Browsed by
Tag: Eugene

If I blogged more frequently…

If I blogged more frequently…

Comments 4 comments

Austin (hi!) made me laugh when he devoted an entire blog entry essentially to “you’d know more about all this stuff in my [running or not-related] life if I took the time to write about it” because I can absolutely relate. I’ve had this domain since 2008 (I think), and just take a look at the archives; you can see for yourself the huge gaps in months for a long time… and then there’s the fact that many of my entries begin with something along the lines of “yes, I know, I’m a terrible blogger, but [insert excuse here].” Maybe it comes with the territory.

That said, just like what Austin did, here’s what you’d hear more of if I were writing more regularly (though I am working on it… and being essentially off the grid the past few days has helped some):

  1. I am really stoked for Eugene. Like, super stoked. I’m really excited to go to that part of the US (never been), to see and rock the race with this guy, and to play with this girl, and to run like hell, and to have an amazing time with them before but especially after the race. It should be awesome.
  1. I signed up for the Chicago Marathon (registration blitz be damned) after a few nights of convincing from this speedy fella that we would have fun running it and that (big gasp) he wouldn’t let me do any less than a… what’d you say, 3:25?! More on that to come; let me get through Eugene first…
  1. Despite (or because of?) me not weighing myself at all in the past 3 weeks, I have been feeling strangely empowered yet also like I’m losing weight (or at least “toning” or “tightening” [makes me think of 80s workout videos] in ways I wasn’t anticipating). Not weighing myself daily for the past almost-month has definitely made me re-evaluate how I think about my eating habits and body image as well. I’m super curious to see where I am now but am also a bit afraid of getting back into the habit…
  1. Speaking of, I’ve been meaning to write on the topic of fear for a while now, and in that vein, I took a deep breath and signed up for adult swim classes next term with the Chicago Park District. To say I am nervous, and/or scared, is an understatement. Truth be told, I’m excited as well, but it’s about 97% nervousness/scared and 2% excitement (with 1% “other”).
  1. I’ve been considering more and more going 100% vegan. I am probably about 98% there already, and having a stomach bug for nearly a week, after what I thought was surely brought on by dairy, has damn near sealed the deal.
  1. I took a quick trip with my daughter and mother-in-law to my MIL’s farm in rural SE MO to see her family and got to run through the country, cotton fields on both sides of the road and everything. The town’s population? 469. Also, I think I found one of the only places flatter than Chicago. One day, I also ran into Arkansas; I don’t think I’ve ever crossed state lines on a run before (not even from last year’s Madison-Chicago Ragnar). I was just excited to wear shorts every day I ran there… particularly when Chicago was getting slammed with snow.
    It was a thrill to wear a tank and shorts on this run... I think the post-run glow was equal parts sweat, equal parts 'I'M SO EXCITED TO NOT BE RUNNING IN THE COLD'
    It was a thrill to wear a tank and shorts on this run… I think the post-run glow was equal parts sweat, equal parts ‘I’M SO EXCITED TO NOT BE RUNNING IN THE COLD’

    little breezier on my 12-miler but still, high 40s in early March is a win IMHO
    little breezier on my 12-miler but still, high 40s in early March is a win IMHO
  1. I ran 4 consecutive weeks of nearly 50 miles/week since I began training for Eugene; this is enormous for me. Before giving birth, 50 miles/week was my sweet spot, the point at which my left ITB would tell me to eff off and I’d have to take a couple weeks of very easy, relaxed running to get comfortable again. Now, 47, 48, 50+ feels about the same to me as 35-40. Pretty crazy.
  2. My parents are coming to stay with us in late May when my dad comes in for a work thing. It’s not running-related at all, but hey, I love my parents 🙂 and surely I will run when they’re here… they generally don’t begin their days before 10am. 😀
  3. My daughter is almost 2 years old already (early May). That is probably the most unreal thing of all, running-related or not. It’s cliché to say that kids grow up quickly, but good god… and how.
    About a day old here (still in the hospital)
    About a day old here (still in the hospital)
    the newest member of the security team at the Arch viewing area in StL
    the newest member of the security team at the Arch viewing area in StL

     

  4. I quit crossfit. It wasn’t them, or my box, or the coaches; it was me. I do miss the people though.
The process

The process

Comments 1 comment

One of my mentors from my undergraduate days was the director at my school’s Leadership Institute. He was awesome for reasons too numerous to count, but one of the things that stood out to me then, as an impressionable college student—and something that has stayed with me many years since—is that Karl always said, “everything is a process.”

You don’t like how things are in the world? Work to change them, but remember, everything is a process.

You don’t know “what you want to be when you grow up”? Talk to some professionals in the field, take some intro classes, do some soul-searching, but don’t worry if you don’t get the answer overnight because everything is a process.

Hell, there’s a whole sub-field of study from my MA program that specifically examined the merits of teaching writing as an effin process-based system, rather than one more acutely focused on the product. (#nerd alert…)

Anyway, Karl’s words have stayed with me for as long as they have, through my first “real” job(s), and even now, through my marathon training, because he’s right: everything, everything is a freakin process.

For better or worse, I can’t get away from the omnipresent process.

I’ve found myself thinking about my running “process,” if you will, of late because today (March 3) marks the end of my first mesocycle following Pfitzinger’s Advanced Marathoning plan as I train for the Eugene Marathon in late April.

Surely, any runner who has trained for a marathon will tell you that it’s not something you can do willy-nilly if you want to realize your goals. In other words, there is usually a process to follow, a proverbial journey of leaps and bounds, cutbacks and cooldowns, because you can’t plow through things with your blinders on, shooting in the dark and hoping for the best.

There needs to be some intentionality to what the hell you’re doing.

In so many words, it’s the journey, folks—not the destination (though, to be sure, depending on your perspective, one might drive the other).

What has become increasingly “interesting” to me (worthless word, I know, but hang in there) in this training cycle is that in many ways, I feel like I’m training for a marathon for the first time—not the 19th. I have come to this training plan refreshed, looking forward to seeing what I’m capable of, and perhaps the biggest area, to challenging myself mentally to get in line with what I am fairly certain (note the hedging) I’m physiologically capable of performing.

When I trained for my first marathon with Team in Training, each training run became a huge milestone in and of itself—my first double-digit run, my first half in training, my first half I raced, my first sweet 16, 20, whatever. I met each run with “will I be able to do this?,” not “how (fast, strong, hard, evenly-paced, negatively-split, and so on) can I rock this?,” as I’m trying to now.

I find it deeply intriguing to think about where I was as a runner when I started this good stuff back in 2007, compared to how I am now, and not at all in terms of speed but in terms of experience and, sounds strange to say, “running wisdom.”

How I think about running now probably couldn’t be more different than how I thought about it six years ago.

Erin’s recent post got me thinking about this topic because with race day fewer than two months away by now—hell, I can safely say my race is “next month” and not be exaggerating—I often wonder on the run which I like more, the training or the racing.

Am I more process- or product-driven?

I’m really not sure.

And I’m okay with that.

It’s probably part of the process…right?

What’s your story? How do you view your running– as a product or a process?