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.

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.

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.

I'm a Runner - Chapter Five

Woohoo! My first race!

A friend asked me two days ago how come I am running. She said she wants to run. She does aerobics, but when she trys to run it just feels awful. Now thinking about that, I'd have to say that running just isn't for everyone. But certainly regular exercise is!

But that question made me think. Why am I doing this? Running, I mean. Keeping fit is certainly part of it. And then there is belonging to a strange group of people called runners. The ones I used to pity as I drove by and about whom I said, "I'm sure glad that's not me!" But then I went to my first mini-marathon to watch Laurie run. For me, definitely the race event was what triggered running and is what gives me inspiration to stretch for something more today. Faster, longer, stronger.

So, back to my first 5K race ever as a runner. My heart rate was 118 at the starting line. What an adrenaline rush! Off we went. Past the cheering crowds, over the bridge, past the Zoo, there's the one mile marker! Isn't it funny to run a 5K and count the miles? Past the first bands and the guy preaching salvation. Hang a right at one mile and note that people are passing me at a more steady rate now. Up the first hill. OK, it's not really a hill, but it is SLIGHTLY uphill, and that counts. Then a truly humbling moment.

At about 1.5 miles you turn right and onto a bridge where the half-marathon and 5K runners run along the same course separated by a ribbon line. This is when the front of the pack of half-marathoners are hitting the last 3/4 mile stretch. And suddenly I am running alongside top athletes. Well, that's technically true, although duration of our side by side running is about .634 seconds. I am amazed at their speed and admire them from a rapidly increasing distance. With that dose of reality I turn my attention to the second half of my race and the fact that my legs are starting to tell my brain that they aren't sure they want to go any further.

This is when the five year olds start passing me. And I haven't figured this one out yet, because I crossed the start line about a minute after the gun sounded, but this is also the point that I pass the guy on crutches. Seriously. I pray that he jumped into the race partway, because if it took me a mile and a half to catch a guy on crutches with a one minute lead...

Are you getting a picture here? After two miles a PR is out the window in my thinking, even though if it is your first race, you have a fairly good chance of making that goal. No, I'm thinking finish, finish, finish. I've never had my legs just lock up and quit before, but the possibility occurs to me. Truly I was nuts to try this! I grab a water cup and almost choke to death as I breathe instead of swallow. My first water station!

But the the guys and gals standing along the route start shouting encouragement. And I begin to think I'm gonna make it. And then it's the final quarter mile of the 5K race (again, the miles/kilometers thing) and I actually pick up the pace. The final 100 yards is the same finish as the half-marathon course and the crowd is cheering us on. Now despair turns to euphoria! I am out of breath, but that doesn't matter at all. I give up the timing chip, collect my medal, and chug down a water bottle. I collect the chips, cookies, banana, gatorade, apple, etc and join the other finishers exiting the course.

Laurie was still running the half-marathon, so I hurried to the finish line to cheer her on. Here's where something funny happened. I'm standing at the 1/4 mile to go mark and cheering. Suddenly in my periferal vision I notice a TV camera. Then I'm tapped on the shoulder and the reporter starts asking me questions. That evening on the news I'm in the report! The introduction to my interview is. "Tim Rickel had finished the race and was cheering runners on while waiting for his wife to finish." I found that a hilarious introduction in light of the fact that after running 10 miles my wife ran her final 5K of the race eight minutes faster than I ran my 5K! But the TV said I was waiting for her to finish too. I played that line over and over. :)

When I downloaded the results from the race I noticed that another runner had my exact finish time. It was a lady.

35093 Tim Rickel 35:27 11:26

16644 Laura Mowery 35:27 11:26


So I looked up her information. She was 99 years old! Now I had a goal. Train and train so that next year I could leave her in the dust! My time was better than hers the next year. But somehow, when you beat a 100 year old by a couple of minutes in a 5K, it seems like bragging rights go to the 100 year young person. Way to go Laura!

Are you getting the picture that you too could do this?

I think the great lie that the enemy of our souls has sold us is that somehow it is only special people who can accomplish great missional things for God are missionaries. It gives us a nice out. We "drive" by them and think, "I could never do that." When the truth is God has given us all unique abilities that He wants to see us use for him. We who have put our faith in Jesus are all to be missionaries in life. Ever see someone come back from a short-term mission trip? They love to talk about all that they did and saw and how the people responded. I'm convinced that is the type of enthusiasm God had in mind for his church most of the time. But somehow we seem to miss it more than enjoy it.

I'd love to hear your thinking on that in a comment...

We Interrupt This Blog Series...

OK, Old people, listen up.

That was the theme of the conference I was just in. Not the official theme. But definitely the theme that came through to me. I found it amazingly ironic to be in a room of mission executives where I felt like a new kid on the block and listen to 20 something leaders tell the oldsters that they’ve missed it. In fact, they expressed that missions is like an impenetrable wall. They’d love to learn from our experience, but we don’t seem to care. Our message? “Fill out this form and we’ll get back to you in a few weeks. Oh, and by the way, NO, we aren’t interested in a creative approach.”

It was also interesting to hear the response from the leadership in the room. My favorite question had to be one posed to a church leader of an emerging church that has started 14 churches in a closed country in three years by itself because the agency it has a relationship with told it that was impossible and to forget it. The question posed was, “SO, what if all churches did what you have done? Wouldn’t there be incredible duplication of efforts?” The implied answer was that God created agencies to avoid that problem. :) On Yahoo there is an emoticon for LOL that would work better here.

Actually, I found myself crying as I watched a video clip of young people at Urbana telling the camera what they would tell agency executives if they had the chance. The theme was, “We’re out here. We have passion. We want to change the world!”

What made me cry was the thought that I started into missions with a passion to reach lost people with the message of Christ. I specialized in bridging cultural gaps as a missionary to connect with people and be able to share what I know with them. Now, as an agency leader, I hear voices telling us we have missed connecting with a whole generation right here at home. In their voices I heard a longing for a connection.

At the Mission Exchange annual business meeting the chairman of the board did a skit with people from the audience. Of course there were no young leaders present. This was a business meeting for members. He asked for anyone under 35 to represent Paul and Barnabas and Titus. Then anyone under 40. Then anyone under 45. Finally he took people under 50 to speak for those young leaders. He got three older men to be Apostles and elders. He read the story of Paul coming to Jerusalem to answer questions about his work and then with no preparation asked these mission leaders to act out these parts and interviewed them about the upcoming meeting. I was sitting there trying to figure out the point of this when it dawned on me. OH, this is to show that what we have heard here is nothing new. New leaders have been stretching old leaders from the beginning of the church, so we really shouldn’t get too worried about what we have heard. We were young once too. They’ll come around and it’ll be OK.

Maybe they’re right...

Now back to our regularly scheduled blogging.

Oh, and BRAVO to the leadership of The Mission Exchange for bringing young and old together for that dialog. That deserves a link. http://www.efmamissions.org

I'm a Runner - Chapter Four

If at First You Don't Succeed

Fast forward one year and we are back from our second mini-marathon with fresh aspirations of becoming a runner. It happened again. The crowd of 30,000 plus runners, the excitement, seeing people running and thinking, "Man, if he can do it..."

This time I knew enough to know that I would need some help and inspiration. So I took out a subscription to "Runner's World" and began to read about running. Their suggestion for people like me was to start by running for a minute and walking for a minute. Or two. Or three. You know, whatever you can handle. And maybe start with city block and work your way towards a half a mile goal. We live in the country and one constant is telephone poles. So I decided to run past one pole and walk past two and work my way up. Now, the photo above is not me. Maybe when I drop 30 pounds. It is a screen saver that I used to inspire myself as I started running. Note the long empty road ahead...

So I took the advice that I read, along with coaching from Laurie, and increased the running to walk ratio until I ran my first half-mile, my first mile and finally my first 5K distance. For me that took several months. But what a tremendous sense of accomplishment each time I ran a little bit further! I didn't worry about speed so much. OK, honestly when December hit I decided that while running was fine and dandy, the wind in the country wasn't. So I took a hiatus until the end of January and began working to be ready for the May 4 race. I was up to the 5K distance by mid April, so I felt pretty sure I could at least finish without walking! This would be my first organized sporting event ever with real live spectators who weren't all directly related to the participants.

We got a hotel in Indy the evening before the race, picked up our packets and tried to get to sleep that night. Early the next morning in the hotel lobby, where I had gone for my free breakfast, I met another runner. He asked me which corral I was in and I said I was running the 5K. "Oh," he snorted, "That's not even running!"

Well, now, I hadn't put in all those miles to let that get me down. And really, that's how it goes, whether it is running or any other worthy thing, somebody is likely to say something, well, insensitive.

Funny things that happened. We got down to the staging area early and were standing in line for the Porto-potty when the PA announcer said, "Runners, remember to attach your timing chip to your shoe with the plastic tie that was in your packet." I looked down and NO TIMING CHIP! I had left it in the hotel. Since the 5K start followed the half-marathon start, I had just enough time to run back to the car, drive to the hotel, pick up the chip, drive back to a much farther away spot, and run back to the start line. I figure all that running was about 5K!

I'll share how I did in my next post. But here are a few lessons learned in the year prior to my first 5K.

• It really helps to have a coach when you are trying something new and challenging. Somebody who has done it before to provide knowledge and inspiration. For me that was the magazine and my wife, not in that order!
  
  
• There's just a lot of slogging involved in any worthwhile goal, but it is worth it.



• Don't listen to the naysayers.



• Start with what you can do and move on from there.

Whether it is running or becoming more active in missions, those things hold true. (I told you I was going to relate this to my passion for missions) I think in the church we sometimes set the goal so high that people just don't try. They see the missionary as someone they could never be. But I believe God calls every believer to be a "missionary." That is, one who is on a mission. I think we have a hard time finding coaches to show us how to do that, and I think we are not short on naysayers. But if we start simple and work our way up, the slogging that is involved at times is worth it, especially when we see the results!

I'm a Runner - Chapter Three

Reality Check

Well, my conviction lasted a full week. That was how much time Laurie took off from running following the race. After her recovery time following the half-marathon had passed we went for a run together.

Now, when you listen to the stories of marathon runners you might hear them talking about hitting the wall. I'm not sure what that's all about, but around the one tenth mile mark I started panting. By one and a half tenths of a mile (hey, it's the truth!) I said, "I gotta stop." Suddenly all the reasons why I had sworn I would never run again in my life came rushing back to me in a moment of clarity. It was one of those "what was I thinking?" moments.

Now, I've never been immediately identified as a runner by people in the street. If you look at the photo of me at my daughter's cross-country meet, you'll figure out why. So all I had to do after my stab at running was look in the mirror and the truth was evident. I didn't look like that guy on the cover of the running magazine. So what was I thinking?

This is where it gets interesting. I've wanted to write about my running experience before this, but never found the appropriate forum. I've wanted to write about it because my move from non-runner to runner was a major shift in my life for the good. I find tremendous satisfaction doing something that isn't easy, but that brings great fulfillment on a number of levels. At the same time, all my adult life I've been involved in missions, first as a missionary in Honduras and now working out of Indiana. Missions is also something that is not easy but that brings great satisfaction on multiple levels and has real significance on a grand scale.

I'm going to give away my central reason for starting this "I'm a Runner" series of posts. Here it is. I've begun to see some real parallels between how I became a runner and how I might convince others to share in this passion of mine for missions. I hope to stimulate some dialog while sharing my story, so don't be shy about posting a comment or two.

OK, back to our story. It only took one week to see my running ambitions shattered. So how did I come to write this story about being a runner? Well, it has a lot to do with the fact that when I stopped, my wife kept running. More on that next time.