Ruminations

This is the worst shape I've been in for several years. I fell off the exercise wagon, but not all the way, the past few months. I could go back and look to make sure, but I've been averaging about two runs a week for the past month, I'm sure. And my other exercise has been about the same or worse. I have several excuses, such as that until recently I'm not training for a specific race, it's been too hot, I've been on vacation, etc. The truth is I've been lazy, and my diet has not been good either. The "fun" is over, though, and it's time to get serious.

Earlier this year I was in the frame of mind to train to qualify for Boston, but at the moment that's fallen by the wayside. Right now I'm more of the mindset to try the Galloway run/walk method and see where that takes me. My original thought was that to get faster I need to train faster, but so many of those plans are very high mileage and I just don't have the desire to do that. That's why I'm leaning toward the run/walk for the Memphis Marathon. This weekend I bought Galloway's book about running and need to spend some studying it to make sure it's the right thing to do.

Today the temperature was 90 degrees when I left the house at 5 p.m., a tad bit cooler than the past month. When I arrived home 6 miles later, it was still 90 degrees. In fact, the heat index was three degrees higher after the run. I took my water bottle and went very slow, over 10:30/mile. It was torture at times to go so slow, but it definitely enabled me to complete the whole run. At about 4.4 miles I walked for four minutes up a hill and in the shade. Hey, I'm just trying to be smart about it. I don't know if we'll see 100 degree temperatures again this year or not, but I'm done using it as an excuse. It's time to get serious on the road to Memphis.