It's over. I'm done.

The marathon is now only 8 weeks away. I am smack dab in the middle of my training and to be honest, I have been miserable. The training has taken away from my fall race goals. It has worn me out and made me tired. It has been gnawing away at me for the past 2 months. I trained every day last week without rest. Wrapped up the week with three 8 mile runs a 10K race on Saturday and an 8K race on Sunday. It's getting dark at 4pm. It looks like midnight when I get home at 5pm. I'm forced to run on poorly lit sidewalks and wait an eternity at multiple intersections for a walk signal in which I must incorporate all my senses as to not get run over even though I have the right of way. The weather is getting colder and it's likely to rain on many of my upcoming runs. So It's over. I'm done.

I'm done being a mamby pamby jackwagon in need of a tissue. My crybaby mantra of "It's too hard", "I'm too tired", and "I'm bored" is over. It's time for me to man up. I set a goal and I'm going to go after it. I'm all in! I'm going to go after it with the same drive and determination I went after my weight loss. There are many distractions that I'm going to have to deal with and overcome. Poor food choices and inadequate sleep being the top two. My goal of 3:45 just became sub-3:45. I'm going to hit the gym and weight train on my cross training days. I'm going to cut soda and coffee completely out of my diet. I'm going to follow my training plan and run slow when I'm supposed to run slow, and fast when I'm supposed to run fast and rest when I need rest.

I know it's going to be hard. Losing weight was hard. Quitting smoking was hard. Eating healthier was hard. Thanksgiving is coming up. That's going to be hard. I'll be going out of town and need to find a place and time to log some miles. That will be hard. I am all about defeating HARD. I already know that overcoming things that are hard is massively rewarding. I love the opportunities that come up where I get to talk about beating my situations. Talk about paying dividends. Nothing is more rewarding to me than inspiring someone else to positive change. You are my drive, you are my motivation. So it's over; I'm done with the negative path.

Run strong my friends,

Bob