Training = another job?

Hmm. After reading about that woman and her daughter, I do feel like this training regiment is a cakewalk. But there are times when I feel like it's like having a second (or third in my case) job. We make schedules and programs that dictate the pace of our week. We (ahem Caputo) get up at ungodly hours to squeeze in our track workouts/runs before our next scheduled activity. We pound water like it's beer (especially if we had too many beers and need to "hydrate" in time for next morning's long run.

Why do we do this? Because we feel awesome after the completion of each workout, speed session, long run, and tempo. It's like our Zoloft, a stroke to our running ego, a reason to feel little/no guilt for hitting the Kirspy Kreme. It's totally worth it, sometimes difficult to explain to the non-running community.

Next weekend, I'm doing my first "speed check" race- the Coach Bubba 20K. It's a race put on by my track club (Carolina Godiva Track Club) to honor our club member Bruce that died during a run. He was a marathoner himself, a big guy (don't you feel like all Bruce's are big guys?) that was a motivational "coach" to newbie runners.

I'm pumped-it's a mix of hills and flat goodness. And I had to take the day off of work at the clinic to for this race; my other job comes along with its own set of responsibilities too.