Last night I had a TERRIFIC five miler. It was a little cold outside when I started, but that little inconvenience soon disappeared. I felt really good right afterwards, partly because I knew tonight I would just have to run a quick three miler, rest tomorrow, and then eight miles on Sunday; that was until I remembered that my wife and I have dinner plans with some friends right after work.

However, it wasn’t that big of a deal. I decided to get up a little earlier in the morning and knock it out. I was out the door this morning a little later than I would have liked, but still on schedule. I jumped on the treadmill and started my five minute warm up when I realized I had forgot my iPod®. DAMN!!! I started to convince myself that what was important complete my miles not whether or not I had music or my chip to log this run. I decided to suck it up and do what I came to do.

Yea…that lasted literally two minutes. I don’t know if I was just tired from the night before or just lazy, but I didn’t have ANY energy to keep going so I bowed out. I was very disappointed in myself, but I guess that is why we fall of the horse every now and then…so that we can get up and get back on.

I don’t know if the planets were aligned, or if was just my lucky day, but my run last night felt great. I ended up having lunch with an old friend, Vince Perryman, who got me into cross-country running while I was in high school. The difference between Vince and myself is that, oh yeah, he is an elite runner and hasn’t stopped running since the age of 14. I mentioned to Vince my born-again dedication to running.

While explaining some of the recent trials and tribulations with my training plan for the Germantown Half Marathon, Vince offered some astute and simple advice:

“Don’t think about always beating your personal best. There is a fine line between pushing yourself during training and pushing yourself over the limit. You might not only injury yourself physically, but break yourself mentally.”

While I was suffering through the St. Jude/Memphis Half Marathon in December, Vince was setting a personal best for the FULL marathon. When asked what made this race different, he said it was because he didn’t worry about anything but the current moment. He didn’t over think his strategy. He just ran HIS race.

So last night I stood out in my front yard and told myself that I was going to forget about the challenges and just run. I would run hard, but smart. I ran right past the Pyramid when I heard, “400 meters to go!” I thought to myself that I would sprint the last distance. I didn’t think about how far I had already run nor did I think about what my pace was or might have been. I just ran my way.

When I completed my last 400 meters and ended my workout, I heard that WONDERFUL, welcoming female voice telling me I had beat my personal best and I was very happy with my average pace per mile. Furthermore, I was excited to just be out there, enjoying my run again, oh — and not falling down and almost breaking my finger, like I did last week!

I know that the title is pretty cliche’, but there definitely isn’t a title as fitting to describe my run last Wednesday. Though it was only a four miler, and the terrain was pretty flat, I felt I was running up hill the entire time. If there is one thing that I can say about training thus far, I have experienced about every end of the spectrum when it comes to weather.

Though during the time I might hate it when I look back I know that the benefits are generous. Let’s face it…not every race is going to be under conditions of 70 degrees and sunny nor am I always going to feel in tip-top health. That is why that I truly feel that training for long distances races doesn’t only mean conditioning your physical body, but as well your mental strength.