Now it is truly just about the running

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Ran my penultimate race of the year on Saturday. I only have 1 more race scheduled (Great Pumpkin 10K) for the calendar year, and I don't plan on adding any more. Which means it is just about running for the rest of the year, no longer in training for any races.

Which is a comforting feeling. Kind of nice to get up and go for a run when the only things that dictate where I go and how long are when I have to be back and how my body feels. Because in the end that is how it should be in my opinion.

Like I told Jimmy last week, I run for fun, not to compete. I know that I probably could have put more effort into my last race and beat Jimmy and my brother. But that wasn't why I was running, and really isn't why I run at all.

If that is the case, why even run in races? For 2 reasons. First, to give myself a goal, because even though I enjoy running just to run (still odd to write that) I do enjoy having a goal to focus on. Second, a race provides an easy way for me to measure myself against myself. It's one thing to try and beat my speed on a regular route, but it's not the same as running a different course and measuring myself against how I did last year (not as good this year, I was slower in every race but who's really counting.) And a third reason is that I can do things like organize the 3 generation races.

I was thinking about this because I saw this link on Facebook and it just drove me crazy. That whole mentality of why race if you aren't trying to win is counter productive in my opinion. Because that just leads to a 'why even play a sport or exercise if I can't win' mentality. And that, sadly, can lead people to stop playing sports or being athletic at all. Instead of criticizing these non-competitive races runners should be encouraging them. Because they get people who normally don't run at all to get out there and do so. And eventually some of those people will get hyped to run faster and join in competitive races. But not if they don't feel welcome.

I know that there are some races I don't run in because the whole focus of the organizers seems geared to drive away the casual runner. Just the same way some stores seem to have the same approach. Again, why do that? Why drive people away? Instead, encourage them in every way, because this country needs to applaud people who choose to get fit, not discourage them.

If this is easing back into it, I might be doing it wrong #Running #Shoes

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

My goal after the Half was to not push myself back into running. And I was good the first week, although I did run a 3 mile training run with Jimmy and then walked the Komen Race for the Cure. But I have been getting a little more aggressive than I had planned.

Last week I broke 15 miles (and would have done more had the trails not been under water and I wasn't tired from dealing with leaky basement on Friday.) But I said I would take it easy this week. Then this run happened:

Tuesday Run

Yep, cranked out 4+ miles and didn't really feel it. Then today all this talk between Jimmy and his uncle about who will win the upcoming Denver Symphony race got into me as I ran, speeding me up. But no worse for the wear so I guess I will just keep letting my body dictate how far I can run. Which means that I will likely be back over 20+ mile weeks sooner than I thought. But again, just letting my body dictate things.

Which does lead to my next subject, it's that time again, time for new shoes! The Hoka's were great, I'm over 450 miles in them. But I don't think that they were so different from my minimalist Reeboks, at least not enough to justify the cost. When I can get pretty much the same mileage from 2 pairs of Reeboks for less than the price of 1 pair of Hokas. And I know from testing that my feet can handle either shoe type. And, most importantly, I do not have any intention of trying to ramp up to a marathon next year, I just don't have the training time in my schedule. So it is back to the Reeboks for me.

Moving on and and being honest with myself #Running #diet

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Another Half marathon down, along with the week of recovery, and time to get back to normal. And also need to be honest with myself about my eating habits.

The Half went just about perfectly, up until the 10 mile mark. Then my IT bands de died that they had had enough. So I nursed myself to the end, with a not bad mark of 2:37 (third from last in the 45-49 age bracket.) not sure if I could have done anything differently as far as prep.

The big lesson is that if I want to go longer or get a much better time I will need to change some habits. I would need to do some real core strength and flexibility training. I would have to stick tighter to a training program. And last but not least, I would have to knock off some pounds.

Which leads me to my other point. Even if my goal isn't to run longer or faster I still need to knock off some pounds. I have a physical this afternoon and I will tell the doctor the same thing. I have gotten slack in my eating habits (again.) And I realize that in order to change that I first need to be honest with what I am doing and get back to real meal tracking.

Of course the best part of this is that today I was able to turn in a good 3.5 mile run, and plan to run again tomorrow. Because, after all this time, I have reached the point where I enjoy those daily runs as much as I need them for fitness reasons.