"Perfect" Football

Last night was spent with the family just kicking back and relaxing after two days of entertaining. My wife had wanted to watch “Mama Mia” and I really wasn’t that interested but my daughter did join my wife to watch the movie. I was on the couch doing other things while they watched the movie and my daughter became somewhat disinterested hearing all the singing. I had never seen the play but I heard good things about it being a great deal of fun. The movie seemed like fun but I don’t know if the casting made sense but who am I to disagree with casting quite possibly the best actress at least of my generation in the lead female role. I would say that I was surprised how many ABBA songs I recognized in the film and it does go to show me that anything is possible; who would have thought making a play now a movie based on the songs of ABBA would be this successful.

The easy evening ended and this morning I had been focusing on all week. This was supposed to be my longest run of the training session before the marathon. In my two most recent marathons (San Diego and Long Beach) I faded quite precipitously after mile twenty-two. I had to hold on to what little running form I had in those waning miles. Yes, I did better my finishing times from marathon to marathon but I still fell short of the three hour and twenty mile goal. In training for those marathons my longest run was 22 miles which makes sense why I faded in those miles.

I have wanted to run more than 22 miles and two weeks ago I had my mind set on running at least 24 miles but my right calf had acting up and I could only run 13 miles. I did continue on the bicycle for a 3 plus hour workout but I didn’t put in the necessary miles. This morning I noticed that my left calf was acting up so I really slowed down my pace for the first 12 miles. There were a few points where I wanted to stop but I just concentrated on getting through that particular mile. The last 12 miles were much faster than the first 12 miles and somewhere over that last 12 miles my calf didn’t hurt at all.

The best part of the run as I was completing the 24th mile was increasing my pace just like I do when I complete runs of a lesser distance. I always try to run the last mile much faster than the first mile no matter the distance. This gets increasing more difficult as the miles increase but today I felt very good near the end. I could have run more miles and I was well within the three hour and twenty minute time goal. Of course I have no idea how this translates to race day but I can say that I accomplished a run I have wanted to do ever since completing my last marathon. I think the key for me is to slow down because I have a tendency of going out too fast and trying to hang on to that time in the end. I remember running the Las Vegas marathon and I didn’t fade in the waning miles because my pace was consistent. This is what I will try to accomplish when I run in Phoenix in a few weeks.

Yes, I felt very good after the run and was asked by several people how far I had run because it is often a person runs for over 3 hours on a treadmill!! I do my best to mind my own business but invariably just like when I served my sentence what I thought as minding my own business was actually bringing attention to myself. I don’t believe I consciously crave this attention but my ego does get “stroked” when I talk to people about how far I have run. This is wrong and something I need to correct because it is not about me being better than anyone else; it is about me doing what I feel is best which is pushing me to the best of my ability. I do enjoy running and today I got into one of those “Zen” moments as the pain from my calf faded into oblivion and I was “floating” on air. I can only hope to duplicate this come race day but I do know I am extremely fortunate and blessed to just have the opportunity.

I made my way home after the long run and I had promised to take my son to the store so he could get a football. Santa had brought my son a football but this football was much too big for his 7 year old frame so we had to take Santa’s football back and get a smaller one. My son was so looking forward to this he had turned down a play date with a friend. My son does have a habit of holding both his mother and me to our promises and today I did deliver after going to three different stores to locate the “perfect” football. It was no easy task but we finally found the right sized football and my son was very happy. I didn’t mind going to these three stores because when we got home we had a very good game of catch. These are the moments I love and nothing is better!