Sub-3 at Austin in sight - 9.5 weeks to go

It's been a very busy time, in which I am running the most I ever have in my life, handling a key management position in my career and helping raise my 7-month old daughter.

Life is going well on all of the above fronts.

So, in the spirit of time, here are some updates on last week:

• I successfully completed last week of 66 miles this past Sunday. This was after hitting 64 miles the week prior. Never I have run 130 miles in two weeks - ever.
• I killed my most recent long run of 20 miles on Sunday through hills, 18 degree temps, minor snow with an average pace of 7:21. No problem.
• On the tempo front, I breezed through a 6 mile lactate threshold workout at 6:25 pace last Friday, which is showing I am trending toward sub-3:00 conditioning. I definitely had more in the tank.

Here are some notes on this week's schedule:

• I am scheduled for 66 miles, which will total 196 miles in 3 weeks once completed.
• I have nailed 25 miles week-to-date, right on plan.
• This morning, I set my personal distance record on a treadmill by knocking out 15 straight with no breaks in 1:54:40.
• This week's long run will be a goal marathon pace run: 15 miles with 12 of them at 6:50 per mile.

Other notes:

• By end of week, I will have run a staggering 2,119 miles in 2008 and the schedule says I will run 2,271 for the year. This will smash last year's record of 2,101 in 2007.
• I am now running a very surprisingly high % of my mileage on my own personal treadmill. 41 miles out of 66 were on the 'mill last week. This week, with snow on the ground and the need for pace control on Sunday, it may be 100%.

In summary, there is lots of hard work still head. However, I am right on track at this point to run a sub-3:00 marathon in Austin on February 15th, 2009.

I feel inspired. I am focused. I am feeling like I can translate this running energy into so many other positives in my life. I do not want running to be the only thing. Rather I want to use it as a self-motivator to accomplish other important, meaningful goals in my life. I just need to figure out what these are and how I want to do this.