[8/12/12] 5K Race update, Half Marathon Corral update, a successful Sunday run, and 2nd year updates:

Hi Everyone!

I'll make this short and sweet since I have about 100 pages of catch up work to do (Oh M2 year... lol)

1) Here are my results from the 5K on 8/2/12:

The conditions for that day was REALLY hot and humid so I felt like I ran a pretty solid race all things considered. It was about 88 degrees outside, no shade, with about 80% humidity lol! It has since cooled down considerably but I learned a lot of valuable lessons during the race. I paced myself well throughout the race and I kept a consistent pace of about 7:18 per mile which isn't that bad all things considered. For my half marathon I definitely have to pace myself with my clock and my running app on the iPhone :)

2) With this result I e-mailed the Chicago Half Marathon corral placement committee (whatever you call them lol!). From my previous post, I had to run a 21:40 or under 5K to qualify for one of the faster corrals. I ran a 21:54 and basically explained what happened that day. They thankfully gave it to me!! I will be able to run at the faster pace that I would like to run at so I am definitely happy about that!!

3) Today's run was my best run in a while :) I felt great, the weather was perfect (62 degrees, overcast, slight  cool breeze coming in over the lake), and I was able to eat breakfast without it giving me too many problems. This run is also 3 days after another 11 mile morning run I ran on Thursday with a day of gym time in between so I was kind of surprised at the result:

I'm seriously hoping I can maintain this pace without getting injured for the next month coming up to race day! Thank you all for your love, support, and your prayers! God is definitely walking (running!) with me along this journey giving me the strength and courage to continue training! If you haven't donated to my cause yet and would like to support families in Africa please follow the link below to help!!

http://support.worldvision.org/site/TR/TeamWorldVision/General?px=1215447&pg=personal&fr_id=1680

At the end of the day I've realized something... I'm not running for myself. I could never put up this kind of effort and courage on my own. I'm running for those who have much much less than I do. I'm running for those who can't protect/support themselves. Overall... I'm running because God is inspiring me to run - and that's all I need to do the best I can!

God bless! Till next time!

Marc :D