SimpleSoleProject

Ideas flit through my mind all the time when I am running.  I don’t know what causes it.  Maybe the chemicals being released.  Maybe it is the breathing and lack of concern for anything besides that next step.  Whatever.

Every run, or so it seems, the world goes quiet.  You could be rolling solo, in a hard trail race or road race, in a pack of runner out for a training run or pushing each other to a fast time.  But even then, there is a moment when you are left with your own thoughts, fears, and in many cases some self-talk.

Every runner should have a word or phrase that they can repeat when the going gets tough.  Mine is “Go Get It”.  When things go quiet, that is the phrase I try to repeat to keep myself focused on the task at hand.  Sometimes it is cool to look around and check out the trees, the bees, and the back someone’s knees (seriously think about how many knee backs you look at when you are running).  But when you need to buckle down and get through a hard spot, having that word on repeat through your brain pushes out any negativity and might be one more thing to keep you going.

Peak performance is hard.  Hard on your body.  Hard on your mind.  Hard on your soul. I mean a truly committed, as close to 100% as you can get, effort.  It is a rare time when you can have your best day on the right day.

It might be even more difficult recognizing these days for what they are and appreciating them.  These are PR days, and even PR days come with caveats, rather than enjoyment. How could I have gone faster? Was there a way to squeeze another second out of what is already the fastest I have covered a distance?  That question replaces what should be the immersement of seeking your potential, or simply being in the moment of human movement.

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New Year’s.  A time to look back and wish upon what you could have done better.  A time to look forward and see what you can “improve”.  Not sure I buy into the idea of New Year, New Me.  You are what you are.  Though, we should appreciate and  support anyone’s pursuit of good living.  But it is a NEW year.  I suppose every day is technically a new year.  But we flip the calendar, we change how we date things, we think about new beginnings.

For some it is another year closer to slowing down, to the end so to speak.  I suspect committed athletes feel this cycle of life more than other citizens of the world.  We can compare our performances to our past, younger selves.  But more than that, we live our lives in cycles.  We lay out a schedule of training for the next event we want to go for and then live that schedule.  Day to day, week to week until BOOM! we start the race and we finish and then we look towards the next big event.  Slow down, speed up.  Plan, train, work, race.  Do it again.  Until we choose to stop or until we are stopped.  It is somewhat comforting, knowing what I will be doing on a morning or afternoon two months from now.  But at times I feel that I am missing out on something.  Some key element of life.  That “something”, is today.  So despite the fact that I harp on the idea of resolutions, I encourage my friends, family, students, athletes, myself to be in the present.  Run for that day while being aware of the ultimate goal of running, self-improvement.  Raising the bar for oneself and challenging the talents you have been blessed with.  Focus on the next step, that next mile.

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The time of year where people give thanks.  Seemingly more so in a public forum on the social media platform of their choice.  Hopefully my cynicism is forgiven as I do really think it is great that people are being thankful for the positive things in their lives.  I suppose that it is something I approach more personally than others.  It just seems that a person might create some extra “icing” on their thanks if they know people are going to be reading and responding. . .

It seems that we should give thanks every damn morning that we get to wake up and see what this world is going to present us with on this day.  My morning ritual and my post-run ritual involves a little silent thank you.  Like everyone else I am product of my experiences and the relationships that I have had over the years.  I am thankful to each and everyone of those people and try to carry the experiences with me as I continue through my life.

Students I have taught, routes I have run, teachers whose classroom doors I went through, friends I have lost and friends I have gained, ex-girlfriends, races with success and many more that were character building, family members that have gone on, athletes I have coached, competitors I have fought against, educators I have taught with, training partners of my past and those I am lucky enough to still be putting the miles in. Each of them has developed a part of me.  It is that last group that I pay particular attention to tonight.  We have sweat and froze and laughed and cried and celebrated and lamented and learned.  I continue to be molded as a man through my interactions with these folks and others who may have been left of this page.  For them I am forever grateful and this is one small way to acknowledge them.

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I wish I had a picture of it.  Though I doubt I could do it justice.  I wish I had the writing ability to describe it.  I wish someone could have been there to enjoy it with me.  But then, it would not have been what it was.

Last weekend I came off an eight day break from running by getting out early on a Sunday morning.  A Sunday run where it had snowed three or so powdery inches. Managing to find some fresh snow south of Essex on the Rock Island trail, my silent foot falls the only disturbance of this clean carpet.  Looking up into low hanging clouds, lit a dull orange from the street lights it appeared to be a fresh landscape prepared for me to do with it as I wished.  No distinction between where the paved trail ended and the grassy border began.  The trees outlined over the trail.  The end of the trail seeming to blend infinitely into the clouds.  A trail just for me.

Picking up a running buddy, we headed back the way I had already come.  My footprints the only mark of humanity to this point of the day.  I looked over at him and said, “If there were an image that could summarize me, that would be it.”  Like most people I suspect that I have slightly skewed self-image.  But seeing those footprints summarized where I am at this point in my life.  Willing to work hard, get up early, have others along to help my way but also eager to go it alone if need be.  Maybe true, maybe a bit grandiose.  But in that moment, I felt like I had been pegged by Mother Nature.

Running is made up of all kinds of little moments.  Most of them fade away like your breath on a cold morning.  But some of them stick with you.  Maybe they come back to you as you tell stories, or they simply remain somewhere in your brain. Stuck in a synapse connected to other running memories.  I feel lucky that I was able to have an encounter with myself that was like that.  I hope you can find something about you that you are proud of.

Easy fodder for a snowy day (more on that later this week.  Kicked off base training for the 2014 campaign today.  A few weeks of just miles, weights, and core work.  With no major workouts planned for sometime for most of us, the training schedule opens up a bit for the “other” stuff that goes by the wayside when full running kicks in.

These weeks and months are an opportunity for you to work on the elements of you that need to get stronger.  Most of the info below is for trail running, but they all apply to getting your joints stronger and stabilizer muscles balanced to help you late in those workouts you are going to start soon.  Pick some and get your strong on.

 http://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/drills-help-fill-out-your-form