Week 1, Day 5, June 11

Today I was tired again. I have to graduate tonight, I worked already today. It was a long day. But I went to the chip and ran with James anyways. We did about 5 miles in the trails. It was a nice and relaxing run. We ran for about 35 or 36 minutes. Then I went home to do pushups and situps. I did 50 pushups and 10 minutes of situps.

Week 1, Day 4, June 10

We had a two hour delay today so I ran a little bit after school ended. I ran around the neighborhood and then up to Nate's house and back home. I didn't feel so great because I didn't sleep much last night. I had a huge project due for AP Government so I didn't get to sleep until late. I did the entire run in 49 minutes and it was about a 6.5 mile run. When I got home I stretched, ate, and did some workouts. I jumproped 150 times and then did a minute of the chair sit exercise. Then I did 100 pushups and 10 minutes of abs.

Week 1, Day 3, June 9

Today I just ran a little bit. It was raining a lot and I only did a couple miles. I did like 4 just around my house and it took 28 minutes. I didn't do any pushups or situps. I really wanted to but I had to leave quickly to go into church. I'll probably make sure I do a lot tomorrow.

Week 1, Day 2, June 8

Today I ran 6.5 miles at Blue Marsh with Clint. When I started, my legs felt pretty tight from yesterday. Once I got into it though, everything seemed fine. I had a headache a little bit through the run, but my legs and lungs felt great. The run took us 44 minutes. This put our pace at slighlty under 6 minute miles. After our run, I stretched and got my 100 grams of carbohydrates right away. At home, I did 100 jumps of the jumprope to build up calf muscles, and I did the chair sit against the wall for a minute to build up my thighs. Then I did a little bit more stretching and some pushups and situps. I did 100 pushups and 10 minutes of abs. Tonight, I did the leg against the wall thing again to drain the lactic acid out of my legs. I'm thinking I will do this every night before bed. Today was another good running day but I'm sure I will be sore tomorrow morning.

Week 1, Day 1, June 7

Today was a great start to my training. Nate Jones and I ran the Sportsman run. Sportsman is about 8 miles. The first half is uphill and the rest is either level or downhill. I felt pretty good. Nate and I went at about a 7:30 minute mile pace. That is a pretty quick pace for our first day back but it felt pretty good overall. When we got back to the school I stretched my legs out and got my 100 grams of carbohydrates right away. When I got home from practice, I stretched a little bit more, rolled out my legs on my new roller, and then did pushups and situps. I did 50 pushups and 10 minutes of situps. I wanted to do more but I had to get ready for a senior sports banquet. After the banquet, I sat with my legs against the wall so I could drain all of the lactic acid out of them. I might do this every night before bed. I think it would be helpful. I also talked to David and he is going to let me come over to his house once a week over the summer to go in the hot tub. Overall, it was a great first day and I'm excited to lace up the shoes again tomorrow!

Tomorrow

It starts tomorrow! Here I come college training!

RunningRuah

So my two week break is almost over and I'm getting geared up to start running again. One of my goals over my two week break was to establish why I run. I have decided that God should be the focus of my running and i want him to be. I was reading 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 in the message version of the bible. It says, "You've all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs, one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You're after one that's gold eternally. I don't know about you, but I'm running hard for the finish line. I'm giving it everything I've got. No sloppy living for me! I'm staying alert and in top condition. I'm not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself." God is calling me to train for him and race for a gold medal that will never tarnish or fade. I need to take that seriously and honor him with what I do. The best way I know how I could honor God is with my running so that is precisely what I'm going to try to do. I'm going to train for cross country at Liberty not for a gold medal in running, but for a gold medal God gives me for eternity. If I give my best into my running and do it to honor God, he will give me his gold medal, which will totally outweigh any gold medal I get for running.
To keep myself motivated, I've come up with my own little running method, theme, or whatever you want to call it. I've created something I'm going to call "RunningRuah." In the Hebrew language, the word ruah is the word for spirt and the word for breathe. Running Ruah is a way to keep me motivated and remind me of 3 things; Run, Spirit and breathe. I'm going to run, I'm going to let the spirit fill me, and I'm going to breathe out the spirit as I run. Every breathe I take is important and while I am a runner, I should be using the situation I am in to minister to others and show God's love. So simply put, I'm going to Breathe the Spirit out of me as I run so others can see God's works.
I'm ready to go and start training. Hopefully my plans will work and I can honor God with my running this summer. All I know is that I am excited with what's to come and I can't wait to see what God throws my way.