06.20.08
Back on track?
Things have seemed to be hit or miss in the last few weeks, let me get you up to date.
First of all, it seems that my forced rest from the road has been mostly positive. One episode aside (I’ll get to this in a minute), I’ve been mostly pain free in my right knee/ITB area. I’m focusing more on taking things even easier/slower, so that as my mileage goes up I’m not putting undue stress on things. It’s been hard to focus on easy, but it’s been rewarding.
My one major mileage event of the spring was my annual participation in the Relay for Life, the 18-hour event put on by the American Cancer Society. I had set a goal for myself to complete at least 15 miles this year, to surpass the 13 I did last spring.
The weather cooperated for those on the track, and it was comfortable and dry for the duration. I ended up taking the bulk of my shift on the track from 1:30 AM - 4:00 AM. I decided that when I was running (which I’d intended to be about 75-80% of the time), I would shoot for a 10:00/mile pace. I felt that this would enable me to keep going without feeling stressed. After a rough start, this strategy proved to be a winner.
The first two miles were painful. My right knee was killing me, and it felt like someone was sticking a fork in the side. I considered walking, briefly. But then I had a classic “middle of the night moments of rationalizations for doing something stupid”. We were running/walking to raise money for cancer. There were people present who had suffered from and survived that dreaded disease. And there were countless more who hadn’t made it. I was wearing the initials of two grandparents on my leg who had been taken by cancer. I’m sure that each of these people who’d been unfortunate enough to be touched by cancer had experienced more pain than I can fathom, much less what was going on in my right leg. I decided to push forward.
Stubbornness and stupidity were rewarded. At about mile 3, the pain went away. Because it was 2 in the morning, I’m not sure if I just imagined that it was gone, or if my legs loosened up enough to allow things to move smoothly, but I was pain free. The next ten miles flew by. Not in the sense that I was running fast, because that certainly wasn’t the case. They flew by because I was enjoying myself. Enough that I’m considering lining up something really stupid for next year’s event.
When all was said and done, I had completed 15.5 miles. And the best part was that my legs didn’t complain one bit afterwards. That is encouraging to me. Pretty soon, I’ll be doing plenty of runs that are 15 miles and longer, and it’s good to know they don’t completely wreck me.
Last week, we were on a family vacation in South Carolina, and I made a goal to run each of the six days we were there. A long story made short, I didn’t accomplish this goal. I ran four of the six days, but did get a lot of “cross training” in doing some body surfing and swimming. I felt a little badly that I didn’t accomplish my goal, and that brought me to this week.
Last week was the last week I had structured as part of my spring plan. My motivation was slacking a bit, and was (sadly) complacent with the lack of mileage I’d run in the recent weeks. Some odd “conversations” I had with a very good runner were very motivating to me, and I realized something. I’d made mediocrity acceptable.
Don’t want to run? No big deal, you can go tomorrow.
Don’t want to stick to your plan? No problem! Even though those workouts were scheduled for a reason, do what you want!
Feel like half-assing it? Now you’re talking. All that matters for you is finishing, anyway… right?
Two weeks ago, I made a comment at work to one of “the suits” that “I’m a person who likes to be good at what they do, so if I’m going to be doing something, I’m striving to be the best I can be.”
That’s a true statement, but after reflecting on my recent running, I found it interesting that I’d save a statement like that for use with my vocation as opposed to something that I really enjoy.
Bottom line, nobody is forcing me to run. I do it because I like it. And anything that’s worth doing, is worth busting your butt for, right?