Stephanie's Wedding Run

7.29 miles, 1:01:43 moving, 8:27 pace, Max HR = 147, Avg HR = 125, 40% Z3, 54% Z2, three breaks for nine minutes total

I ran with Stephanie's group today, although Stephanie, Cory and I cut it short from the thirteen the rest of the group had planned. I have a long run scheduled for tomorrow -- my first run with the Tornados, so I didn't want to pile up the miles today. I'll probably need every bit of my energy to keep up with them.

As you may recall, Stephanie was my coach with Power in Motion, and will therefore always be my coach. She introduced me to the Jack Daniels Running Calculator (no! not the liquor, the Ph.D.) This is a scientific method of training which defines your runs as "Easy", "Marathon Pace", "Threshold Pace", "Interval Pace" and "Repetition Pace". By running the proper percentage of your mileage at the proper paces, Jack Daniels theorizes that you strike the right balance between maximizing conditioning and minimizing injury. It's based on heart rate, so you can probably guess that I dig it. But I digress since I wanted to tell you a bit about Stephanie.

The reason why I ran with Stephanie is because today is her wedding day. She wanted to get in a few miles before her big day got out of hand, which makes a lot of sense to me. I can remember my wedding day. My best man, Paul, chauffeured me to Louie's for breakfast, and then to Christ the King for the ceremony. My groomsmen accompanied me, and it was a nice feeling to be surrounded by trusted friends to relax and reflect. I'm sure if I had been a runner at that time that I would have pounded out a few miles.

Of everything that I've ever achieved in my entire life, my marriage is the most important to me. It is my most valuable possession. It hasn't always been easy, and it requires work, but it's the kind of work that you want to do. I tend to go overboard with running analogies, but the work I put into training is very similar to the work I put into marriage. I love to do it and I always want to do more in order to get better.

And, as a wedding is the birth of a marriage, I was honored to be invited to hang out with the bride -- my coach.

So, best wishes Stephanie! May you simultaneously find happiness, shelter, adventure, comfort, growth, and peace in your marriage.

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TDLY - 5/25/07 - Memorial Park Trails, 3.22 miles, 35:08, 10:54 pace, 10% Z5, 86% Z4. I remember this run vividly. Audrey, a Power in Motion coach, invited me to join her, her husband, and the rest of her personal group for a run on the Memorial park trails. At the time I thought my Garmin was mis-reporting my speed because of the dense tree coverage, but looking back I think it was just that hard on me. Check out that heart rate! Cory and I did core exercises for the first time together after this run, and I ran him through the routine that we did at Kenyan Way. Blog Entry.