YMCA Running

The Long Haul

Taper time and I love it - not going to run for time, just for the medal. Not too nervous (yet) although this will be number 46 marathon, I've never had to lay off for a year due to injury...or for any reason for that matter. Oh well, for some reason my new groups always remind me of something I haven't thought of in a while and this one reminds me that this is not 'short term' stuff. I had one of the girls (lady?) in the last group that trained for 20 weeks to run Mercedes is walking downtown and she gets a Wolf whistle (shh, for the old sexist days) and then the guy yells at her, "Nice legs, you a runner?" She told me via e-mail "as sexist and inappropriate as it was, I LOVED it!" Another girl (lady?) in my current group was wondering why  she hadn't lost any weight as of 5 weeks into the program - and today she e-mailed me that she tried on a old pair of pants and they were so loose they "slid right off". I love hearing that stuff - and one other item I'm hearing a lot of is the flu and "when can I run?" Most Dr.S are encouraging 3 days of complete rest and that sounds good - the last thing you want is a relapse and then be out for a week or 10 days. Rest for 3 days is easy compared to 10 days,losing weight is great, but keeping it off is the challenge. Short term rest and quick weight loss is the Short term; the long haul is running well, feeling good, keeping those runner's leg's, and keeping the weight off - that's the long haul. Living large, being able to romp with Grandkids, NOT riding is a rascal or scoot-Around, carrying an oxygen tank, improving your quality of life - that's the long haul. Keep the running up, have fun with it, and think Long haul - no matter how old or young you are there's always MORE FUN TO BE HAD!

Next?

Well now that Mercedes is in the bag for so many the question 'what's next' begs for an answer. Well sometimes in the words of Lewis G Carroll, "Don't just do something, stand there!" How about enjoy running? Too often runners train smart and have a great run and then jump into another race, and then another, and soon they 'burn out' and then just quit running either temporarily or forever. It's okay to go on to one that's a ways away (Country Music Marathon in late April for ex.). That allows time to slow down and revel in what you just did - and by the way spend a week enjoying your accomplishment. Run for fun, no set distance, no set time - just start at a Starbucks and run a bit, come back and treat yourself. Goals are great, but sometimes your goal should be to have no goal. My weekend? Great thanks for asking - my knee is probably 98% - translation no more excuses. So I ran the 5K Saturday comfortably hard to give myself a 'marker' for improvement, man do I have a long way to go. I'm not complaining, just observing - I'd rather have to work hard to get my times down than to not be able to run. One's a choice and the other wasn't, I'll go for the choice every time. The rest of my Saturday was spent chasing and attempting to corral one of my grand kids (second born - he's 3) and man, if I had HIS energy I'd be running 3 minute miles! So Sunday before the Half I was fairly whipped (including 2 full days working the Expo for the track club). Actually I never felt 'great', but I never felt bad and I planned on just running along and having fun - but when I got to the 8 mile mark and figured that with not much more effort I could break 2 hours. That'd be cool (except 2 years ago I set my PR in the Half Marathon 25 minutes faster) so I cocked my hat and set my jaw and took on off for a 1:57 which is a post injury (should I say modern era?) PR. I have to remember what I coach - never belittle your accomplishments be they great or small. There are a lot of people who can't imagine running 1 mile much less 13 and anytime you cover that distance it is an accomplishment - so I'll take it, thank you very much. Next up? Albany Marathon in 3 weeks, I just plan to cover the distance, wish me luck!