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