My name is Joshua
Pauley. And I can take another step.
What a week… early
mornings and late nights. You’ve got to love that. This week was a bit of down
week for me in terms of mileage. I got to Thursday and was feeling a bit run
down so I backed off on Thursday and Friday and ended the week at 108. I really don’t want to over extend myself in
this three week span when there is so much time left before race day.
Tuesday- Hill circuits.
These went better than the last time I ran them. I was pretty happy with the
effort and the progression throughout the workout. It was so cold on Monday and
it carried over to Tuesday as well. But I toughed it out and lived to fight
another day.
Saturday came around
and I had 30 miles: 10 miles progressive + 5 miles tempo + 5 easy + 2 hard + 8
easy. The first ten miles I started out
pretty quick (quick for me. I’m usually a slow starter) progressing down to
6:35 ppm. The tempo came and I just put my head down and ran. It went well. I
averaged 5:36 for five miles – nothing to crazy. Then the recovery period came.
And I ran into some Aztecas.
Aztecas are a running
group here in Dallas that started back in the 80s when the creator of the club brought
these guys up from Mexico. They used to be really good. But now they just casually
come out to White Rock and do a loop or so. Well on Saturday I found one that
brought out the competitive side of me. We had an impromptu race. It was
interesting and not too smart on my end of things. It was an epic battle of wit
and guts. Eventually I dropped him, just in time for me to stop by my car to
grab some fuel. Him and his Azteca buddies ran on out of site. I continued to
run at a natural pace until it was time to run the two mile blow out. It was
not easy; let me put it that way. I ran 10:42 for two miles (passing the
Aztecas in the process). I continued on my way feeling good. This lasted until
I got to the marathon mark and my legs finally began to feel fatigued. I
stopped for a brief second wondering what was wrong. And here is where I had a
thought.
Nothing is wrong. I
looked at my watch to see how I was doing and I was running much quicker than
the previous week. I was killing this run. Pain is natural. Everyone who is
working hard is hurting in some way. It just means I’m alive. I embraced the
pain this day. So I took one more step forward. And then another one after
that. And I ran out the remaining four miles will smile to cover up the agony
that was beginning to take its toll on my body. And that’s what I’ll do from
now on. One step forward. One step forward. One step forward…
I also got my first
blister of the season on Saturday. That was cool. Mary loves me enough that she
popped it for me. I don’t know how I convinced her to do that.
Sunday I ran my second
long run of the week to give me thirty on the weekend. It was a gorgeous day
with temperatures in the 70s – for the first time in a while I did not need to
wear an over shirt. I put on my Scott Jurek hydration vest and started my run.
The vest was abnormally big though; bouncing up and down all over the place. I
had never noticed this because the only times I had ran with the vest I wore a
jacket as well. The vest is a M/L and I
assumed this was the size I needed compared to the S/M they sale. I have not
been a small anything in a long time. I trotted back to my car to see what I
could do with the vest as it was already cinched all the way it would go. As I
examined it closer I noticed there were loops all the way down both sides of
it. I was lucky to have an extra shoe with me to steal from. I took the shoe
lace out and wove it through the loops.
It was a slight modification to the vest but it made it a lot tighter
and an enjoyable tool to run with. I was proud of this – it made me feel like MacGyver.
And the vest works better now.
When you get rocked you
either step up or you go cry in a corner. It is that fight or flight instinct.
What will I do? I found out on Saturday I’m going to keep moving forward. And
if I can do this, then I cannot fail.
I am generally happy
with the week of work that I put in. And
I have so much to be thankful for. I have truly been blessed. Thanks for
sticking with me this far. I race for
the first time in less than a month – it should be a good time. Just keep
moving forward.
~JP
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