The last race Olivia and I did together was the Rock n’ Roll New Orleans Marathon / Half Marathon back in February 2013. Both of us have suffered multiple injuries since then (Olivia even had to spend 8-weeks in a boot), but we are hopeful to make our return to completing races together this fall at the 2014 Murfreesboro “Middle” Half Marathon. After registration opened at 10am yesterday, it sold-out early this morning, but Olivia and I both got in! She decided to sign-up on a whim last night while we were having dinner at Ruth’s Chris before heading to TPAC for War Horse.

This is one of my favorite races, but I’ve missed the last two with injuries. Olivia has never participated in the Middle Half, so this will be her first chance to experience this great event. Even though the race will only be 7 days after St. George, I really wanted to run it this year!

The last two days of my running were better than last week, but they were still tough with the soupy humidity!! My legs are feeling stronger, and the gears don’t seem to be grinding as much at the beginning of my runs.

On Saturday morning I met Brian in Percy Warner park for a hilly run through Percy and Edwin Warner. Even though both of us were wearing Garmins, for various reasons we lost track of how far we had gone so we just had to estimate when we reached the planned 6-miles. After getting back to the house I used mapmyrun.com and calculated our route to be 5.85-miles, which was a touch short. However, it was an enjoyable effort with Brian. My legs were very tired, but I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation during the run.

Instagram filter used: Mayfair

View in Instagram ⇒

Instagram filter used: Mayfair

View in Instagram ⇒

I got in almost 33 years of practice doing “off-days” before I became a “runner” in 2007, so this “off-day” was a piece of cake.

Ooooo…I like cake! Especially with chocolate icing.

Wait….where was I….Oh yeah, today was an “off-day” from running, and it was good to get a break after 6-straight-days of scheduled runs, and a tough workout last night. My legs actually feel really good today. I remember last Friday that I was extremely sore after a hard track workout the night before. Today I’ve got a little soreness in my right hip-flexors, but otherwise am feeling better than I expected. Hope this holds true on my scheduled 6-miler tomorrow.

Today marked my 6th consecutive day to get in a training run, and I can’t remember the last time that has happened. I’m guessing it has been well over a year, if not much longer. Many of these runs have been fairly crummy (Sat, Sun, & Mon specifically), but tonight’s “speed” workout was BY FAR the best I’ve felt during those 6-days.

I met my normal track group tonight at Vanderbilt, but instead of joining their workout I did the week 1 “speed” workout prescribed in the Hansons Advanced Training Plan. This was 12 x 400m with 400m recovery in-between each interval. This equates to 3-miles of intervals and 3-miles of recovery. Based on my goal marathon time of 3:15, the target splits for this workout are 1:38. While, this is the goal, the Hanson brothers really emphasize not exceeding your target pace, and even make their athletes do sets of push-ups for every second they exceed their goal.

After a miserable run on Monday, yesterday’s run was significantly better. I’ve come to grips with the fact that I simply cannot hit the target paces from then Hansons plan when the humidity is at 95%. It’s funny that in the weeks leading up to the start of my scheduled training, when I was practicing the different pace ranges, that I was having trouble with being too fast! Of course, many of those mornings were in 50s or 60s with 60% humidity. It makes a BIG difference.

Anyway, I met Nathan and Brian at 5:00am on the Harpeth River Greenway for an easy-paced 8-miler. My legs felt better than Monday, and overall the run was much better too. We kept the pace very chill for the first 5-miles before picking it up a-bit for the last 3 (probably ran a bit too hard for the final 400m on the last one):

The “ABCs” of Acts

For students in my Wednesday night class on The “ABCs” of Acts, handouts and notes for Acts Chapter 1 are now available online. Lord willing we will cover this text tonight at Bellevue Church of Christ in the Auditorium! This class will begin immediately after the opening devotional at 6:30pm.

Click HERE for more information on this class

Click HERE to download > Acts Chapter 1 Handouts and Notes

Click HERE to download > The “ABC” Outline Template

Please Join Us!

One of the core principles of the Hansons Marathon Training Plan is “Cumulative Fatigue,” which essentially means that you are always running on tired legs until the week of your race. Well, it has only taken 6 runs for “Cumulative Fatigue” to take over! Today I had NOTHING!

This morning I met Nathan and Brian at 5:30am for a jaunt on our old “Nature Center Loop” starting in Edwin Warner Park. I knew right away that my legs were dead, and they just seemed to get worse the longer we went.

The “ABCs” of Acts

Starting this Wednesday, I will begin a new class in the auditorium at Bellevue Church of Christ, entitled The “ABCs” of Acts. This class will begin immediately after the opening devotional each week at 6:30pm.

When I was a student at Lipscomb University back in the mid 90s, Dr. Gerald Fulks, one of the Finance/Economics professors (and an Elder at Bellevue Church of Christ), taught a class every semester on personal evangelism. During that class, he made the argument that it was essential to have a good recollection of the main ideas of the book of Acts when attempting to teach someone God’s plan of salvation.

In keeping with this, Dr. Fulks presented the concept of the ABC Outline as a tool for remembering the key points of each chapter. It works by matching the sequence of the alphabet with the sequence of each chapter (i.e. Chapter 1 = A, Chapter 2 = B, and so on). For each chapter, we were encouraged to come up with a keyword or phrase that captures the main idea, and also begins with the designated letter.

This has been a powerful tool for me, and is something that I have shared with a number of classes through the years. I’ve always challenged my students to come up with their own keywords, and the link below is to a template for creating your own ABC outline.

During this class we will cover a chapter of Acts of Apostles each week and then the following week we will ask for suggestions on keywords or phrases that go along with that chapter. By doing this, each student will be able create their own, customized outline.

• The “ABC” Outline Template

As always, handouts and notes for this class will be available in PDF format at https://www.teamagee.com/class

Please Join Us!

Instagram filter used: Lo-fi

View in Instagram ⇒

Instagram filter used: Amaro

View in Instagram ⇒

The last two days of my running week were tough!! My legs felt dead and sore, and I just didn’t have it. Add to this that the humidity was at 90% with temps in the 70s for both Saturday and Sunday’s run.

On Saturday morning I met my running group in Belle Meade, but my friend John and I ended up breaking off and doing our own thing. We did a 7-mile loop that consisted of the Richland Creek Greenway and various streets near the Sylvan Park community in West Nashville.

I knew from the start that the run would be a struggle, and I’m grateful to John for pulling me through when I was struggling. The route had quite a bit of elevation gain, especially in the first 4-miles, but I still hit my goal “easy” pace with an 8:57 average per mile.

Instagram filter used: Valencia

View in Instagram ⇒

Today was a scheduled off-day from running and, as usual for my off-days, I ROCKED IT!

Just Kidding

It was nice to have the day to recover from the hard track workout last night. My legs are fairly sore, and it will be interesting to see how they feel on my run tomorrow

Instagram filter used: Normal

View in Instagram ⇒

Tonight was my first track workout in over a month, and it was good to be back running with the Jim Spivey Running Club (JSRC). I intentionally shifted the Hansons Advanced Marathon training plan a bit so that the “speed” workouts would fall on Thursday instead of Tuesday. This way I can continue to run with the JSRC during the “speed” phase of the plan.

Thick humidity has descended on Middle Tennessee with a vengeance this week, and tonight was tough with temps around 85º. I know it is only going to get worse, but my body struggling to get acclimated right now.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve logged 20-miles after the first three days of a running week, and my legs are REALLY feeling it! This is especially true considering that today’s 6.4-miler had almost 1,000′ of elevation gain in the first 3.2 miles. I met Dawn, Mary, Marc, and Nathan at the main gates of Percy Warner Park at 5:15am, and then ran an out-and-back to the top of “3-mile-hill.” I did this same run last week in order to get in some practice with uphill and downhill running, which will clearly be needed in St. George

While climbing “3-mile-hill” (see peak below), my legs were SCREAMING, and had Nathan not been right beside me, I very likely would have stopped and walked.

The Life of Abraham

Lesson 18: Sons of Abraham

(Galatians 3; 4:21-31; Hebrews 11:8-19)

For students in my Wednesday night class on The Life of Abraham: Handouts and Notes for Lesson 18 are now available online. Lord willing we will cover this text tomorrow night at 6:30pm at Bellevue Church of Christ!

Today’s plan was for 8-miles at “easy” pace, and I was joined by my friend Brian on the Harpeth River Greenway at 5:30am. The humidity was again pretty dense (there was even a low-lying fog), and temps were slightly higher than yesterday.

We started off by the driving range on Old Harding, and ran 3.25-miles out and back on the greenway. Our pace was very chill, but I still nailed the high-end of my “easy” range on every split but the first one. It is already obvious to me than many of the goal pace ranges in the Hansons Plan will have to be modified as the heat and humidity continue to rise in Middle Tennessee.