Fourth Week of September

Monday: 4 really easy miles at noon. 5 miles in pouring down rain on Turkey Mountain with Brian in the evening. That really was a blast!

Tuesday: 4 easy miles at noon. Avg pace of 8:22 per mile

Wednesday: 4.4 fairly fast miles at noon. Avg pace of 8:04 per mile. Six miles on Turkey Mtn.

Thursday: 3 super easy miles at noon to loosen up my legs. Interval workout in the evening (400/600/800/1000/1000/800/600/400). Plus warm up up and cool down. Here are the splits:

1:30/2:28/3:13/4:18/4:11/3:17/2:25/1:23

Friday: no running. Walked a mile or two at noon.

Saturday: 20.8 miles in morning. Avg pace = 8:45. Then mowed grass. Walked a couple miles in the evening.

Total running miles for week: about 55

Taught Malachi in Sunday school. Here is the outline and major lessons:

I. God's Love for Israel 1:2-5

Lesson for us: Too often we take for granted the great love God has for us. (See 1 John 3:1-3)

II. The Priests' Unfaithfulness 1:6-2:9

Lessons for us: 1) We dishonor God when we offer imperfect sacrifices. (See Rom 12:1 we are to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice)

2) We profane God's name when we serve him grudgingly (See Philippians 2:14)

3) The way we live can either turn many from sin or cause many to stumble (See 1 Peter 2:9-12 and 2 Corinthians 5:20)

III. Mixed Marriages and Divorce 2:10-16

Lesson for us: We deal treacherously when we do not honor marriage as God intended.

IV. God's Justice 2:17-3:7

Lesson for us: We wear out God's patience when we act like God ignores evil and will not judge sin (See Psalm 73)

V. The Sin of Robbing God 3:7-12

Lesson for us: We rob God when we fail to give him what is his (See 1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

NT Teaching on Giving

Give regularly 1 Cor 16:2

Give cheerfully 2 Cor 9:7

Give as God prospers 2 Cor 8:14

Give lovingly to meet needs 2 Cor 8:24

Give sacrificially Mark 12;42-44

VI. The Arrogant and the Humble 3:13-4:3

Lesson for us: We speak against God when we complain that serving him brings no rewards (See 1 Corinthians 15:58)

My favorite song from the worship service this morning was Let it Be Said of Us.

Third Week of September

Monday: Five mile tempo run at noon. Avg pace = 7:55/mile. In the evening I did hill sprints with Leslie and then went to Turkey Mt. and ran some trails, removing ribbons from the Turkey and Tatur race as I ran. I estimate I ran a total of 13 miles or so today. Ended the day with my heel and Achilles tendon a little sore. Iced it.

Passed a new milestone today. As of today, I have logged 5000 miles since I started running with RunnersWorld Tulsa!

Tuesday: Could barely walk due to heel and Achilles tendon pain. Did not run. Iced my heel at night.

Wednesday: Still having trouble walking. Did not run. Didn't have time to run anyway. Left town on business trip.

Thursday: Too busy to run. Still suffering from heel pain and wouldn't have run anyway.

Friday: Returned from trip in evening. Did not have time to run. Heel feeling a little better. I iced it in the evening.

Saturday: Took 4 ibuprofen before the 18 mile run. It turned out to be a good run. There was tightness in the tendon going up the hill at Turkey Mtn. Otherwise, I felt okay. I wore an Achilles tendon strap during the run. So here is how the run went: Eric, Eric, and I took off at about an 8:45 pace and kept that pace up to the parking lot at Turkey Mtn. One of the Erics turned back there, because he was only doing 12 miles. From Turkey Mtn to Helmerich Park, Eric and I picked up the pace a little bit. Avg pace for the first 8 miles was around 8:40-8:45 per mile. On the return trip we picked up the pace to 8:10-8:15 for the next seven miles. Once we got back across the pedestrian bridge, our miles were approximately 7:55, 7:55, and 7:45. We then jogged from Riverside back to Veterans' Park. It was a hard run, but felt very good!

Saturday afternoon I tried to take a nap, but awoke after about ten minutes with a calf cramp. That kind of ruined the nap. In the evening I ran in the Ladies First 5k, a race in which the ladies get a three minute head start. My legs felt very heavy from the very start of the race, and I felt like walking after about 1k, but I pressed on and kept up a pace similar to the last three miles of the morning run. I ended up catching 99 ladies, and was beaten by 28 ladies. I finished second in my age group with a time of 24:44. As I was approaching the finish, I was gaining on two kids, Casey Keys (9 yrs old) and Hosea Soap (7 yrs old) and I slowed down, thinking it would look kind of bad for an old guy like me trying to beat these poor little kids. But then with about 50 yards to go, the kids started sprinting, and I tried to pick up the pace, but there was no way I could match the closing speed of those two boys! They are fast!!!!! I really enjoyed the race. Coach Kathy did a great job organizing the race, and she also looked pretty in that Scottish lassie outfit.

Total miles for the week: about 35

Had a good time in church this morning. The message was about living as citizens of heaven, reflecting the good news of Jesus Christ. We sang a couple of really great songs that are among my favorites. One was an old hymn, Immortal, Invisible. The other is a more contemporary song, Indescribable by Chris Tomlin.

After church I watched the Chiefs game with Sarah. We both yelled at the quarterback in the closing seconds of the first half because he should have either thrown a pass into the end zone or thrown the ball away. If he missed his target, there would still be time for a field goal, and they were well within range. Instead the blockhead throws a pass that only gains a few yards and isn't even close to the end zone, and time ran out. Turns out that error cost the Chiefs the game. Oh well, at least Minnesota won.

After football, I finally cut the grass. It was dry enough that I didn't have to put pontoons on the mower. Finished just in time to shower and head back to church. On the way to church, Rhonda called Marilyn and was crying. It is her deceased dad's birthday, and she was sad about that. She also was about to start cutting her grass, but she has a bad back. A thought popped into my head that I should volunteer to cut it, but I really didn't want to. But then a phrase from 2 Corinthians 5:14 popped into my head, "the love of Christ compels us." So I volunteered, and we headed to her house instead of to church, and I really did have a good time mowing Rhonda's lawn.

Training Log - Second Week in September

Running Log
Monday: about 9 miles on Turkey Mountain - the yellow trail twice plus a little extra. Did the two yellow loops in about 86 minutes, then did about another 10 minutes. So, it was 10:30-11:00 minute pace. Sounds pretty slow, but it felt equivalent to around an 8:30 pace on the roads.
Tuesday: 5 miles easy
Wednesday: 6 miles easy
Thursday: 4 miles on a treadmill in Atlanta. Did repeats of 1/4 mile fast (6-6:30/mile) and 1/4 mile slow (9:00/mile). Wanted to get more miles in, but there was a thirty minute limit on the treadmill, and other guys were waiting. (Okay, I did go a little over thrity minutes, but not by much.) Felt pretty good during this workout.
Friday: 6.5 miles at about 8:30 pace
Saturday: 12 miles at about 8:10 pace. Then helped mark Turkey and Taturs course. A good part of it was walking and stopping to tie ribbons, but I did get in a fair amount of running. I'm counting it as an extra 5 miles in the log. The twelve miles was a good run with Eric. The goal was to keep it at pretty close to planned marathon pace the whole way, which we did with no problem.
Miles for the week: 47.5

Other Stuff
I was thinking today about how close we are to finishing our study of the minor prophets in Sunday School. Next up is Malachi, and then we will be through. I think the verse that captures the message of Malachi is 2:2, "If you do not listen, and do not set your heart to honor my name," says the LORD Almighty, "I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not set your heart to honor me." I hope that my life honors the name of the LORD.

I was also thinking today about the last lesson on Zechariah that I taught. I think my favorite passage is from chapter 3, which relates the vision in which Joshua is in filthy clothes standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan is also standing there accusing him. Then the LORD rebukes Satan, saying he has chosen him and snatched him from the fire. Then the the angel of the LORD takes off Joshua's dirty clothes and puts clean clothes on him and says, "see, I have taken away your sin." It is a great picture of how Jesus Christ has taken away our sins, and now Satan has no basis to accuse those who believe in Christ. I am thankful.

Training Log - First Week in September

Monday: Hill repeats. Total of six miles. On the "cool down jog" Rusty, Amanda, and I sprinted up a few gradual hills. That left me sore for the rest of the week.

Tuesday: Five mile easy run from downtown and around Swan Lake.

Wednesday: Six mile easy run that included Midland Valley trail and west bank trail along the Arkansas River.

Thursday: Three mile very easy jog at noon. My glutes were still sore, and I was trying to loosen them up for the interval session in the evening. For intervals, we first started with two mile warm up, then 8 x 800 meters. Averaged 3:23, with 2:30 jog recoveries. Finished with two mile cool down. Total of 12 miles for the day. I felt really tired during this session.

Friday: No running.

Saturday: Eighteen mile run. Average pace 8:40 per mile. Felt pretty tired before I started, but felt good most of the way. The last several miles were hard. I think the 100% humidity had something to do with it.

Total: 47 miles for the week