Sundays are my long run and for the next 16 weeks I’ll be training for the Pasadena Half-Marathon. What does this have to do with Advertising? Absolutely nothing. But it is relevant to my education and this time here that has changed me. My friend Josephine and I had brunch this past Friday for my belated birthday, and we talked about how we enter school as one person and leave another one. Already I’m feeling how true this is becoming. I find that running helps build my physical and emotional wellness; just another added goal to shoot for in my hot pursuit. So I’ve added a new category that I’ll try to doc every Sunday–”Long Run Sunday” to document the progress.

After my friend Felipe’s bday last night, I decided to quit drinking for now. Its all good for me as I have discovered that I have an acute allergic reaction to alcohol anyway–I get intoxicated. So I’ve given it up in order to cut down on the extra calories. Who knows? Perhaps this will lead to quitting drinking altogether. I’m actually secretly shooting for that. Of course, there are some that would doubt that I could quit. But have faith; look at what I’ve done with smoking. I’ve been quit for that last two years, and I feel fantastic! And that has a huge physical and chemical withdrawal. This is just another hurdle to overcome.

This week will be my first week at the long run and complete my first full week of training. So far, my schedule consists of tempo runs of 3/4 miles (for now) on Tues, Thurs, and Friday with Sunday as the long run. The distance increases as the weeks progress. I try to fit in core and weights on days off as much as possible with Mondays off completely. My diet is slowly starting to change (thanks Zigs!); monitoring what I take in on the daily at a 1500-1700 calorie count.

So there it is! I’m officially in training mode for the next 16 weeks. I’m getting some friends already hitting me up with their words of encouragement (THANK YOU!), and others inquiring about training with me. I think it’s all fantastic!

I’m definitely not getting any younger, so I’d be God-damned if I didn’t try this before I go. Wish me luck!