Do you have a running friend that would leave this on your car? I DO!

I have been writing about a lot of things other than running lately, but I promise it’s not because I’ve lost my enthusiasm! I’ve actually been hard at work building a strong base so I can start marathon training in September.

I’ve been doing a sort of “this is a football” regimen (Vince Lombardi’s famous quote), going back to the fundamentals of form and distance, correcting some bad habits, and very slowly building my mileage. It’s requiring a lot of patience (which is NOT my strongest quality!).

I’ve been trying to incorporate as much Chi Running as I can but sometimes struggle with exactly how to do it. Maybe some day I’ll go to one of their running camps! In the meantime, I’m enjoying the Chi Running website and blog and soaking in as much as I can. This style of running suits my running personality perfectly and I’d love to fully embrace it. A lot of running advice sometimes seems to almost punish our bodies and encourages pushing through pain. Chi Running, although still requiring a ton of discipline and hard work, encourages working with your body not against it, and has a very gentle approach.

I had been dreading yesterday’s 7 miler all week, not because of the running part, but because of the heat! Here in Dallas summer is back to “normal” and that means BRUTAL! My friend, Liz and I had shared similar concerns on Facebook and had similar mileage planned so I was thrilled when she drove to my town to run with me! Thanks, Liz, for making the miles fly! She even left that great note on my car that made my day. Encouraging running friends are THE BOMB!

Wine and Dine is still about 14 weeks away, and the marathon isn’t until January 7th, so I’m not in a rush. I’m trying to make each mile count and be sure I’m strong at each distance before stepping up to the next. It’s a new approach for me – typically I barely fit in the minimum mileage before a race – but I think this approach will make me a stronger and more confident runner AND racer.

If you’re training for a goal race, I hope you’re feeling strong! And if today’s run wasn’t good for you, try to remember that everybody has bad running day. It doesn’t mean you’re not a good runner and it doesn’t mean you’re not doing your work. In fact, we learn way more from the hard fought efforts than we do from the easy ones. If you can have a terrible run and not allow it to derail your training, than you are a truly committed athlete.

Today’s my last day off of a 2 week vacation and it’s been great to have so much time for writing! I’m officially moving forward with a designer for the blog and hope to have an updated site to show you soon, but updates may be slower coming. Or maybe not. Because this little place on the intrawebs is my therapy and it’s great to have you along for the ride!

Happy Running!