It has been a tough couple weeks for me in the motivation department. After putting in an easy 12 mile run a couple weeks ago I've had a real hard time increasing my weekly training miles. Lack of sleep is my easy excuse, but it's probably more of a middle age (I'm 45) metabolism thing. I just can't get myself to look forward to the daily mid-distance runs the way I used to. Searching for ways to jump start my training, I found myself back on Jeff Galloway's blog on the Runner's World website and an entry he did for someone who was struggling with the first couple miles of her run. He suggested come caffeine before the run and a run/walk warm up for the first 10 minutes. While this doesn't exactly get to the motivational problem I'm dealing with, I think if I try to make the first few miles easier, my desire to hit the trail will improve. So...since I love coffee, I'll down a cup and mix in some early walking to see if it helps me get back to logging 25-30 mile weeks. Say a prayer for me!

Tom Tasselmyer