Subtle Changes

Earlier tonight I watched the live final episode of The Biggest Loser. The changes were dramatic, in fact one of the final three wound up weighing about the same as me. My wife was quick to point out that he has a six pack. I don't watch much TV, but I really enjoyed this show. It was amazing to see the transformation during the 3 months on the ranch. Each week, the participants made gains that may not have seemed significant, but in the end, the results were amazing.

I just finished uploading my run from today to motionbased and decided to take a look at a monthly report. Since I started using my Forerunner 201 in April, I've been able to keep an accurate log of my progress. My average pace for 101 miles in May was 9:16, and my average pace for 104 miles in October was 9:12. In November, since joining the Gasparilla Marathon training program, I've run 107 miles at 8:02 pace.

I had my doubts about running with a group before I started, because I've almost always run alone. I can see from my logs that on my own, I was logging miles but not really making progress to improve myself as a runner. When I look back at November I don't remember the point that I improved my pace by a minute per mile. Subtle changes over time add up to make dramatic differences. I'm very proud of my progress and I feel I will continue to get stronger. Tomorrow night we tackle the suburban wilderness of Carollwood at the TBR Wednesday run. Hopefully we won't get lost - again :( This Sunday, my group and I will be running the Brandon Half Marathon to practice running at race pace for the marathon. Davo feels our group could push to a 3:30 marathon. I doubted him a month ago, but we still have 88 days until the race.