Monthly Archives: May 2016

Hitting the ‘Reset’ Button

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Deep breath … I’m hitting the ‘reset’ button.  There, I said it. It’s official.  For as great as my 2015 was, from a running perspective, 2016 has been just as far in the opposite direction.  For those who’ve followed my blog, I’m sure this isn’t a surprise.

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My miles are lacking.  My motivation is lacking.  I haven’t been blogging as much as I’ve liked and basically been absent on twitter.  Why?  It’s not fun to talk about running when running isn’t fun.  I came to that realization this morning – prepping for the Marquette Trail 50 felt like a chore.  And I have enough of those already.

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running when it’s fun!

Running should be fun.  I was reminded of this yesterday while listening to a podcast, hoping to get the inspiration to knock out my scheduled 22 mile trail run this morning, before my wife left at 10am.  This required me to get up in the 3s.  I don’t like getting up in the 3s.

Anyway, back to the podcast – it was great.  Diz Runs.  Check it out.  In this episode he was interviewing Sally McRae.  She’s one of the reasons I got into running ultras.  The video ‘Western Time‘ by Billy Yang sucked me right into the idea of trail running and ultras.  I had a lot of fun with it the last year and a half.

But recently things have changed.  I got off to a bad start this year and have felt like I’ve been playing catch up ever since.  Playing catch up is hard enough.  Playing catch up while training for a 50 mile race is pretty much insane.  And probably stupid.  Which is why my knee hasn’t been feeling good.

During the podcast Sally made a comment about one of the runners she was training – very nervous about running a particular distance.  Sally asked her if she’d feel better if she ran the shorter distance and the runner answered yes, and that’s what Sally recommended – because running should be enjoyed!

Flash forward to 3:15 this morning.  I woke easily, walked downstairs, began working through my stretching and that’s when I came to the realization (while thinking about yesterday’s podcast) this wasn’t fun.  And remembered, yes, running should be fun.

So … what do I mean by ‘pushing the reset button?’

  1. I’m not running Marquette.
  2. I’m going to find joy in running again w/o the pressure of training for a race.  Whatever distance / terrain sounds fun, that’s what I’ll run.
  3. I will get back to running consistent 20-25 mile weeks before I pick another race to train for.  I do have a couple in the back of my mind (Detroit Marathon / Stone Steps 50k in Cincy in the fall), but I’m no where ready to commit.
  4. I need to spend some time working on my core strength.  And my knee.
  5. I need to drop about 6-8lbs.

Dude – you’re not running Western States!

Yes I am.

Remember, this blog is my journey to Western.  Good.  Bad.  Whatever.

Another thing I learned from the podcast yesterday – you can have a bad year.  Sally had one that she basically had to scrap due to injury.  Then she came back, built a strong base, and came back and crushed it.

I’ll be back to crush it.

Tentatively – I think I can push my first 50 miler to Indiana in April.  And then Mohican in June.  But we’ll see how the rest of 2016 goes.

For now – I’m going to grab a beer and enjoy this beautiful May day!

Have you ever hit the reset button?  How’d it go?

What’s your favorite beer?

Cheers!

 

 

 

Earth Day 5k / Raccoon Run

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For the past few years, the Kalamazoo Nature Center has done a 5k race for Earth Day.  The proceeds from the race then go to the Nature’s Way preschool associated with the Nature Center.

Since my daughter attends the preschool, I thought it’d be nice to help with the race this year – and well, I enjoy being outside.  In addition to the 5k, there’s a Raccoon Run for the kids – 1k run/walk.  My daughters had never done a fun run before and I was excited for it!

After getting up early and running 15 miles, we loaded up in the family truckster and headed over to the Nature Center for some fun.  My 4yr old was super excited when we got there, running around like crazy, but wasn’t really into wearing the bib.  The 2yr old wasn’t really into it at all.

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The excitement ended when we saw a person dancing in a gazelle costume.  For some reason it freaked out my kids – even though it was one of my daughter’s teachers inside.  They didn’t want to start because the gazelle was at the starting line.

Once I finally convinced them to walk on the other side of me from the gazelle, they did start.  But because the oldest was scared, she just wanted to walk super close to my side and not let go.  I did tell her the gazelle was chasing us at one point – that made her run, and fast, until she figured out I was teasing her.

We had fun though.  I enjoy spending time outside with my girls regardless the activity.

After Raccoon Running walking, the girls headed home and I went to help with the 5k.  I was assisting w/finish line duties.  It was easy, I helped pack up the start flag, unpack the finish flag, and then stood on the hill about .25mi from the finish directing the runners back to the start line – and cheering.  Loudly.

I kept telling them runners they were almost there, just around the corner!  Well, once I walked back to the start line, I realized I was lying to them.  It was much farther, and much more up hill, than I told them.  Oh well.  That’s what makes it fun 🙂