Tim vs Timmaay

Tim vs Timmaay, the showdown begins. In one corner, weighing in at 267 pounds, low self-esteem, chain smoker, occasional drinker, and all out wimp with excuses. In the other corner, weighing in at 220 pounds, 1 time marathon, 3 time half marathon, and 1 time 15, 10, and 5k runner, a lot healthier, happier, and more confident in himself. One can easily guess who the winner would be if those two went head to head for an all out beat down.

Here lately, I've reminisced a little bit about what it would be like if I ever ran into my younger self. Would I be fit enough now to knock some sense into the younger me? I've often wondered if the current me could take on the aggressive teenage me back when I was (at the time) fit and what I thought was in the best shape I could've been in. As the saying goes, "to be wise, you first must be stupid"!! Yep, that would be me. Over the passed 3 years, I feel like I have rediscovered myself again. As I keep reminiscing, I look back at when I slowly starting regaining my health, I have found out what capabilities I didn't know I had. I think running a marathon was one of them. Last fall when I started training for my first marathon, I was averaging 25-30 miles a week, and occasionally cross trained on the spin bikes. A  few runs that I was training on, I managed to do an 18 mile run/walk, a 17 miler (which actually became a DNF on a 20 miler), and then a 17 mile knee throbber. To be honest, I felt going into running the marathon, that I was very much "under-trained". I thought to myself, if I can swing a good 15 miles without a hitch, I could swing that plus 11.2 miles as an easy cool down or jog the rest of the way. Good theory, bad idea!! Along came the injury that sidelined for a while. Until now:

These passed few weeks, I pushed for improvements. Back in February, my sports doctor advised me on sitting out my spring races, I wanted to. I said back then that it was the best decision I did, and I still stand by that. It started back in early April when I did 6 day run streak with a total of 32 miles. Not bad, but not as good as I wanted, still I took it as a sign of progress. That along has pushed me to this week when I aimed to a 10 mile strut in my neighborhood. Best feeling I've had in a while to complete a double digit distance since running my first marathon. 5 months in the making, well worth the wait. I admit, I can be very impatient at times, but as I've gotten older, I've gained some more wisdom here and there. Since that 10 miler, I did 2 easy recovery runs, and in my opinion felt effortless at the pace I was going. Funny I say that, when 2 years ago I was fighting to run at the speed I was going for this week. Improvement, yeah absolutely. I'm taking it as it comes. I guess you can say at this point, Timmaay is kicking Tim's butt right now. I think the biggest reason why Tim was so "under-trained" was a case of excuses. Timmaay has pretty much laid those excuses down this time around. I've decided to stick to just training this summer, and maybe catch a 5 or 10k (depending on cost) and kick this fall of with the following races, dates TBD

Labor Day 15k
Honored Hero 20 miler
Houston Half marathon (possibility)
Dallas White Rock Marathon

Along with these races, I plan to spend a lot more time at White Rock Lake and also at the Trinity Trails logging in some more training miles. I'm setting the bar higher to where my new average will be 40+ miles a week instead of 30. No more excuses. Here's to hoping Timmaay can be an even greater winner over Tim. We shall see...