I had an exciting weekend filled with my racing and running. Friday I worked until lunch and then I met with a runner to whom I have known for a long time, Austin McDonald. I have always admired him because he is so young and has maintained an amazing running career. I got word of him from a running friend of mine that he had graduated college and was basically sitting on his hands in a small town waiting for a job. He wanted to know if there was any way I could possibley help promote him. Well that light went off immediately in my head! I said to myself theres no way I wouldn’t help someone as talented as he is to be lead in the right direction. So I went and met with him and it was as I predicted, because when I took one look at him I saw myself a few years ago… Stuck in a small town with so much ambition and drive but with absolutely no where to direct it! The meeting went great, listening to him talk to me of how he felt and hearing all the training he has had, confirmed my feeling of what his true passion was and where he should be directed in life… As I have said before I have people ask me almost daily to train them in the gym or to coach them with their racing/running. And that would be an excellent idea for me but I am a single mom and I have little to NO time on my hands to do any of this… But my recommedations for Austin was to share his knowledge with any runner that was in need of training. He had the same thoughts that I had on all of it but I believe he just needed that small push to get things directed in the right way…. Austin has been trained from the age of 13 to run like lightening and when he graduated high school he got a scholarship for his running! Then through college he was trained by coaches and he is so full of the proper knowledge to get someone in good running form…
I was proud of the meeting I had with Austin and I thought it was very productive. Sometimes in life I believe we all need that small push to get us either out of the dumps or directed to the right place in our life! I had a similar situation with a friend of mine a few years ago… I was trapped in my marathon training and work and being the single mom. This friend helped me through a severe case of burnout after a marathon and she helped me develop my drive for racing again!
On Saturday morning I decided to do a 10K in Tifton GA… I haven’t done a race this long since my injury… This race was honoring my coach Mr. Mike Beeman so there was no way I was going to miss it. I asked Mike when I got there what his thinking was on me running the 10K, and he said “you are ready”… I did the race and did it in an excellent time! I finished 1st overall female in the 10K which was so suprising to me… But I said to myself before my race I was not going to disappoint my Beeman:) Mike has experienced a freak running injury himself. He pulled both his quadriceps from the knee running one morning a few weeks ago… He has been here for me through my injury and helped me so much I would do nothing other than return that favor to him… Mike is an inspiration to me! He has so much knowledge and experience from running for so many years he is an awesome running coach! Hearing him tell me I could do something like this meant alot to me…
I look forward to my upcoming week because I will incorporate my speed work back into my training but I will do this with careful caution…. After talking with both Austin & Mike it has given me the encouragement or push I need to get things going down the right path!