each of us get beat down from "life." Mostly it comes in the form of work. We work 8+ hours a day, deal with the stresses of projects/deadlines/mean & dumb people, try to maintain our households, and ultimately retire at the end of the day just to do it all over the next day.

Being single, I know how to manage this stuff as an army of one. I couldn't imagine what those that have to manage all of that PLUS a family must go through. Sheesh! My hat is off to you on that one...

Well, now that I've upped the training, I'm now just beat down freakin' tired at the end of the week. My long runs are getting longer, and the midweek runs are a struggle... but I'm pressing on for one simple reason: I'm encouraged!

You see, even though this is a strain - physically, mentally, etc. - I'm encouraged because of friends like you who read the stupid ramblings of a fat guy running! I'm encouraged by the Sunday runs with Chandra and Becky who make me get out of bed at dark-thirty to complete our LONG runs around White Rock Lake! And I'm encouraged by the results I'm seeing - pants are getting looser, my weight is dropping, and I've finally got "normal" numbers when I go to the Dr.'s office.

Ok, so here's where I stand right now: Sunday I ran 11 with Becky and Chandra around the lake. Yes, the sweaty man came out again. At one point at mile 6 Chandra thought, "what keeps flicking on me?" Well, she looked over and saw that I was soaked from head to toe... so it was me! Nice, huh?

This week I've run 7 miles on Tuesday and Thursday. Saturday morning I'll mountain bike (cross training) with Kevin and Rob. Then on Sunday I'll hit the lake again for 12 miles. If you don't know this, we're increasing our long runs each Sunday by 1 mile. We'll do that until September 23, when we'll run our last long run (21 miles) before we run Chicago on October 7.

So thanks for the encouragement! In fact, encourage others whenever you hear of someone shooting for a goal! You have no idea how much it means to them when they're constantly training for a difficult objective... and how it will make a Friday to them THAT much more satisfying... and relaxing!