Endure - Run The South - I'm Back!

Have you ever been struggling through a run and realized that without a conscious thought of stopping, you have found yourself walking? This has happened to me a handful of times through the years and has always given me pause on the true effect our brains and subconscious has on our effort. I just finished a book called Endure by Alex Hutchinson that explores the minds effect on athletes and the great feats that modern scientist are going to, in order to trick or train the brain to help athletes push farther and harder than ever thought possible. The book is a bit dense with scientific data in spots, but worth a read (or a listen), if you are in to anecdotes and stories of how our brains have their own agendas (if you enjoy the writing style/construction of Malcolm Gladwell, you will enjoy the way this book flows).

Why is this on my mind? Well after a couple of month pause on my Breaking 2:00 goal, the training is back on! I have signed up for the Run The South Virtual Half Marathon the week of June 13th. This is not my Breaking 2:00 attempt (not ready for that), but instead a benchmark to see where I currently stand. The training for Run The South is a bit of a quick ramp up, but between running, biking and bootcamp workouts, I hope that I have stayed active enough to keep up with the training challenges. For this half, I have set a goal to break 10:00 minute pace (about 2 hours and 10 minutes) for the half. My first, longer training run of 8 miles was a success this weekend, with an average pace of 9:55.

For the actual (virtual) race in 4 or so weeks, I will be launching from Stonebridge Church on Prosperity Church Rd in North Charlotte. My plan is to have 3 or 4 (probably 4) routes that all leave from the church. I will set up a hydration table with water, electrolyte drink and fuel (gels, bananas or similar), to mimic water stops on a normal race course. Run the South has a 5K, 10K (which my wife is running) and a half marathon. If anyone wants to sign up and run with us, that would be awesome! The race website is here https://runthesouthcharlotte.raceroster.com/ (I have no affiliation with the race and do not profit off of sign-ups, just sharing). We plan to run on June 20th with my Half starting at about 6am. Julie will start her 10K about 7am. We could adjust the day forward a day or two if the weather looks extremely wet or oppressively hot. If you are interested in running with us, hit me up on Instagram @stevenwagner78 or on Facebook.