Bringing a new event to the middle of the capital city. Presenting the Woods Park Running Festival. Info can be found here.
October 27th, Kids 1 mile at 530, Competitive (sub 30 min) 5k at 600 with team and individual competition, Community 5k Run/Walk at 640. Sign up by October 15th to be guaranteed a knit hat and gloves. Food truck from D’Leon’s. Lights on as night falls.
Proceeds benefit the Lincoln Food Bank.
Email bwandzilak@gmail.com with questions.
It’s back friends. We got it done pre-Covid last year and doing the whole thing again in 2021. A slightly different venue, but another great set of movies.
Describe the emotion of a good run. It’s really, really difficult to distill this. Though really great authors have accomplished this. I am not one of them.
I suppose lots of activities or parts of life provide the feeling of “stoke”. Think of stoke as that excitement a kid gets when you give them their favorite food. Just pumped up or moved, animated, piqued, ready to roll, pleased, on fire, high on life, and so on. Despite our desire to think of running by the end all be all of the world, we are wrong. There are plenty of ways to reach that feeling. Running is just a pretty great way to get there.
While it is just running and it can be tough, an overwhelming majority of the time you just don’t regret laying down the miles or minutes. It really does not matter the shape it takes. We all think our way is the best, but all of it is the best.
It was an opportunity to run for the sake of running. No need to withdraw from a race and miss out on whatever it is you miss out on not running a race. No injury ripping you away from a goal, because there were no goals (might have been injuries but even then those seemed reduced). None of that. Truly, I thought it would be okay. Being there for my family and my students and my runners could be enough. It was. At times.
I still put some hope in racing. Heck some start and finish lines even got crossed. The result were okay. It should have been enough. But the full process wasn’t there. Turns out that for running in 2020 to be worth it, I needed something to show for the year. An objective measure of, “yeah, I did that.”
Something a little bit scary, but also realistic. A challenge that could give me some personal bragging rights, but that really no one gives a damn about. A revisit to a runner I was eight years ago. To see if I’ve still got “it”. Whatever the heck that is.
Which led me to the Saltillo Road trailhead for the Homestead Trail in South Lincoln, NE. 50k to the South lay the finish line of this effort in Beatrice, NE. Having run many hilly, trail 50k races this would be a revisit to my first ultra that followed the MoPac trail from Elmwood to Lincoln. That went well result wise but like many things, experience counts for a lot.
A pre-dawn start and the company of a former student-athlete of mine in Kimberly Bailey practicing her incredible photos skills over the course of the next three and a half hours. I knew a marathon away that one of my closest friends, Mitch Bern, would be joining me for the last five or so miles. I also knew it was a beautiful late fall morning and these days don’t happen very often.
The ability to do this kind of thing is something I try to not take for granted. Daring to try is one thing. But having a lifestyle where a challenge of this sort is even possible is incredibly fortunate. Try to not waste it when you are given a shot. Nailing the FKT was nice. So was the unofficial PR. Friends being around was the best.
How are you going to proceed? If you had a race on the calendar in the foreseeable future (one month? two months?) it is done. Best case scenario it is postponed, but maybe you are just moving on and examining your fall schedule now. Maybe you are going to keep on your training cycle like nothing happened. Maintain that rhythm you’ve worked for. I can’t seem myself doing tempo runs for no particular reason. Takes a certain kind of person to go through that. I am not that person.
BUT, I do love a good challenge. Maybe something informal is up your alley (in your lane for a running analogy?). Regardless, what a time to get creative and think of something wacky to do right out your front door. Or maybe down the street. Just open a map and see what looks like fun. Whatever it is, go get it.
For my part, here is what is going to liven up my training the next bit of time. If I had all the time in the world I’d be completing the second two legs of my Eastern Nebraska Ultra. . .
-Goodhue Honor Mile 2.0 My mile training has been nil, but who gives a crap? Props to Ryan Regnier for setting this up.
-I want to give a Vertical Kilometer a shot on the Platte River Tower. That would be about 16 laps up and down. Only outdone by Ivan Marsh doing it 21 times at “peak Ivan”.
-See how many times I can run around my block in an hour
-See how many laps I can do up and down Choo Choo Hill at Pioneer Park in 30 minutes.
-Hit every trail in Wilderness Park, in one run.
-Can I commit to stability work everyday? This might be the time.
I started this post weeks ago, like in January. With many, if not all, events being cancelled right now I don’t have much advice for you. But here are my thoughts anyways
I like racing. I love running. There. It’s out there. I am not a natural born racer.
Don’t get me wrong. I really do enjoy the energy of any start line, big or small. The potential out there. The goals set. The dreams. The community. Man, it is awesome. You can’t explain it to those who have not experienced the nerves of taking the risk of starting a race that you’ve trained for.
So what if racing were taken away from you? Not in an injured way. That happens for all kinds of reasons. Overuse, trip on a kid’s toy, getting old. no, you can still run, just no racing. How would you respond? Racing may or may not be a big part of why you put in the work you do. I don’t mean finishing a race, which is a noble end to itself. I am talking about an event that you formally work towards. You are chasing a time. A place. Competing against others, or a past self. I know it’s a fine line, but many of you get what I am laying down.
Would you keep running or find a different competitive outlet? The answer to this question might depend on what stage of life you are in. But a racer is a racer, that doesn’t go away. I think it is possible to find meaning in running without racing. Most assuredly it is a less objective pursuit. There are numerous ways to challenge yourself. Streak goals, laps around your block in a given time period, find an FKT nearby or create one yourself, Strava segments, whatever. These options still smack of competition. Which is fine.
Could you run with that presence? That pressure? That number? Like many things in this world there is not a correct answer, or a wrong one. What is your answer though?