Wanted - Inspiration

Yesterday was strength training. Man, I have not been lifting weights and I can really tell! I my arms feel like jello and my legs are sore in places I did not know could be sore. I keep telling myself, sore muscles now, faster muscles later.

Today, I am also tired. I just want to curl up and sleep. But with client meetings and a pile of press releases to write, alas, that nap will not come. Instead I look for inspiration. And, I find it in the most wonderful place....In the determination of a little girl.



I hope you find yourself duly inspired. On to the next run!

Marathon Training Week one

I have run a total of four marathons...after the last, one of the hottest Wisconsin days on record in October, I thought I might be done with fulls (as point of reference, this was the same day that someone died running Chicago and they closed the race down half way through). My thought was, Half marathons are a bit easier to train for and seemed to fit into my busy life more easily.

That was until last year, when my running partner, a newbie who I talked into running a half, suggested we try a full. I figured since I was the one who convinced her to do the half in the first place, I should man up and do the full as well....So, here we are at our first official week of Marathon Training. We chose the Chicago Marathon. I figured if she was only going to do one (which now has changed to "maybe after Chicago we could...."), she / we should do one of the biggest races in the country.

We just finished a half marathon this last weekend...the Cellcom Green Bay Half / Full. (This was the same event we ran last year, before the thought of another marathon had entered our heads) So the next month is all about maintaining our current level of fitness while adding some strength training, speed work and yoga to the mix. Today is strength and core...this after the race Sunday, yoga Monday and a quick two miler yesterday (was supposed to do three, but I had to get to my daughter's track meet).

So as I sit and contemplate just what I have gotten myself into, I thought restarting my blog would be a good idea. If for no other reason than it would give me a great place to journal my race thoughts. Consider this entry number one in what hopefully will be a summer and early fall filled with great running memories.

Happy Running to you (and me too!)
Shelly

Running Toward Perfection

“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14

Most runners will tell you that they are constantly searching of the perfect run. I have run four marathons, each with the goal of having the perfect race. The first one was the ideal temperature but it was very windy, the second one had calmer winds but it was quite warm, the third one was a calm day with a perfect temperature, but I woke up with a cold and the forth one was the hottest October day in the history of the race.

Just as my goal of marathon perfection has yet to be realized, God regularly teaches me this is not the goal I should be seeking. Instead, He asks me to cling to him so that he can be perfection in me.

God teaches us that in life, as in running, perfect is implausible. Yet, we still run towards this goal. What we often forget is that perfect is not something that can be attained here on earth. It will not be found in the most glorious afternoon run or even an Olympic dream finally realized. However, if we set our sites on things not of this world, but rather those of eternity, the goal seems conceivable.

What does that mean for our time here on earth? As we run our races of life, be they going through our daily grind or actual foot races, we should direct our energy upward. Only by focusing on the infinite prizes found in Jesus can our faith be perfected. And, while that perfect run will most assuredly elude us here on earth, when we focus on the perfector of our faith, even our most daunting workout will bring us closer to the perfect prize.

Where Did That Year Go?

Wow...how did the year get away from me? I always said that I would never be one of those bloggers who started and then stopped mid-stream, never to blog again. Alas, I was wrong. However, I am willing to give it another try, if you are willing to read along!

Last year at this time, I was 15 pounds heavier and about 1-2 minutes per mile slower (depending on the weather!).

A lot of the running success I am enjoying now, however, does not directly correlate with running. In fact, for two months this winter, I did absolutely no running at all. Instead, I concentrated on strength training and yoga. While I have always incorporated some sort of strength training into my running regime, I was not completely sold on yoga. I always pictured it as a very painful stretching workout that would put my body into a variety of contorted poses.

While I cannot say that the poses are comfortable, after doing yoga for the past four months, I can say, it has most definitely made me a better runner! My muscles feel longer and leaner, I am less sore after long runs and I am much more relaxed. That all adds up to better and more satisfying runs.

Looking for a way to jump start your running? Consider adding yoga to your workout regime!

Quotables

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows that it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or a gazelle when the sun comes up you'd better be running. (But, unless you're a runner, you won't understand.)
~ Anon

Five More Perfect Runs

1. The perfect run is when I arrive late ( and I have) run w/o my inhaler and win my age group (and I have).

2. For me, the perfect run combines the elements of:

• A great setting (usually on a trail in the woods)
• Friends to share it with
• If it is a race, good results
• Pretty OK weathe

Three runs come to mind in the last year

• HAT 50K - my first sub 5 hour 50K trail run
• Escarpment 2001
• Quadbuster in the fall - 45 miles through PA, MD, VA and WV. It had all of the elements. I only ran half the miles and crewed the other half, but I made new friends, had fun running with old friends, loved the trail scenery and felt great doing it. Plus, there was no need to "race" the course.

Honorable mention: VHTRC Fat Ass 50K just completed recently.

8. July 4, 2000: This happened during the Peachtree Road Race after I had climbed Heartbreak Hill and was passing the Beer Mug...probably four-and-a-half miles or so into the 10K. The field was 55,000 strong, so even this far into the race the course was still congested. I passed this one real old guy who I'd seen before out at some of the local tracks, and I guess I must have cut in front of him and slowed down a bit because a few seconds later he pushed me on my shoulder and told me to get out of his way as he ran by me. Now I'm thinking, "alright old man, let's get it on!" So I hang with him for a half a mile and then he just picks it up and leaves me. I went on to run a little over 36 minutes, and (when I checked the results in the paper) he finished about 45 seconds ahead of me. After the race I met up with some friends from the Track Club (some who'd finished 5 and 6 minutes earlier), and we were recapping the race. I said, "Hey, you guys know that old guy who's out at the track sometimes? He pushed me out of the way and just crushed me in the last mile." One of them said, "You know who that 'old guy' is don't you? That's Dick Buerkle."

So it turns out I'd been bitch-slapped on the course by a former World Record (indoor mile) holder who once beat Steve Prefontaine. Pretty cool, huh...only at Peachtree. And now you know "the rest of the story." It still cracks me up when I think about it. After he shoved me I was like "that's it, I'm gonna kick your ass now." HA! Not likely.

9. The perfect run for me would be a 2:59 marathon with negative splits. It wouldn't be fun, it wouldn't be spiritual and it sure as heck wouldn't be pretty for the last 10km but it sure would be perfect.

10. While most any time of the year can result in a "perfect run" on the trail, I would say that the mostest perfect run would be just after a fresh snowfall of 3-6 inches, when the sun is glistening on the snow and I'm breaking the first track. Peaceful . . . quiet . . .

The Perfect Run - Five Ideas

Here are five inspirational thoughts on what makes the perfect run:

1. What makes a good run for me is to be able to say that I ran at all. It doesn't have anything to do with the distance or speed of the run or even if you are running on the trail, road or on a track - it's how you feel afterward. It's knowing that there was a time when you didn't run. It's time away from the kids, jobs, dogs, telephones, and answering stupid questions and away from the responsibilities that clog up life. It's a powerful moment when you realize that you are in total charge of what you are doing and your body is responding. It's total awareness of the situation. At some point you forget about the concerns of the day and suddenly are aware of yourself. You can feel yourself breathe, you can feel your heart beat and you can feel your legs moving as your run. Saying that we ran means we took time for yourself and that makes us all a bit less grumpy.

2. I think that the cool thing about the "perfect" run is that there is no consistency to what makes a perfect run. For instance - the perfect runs that stick out in my mind come down to falling in one or more of these categories:
*raining - snowing - hot as hell - windy
*trails - roads
*70 miles - 5 miles
*felt bad when I started - felt marvelous the whole way through
*ran by myself - ran with 10 others
*race - training run
So - I would say a run is "perfect" because it's
a) different!/new!/unique!
b) meets your needs / frame of mind at that instance in time.

3. My idea of a perfect run is running in Mt Gretna immediately after a new fallen snow. A two inch cushion of white under my feet as I glide through the mountain trails is my idea of great fun. A nip at my nose and the sound and sight of my breath sends my heart palpitating. To make it really special, I have to run up behind a big buck and send him prancing through the woods. The run ends ninety minutes later as sweat runs down the side of my face from the wool cap perched on top of my head. As I drive back home, I can't wait until I am back in the woods again.

4. The perfect run . . . I've only just begun . . . . (to run, last year about this time, and I'm fairly old !) Well, I would say the perfect run to me would be to find myself keeping up with Heidi Mobeus and placing somewhere in my age group. At this point, I would need to grow wings on my shoes to accomplish that. The perfect run . . . would be to experience the "picking off people coming down the home stretch" rather than having them passing me!

5. The perfect run? How about a marathon in which I don't collapse in the final five miles?