First Light....

Have you noticed that sometimes(at least for morning people like me) you have to wake up pretty early so that your mind is clear and you can gather your thoughts and reevaluate where you are at and where you are going? Well today was one of those eye opening days for me.

First of all I want to say that my training for the upcoming marathon season is going well and on track. I am averaging between 18-25 miles per week. With the longer Saturday training sessions getting longer and longer. Yesterday was the first day that we did 10 miles in a long time. We all survived but the humidity and high heat index does take its toll. This morning I went out for a few miles and breakfast, that is when it really hit me how much I am changing.

I do enjoy my training, especially the people I train with, but I came to finally realize how my priorities are changing. How I am changing. In the past few weeks, through spending time in retreats, spiritual readings and just contemplative prayer, I have come to see how I have been a 'poser' for a very long time. Because of this I have not been totally myself, I now realize that the only way I will be content and at peace is to break down those walls, strip away some of the falsehood and be the person God has created.

You say, the blog was better when it described your training and its pitfalls; well I say I will still be looking at my training but it will encompass a lot more then just my physical training for a marathon, it will cover also my training for life. I will try to evolve into and live the life I truly was born to lead. Ok, it will not be a simple process and I hope that it will be even more entertaining then my previous training. I am fast approaching my 53rd birthday and I know it has taken a lot of time to get here, so I know this new process will take some time, but I, as I was for my original marathon training, am in it for the long haul.

So I invite you to take some time early in the morning or late at night. When it is peaceful and quite like it is in the picture; and look at your life. What needs to change? How can you go about doing that? And if you have the perfect life and don't want to change then thank God and continue to live it.

Remember you only have to train or live one day at a time.

Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning......

The times, they are a changing. I can feel it in the air, or at least in the stillness of the morning. The sky is an eerie red when the sun rises for the last couple of days. the new month has dawn. There are changes on the horizon, I can feel them, there is new excitement in the air.

Well I have finalized my plans for the new season. I will do the Space coast full marathon and the Disney full marathon in January, with several half marathons in between. It will be an exciting time but it will not have any undue pressures. My target goals are well within easy reach, as long as I spend the time training both mentally and physically for them.

Speaking about goals, I would like to share something here given to me by Shari and developed by Raymond Aaron. It is the MTO method of goal setting. I have started to do it for a couple of weeks now and have actually come up with an elaborate plan of setting goals in all aspects of my life for the month of August. MTO stands for minimum, target, and outrageous. So in one area of your life you set a minimum , a target and an outrageous goal. The minimum should be easy to attain so you will almost always reach that one, with target setting your limits a bit higher and then the outrageous being just that. As the time continues you find yourself attaining more of the target and even some of the outrageous ones, so that is when you reevaluate and set new parameters. Like I said I have been doing it for a few weeks now and am excited to see how many goals I can accomplish. After this month I will be setting more long term ones. I will keep you posted.

Two other aspects I will update you on , the spiritual program Barbara F and I were working on , got approved by our church and so hopefully will soon be embarking on that journey with others at St Gregory. Also I have started to write a novel. Yes, being inspired by Alex P., I ,too, have started to put some thoughts down. Maybe some day Alex we will share a booth in the Miami Book fair.

So you see times they are a changing, new frontiers are coming to the foreground, ready to be conquered. As I continue to go through the journey, I thank each one of you that share it with me , I thank you for your love and support.

Until we meet again, I carry you in my heart.....

It has been a while since I last blogged...

I sit here and wonder why I have not had an entry in a while. Has been life been uneventful, is my training non existent, am I too busy, or do I just wonder why write, does anyone read this? Well for what ever reason, I am back.

My training is going well. I average about 20 miles per week. It is extremely humid and miserable most of the days I go out and I wish I was faster, but I still go out and I am faithful to my training. I am trying to eat better and record all the food I intake through a site called my fitnesspal. I can do it through my iphone so it is much easier to track.

My life although busy has become a lot more manageable. I am more centered and I trust my God to lead me to where I should be. I finally have come to realize again, that nothing is impossible for Him, so why worry too much as long as I can turn my burdens over.

I keep trucking away, I feel more at peace, and I feel deep love in my heart. I trained with JJ yesterday. I have to tell you I missed you although I tend to give you a hard time. I value the insight you give to life at times, and the sound of your laughter. Don't change, although I may ask you frequently to do. And Nancy your training is invaluable to me, it gets me out the door. Also your friendship is very much cherished.

So this time again , shows me the importance of having people around that encourage me and that I in turn can encourage and motivate them. I thank you all. The sunrise at the beginning was from the beach at Ft Lauderdale one morning as I trained. When looking at that, how can I question the existence of God? My friends keep on, follow your heart as you continue your journey....

Training?

This past week has been more of an unusual week for me, and that is saying a lot because I have come to accept that things are not "normal" in my life. I know I started this blog as a forum to describe and keep you inform on how may training develops during the months and years that I write. My training usually was in regards to getting healthier, training for a marathon, half marathon or a combination of these.

Well on that front training is going well. It is extremely hot here in south Florida this year so I have come to accept that my training will be hampered but that fact but I still train. I still go out between three to four times a week, and do about 15-22 miles per week. I sometimes hate it, I question myself why I am doing it, but I still know that since I am building endurance I get out there.

Although I will still use this to chronicle my training for the upcoming marathons this year and the beginning of next; I will also use this blog to share how I am training for life in general. As I eluded to in the last entry, I feel that I am at a possible crossroads in my life. I have started a retreat with Barbara and hopefully others in our church to explore and deepen our spiritual life. I will want to share some of those experiences on here. The culmination to all of it will the journey and pilgrimage on El Camino, the pilgrimage that many have made in the northern slopes of Spain, ending at Santiago de Compostela.

So you see this will be a busy blog in the coming weeks and month. I hope that as I share these different aspects of training that it will lead you to explore what needs to change in your life, and that you be given the impetus to start on your personal journey too. so take time, walk with me for a while....

How much do you want to know?

Yes, it has been a while since I wrote anything. maybe someone reads this, maybe no body does, but I enjoy writing about my experiences in training and now lately it seems in life.

How much do you really want to know about these past weeks and months. I feel I am not training as I should because I don't feel I am making much progress. I have been going out and walking at least three times per week for about 5.3 miles each time and I go out with FIT on Saturdays and do 20/50 intervals. I am trying to decide what races I will be doing this coming year, along with how I will train to best accomplish my goals.

I guess what has taken the most energy in my life has been my mom's total right knee replacement. Although it all turned out well, she is 90 years old and so has taken a lot of my time to help her as she went from hospital, recovery room and now to her home. Soon, it will all be over and she will be recovered, and I will be happy that I was able to help and get her back to her normal life.

Another part that I will touch on , is the changes that I have set into place in my life. It seems that there is constant change all around me, and I am now trying to orchestrate this change into a more productive , stress free life styles. You know so many time addictions and addictive personalities come into play and so the best way to handle it all is "one day at a time". I am glad that God takes care of me , and I am learning to let go and let God by concentrating more on myself, on how I can improve my journey with the Lord. I have started a 34 week retreat, might share some of the highlights as I journey through. I am reassessing my life, I have had to let go of some of my baggage, including some things that although very important were not good for me.

Well that is enough for now. I will explain the symbol that opens this blog at a later date. Just let it take you to a different place, let the journey begin....

Four weeks later....

I can not believe that it has been about four weeks since I last had an entry. A lot had happened in that time span. I won't bore you with all the details but there are three incidents that are worthy of mention before I continue to write about my day to day week to week experiences on training.

First, four weeks ago I went on a kayaking trip in Jupiter, Florida down the Loxahatchee River. It was a gruelling trip, where for four hours I evaded submerged logs , tree limbs that were trying to knock me off the kayak, and the illusive presence of alligators and turtle and frogs on the river. It was hard for me to go through a lot of the obstacles and if it were not for the accompaniment of some buddies I would have never made it over some of the downed trees. I got over one obstacle, I became confident and went ahead. Not the right thing to do. As I turned the corner, the current got stronger and pulled me close to a very big limb. In a second I was being knocked off the kayak and into the water. I had my eyes open as I hit the water and saw myself submerge into the river. I started to sink and I could see the kayak going over me. My thought was to kick and go up. I broke the surface. My kayak was going down the river and I was in the river without a paddle. One leg got entangled in some roots and one leg was pulled by the current in front of my body. I kind of had a life jacket on, but since it was not fasten it was doing more damage then helping. I grab onto the limb that knocked me into the river. For a few seconds, I thought how easy it would be to just let go and to end it all there. No more pain, no more battle no more hiding , no more pretending, no more masks that we all tend to wear. But I held on, my buddies after a few more minutes came around the bend and rescued me. We continued on to the nearest stop and got picked up by the park ranger. Thank God I was ok, just my side and ego were bruised. Needles to say I did not train that week.

Second,instance was not a bad one. I got invited to accompany my friend, Barbara, to a wedding in New York. We had a great time at the wedding , and then we went into New York City. The first day we aer walking around, sightseeing and I notice that there is going to be a race the next day. It is the MS Walk in NYC. I inquire and find out that the 10K is a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and back. So of course we did it. What an experience. After we climbed the Statute of Liberty to the crown and up and down numerous staircases to the subway. My knee hurts again. I for got the brace I usually wear on that knee. I come back, Knee hurts, no training for week two.

The third thing that I did was the annual Emmaus retreat at my church, St. Gregory's. What an experience, God really worked through His Holy Spirit touching countless lives. I am tired, need to rest , knee still hurts so take another week off.

That brings me to yesterday. A new season starts for Friends in Training (FIT);my marathon training group. I was excited to get out there and start the training again. We had a great turnout. Started my group with some running and a lot of walking, we kept a 14:50 minute per mile pace. It was a good start. Today, I went out with my training partner and friend, Nancy. We did over 5 miles. I have entered into the path once again. I thank you all the played a part in these last four weeks. I could not be here if it not had been for the parts you all played in.

The pictures at the beginning are of the river that gave me a new outlook of life, the Brooklyn Bridge and the group that I shared the retreat with. Enjoy your life, share your love with another this week. And continue on the path....

THE SCOND WEEK AND I FEEL LIKE I JUST STARTED....

Welcome to week 2, here I am on W2D3 and the best I can say is that I at least finished it. Not at a great pace, not with the best form but I got out there 3 days and did the required 5 minutes warm up, and 20 minutes of repeating 1 1/2 minutes running, and 2 minutes walking with a 5 minutes cool down which I ran part of too.

Well my running seemed like jogging and sometimes I felt I was running in place,but it was cool and I went out and I kept telling myself I was stupid, but I did it.

You know I have found that with the best intentions life seem to get in the way sometimes. You either don't sleep well, or you sleep too much. You have a bad day at work or you have a great day and you want to celebrate. You eat too much or eat too little. You are worried about this or that, stressed about life. Bottom line all things that you can possibly change or not, but things that have to be set aside for a few minutes a day to take care of yourself. I saw all the excuses this week and I feel into their trap. But in the end , I still did what I had to do.

This week coming up, I don't know what it will hold. I don't know if I will go to Week 3 or repeat Week 2; but I know that I will do something. I will be one step closer to my goal, and I will try to enjoy the journey as I go along. Enjoy your journey.

One of my friends, Alex P, shared a quote with me after reading the blog and I was touched enough by it that I decided to add it on here. After getting her permission , she tells me that she found in a very special place; inside the wrapping of a candy bar. I always knew that hidden truths are to be found in unexpected places. Here is the quote written by Anonymous: "ONE'S BEST SUCCESS COMES AFTER ONE'S GREATEST DISAPPOINTMENTS".