It's CONFERENCE week!

Hey Everyone!

Well, I should be studying right about now, as tomorrow starts the first day of finals week, but I'm feeling particularly reflective today, so I think it's a good time to write in this thing since it's once again been a month since I've last written!

I started off the day with a nearly 2 hour "long run" in the pool. It's a brutal thing to have to do - very boring and monotonous, but the one good thing about it is all the reflecting I can do while going back and forth. I thought about a lot of stuff in that pool today. I thought about how I got started running and the journey I've had as an athlete here at St. Norbert. I thought about injuries, and how I've been so very fortunate to not have many at all compared to a lot of runners I know. I thought about how I'm going to get past the somewhat recurring IT band problems I have been having, and that I can't let it frustrate me too much no matter what, because as my Coach put it, if I check out mentally, then it's all over.

That's just not me. I don't check out mentally. I am going to stay strong through whatever it really is that's wrong with my IT band. I'm going to be smart with it and keep taking it one day at a time. That was another thing I reflected on in the pool today. How valuable it is to live in the present! I can try and compare my times to last year, or I can look ahead to Nationals and think about how I'm going to perform there, but what does that really do for me in the here and now?!? Absolutely nothing! I've got to do what I can to help myself now, which today was going to the pool instead of running outside, and studying for exams so I can do well on both of them on Monday and Tuesday of this week!

Feeling like I wanted to do even a little more reflecting, I decided to take about a half an hour walk along the Fox River Trail in Green Bay after I got done at the pool. It was so gorgeous and so peaceful! After a disappointing steeplechase race last night in about 42 degree weather, I was very frustrated with how I raced and how my IT band has continually been tight the past couple of weeks. Well, by the time I finished walking outside this afternoon, I was truly ready to move on. Again with the living in the here and now -- what good is it going to do for me to dwell on last night's race? I've got a race to prepare for again already on Friday at Conference, and that matters a lot more than last night's race ever will. Would it have been nice to PR and provo? Of course it would have been. But life isn't always going to be easy, so I take a little bit of time to "pout" (as my Coach puts it) and then move on. Today is a new day!

Phew, does it ever feel good to get some of those "thoughts" out! This is why I love blogging!

Oh, and by the way, if any of my "followers" have any advice on dealing with IT band issues, besides stretching and icing, I'd really appreciate it! I have had 2 appointments with a chiropractor thus far for the Graston Technique, and it really hasn't done anything. My guess is it needs a little more time to go in to effect, but needless to say, I'm not a very patient person :-/

Off to study for exams - hopefully I'll be able to finish out the semester with a bang! Leaving for Conference down in Jacksonville, Illinois (7+ hour drive, woo hoo!) on Thursday morning at 7 am. Got a lot to accomplish before then, but it's still super exciting to be able to officially declare it's CONFERENCE WEEK!!!! :) Amazing how fast this season has gone by! Oh, and graduation is on Sunday. Whoa. I'll worry about that AFTER exams and a successful Conference meet! :)

Hope ya'll have a great week... be positive, smile and laugh often, and live life to its fullest each and every day!

Remember, “Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion.” So find your passion and get after it! :)

Till next time...
~KnightRunner

P.S. -- Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there... and to MY mom, YOU'RE THE GREATEST!!! Don't know what I'd do without you! Love you so much!