Running is Strange

With three weeks from race day, I'm sort of at a loss this week. But something struck me after Saturday's long run (see below). It was odd, but for some reason completing twelve miles was more noteworthy than the previous week's twenty-miler. It's not that I felt better, was more or less prepared for one over the other, but when I got back in my car I thought, "Who would've thought I'd ever run twelve miles?" Yet that hadn't occurred to me after finishing twenty. Why was twelve more noteworthy? (I use "noteworthy" rather than another word because "significant" seems too grandiose.) I don't have an answer.

As race day draws closer, so does the completion of March Matching Madness and the Mission Possible fundraiser.  Thank you to all who have donated to the Rescue Mission. And to everyone, please take time to learn more about the work at the Mission and share what you learn with others.

Monday: 2400-yard swim
Tuesday: 8.12 miles
Wednesday: 8.01 miles
Thursday: HIIT at BTF
Friday: 4.44 miles
Saturday: 12.31 miles
Sunday: Rest
Total: 32.88 miles

This is after my wife and I finished the 2014 Chicago Half Marathon. We celebrated with some strange dance moves.

Points of Interest (and Maybe Contention)

The running community (at least in my experience with it) is filled with various controversies and points of contention. Stretching (I should do it, but tend to neglect it), strength and cross-training (I should do it, but tend to neglect it...although I've been better lately), toe shoes (the clock is ticking on this fad, thankfully), Dean Karnazes (sure, he's a publicity guy, but his book convinced me I could run a marathon), shorts length (the shorter, the better), the words "jogger" versus "runner" (I feel like I work to hard to be called a "jogger," thankyouverymuch), the book Born to Run (read it, loved it, recommend it), even listening to music while running.

It's this last one that gets me. Folks are impassioned about one side or the other. "I need my tunes." "I want to distract myself from the pain." "It pumps me up." "I keep a better cadence with the music." I understand all of these, and when I first started running I went through more pairs of earbuds than running shoes in two years. But after finishing my first marathon, for which I crafted the perfect playlist, I revisited the issue of music while running and came to a couple conclusions.

In order to understand my first conclusion, you have to understand that I'm both a huge fan of music and an amateur musician. I took my first piano lesson when I was six, my first upright bass lesson at the age of ten, met my wife in junior high orchestra, and skipped enough class freshman year of college to teach myself how to play guitar. And I've dragged plenty of people to see and hear plenty of rock and roll shows over the last 25 years. But I realized that by listening to music while running I was giving this music a different connotation, one that may not have thrilled me. "Such and such a song was playing while I ran up that torturous hill." "This other song was playing while I frantically sought an unlocked bathroom during a long run through the park." (This is not a song to help stem that urge.)

More importantly, though, was the issue raised in the "distraction" comment above. I simply didn't want to distract myself any longer. In fact, I preferred to learn the pain, to embrace the struggle, to forge ahead despite these things. So I hung up my earbuds and started paying attention. It would be a better story if I suddenly got much faster and more fleet of foot, but it would also be untrue. I haven't dramatically decreased speed, but I do enjoy running more. I love my local park more and take time to appreciate seeing wild turkeys during an early-morning long run. And maybe that hints at a larger issue: paying attention. So let me encourage you to pay attention, look around you, truly try to see people. It takes work. (Leaving my iPod home the first time was difficult.) But maybe you'll appreciate life around you that much more.

Monday: 2200-yard swim
Tuesday: 7.08 miles, 4 repeats
Wednesday: 8.28 miles
Thursday: HIIT at BTF
Friday: 3.08 miles
Saturday: 20.04 miles
Sunday: Rest
Total: 38.48 miles

With four weeks until the 2016 Boston Marathon and the conclusion of the Mission Possible fundraiser, we currently stand at just under $13,000! And that doesn't yet include the matching donations that I'm sure will reach $10,000 that will kick in at the end of the month. I'm filled with gratitude.

My most recent marathon, the Marshall University Marathon, November 2015

New Life

This week some very dear friends of ours had their first child (Chewie!) and this got me thinking about new life. Babies are fascinating creatures, fully human, yet entirely alien, and I won't spend long on this (at least here), but the newness of human life brims with hope, right? Isn't that partly why we love babies so much?

The notion of new life also got me reflecting on my life as a runner. Forgive me for repeating myself here, but of the known peak to valley weigh-ins, I've lost fifty pounds. In fact, we once hosted some friends for dinner, friends who did not know me prior to my running, and when seeing an old picture, Nick simply and pointedly asked, "What happened?" (He was reluctant to accept the equally simple answer, "Running," until our fellow friend, Cakes, placed my latest copy of Runner's World on the table and said, "Normal people don't have these lying around.") Before I started running and taking my fitness seriously, I was heading down a dangerous road, one potentially filled with a lifetime of physical ailments. I simply started running because, as my friend Will said, I "stepped on the scale and hit a personal best." And to quote yet another friend, C.S. Lewis, "What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step." So I kept taking steps and, frankly, began a new life.

Not long after I'd completed my first marathon, I saw my friend Ryan, a missionary in the Middle East. We hadn't seen each other for a couple years, and I was looking forward to talking with him about his work. But one thing I've learned about runners is they are happy to talk at length about running, for as long as the listener can stomach the topic. (For a funny read about this, please see "I'm Truly Sorry For This, Bur You're About to Hear All About the Last Marathon I Ran" from The Onion.) Instead of launching into a narrative about life in the Middle East, Ryan wanted to talk about running, his favorite routes, his running goals for the year, an upcoming 10k, and he wanted to hear about my marathon experience. It was a funny moment, one in which I was happy to indulge him. But the thing I'll always remember about that conversation is, as we discussed our lives before running, particularly our psychological lives, Ryan articulated a great truth: "Jesus Christ saved my soul, but running saved my life." Perfect.

And so here I am, several years and thousands of miles later, training for another marathon. Quite possibly the biggest of my life. Praying for my friends, for my family, for my neighbors, for a tailwind and temperatures in the low 40s on April 18. Seeing the fundraiser climb closer and closer to the goal of $26,200 for the Rescue Mission. And as I breathe in, I exhale, "Thank you."

Monday: Rest (Can you blame me after Sunday's 20, which included the toughest half marathon I've ever run?)
Tuesday: 8.03 miles
Wednesday: 8.02 miles
Thursday: 2000-yard (just over 1 mile) swim
Friday: 4.37 miles
Saturday: 12.30 miles
Total: 32.72 miles

Kalamazoo Marathon, May 2015.

Enjoying a special brew from Arcadia Ales, this was my worst marathon to date due, in part, to unexpected high temperatures. In fact, I considered giving up marathoning after this one. My bride, my biggest fan, never believed I'd quit. She was right.

Mission Possible

Late last week, my friend Lynn from the Rescue Mission asked if I would provide a short video explaining the fundraiser and March Matching Madness. I knew I couldn't simply be a talking head, so this is what we came up with. (Thanks to CAR, Narp, and the Hobbit for your help.)

Pivots

When he was starting his first business, my friend (let's call him Yo) told me about "pivots," the idea that businesses and product development have only so many pivots or iterations. The viability of the business or idea is expressly related to its pivots, whether or not it can survive to market. But why am I even talking about this?

I have met a number of people in my short running life who recognize their pivot points. In fact, I, myself, can relate to the idea of changing course in the name of survival. Recently I received a letter from a young man who has what he calls a "miracle heart." He writes that while he loves running, he is unable to push beyond short distances at this time. He sees his pivot and adjusts accordingly. (He wrote to me in order to contribute to the Rescue Mission fundraiser. And as a further side note, his junior high history teacher was my junior high history teacher and my first little league coach!)

Yesterday I met another man (named Corey) who just started exercising regularly in December and has already completed a number of 5k races. He was proud to tell me that he's already lost over twenty pounds and to share his PR, noting that the race he was about to run would be the toughest yet on account of the hilly course. As we talked about running, I recalled running the first Panerathon when I learned about the congeniality of the running community. No, not congeniality, but inclusive. Runners, as a whole, welcome and encourage one another. We know the difficulty of our sport, remember the trials we've faced along the course, and want to see others succeed and enjoy running for its own sake. We see the pivots and take them. And sometimes we need help.

Training:

Monday: 2000-yard swim
Tuesday: 5.03 miles
Wednesday: 7.25 miles
Thursday: XT @ BTF, with my bride
Friday: 3 miles
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: 20.24 miles (split 4 warm-up, 13.22 Mill Creek Distance Classic, 3.01 cool-down)
Total: 35.52 total miles run

Thunder Road Marathon, Charlotte, NC, November 2014