Back to Training
I’m guessing my situation is not much different from most people over the last two years. The pandemic has changed everything, careers, attitudes, perspectives. Since September, I’ve been in a bit of a holding pattern. My daughter and I ran an ultra marathon which had provided a great deal of focus and therapy for me as life came calling. After the race, my new career brought challenges that I could never have imagined existed in education. Teaching was a different sort of ultra marathon than my earlier experience. An old dog was being forced to learn new tricks and all the doubt and resistance that comes with change fully enveloped me.
The result was a lack of motivation to train. I blamed my running malaise on age and a slow recovery from the fall ultra. The truth was more like I just felt sorry for myself. Age also became a convenient excuse. Getting older is probably a more legitimate excuse for slowing down than my career change, but still an excuse. Finally, after a couple of months of silent whining and public avoidance, I decided to get back into the game.
Much like the Spring of 2021, I reached into my competitive well and pulled out a bit of motivation. Whenever I lose sight of my direction, I know that it is time to have a goal. This time I am going big, at least for me. The Labor Pain race in the fall was awesome and I plan to go back because there is some unfinished business. I missed my goal by five miles and I have more than lingering doubt about whether I could have finished those five miles before the race cutoff time.
I’m going back. Unfinished business… I made the decision to go back to Reading and run this crazy race for more reasons than my bruised ego. The race organizers are awesome. I love running those trails. Mostly, though I’m pig headed and the last year has been one redemption and rejuvenation. I need to go back, for ego and soul.
Running was not the only casualty of my extended “recovery” from the last Labor Pain. My writing dwindled down to nothing, replaced by YouTube and a part-time job. YouTube is an excuse, the job, working in a local running specialty store, a tonic. Both robbed me of good writing time. As such, I haven’t been keeping up with a training journal as I once did. Time, it seems, is my truest limited resource.
Now that I’m back on track with writing, I’ll share that I’ve been training on trails and a treadmill consistently since December. My legs are tired as a I follow a training program from Hoka and have rejoined the 4am club. The first test will be the Half-Wit Half Marathon, a trail race I’ve finished twice and the only race I’ve started and not finished. I’d like to best that one and put away the “rrrr” of bailing back in ’06 or ’07, whenever that was. Self-grudges are the hardest to put down.
The second test will be the Delaware Marathon. It’s a road race and working in the running store has given me access to awesome shoes, professional running advice, and a renewable energy from both the staff and customers. Each day, customers come in and talk about their fitness journeys and I take little nuggets from their passion. They make me want to run. The conversations with my colleagues in the store has me looking at fitness in different ways. I’ve gotten great advice on making my running faster, improving my mental approach to training, and maintaining a healthy perspective on my life’s journey, running or otherwise.
With two races scheduled for the Spring, I’m leaving my summer open for a race, maybe a duathlon or triathlon, and then it’s September and the Labor Pain. Could fifty miles be the goal? Three more laps? I’m training for 50-miles.
LFG.
