A hot 5k and new Personal Distance and Recovery Records

Last Wednesday was another hot (87f) and humid day for Maine Running Co.'s Weekly Back Cove 5k. I ran a 26:04. This is less than a minute off the PR I set in June the last time I ran this race in less than 75-85F. I'm still waiting to find out what I could run in less heat. I had barely been running for 2 months by the time I hit my PR of 25:20. We'll see. I need to get more confidence that I can keep up my pace in that 2nd mile. The third is getting better, but its the 2nd that finds me slowing down to conserve. At least I am at the point where I can concentrate on splits and not throwing up or quitting.

Friday Night was my time to attempt a 6 mile run in my training for next month's first 10k. I think I am better suited to this distance as I went nice and slow and averaged 9:17. I had a lot left at the end and that bodes well. I did run the extra .2 miles just to see. My time was 57:35. Felt great. No sign of overuse or injury. The nice thing about being a new runner is that all these things are firsts and new discoveries for me.

Beginning of the month marked 9 months sober for the first time in my life. Before that I could barely squeak by 5 months in 2 years of trying. I am trying to find the words to describe what my life is like now, but I that may take time. Thanks to my friends, my children, meditation, good diet and running, I feel like this time it will stick. Not waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I won something!

Courtney over at Be More with Less had a contest to name her latest project. She is going to cook all the recipes in Matt over at No Meat Athlete's new cookbook based on the Tarahumara Indian's use of pinole and chia featured in Born to Run by Chris McDougall. I suggested The Chia Chronicles and won a free copy of Matt's e-book. Thanks to both of you. I love your blogs!

Ozone alert, bah

The temperature hung into the 80s last night at 6pm as I ran in my 8th Maine Running Company's Weekly Back Cove 5k. The humidity was unbearable. I finished a minute off my PR of 25:20 (which was set the last time the race was held when the temp was in the 60s). Being a new runner (April-more on that in the future), I have no idea what the cool weather will bring for times.

Tomorrow I run my 10th 5K race since the end of May...

Last November, I was in my 8th trip to Detox. While this blog will mainly about the steps I took to finally turn my life around, it will not be another "how A.A. saved my life" memoir. While the 12 steps certainly played a foundational and crucial role in my becoming recovered from alcohol, there are many other reasons as well. Some of them are: meditation, honesty, becoming a runner, (almost) vegetarianism, sleep, the love of my kids, incredible parents, functional medicine, a loving woman, Buddhism, the desire for my 40's to be better than my 30's, a selfless and rewarding job, some great friends, learning to deal with loss and grief, loving myself most of the time, and  finally allowing myself to see things for what they really are.