The Mark

8:55AM

My heel was a little sore after Monday's long run. I ran 20. It took 2 hours and 53 minutes. 2:35 AM-5:28AM. Not bad. By the way, I did four 5-mile loops this time instead of my one long 20-mile loop. Decided to try something new. It was a little boring but I think it was a little easier. I stayed close to home, passed it four times. Flatter streets. But like I said, my heel hurt pretty bad, especially on Tuesday, so I took Tuesday off. Figured I'd give my feet an extra day to rest. It helped. I felt better yesterday and ran 5 last night.

The marathon is a little over 3 weeks away. Very close. Like I said last time, I'm looking forward to it for so many reasons. It'll be nice to run a new race. I've heard many good things about this race. It'll be interesting to see how I do. It's a trip and I enjoy any trip, no matter how short or close. But I'm really looking forward to it because of Mark. I mentioned Mark Slagle last time. Since my family isn't going for very good reasons, it'll be very nice to have Mark there. Mark is like a brother to me, since I never had one. We met when I was Mark's teacher and camp counselor at church. Even though he's about 15 years younger, I have always enjoyed any time we've had together. We've had a lot of laughs together over the years and Mark is one of the most talented people I've ever met. He has been the star of many of my camp skits and I couldn't ask for better. He made those skits legen....wait for it...dary. (Sorry, I watch "How I Met Your Mother".) Mark is just awesome in so many ways.

This summer, I experienced one of the greatest weeks of my life. I went on Trek with 14 other guys from church. We flew out to Salida, Colorado and climbed Mount Antora. It was an incredible, spiritual, memorable, life-changing adventure and I will never forget it. Mark was one of the two guides that led us up that mountain and for that I will be eternally grateful. He was already a best friend but through that, our friendship grew even stronger. On our last night, we were eating at Sonic and somehow the Memphis marathon came up. I told Mark he needed to run with me. I was surprised when he quickly agreed. That's so Mark. He will do anything and be anywhere you need him to be at the drop of a hat. He didn't even think about having to run several miles and the pain he might have, he just said, "I'll be there.". Now, being that he has never done a major race that I know of, I'm glad he'll be doing the half marathon while I do the whole. And I'm sure we won't stay together. But just the fact that he's been running, training, and preparing for this is just awesome. It's a true testament to what a great friend he is.

I talked to Mark yesterday and he said he's still good to go. He's been running and can't wait for the trip. Our hotel is a whole other post and I'll talk about that soon. There's a definite story there. Let's just say neither of us needs to be by ourselves in that place. But it will be awesome and I certainly can't wait. It'll be another one of many adventures with Mark.

I'll be running my longest run this Sunday morning before I start tapering. I'll do 22 and it'll be a big loop instead of short ones. I'll keep you posted on how it goes. Until then...

Keep runnin',
Albert