If you would've asked me last year if I thought that I could run non-stop for 100 days I would've said absolutely not and then asked you why would anyone EVER do something that stupid. Well, today is day 100 in the project and so far I've run over 492 miles. Pretty freakin cool! Am I crazy? Maybe. What have I learned so far in this journey?
I've always know that running is the kind of activity that can only be fully experienced outside. Not on a treadmill. This year I've done much more running outside than ever before. Through snow, sleet and rain I've been out there hitting the roads. I've done some running on the gym's treadmills too. But I far enjoy those miles more when I'm outside. I've also learned that when you live near a lake, that trying to decide what to wear for your run can be a challenge. That big old body of water can drop the overall air temperature quite a bit. I had to even call for rescue one run to avoid frostbitten fingers! Who ever said running isn't a dangerous sport obviously has never been four miles out from their house with no feeling in their hands.
Over 11 years I've really come to love the sport of long distance running. It's just an amazing feeling to be out there and run distances from 5K to marathon in length. I've never considered myself much of a sprinter. But with adding that one mile run on my Sunday's to keep the project going I've discovered that sprinting is a lot of fun too. I always start out those mile runs telling myself to keep it steady, slow and easy. But then a good song rotates into the playlist, the sun peeks through the clouds and I find myself running like a little kid! When's the last time you ran fast to feel the wind whip through your hair, your heart beating, your legs pumping? Try it sometime. You'll forget what's bothering you by the second minute.
My son told me that he wanted to start running this year with me. He's like most little eight year old boys. Loves to play video games. Sometimes too much. He's tried lacrosse and wrestling. But he didn't enjoy either. So, I'm hoping that this "running phase" may stick. We haven't been able to get out there much because the weather is still too cold for him. But the last run we did was on the trail near my house. It was just plain amazing to be running alongside him. Most distance runners go on their journey alone. Most times it's challenging to run with a partner. Your paces don't always match, your fitness levels are different and sometimes you just don't want to talk. But as I go out on these runs with him I'm discovering that it's a great time to get inside his head. See the world through his eyes. To have those conversations that aren't just filler. He's quickly becoming my favorite running partner. Running with a partner isn't so bad.
After running this much this long I'm starting to realize even more than ever how important my diet is. The old adage of you are what you eat is so true. When I eat like garbage, drink a little too much alcohol or eat too many sweets I find myself suffering for it during my run the next day. It's depressing to think that I was ten pounds lighter before my marathon last year. But I'm determined to get back to my racing weight through a good healthy diet.
I thought that running an extra day a week would be a piece of cake for me. I'm a runner. It's what I do. It's only a mile right? Wrong. I may be a runner. I may enjoy the hell out of it. But it does affect your body. So far this year I've experienced some nagging anterior ankle pain and have now developed a severe muscle strain in both, yeah freakin both of my glute muscles. What a pain in the ass, literally! I'm going to make an appointment with a chiropractor this week to see if they can do anything. I've been putting in my stretching time like a champ. I've discovered that I'm in love with my wife's foam roller. Shhh, don't tell her. Running isn't bad for you. But it does require some preventive maintenance. You have to stretch, drink water and maybe research some alternative solutions to ensure your body is there for you when you need it. I'm a huge proponent of Glucosamine, Chondroitin and fish oil. The tart cherry juice has made it into the rotation as well. It definitely has helped with some of my overall soreness and the Melatonin naturally found in cherries is helping to get the best sleep I've had in awhile.
One of the reasons that I started this project was to give myself a new and different physical challenge. I also started it because I wanted to be a part of the run-net community through this blog. I was really nervous at first. But after some encouragement from friends I got up and blogging. I've come to really enjoy writing about my running, my life, this journey. I'm always surprised when someone comments on one of my blogs. Why would anyone want to read about my life? My running? I honestly have no clue. If I can encourage even just one person to get off the couch and rediscover something that their body was made to do. Then I'd call that a huge win!
If you follow me on Facebook then you know that this week I made a decision. I needed to change some things with my plan for my Fall marathon. I was originally planning on trying to cut my mile pace time by 30 seconds. Since January I've been running a lot of fast miles, lifting heavy on my cross-training days and frankly pushing way too hard. Oh yeah, and running everyday. It's started to become not fun. So this week I decided to lighten the weights and slow the pace. My obsession with running fast is a trait that many runners share. You always want to do it faster, keep beating your personal records and outrun your old self. My eagerness to get faster blinded me to that fact that I was doing too much. All I needed was one good day a week run at goal pace. Not all my mileage. All I needed was to build up a steady endurance that'll carry me through 26.2 miles. Not get super strong in a short time. What do you know, even seasoned runners can get a little ahead of themselves and do stupid things. Thankfully this week I realized that.
There will come a day when the PR's do stop. There will come a day when I can no longer run the distances that I do today. There will come a day when my mile splits will have two digits in them. But my friends, today is not that day. One of the most incredible things about running is that essentially it all comes down to putting one foot in front of the other. I'm not giving up on running this year's marathon 30 seconds per mile faster. I'm still going to train hard. But I'm going to build on the amazing gains of last year and train smarter. Not destroy myself everyday and become miserable. What's this project about? It's about just putting one foot in front of the other. That's what it's really about isn't it? The time doesn't matter. The experience does. I'm not someone who's very good at living in the moment. But I'm trying, one foot at a time. As always, thank you for reading. Run for your lives my friends...
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