Some Mondays...

Are better than others. After a lackluster weekend of not getting a whole lot accomplished, I went to bed relatively early last night motivated to get off my ass this morning. And so I did. At 5am, even. Boy did I have flashbacks to what life was like for about twelve weeks. And boy am I glad those weeks are over. Getting up that early is a lot easier when you're getting eight hours of sleep per night instead of four or five. So yeah, was up way before the sun, and went off and ran the equivalent of a 10k again. What puts me in an especially good mood is that I did it in about 50:30, or just over an 8 minute average mile. This goes way back to about junior year in high school to find the last time I ran that far that fast. It isn't anything ultra amazing, as a freshman I ran one in 42:25 or so, which is under a 7 minute average, but it's really showing how far I've come. A couple years ago I could barely run one mile in 8:30, and I wasn't even attempting to run a 5k without walking. Now I can run a 10k nonstop at a faster pace than I used to run a mile. It's a really great feeling when you finish a solid lengthy run. Just about your whole body is tired, and you actually feel like you did something. It reminds me of the feeling after a race, the switch from utter torture during that last mile to jubilation as you cross the line the victor. Suddenly the weakness just leaves the body and you feel like you could go dance all night long. It also does wonders for the ego, I lose at least three pounds every time I run, even on cold days when I barely sweat at all. I've been holding steady at the 175 mark, but I continue to improve my endurance and keep adding more arm work, and have finally gotten around to throwing ab work in as well. One of the things that really works for me is watching some kind of motivational clip when I first wake up on days like these. Whether it's the Where Eagles Fly music video thing about F-15s, or something like a "The Thrill of Victory" segment from ABC, or even the finale to one of my favorite performances or shows, it really makes you wanna get up and get busy. Least it works for me. Even to the point I don't even listen to music when I run, I just use the time to think about everything going on, and dream about what might eventually be.

We have 1:30 muster this week instead of 8:30, which means more sleeping in if I feel the need. I'm just going to take over the FAA study book for the test I have to take at the end of NIFT and use that time to get a couple hours in each day. Basically just have to memorize the answers to about 730 questions and I'll ace the test. We'll see how that goes.