Coincidence or Grace? April 22, 2007
Posted by atlantarunner in Faith, Life.1 comment so far
Amazing… just after I wrote my previous post, I read this:
http://hearttoheart.wordpress.com/2007/04/21/a-reading-from-the-book-of-fulghum/
Nothing like Robert Fulghum and a well-placed Psalm quote to put all my goals and priorities into perspective.
Too much! April 22, 2007
Posted by atlantarunner in Life.2 comments
Most of us have recurring patterns in our lives. One of my patterns is as follows:
1. I get ambitious and think of a few goals I want to accomplish.
2. As I accomplish some of those goals, I get more ambitious and add more goals.
3. As I try to accomplish all my parallel goals, I do few of them well, and I get frustrated over the many goals that go unaccomplished.
4. As another couple weeks go by, my frustration turns to anger over my lack of progress. The anger builds stress and leads to sleep problems, making it that much worse.
5. Eventually, I crash, much like the fallen superhero in the illustration. I veg out for a few days (or weeks), and ultimately reset my goals.
6. Back to step 1.
I have yet to find the magic formula that will allow me to break this cycle, or at least soften it. I am very driven and like to have goals. I get excited about trying new things, learning, and growing. I also have obligations in my personal and professional life. Also, I realize that the effort to balance goals and obligations only gets more challenging as we grow in our families, careers, and personal lives.
It would be great if I could find a way in steps 2 and 3 to prioritize my goals and feel OK about backing off some of them. I want to avoid the frustration, anger, and ultimate crash.
Have you dealt with a similar pattern? Have you broken that pattern? How did you do that?
If you’re trying to break that kind of pattern, what are you trying?
Fraud??? April 8, 2007
Posted by atlantarunner in Running.3 comments
On Saturday, I listened to episode 91 of the Phedippidations podcast, by Steve Runner. This week’s podcast was a biography of Joan Benoit Samuelson, and it was interesting and informative as usual for Phedippidations. However, at the end of the podcast, Steve stated an opinion that bothered me: he fears that he will be considered “a fraud” if he does not finish his Fall marathon in under 4 hours.
For Steve to say that he could be considered “a fraud” is unfair to himself and to other runners. I applaud his goal, and I wish him the best on that effort. I hope to eventually do the same. But I find it offensive for him to use the term “fraud,” even against himself. I don’t think he meant to say that a 4-hour marathon is the dividing line between a real runner and a fraud, but his opinion could be taken that way. He probably meant that, given his abilities and experience, and with the right training, he should be able to finish a marathon in under 4 hours. I don’t disagree. But it is wrong for him to suggest that he could be a fraud if he does not achieve that.
For somebody to be a fraud, he must misrepresent himself. Though I don’t know Steve Runner personally, if you listen to his podcasts, he seems very up-front about himself, blemishes and all. If he is misrepresenting himself, he’s fooling me, because he seems very authentic. So assuming he represents himself pretty much as he is, would he be less of a runner if he didn’t achieve his goal? Would he be less of a runner if he didn’t even shoot for that goal? Should he be considered a “fraud” to call himself a runner? To all of those questions, I answer a firm and emphatic, “NO.”
A real runner has passion for running. A real runner sets goals for him/herself in the name of that passion. Possible goals could be a certain finish time for a certain distance, or to maintain a certain level of fitness, or just to be able to keep on running into old age without a specific time or distance. But somewhere there is a passion and a goal. Steve clearly has passion and goals. So to say that he could be “a fraud” if he does not actually achieve those goals is unfair.
So far, I have run two marathons. For my first, the 2006 Chicago Marathon, I set a finish goal of 4:45. I actually finished in 5:05:16. But that does not make me a fraud. I still trained for and finished my first marathon. For my second marathon, the 2007 ING Georgia Marathon, I set a finish goal of 4:35. However, I actually finished in 4:49:09. I improved over my first marathon, on a tougher course, with pollen allergies in full swing. I am not a fraud. For Steve Runner to suggest that he could be a fraud for not achieving his 4:00 goal suggests that we all are frauds for not achieving our own goals. I don’t think he meant to suggest that. We don’t deserve that designation, and neither does he. His passion, and our passion, make us all authentic, sincere runners.
Marathon Recovery April 3, 2007
Posted by atlantarunner in Running.3 comments
It has been a week and two days since I ran the ING Georgia Marathon. I am firmly into the Marathon Recovery phase, and I want to get back to speed work and long runs! So how crazy does that make me? I actually enjoy training like that. I must be a masochist.
Of course, returning to that level of training right away goes against everything I have read about marathon recovery. The consensus seems to be 3 weeks of taking it easy after running a marathon. You would think that would be a reward for all the hard work. But the truth, at least for me, is that I miss the hard training I was doing, and I want to get back to it as soon as possible. The problem is, if I do, I risk injury, and that would sideline me for much longer. So I must suck it up and take it easy, as much as I hate it.
I ran an easy 5 miles this morning, and that was probably too much. My knees and right achilles tendon felt achy all day–something that should not have happened after such an easy workout. So my body is telling me that it needs more time. I must listen to it.
So here is my post-marathon training schedule:
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
| 3/25 Marathon |
3/26 Rest |
3/27 Rest |
3/28 Light cross- train |
3/29 Easy 3 miles |
3/30 Rest |
3/31 Easy 4 miles |
| 4/1 Rest |
4/2 cross- train |
4/3 Easy 5 miles (oops- too much) |
4/4 cross- train |
4/5 Easy 4 miles |
4/6 Rest |
4/7 Easy 6 miles |
| 4/8 Rest |
4/9 cross- train |
4/10 Easy 4 miles |
4/11 cross- train |
4/12 Easy 4 miles |
4/13 Rest |
4/14 5K Race (uh oh) |
Yep, as you can see, I have a 5K race on April 14: the Georgia Tech Pi Mile (yes, Pi, as in 3.14159265358979323846… miles, or roughly 5 km). It’ll be a fun race, and my challenge will be to listen to my body and not push too hard. I need to remain strong so I can train for my next marathon (drum roll, please…): The Maui Marathon, on September 16, 2007!
