Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Things will not always go your way, but you can't let life derail your plans. You have to be prepared for the unexpected, smile and stay focused.

Being on-call and having long runs this past weekend really tested my will. Your rhythm gets messed up when you randomly get calls for work. You are fueled up and ready to run and boom, you get back-to-back calls. Suddenly, you have to change your strategy.

I enjoy doing long runs outside; however, when I'm on-call, as tedious as it is, I have to go to the gym. It's just not feasible to be running outside and then have to drop everything to pick up your computer when your phone rings.

The two things that definitely helped were that I anticipated what could happen, and I prepared for it. Just like race day, always be prepared. In both cases, there is so much that is not in your control, and it's better to be proactive versus reactive. Hey, those Business Management classes I took in college are coming in handy haha.

My preparedness came in the form of mixing up my 16-mile long run between the running track and treadmill to avoid any tediousness...and man towards the end of running on the track, it was getting tedious. I also had GU gels and Accelerade so I had fueling options. There's nothing like starting your run an hour later than you thought and then being hungry. It's no bueno.

It was a tough workout, but I knew what could happen, I had prepared for it and I stay focused on running those 16 miles. I wasn't going to stop until I reached my goal, and I didn't. A nice reminder to always stay focused, and be prepared.