This far into preparations for the Baytree 8K, my legs are supposed to be a little sore. However, I can’t tell over the pain my fist is experiencing from the fifth week.
The running is going as expected, jogging around town, dodging rain drops and exhaust fumes, but I added the aspect I feared the most.
Waking up before noon.
I started out slowly with a 10 a.m. wakeup, and have recently moved it up to 8:30 a.m., and my arm has been feeling the burn, slamming down on the snooze button.
Working in a sports department, where games start at 7 p.m., and high-paced writing begins at 9:45 p.m., a relaxing night after work usually doesn’t begin until around midnight. Not to mention, the favored after-hours hobby of most 20-something’s — doing 12-ounce curls until early morning — has made me a certified night owl.
Thus, mornings are my sworn enemy. However, I am trying to enter a peace treaty with Regis and Kelly, Tony the Tiger and the crowing roosters, and I believe I am on my way.
The key to waking up is the first big step — getting out of bed.
I don’t know about everyone else trying to escape Mr. Sandman’s clutches, but in the morning my bed transforms from a Serta brand to a Jekyll and Hyde brand. As first it resembles a heavenly soft cloud with an angelic embrace, inviting me to nestle in and hang around for a while. When I get a leg out of the covers, the bed becomes a snarling pit bull refusing to release me from its clutches.
But, I’m managing to work toward a 6:30 a.m. rise for the 7:30 a.m. 8K run. I am discovering that it won’t be easy, though.
The difference between me running in the evening, when my legs and body have had a chance to get some blood flow, and running first thing in the morning, unfortunately seems to be about a mile. And having made it to a max of about three, three and a half miles, every foot will count during the five mile endeavor.
Nevertheless, I am now doing my running closer to sunrise than sunset, and I have even take to Norman and Baytree, getting a whiff of the course.
The day of the race will take me from the corner of Norman and Gornto, straight down to Oak, rounding around VSU on Georgia St., coming down Patterson, turning on Brookwood, coming back up Oak and making the final straightway on Baytree toward Home Depot.
It will also take me up and down inclines and declines of hills that were so graciously built into Baytree. Which, by the way, I do not appreciate. My legs have been letting me know that hills were not a previous part of my training.
With my body used to a longer duration of active moving (now at 45 minutes), my legs strengthening for the devious hills and my mind getting accustomed to seeing morning dew, I feel the preparations meeting the closeness of the race.
In just 11 days, this column will cease to be a training journal and will be a record of my journey.
Baytree 8k
June 25, 2007
Rise and shine, 8K runner
- Baytree 8k
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Seppala takes 8K again
The field was bigger, the weather was hotter, but the result was the same: John Seppala dominated the Baytree 8K.
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Seppala runs away with Baytree 8K
On Wednesday, John Seppala ran away from the other 180 runners at the Baytree 8K road race.
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Column: I did it!
Wow, I did it!
- Column: It’s finally time for the race Dear Valdosta,
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BAYTREE 8K - Registration Form
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Training for 8K is getting me healthier
OK, it’s hitting me. Five miles is a long way. But for me, running just two is also coming a long way.
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Rise and shine, 8K runner
This far into preparations for the Baytree 8K, my legs are supposed to be a little sore. However, I can’t tell over the pain my fist is experiencing from the fifth week.
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Nothing can stop me now.
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Baytree 8k, Here I come!
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Week 2 and still training
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