Sunday Runday Mother's Day (Week 19)
Vol.4 No.30
Today is Sunday, May 11th, 2025: Mother’s Day.
The earliest memory I can recall is that of my mother, it is also the fondest memory I have of my childhood. I remember it was a warm summer day in the early 1980’s and my mother had all the windows open as she laid sideways on the couch, legs bent creating the perfect little space on the couch for my pint-sized toddler frame. I remember her sleeping and the birds singing with a cool summer breeze flowing through the house like an unseen river with undulating currents. It’s not a vivid image of memory recall that I have, but more of an emotional recall of the moment.
I felt loved. I felt protected and I remember thinking my mom was everything.
She was everything. A single mother, working full time while also attending the local college to earn a degree in accounting. She sacrificed much and for that I love her.
Happy Mother’s Day!
First and foremost to my incredible wife Elizabeth who has provided me with two incredible children. She’s been a strong, consistent mother with an unyielding love and compassion for her kiddos, often raising them alone while I was off in Iraq for three tours of duty and a year in Korea along with other worldwide deployments. She did it on her own and she did great. She’s also a talented runner, when she chooses to be and has completed many 5K’s and even a Half marathon.
Next on to my mother-in-law Marta, who has shown me unconditional love for the past 22 years and welcomed me into the family! She’s been a grandmother for a while now and has been amazing with my kids. Everyone has an Abuela, but not everyone has an Abuela Marta!
Lastly but not least, Happy Mother’s Day to all those badass Mother Runners who I run with weekly! Ya’ll are absolutely incredible. Your tenacity to continue running through pregnancy is amazing and your hard work to return to running post-partum is a testament to your character and grit. I see you pushing those strollers. I see you trying to enjoy a post-run social while also keeping tabs on a toddler trying to make an escape. I see you training for your next race, while balancing training, work, motherhood and life. I see you sacrificing your personal ambitions of running goals to attend your children’s recitals, games, awards and more. I see you running to become a stronger person, a better person, an incredible mother. Happy Mother’s Day. You may think nobody is noticing, but I promise you, we are.
Now let’s take a look at how I completed 35 miles of running this week!
Monday: 5.5.2025 (JD 125): Early Risers - 5 miles at 5:05am
It’s morning’s like these that I wonder what it was like to be a Soldier during the Revolutionary War or the Civil War. The fog was think as soup and near to impossible to see anything beyond 50 yards at best. I have a weird dichotomy of interests and likes when it comes to running. I really enjoy running out west in Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and Texas where the views are wide and you can see for miles and miles.
Yet I also enjoy running at night, under headlamp with only the 10ft of path in front of me illuminated, creating this sense that I’m running in my own time and space, disconnected from the outside world. It really allows me to focus on my body mechanics and how I’m physiologically adapting to cadence, pace, hills and more. Running through fog also creates that illusion of solitude while running, so I knew I was going to enjoy this run.
I must not be alone in this thinking. We had nine total runners show up for this early, Monday morning 5am run for 5-miles in the dense fog.
Our last runner arrived at 5:05 on the money, hopped out of the car, jumped into the picture and we were stepping off before the clock ticked again.
It wasn’t until writing this post that I realized everything was “5’s” for this run and then I screwed it up by stopping my run at 5.04 instead of 5.05! Oh yeah, it was also Cinco de Mayo!
We did 5-miles on May 5th at 5:05am. It was a great run with friends.
5.04 miles | Avg Pace: 8’53” | Avg HR: 134 | Best Mile: 8’41” | 62°F at 98%
Tuesday: 5.6.2025 (JD 126): After the storm.
Yesterday’s fog brough on some big thunderstorms and rainfall on Monday night, bringing in behind it some of the best running weather you could ask for in May. The sky was clear and the air was cool. I knew the distance I was going and the route. I’ve done this same run many, many times before.
I wasn’t worried about pace or effort. I simply wanted to enjoy this incredible morning, breath in the fresh air with the int of flowers and fresh life that only spring can provide. After starting my watch I scrolled to the screen that only displayed the Time of Day and off I went. I ran on pure feeling and optimism.
This early morning run at sunrise allowed me to see the world come alive. From the squirrels and birds to the people driving to work. In the course of just 30 minutes the world went from asleep, to fully awake in an eclectic mix of songbirds, exhaust pipes and the pitter-patter of my feet.
This would be my only outdoor solo run of the week and I enjoyed it.
If you know me, you know I enjoy talking. It’s a gift passed on to me by my mother, a woman who could strike up a conversation with just about anyone and could talk on any myriad of subjects. Yet on these solo runs there is no talking. I enjoy the silence and the moments of self reflection that help me fully appreciate my lot in life and the blessings I have. It was a great morning.
4.02 miles | Avg Pace: 8’07” | Avg HR: 123 | Best Mile: 7’47” | 50°F at 97%
Wednesday: 5.7.2025 (JD 127): Run Club Takeover!
This is our third year now taking lead on what we call “Run Club Takeovers” where multiple clubs within the region all assemble at one location enjoy a social run together. You get the opportunity to meet new people, try new food and sample some new beers.
We made the trek down to a Veteran Owned brewery in Selma and met up with the Smithfield-Selma Run Club at the Hatchet Brewery for a flat and fast social 5K. The hosts were amazing and the run was easy. I got to meet a new fellow Veteran who arrived in the signature Team RWB shirt and got to run with a few others I hadn’t seen in a while.
This was a very easy and laid back 5K pace and at one point I couldn’t believe how slow I felt like I was going!
It’s amazing how perspectives change on pace and distance as the miles continue to pile up like bricks and my pace slowly increases. I thought I was moving slow, at a snails pace only to later look back and realize we averaged a 10’07” pace!! A pace just 6 months ago was commonplace in my life. A pace that wasn’t terrible but wasn’t easy. It felt comfortable.
Shifting perspectives is unstoppable, but always be humble and remember that a 10’00” mile is difficult! Just like never losing site that $100 is a lot of money!
3.53 miles | Avg Pace: 10’07” | Avg HR: 121 | Best Mile: 9’47” | 81°F at 40%
Thursday: 5.8.2025 (JD 128): Hints of Summer.
You could feel it in the air! It was easy really, with the Jeep stripped down and the soon-to-be summer air swirling around the cab on my way to Run Club. You could sense Summer was on the way, and it felt amazing.
It also brought forth the anxiety of month on month of running in extreme heat and humidity. Of endless miles of sweating, dehydration and the unrelenting heat.
Then I thought:
“Wait, Summertime running is the BEST running!”
And it has nothing to do with running and everything to do with friends. In the summer the crowd sticks around longer, well past 8:00pm and the beer tastes a little bit better. The conversations and laughter flow seamlessly and friendships are forged over food and drink. Yes, running is the modality of formulating these friendships and relationships, but it is the post-run person to person interaction that really cements what makes the Run Club so damn good.
The incredible weather brought out new runners! It was great to see new faces and more runners on the course. My only regret is I didn’t have more time to engage with them before or during the run, however I’ll get back to them as the weeks progress.
I was able to complete this run with Robert and Jon, two friends who I’ve logged thousands of miles with and shared many stories with. It was great to be able to have them stick with me for the duration of this run. At the end, we linked up with Jackson and in the last 200m, it was a footrace between Jon, Jackson and I where Jon took the lead and Jackson came in a close second while I anchored the race.
This run didn’t finish anywhere near the sub 40-minute mark, there is also happiness found in running with friends and having some friendly competition at the end of a run. Thank you Robert for seeding the idea chasing down Jackson! It was the catalyst that lead to a faster run!
5.01 miles | Avg Pace: 9’07” | Avg HR: 139 | Best Mile: 8’08” | 80°F at 54%
Friday: 5.9.2025 (JD 129): Heavy Legs
“Why so serious?” - asked my friend Luis. It’s because I became reacquainted with the Squat Rack at Trap Bar at the gym and my legs were paying the price! After a few sets of each and some more leg exercises I transitioned to the treadmill for a 2-mile time trial.
Two miles dwindled quickly down to one mile.
I was beat. Tired. Unhappy and Unmotivated.
After and hour of lifting and a mile run, I called it and headed to work.
But the day got better!
Our local municipality hosted their annual 5K on Saturday morning and for the third year in a row the club decided to chalk-up the course with motivational quotes and words of encouragement. It was a good three mile walk to help inspire our local citizens.
Americana: What a life.
After the chalk-up, Robert invited me to meet up with him and some friends downtown for the Free Concert series. With time on my hands, a cold beer and hanging out with friends sounded good.
Sitting there in the warm spring air under Carolina blue sky, sipping on a cold beer next to my close friend a realization sunk in.
These are the things of Iraq Daydreams.
I spent over two years on three different rotations to Iraq and remember how shitty it was at times. I remember thinking all I wanted was to not think about death, or reacting to enemy fire or ensuring the lives of my men were secure or any of the myriad of combat induced anxiety that riddles a leader. All I wanted was a cold beer, good music and the ability to unload the burden of leadership and simply relax.
Today was that day. It felt good to just sit there, finish off a cold one and relax.
I wasn’t in the only one. In that picture are multiple Combat Veterans, one in particular was a Ranger who fought in Mogadishu. An intensity of Combat I never experienced, yet I know at some point in the evening he had to be grateful to be in such an amazing place in life. Alive, with his wife by his side and enjoying good music.
1.0 miles | Avg Pace: 7’28” | Avg HR: 131 | Best Mile: 7’28” | Indoors (Treadmill)
Saturday: 5.10.2025 (JD 130): Intervals
Before volunteering at the local 5K I wanted to get in a run, so I threw out the invite at 6:30am and an amazing thing happened. People showed up at on a Saturday morning at 6:30am to run. I’m glad I’m not alone in this coocoo nest.
Of the 12 people who showed up, five of them decided to follow my lead on a simple, yet difficult interval training session that looked like this.
10-min Warmup | 4x 5min at PACE + 5min Recovery | 10-min COOLDOWN
You can see in the picture above my efforts and distance.
Of the four efforts, I maintained a Boston Qualifying Pace of 7’26” or faster. It felt great to let the feet go.
In my group was Carlos, Wendy, Sarah, Mike and Kean. All strong runners and incredibly capable!
For the duration of the run Kean, Sarah and myself all stuck together with Carlos not much further behind. Sarah and Kean really pushed the pace and it was a difficult but great training session! When it was all done and said it was clear Kean was just hanging back with us to make us feel good and Sarah set a new 1K and half-mile PR!
This is my second weekend in a row of completing interval training and so far I’m loving it.
6.46 miles | Avg Pace: 9’17” | Avg HR: 127 | Best Lap: 7’21” | 52°F at 91%
Sunday: 5.11.2025 (JD 131): Sunday Long Run
With 25 miles completed on the week and at a minimum 10-more miles needed I decided to reach out to my friend Andrew and see if he was willing to put in some work. At our Monday Early Risers 5-miler he was struggling and dipped out a little early, we all have those mornings, but I was a little concerned and wanted to see if he wanted to get back on trail.
Luckily he was onboard!
We met up and decided 10-miles would be just right and whatever the natural pace that we landed on would be good. Both of us are of similar ability and running a Sub 90-min 10-miler wouldn’t be an issue.
So we stepped off on an empty trail under cool conditions and commenced into 89 minutes of conversation with an ever increasing speed.
With sore legs, this was just the run I needed and I wasn’t looking to be in a big group. Our last mile was the fastest and we ended with a steep 25m incline to close out this otherwise flat and fast course along the river.
Here’s our mile breakdowns:
9’35” | 9’03” | 8’58” | 8’55” | 8’50” | 8’44” | 8’48” | 8’46” | 8’44” | 8’29”
10.03 miles | Avg Pace: 8’53” | Avg HR: 130 | Best Mile: 8’25” | 59°F at 90%