New Month

I love turning the calendar over to a new month.

I know the same problems, frustrations and joys from last month carry over but for me it is symbolic that despite whatever happened last week, last month or last year... Today is a fresh start an another chance to do the hard stuff.

So this month puts me less than three months out until I run the US Marine Corps Marathon. This has been something I have wanted to run for a while now and glad I get to do as a Charity Runner for Team RWB. If you would like to help me accomplish my goal and run with Team RWB as a charity runner, please click here. As a US Marine Veteran and a charter captain for Team RWB, this is going to be an exciting opportunity.

As for training for my 50 mile race in San Francisco in December. I have pushed myself in many ways throughout the month of July. I have ran further and faster than I have had in a very long time. I have learned how to eat healthier, how to fight boredom and push through fatigue. This is definitely up there as one of the hardest things I have done. But... I have a long journey ahead of me.

I am grateful for all the encouragement my coach, Liza Howard, has provided me. I am grateful to Scott Jones for giving me this opportunity. I am very grateful to the social media world who has cheered me on while I train.

I have learned recently that it takes a team to accomplish the hard stuff. I am very grateful to have you all on this journey with me.

Now... On to a new month of adventures, trails, errors and much more.

Failure but.....

This has been a hard week.
This has been a hard week professionally.
This has been a hard week in training for the ultra.
This has been a hard week.
And as a result, I have been physically, mentally and emotionally spent.

On my long run this week (15 miles), there was a point where I battled mentally to just quit it all and start something new. The feeling of failure came over me and I wrestled with these thoughts as I ran hills, battled the heat and eventually having to call my brother-in-law to pick me up because I couldn't push through any longer.

I sent my coach, Liza Howard, an email just feeling defeated. As a great coach, she was able to encourage me by pointing out what I accomplished, how this is a process and to embrace the journey. I was also reminded that at the beginning of this project, I was told it was not going to be easy.

This blog is called "Do the Hard Stuff". I've come to realize that I need to embrace the hard stuff and to keep going. My profession will not always be easy. My training will not always be easy. I will not always have easy weeks where it naturally comes to me but.... I can embrace it and keep focusing on getting better through it all.

As I shared this story with several people in the same professional field and those pounding the roads alongside me, I have been amazed by the stories of those who felt like they have failed but all of them have come back stronger to do bigger and better things. Their stories and their courage have inspired me to continue on to week 7 of Becoming Ultra.

If you have an experience where you felt like a failure and needed to keep going, please share the story below. It will encourage me and the rest of the readers.

Community

So... I have been traveling now for just over a month. I have attended camps and did some construction work in South Carolina. I've been trying to keep up with the miles on my training plan. Today is the first time that I struggled completing the miles.

I am feeling the tired legs and sore lungs. It is so hot that sometimes my shoes are still wet the next day. There have been many times on these runs where I thought about just sending a message to my trainer, quit the idea of becoming ultra and learn to like Cheetos. Yet I keep going. 

One of things that has really helped me to keep going is community. There is a local running group called the Yellow Donkeys. It has been great to lean on them, ask questions and even vent about training.

I love this quote from Hellen Keller: "Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much". I am grateful for the community of runners that I have encountered over these last few months of training and look forward to being spurred on by them over these next several months.

One more step. One more minute. One more mile.

Week 1 and Fathers Day

Well.. Today complete week 1 of training for Becoming Ultra with a nice long 10 mile run. On this run I remembered something my dad told me just before I left for the Marine Corps.

"Son, your job is to keep your head down, push through it, keep going and just don't quit".



This word of advise helped me through 4 years of the Marine Corps but it has also helped me through many other areas of my life such as:

1. Learning to be married.
2. Completing my masters degree.
3. Learning to be a father for the first time.
4. Learning to become an Ultra.

This is just to list a few things.

Today on my run, somewhere around mile 8, this words of advise came back to me. My legs felt like lead, I was completely out of water, mentally I knew that I could walk the rest of the route and still make a pretty good time and was starting to feel the sunburn on the back of my neck. The struggle became real.

As a approached a good stretch of shade, I took a deep breath and remembered these words. So I put my head down, pushed through the mental and physical stress, kept running and didn't quit. As a result, I put in a pretty good time for my first long run on this new training plan.

My dad has passed down some great stuff to me over my 35 years on this rock. Like my love for the Rocky movies, the ability to grow a sweet beard and the ability to work hard no matter the situation. I know not all dads are perfect and all dads make mistakes but I am grateful for the advise, words of encouragement and most important the love and grace he shown me even what I really deserved was a good butt kick'n.

As I continue to train to run this 50 miles and while I run it in December at the North Face Endurance Challenge, I will remember the words of my dad and know that he will be cheering me on to victory.

Here. We. Go.

So...

I'm starting this blog as I prepare for a 50 Miles North Face Challenge. I have been selected to be on Season 3 of Becoming Ultra. This group will provide some personal training, advise and encouragement from some of the best ultra runners. I will also be representing Team RWB through this training and on the run.

You will be able to follow my journey here at the blog, on social media sites as well as on a podcast.

Someone asked me why I even want to push my body to the limits this way. As one person said, "Buy a car if you are having a mid-life crisis". It isn't so much a mid-life crisis (well it might be)... but it is taking advantage of an opportunity presented to me. It is a chance to learn how to have patience. It is a change to learn how to preserve through something even if I don't feel like doing it. It is a chance to grow as a person. It is a chance to do something hard.

I look forward to this opportunity and to see what how I as a person grow.

In the words of Rocky Balboa:

One step at a time
One punch at a time
One round at a time

Let the journey begin... Here. We. Go.