Monday, October 29, 2007

I'm a Runner - Chapter Seven

That's Nuts!



A little over a week ago Laurie ran her first full marathon in twenty years. It was another chapter in our running saga in which I gained some new insights into the crazy world of running and other passions.
Running is different things to different people, but my running has centered around the big race. It's been the annual event that has helped keep me motivated. Along that path I have run three 5K races and am now training for a half. So with that in mind you would think that a full marathon would be the pinnacle of running accomplishment. But the reactions to someone running a full marathon run the gamet from admiration to a shake of the head and the sentiment, "That's nuts!" More on that later. First the race.

Louisville, Kentucky 2007 Marathon

The week leading up to the race we were having the last week of summer weather in Indiana and the worry was that the high the day of the race was to be 83 degrees. All that worrying must have worked, because the temperature the morning of the race was 56 degrees and four hours later it was around 70. So that worked out.

There were 362 runners in this race, which made for a much more manageable race to watch. It was a down and back affair, which meant you could drive ahead and watch your runner go by at several spots along the way.

At mile nine Laurie was looking strong. At mile 15 she was starting to hurt and at mile 20 she said she wasn't going to make her four hour goal. With this size race you can actually have a brief conversation with runners as they go by. One big guy in his fifties, who passed by just before Laurie at mile twenty, groaned as he went by and asked me, "Why do I do this to myself?" Later, when he was turning to run the last leg I said to him, "This is why you do it!" Easy for me to say!
One thing struck me as I observed this group of people running 26.2 miles on a crisp October morning. Here's an event where very athletic people are accomplishing an amazing thing to me. Running for four hours straight. Some less, some more. But the common response I got from them when I cheered as they went by was a humble, "Thanks for coming out."

Many runners had family members cheering them on. Others came alone. True to form, however, running showed itself to be a lonely sport. On the final
leg of the race, as runners headed up the walkway toward the finish line, many spectators had their backs to the action as they talked to other runners who had already finished. Just an interesting thing to see people accomplish a pretty amazing feat and be largely ignored by the folks who came out to see it. Once Laurie finished I did the same thing, of course.

The fascinating aspect to this was the responses I got from people I told about the race in the week that followed.
Some said "That's great!" But I was interested in the ones who shook their heads and said "That's nuts." It reminded me of coming back from the mission field and sharing all that had happened with some good friends I had gone to college with. When I finished they shook their heads and said, "Better you than me. I could never do that!"

I guess the lesson learned in all of that is that God has put a passion in everyone that expresses itself in unique ways. The important thing is to follow that passion. In athletics maybe it's running or maybe bowling. In missions maybe it's going on a work team, serving on the missions committee, or praying around the world for missionaries. Whatever it is, if it's worth doing, it's worth doing well and even...alone.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

I'm a Runner - Chapter Six

I'm Sore
Glowing in the bliss of my first 5K I decided that I was going to run the half-marathon the next spring. So I decided to get serious with my training. I was majorly sore after that first race, so after a week or so to heal up, I went for my first training run. My goal? Beat my marathon time!

It was majorly hot that first week in the middle of May. "Good!" I thought. "This will take the pounds off!"

It took something off for sure. Now I had read countless articles about running in the heat and hydration and all that stuff. But this was just 3 miles and I had run that all spring in training. They used to call it sun stroke, I believe. The word dehydration is another descriptor.

Another way of putting it is "the death of my mini dreams." Combine the blazing summer heat with a busy, busy schedule and the recovery time from dehydration and my goal went to "I think I'll run another 5K next year and start training in the spring again."

So I followed that pattern for two more years. Call it seasonal running. Or hobby running. Or sporatic fits of fitness.

But this past spring, just like the drug user, I found that now the 5K was not giving me quite the high it first did. Even with my somewhat inconsistent training schedule, I was gaining a level of fitness and experience that now meant that I wasn't even sore the day after the race. Time for a new challenge.

So this summer, with care and wisdom, and heeding the advice of the experts on increasing your running distance, I started on the goal of upping my mileage. I'll share that saga of what I did and the piece of advice I ignored in my next post.

NEWS FLASH!
This weekend Laurie will run in the Louisville Marathon. 26.2 miles on a flat, fast course. She hopes to qualify for Boston.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Are Marathons Too Risky?

The Media Weighs In

Today's MSN home page teaser line asks the question, "Are Marathons Too Risky?" In case you missed it, millions of runners collapsed on Sunday in Chicago at the most dangerous event in the world due to global warming.

OK, I exaggerate. But here's the caption to the picture in the Associated Press story.

Spectators watch the start of the Chicago Marathon. The brutally hot marathon that descended into disarray this weekend — with hundreds in the field of 36,000 runners vomiting or collapsing by the roadside — has raised questions about whether marathons have become too big and too greedy.

The article went on to discuss if organizers should limit the size of a marathon. The Chicago Marathon was huge, with 45,000 participants pre-registered. What struck me is that the article missed the point. It was the heat that brought people down.Big marathons aren't too risky. In fact, a huge marathon will do a whole lot less damage in our society than a lot of other activities. You realize that when you look at the studies on diabetes today or go to your local shopping mall or restaraunt and look around. Diabetes is now the number 6 cause of death in the USA.

I've now run three 5K races and am training for a half-marathon. But my greatest risk factor is the 30 extra pounds I carry around every day. That is more likely to kill me than a marathon, although if I had entered that race on that day, I'm pretty sure I would have been one of the collapsers.

I started running because of one of these mega-races, so I'm kinda particular towards them. Yes, some are too big. But too risky? Nah.

I think God made us with a need to do "risky" stuff. When we sit back and get complacent, that's when we are risking harm. We were meant to go out there and do stuff. To exert ourselves and push. When our focus becomes comfort or self-indulgence, that's when the harmful stuff happens, whether we're talking physically or spiritually.

Are you doing anything that you consider noble, but that others kinda look at and say, "Not for me!"? Post a comment about it.