Archive for October, 2004
Blech
I either have some kind of head cold, or some killer allergy thing going on. I’m taking my Allegra, dammit. Yes, I missed one day, but it really can’t be that, can it? *shakes fist*
I went to the gym anyway. It’s not like I feel HORRIBLE, but I feel low energy. I lifted weights, but didn’t get in a run. Nothing. I just didn’t have the juice. Mind you, I did fine. I upped my bench even more, so that I’m using two 60 pound dumbells for my dumbell bench and I’m doing all kinds of mad things for my lunges, my shoulder press, etc. I feel powerful, but without much juice. Make sense?
So, blech. I’ve got a race Sunday. 9 miles. I’ll run it unless I feel deathly ill. Doesn’t make sense to shut down camp for a weird head fog. At least not yet.
World Run Day?
Have you guys heard of World Run Day? November 7th, 2004, everyone’s supposed to run, donate money to whatever charity you want, etc. This is a week before my marathon, so I’m not sure what distance I’m going to run, but what the hell?
You all want to run?
I Finally Understand
This morning, I finally understand why people are fans. There was no cost to entry. I didn’t have to work hard. I didn’t have to suffer defeat. I just had to observe. And it felt sweet. I just had a shared experience with all my colleagues, hell, with everyone I’ve seen or heard since waking this morning. People are all smiling and nodding knowingly. It’s like WE won. It’s like we held off fate and curses.
For the last several weeks, I’ve been using that growing sensation as part of my training. I’ve been clinging to the palpable sense in the air that hard work, patience, determination, and a lot of luck can pay off. And it’s made me run faster. It’s made me train harder.
Athletes can help you model yourself towards success. If you slip past the flash and get into what it must’ve taken to get there, you get a better sense of it. You can latch to that and use it until it just comes naturally.
I’ve gone from being the biggest skeptic to seeing the picture behind the picture. All overnight. Wow.
Maybe not 2005, but…
The Jay Marathon looks to be the biggest thing I’ve yet found that I want to face. If you read through this site, it’s ASTOUNDING what they put you through on this course. Does your marathon have a full mile of running through a brook? Does yours have a rope crossing on a river? Do you get to run 5 miles in the mud?
The site says that if you can’t finish a marathon in 4 hours, don’t bother. Most people double or TRIPLE their PR when they run this course.
There are personal accounts that show just how killer this is.
So, of course, I want to go.
Fast For Me!
I jammed out another five miles this morning on the hamster trap. It’s all I’m going to be doing for morning runs, as darkness has descended on my poor New England village. But man, five fast miles (for me). I completed them in 47:25. That means roughly 9:30 miles (really roughly, cuz I had to use my head). Considering I’m a 10 minute miler usually at my best, I feel like a race horse.
An hour of heavy lifting followed, with some core strength thrown in, too. Today was the first day I did reverse rows, which is where you lie underneath a smith machine bar, and pull your bodyweight up to the bar, kind of like an upside-down pushup. (Do you have an image of that, or am I not explaining it right?) Anyhow, what a move. Being that I weigh 238 right now, that’s a helluva lot of weight to move up to that bar while hanging upside down. But I did two sets fairly strong. I’m Batman.
There’s no question I’ll finish the marathon. It’s all just a matter of how strong I finish. I am mighty.
Tea Leaves
I’m sitting here thinking about personal responsibility. Funny thing is, I’m not doing much work while I’m thinking about it. And I’m drinking tea. Specifically:
And Yogi Teas have a cool additional treat. They feature a saying. Mine says:
Your soul is the spirit of God.
Tall order, really, but it fits so well into what I was thinking. It’s Fig’s fault I was thinking this stuff. She was ranting about the responses she received when she said that fat people had to take personal responsibility for their condition, if they want to change their lot in life (and that’s a gross paraphrase of a great post, so go read the real one).
Habit 1 from Stephen R. Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is to be proactive. Another way he says to think of that is to realize, “I’m the programmer.” I’m in charge of my destiny. I’m RESPONSIBLE. He even goes on to say that “responsible” is shorthand for being response-able. Able to respond. I’m just buzzing from this thought process. (The tea’s decaf, so you can’t blame it).
When I began my quest for self-improvement, the first thing I had to do was take account of all the things that weren’t going so well in my life and OWN them. I had to say, “All this stuff is messed up. Not *all* of it is my fault, but all of it is my responsibility to fix.” And this is how I work best.
Doesn’t mean I always live up to my personal responsibilities. I sure mess up. But I never once shirk the ownership of what’s mine to control. If things go wrong, I’ll be the first to say it’s my responsibility to fix what comes next. And that, I believe, is where the little slogan dangling from my bag of tea brings me back to my thoughts on Fig’s post:
Your soul is the spirit of God.
Final Disclaimer: I mean “God” to mean *.* I’m not religious. I gave up Catholicism for Lent. I only pray when I’m about to be in a car accident, if you count actual hands-clasped type prayers. Otherwise, I am saying “God” the way Sir Alec Guinness would’ve said, “The Force.” Okay?
Reading:
Funny as all hell. I laughed out loud three or four times last night before falling to sleep.
Drive By Truckers
I plucked a CD off the shelf at my local library and really appreciated it. Have you ever heard of the Drive By Truckers?
They’re kind of neato. I can only speak for their recent album, The Dirty South. But lots of fun to listen to, and definitely nothing I’ve heard on the radio. Great music and worth a listen.
Full Force
Friday gave me 7 miles running and an hour of heavy weight lifting. I felt godlike.
Saturday was another 5 miles, including a mile of near-vertical on an elliptical. Man, that thing really hurt my ass.
Monday, I ran 11 miles, and mixed in another hour of heavy weight lifting. I’m back to godlike, after skipping sunday to recover my poor assmuscles. (*shakes fist at elliptical machine*).
I’m training harder than I have over the last 14 or 15 weeks or whatever how long I’ve been training for this marathon. I keep squeezing bits more out of the program, wherever I can find them. Part of it comes from not being able to get out on the trails in the morning (it’s just too damned dark when I have time to run), and when I’m at the gym, I feel obligated to put even more into the mix.
Another part comes from all those giant screen TVs showing Schilling and his bloody red sock. I am being motivated to continue when I’m tired by watching this guy keep pitching, even though he’s falling apart at the seams. This isn’t my typical motivation. In fact, in other lights, what he’s doing might be forever damaging and yadda yadda. But, it appears that this guy is going to be part of a success story that dwarfs my grandfather’s memory, my father’s memory, mine. Living in the heart of underdog sports stories (mind you, I don’t like sports much), I’m getting the same infection that’s keeping everyone chattering around the office lately.
I now know, for the first time since I started training, that I will finish my race. I’m 100% sure (barring insane injuries). What comes now is a question of how strongly I’ll finish.
But man, I’ve got it. I’m motivated. I’m powered. I’m kicking ass.
(Oh, but I gained the 4 pounds back that I lost a while ago. Damned nutrition).
Winning Vs……
The editorial in this month’s Running Times talks about the opposite of Winning. Most people would say the opposite of winning is losing. But according to research scientist Martha Rosett Lutz, the opposite of winning is quitting.
Jonathan Beverly, the editor, goes on to say that quitting can be as brash as giving up your shoes and buying a La-Z-Boy, but it can be as subtle as giving up during the tough part of a race. Similarly, winning can be something other than crossing the finish line first. You win by beating a personal record, or by just finishing the race, etc.
This is definitely something to consider. For me, I’m guilty of giving up sometimes. Not during races, really, but during training. I’ve quit, which means I haven’t won. And I’ve won often, even when I’ve placed last, next to last, etc.
How about you?
Are You A Serious Runner?
Here’s something– some of my running blog friends are SERIOUS about their running. They are out there slicing time off their PRs, and they are training with intense regimens. That is SO awesome. You all rock hard!
Some of my other running blog friends are running, and they’re enjoying it, and they’re trying hard to stay in the game. But they feel worried that they’re not serious enough. That they’re not “real” runners. I’ve seen this before in other lifestyle choices I used to embrace.
There are circles within circles. It exists in ALL avenues of life, I’m starting to believe.
In this world, runners are newbies when they’re out there whacking the sidewalk with inappropriate shoes, and when they can barely get from one phone pole to the other without wanting to walk. Hack, hack, hack.
Runners get a little more respect when they hit some distance goal within their own mind. For some, it’s running three miles. For others, a full hour out there hacking away on the distance. And for others, it’s a race.
You get that first 5K and you feel jubilation for just finishing! If you somehow manage to place, in your age, for left-handed females wearing purple that day, whatever, you are even happier still. You’ve raced, so now you’re a serious runner, right?
But wait. That guy’s done a marathon. That 64-year-old woman has finished FOUR marathons in times you can’t imagine getting. You must still not be a serious runner.
Do you own technical clothing? Do you know what wicking does? Can you set the pace mechanism on your supercomputer wristwatch? Do you now own tights, even though you’re still not officially a superhero? Getting serious now, aren’t we?
No!
Just like the old scenes I’ve been involved with, there are always a plethora of ways in which the scene itself conspires to make you feel like you’re “in”, but not that in. You’re not in that inner circle within all the other rings. You’re on the edge.
Well, I’d like to grant you all special dispensation. You are officially hereby considered an official, bona-fide, definitely not kidding here runner. If you throw your shoes away, quit racing, and start hanging out at Krispy Kreme waiting for the HOT light to come on, you can still belong. You’re in the tribe forever. Yep. Congratulations! You’re in!
Now, why do you run? I imagine you’ll tell me you started with something to prove. Maybe you wanted to lose weight. Hell, you might’ve taken it up in school and just carried on, sharing our secret addiction.
But if you’re running to belong, is that a problem?
