17 miles

This morning's skate couldn't have been much better. Other than getting home later than my wife asked me to be, this morning was a great training session.

I skated 17 miles in 1 hour and 24 minutes - that is exactly 12 miles per hour and right where I want to be. I had planned to skate 20 miles today but cut it back because of the hard labor mandatory volunteer opportunity I participated in yesterday.

Ya'know, I am kidding about that, being forced to volunteer. It was just how the opportunity was originally presented to me. The irony was that I did want to volunteer on the project and was actually thankful to be able to take off work, I just resented the approach and so I resisted (yes, that is what you call passive aggressive dysfunction. Burton, can you confirm that in the DSM?) I did actually volunteer yesterday out of my own free will and it was a fantastic experience. Afterwards I was grateful and full of community pride. But I digress.

Back to the topic of inline marathon training. If I can maintain a 12 mph pace from here on out I'll have a good marathon. Even better is to be under 2 hours and that will take 12.5 mph. I'll be fighting for that over the next 60 days. Amazing, 60 days does not seem that long. I would also like to drop at least 10 pounds of fat before the race. This is totally achievable but I want to make sure. I will be cutting back on my calorie intake, stop eating after 6:00, and focus more on higher protein meals, less complex (sugary) carbs.

Why am I doing this?

It is the one thing in my life that feels under my control at the moment and I really enjoy skating, really enjoy it. I like individual sports too. The extreme endorphin and serotonin rush during and after skating is one of a kind as well. I like to sweat hard, breath hard, and go fast. When I am skating I feel totally human - alive, working, and praising my Creator.