Advice From A Trail Rat
Off-Roading & Becoming The Water In Bruce’s Cup
November 2004
Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless--like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow, or it can crash! Be water, my friend.-- Bruce Lee When the opponent expands, I contract. When he contracts, I expand. And when there is an opportunity, I do not hit--it hits all by itself.-- Bruce Lee
Bruce must have been a trail runner. I know that some of the most yin/yang, zen-like, Jesus-I’m-in-the-zone moments in my entire life have been on the trail. I have also taken some nasty falls out there… indeed, the trail is a worthy adversary! And Bruce was into simplification, so he summarizes any imaginable struggle in the above quotes and gives us some insight into the “way of the wizard,” as Deepak Chopra would say. I would scream “technique!” Now, before you think this piece is going to be a fourth installment in the Lord of the Rings series or a Tony Little infommercial, let me get to the points I have on the subject of trail running. As you read on, keep ole Bruce’s quotes and Tony’s scream in mind. Also, I polled my running club officers and a few of them estimated that 85% of our club has trail running experience. Now, I have offered advice to people before and somehow it has been seen as offensive, regardless of the delivery technique. A little psychology here… for all of us. Whenever we receive advice let’s always take the high road. Let’s assume the intent of the advisor is one of genuine care and concern. All too often, we take the low road and assume the advisor is belittling us, especially if the advice is information we already know. That is a shame. So with those thoughts in mind, if this becomes repetitive for you have my apologies.
Let’s get the terminology out of the way first. Coming from Kentucky, my trail running glossary is likely quite different from yours. Some of you may not even talk when you run. If that is the case, never lead a group on a trail run… the people behind you are expecting advanced warning of all obstacles. Here are some terms to help you out when you lead:
Root! – Any slick root[s] or a root parallel to the course of travel. Perpendicular roots don’t roll ankles, so they are not worthy of warning calls. One exception is listed below.
Rock! – Any solidly anchored sharp rock[s] or loose stone[s] likely to maim those who follow you.
Rock Garden! – Any multiple/multitude of the above.
Steeplechase! – A tree that is passable in stride by stepping on and over or simply hurdling. If you can’t pass it in stride, your stopping says all you need to say!
Toe-catcher! – This is a perpendicular root from which the soil has eroded, leaving it completely exposed to trip runners. This is one of the most dangerous obstacles.
Spider! – When encountering a web, yell this out for extra credit [i.e. post-run gratitude]
Snake! –The most feared animal for most of us and worthy of much respect, Yelling this will not lower the leader’s chance of being bitten, and results in severe punishment from fellow runners if it is a false alarm.
Nettle! – Required vocalization when encountering Stinging Nettle. Caveat… the leader may not feel the sting of the nettle encounter until several steps past the encounter, at which point his/her fellow runners have become fellow victims.
Poison! – Ivy, Oak or Sumac.
Thorn! – When encountering briars.
Polecat! – When the smell of a skunk permeates the nostrils and causes bodily convulsions.
There are additional warning calls, but this gives everyone a nice base! Oh, mud is certainly not worthy of calling out. Why are you running trails if you wish to avoid mud?!
Now, let’s focus on running, shall we? There are generally three types of terrain… flat, uphill, and downhill. On a trail there will be obstacles all of the time. Let’s get the easy one’s out of the way first. Running flats is a cakewalk, er… uhh… run. Rhythm is hard to achieve on the trail, so I take it when I can get it. Flats give me that opportunity. I rarely adjust my stride or breathing pattern from what I use on the road. I think of Bruce and try to “flow” over the obstacles without too much drama. I make it as much like road running as possible.
Now we are going to go uphill. Here is where trails start to shine [and runners often wilt]. Being an avid biker I hear people moaning about hills constantly. But, speaking from loads of humbling experience, I can tell you that I’d rather run up any technical hill as opposed to biking up the thing. Aside from a good power-to-weight ratio, there are a few tricks [i.e. Technique!] to get you up the hills on a trail more comfortably and quickly. Again, remember Bruce… become the hill. Lean forward slightly. Move your eyes. Direct your vision down to your feet and quickly scan up, out, and ahead on the trail for 15 feet or so. Keep doing this as you run. Now that you can see, what about your feet? A little trick I learned mountaineering is to “heel” the high spots. Pick out stable rocks and roots and adjust your stride to plant your heel squarely on them. This will level your foot. The benefits of leveling are numerous. You will put less stress on your Achilles and calves, reducing chance of injury. You will rely more heavily on your stronger quads, hamstrings, and gluteus thereby increasing your endurance. Your feet will move less in your shoes, reducing blisters. And you will be able to push off more effectively, increasing your speed. When going up a hill, we all tend to slow down. There is time to focus on form factors like this one. Doing so will take your mind off your fast-approaching anaerobic threshold. This benefit alone makes it worth practicing the technique!
I cannot tell you how many people that are far superior to me physically I have literally left behind going downhill. I remember that dusting my Herculean climbing partners descending mountains are among my prouder moments. So, what makes me faster?
The first thing I will tell you is clichéd. I have no fear. Fear will freeze you on descents. Remember, you are RUNNING! There is no time for fear or being frozen! And your fear is likely one of falling, not speed. Once you fall a few times you will quickly move past that fear. There is a right way to fall. Don’t stick out your arm and lock your elbow! I’ll see you with a cast if you do that! You will need to use your hand, elbow, and shoulder in sequence to absorb an impact. After the impact you just tuck and roll to dissipate speed. Sound hard? It is! Sound painful? It is usually painful as well. I fell last Wednesday night on slick asphalt going downhill in Laurel Park. I used the technique and now have a dime sized war wound on my right elbow. Not bad. Practice falling on a grass hill. Play with your kids in a game of king-of-the-mountain. It is good practice for everyone. The place to learn how to fall is NOT on a trail of rocks while you are running 8 minute mile pace.
The second thing I will tell you is to do the opposite of the uphill technique. That is, use a progressive scanning of the trail and “toe” the high points. Benefits include less shin splint [tibialis posterior and tibialis anterior] stress and more stability. Also, I have seen runners refuse to use proper biomechanics when running down smoother hills on the trail. Specifically, I have seen the refusal to use the entire foot, starting with a heel strike and rolling it forward. Bounding down a hill on the balls of your feet is unstable and slower in most cases. Unless injuries prevent you from using a heel strike and roll, making sure you are doing it. If you are not, give it a try.
Now, here are some new thoughts. 1) As you scan, imagine where water would flow down the trail [remember Bruce?]. If you follow that path you will be happy with the results most of the time. 2) If a trail is a trough “straddle run” it. Essentially you will be bouncing from left to right down the trail. You will not believe the stability this technique has. I have never fallen while straddle running down a trough or rut. 3) You may also want to try your hand at bounding over uncertain terrain. Deer don’t bound for style points. Truth is, they haven’t a clue where their hooves will land. So they bound, and benefit from a supple landing at the end of each bound. In the fraction of time they are airborne they look to find a landing spot and extend their legs. When they touch down they use that extension to absorb the landing. If they slip, they simply short-step to regain balance or fall and bounce back to their feet. We can learn a lot by watching animals move across terrain. Watch domestic cats move about… they are smooth operators. Don’t get too confident though. You have toes instead of hooves… two legs instead of four… and calve muscles to exhaust! Anyway, elevate yourself going down a technical hill. Throw out your usual scoot or flat surface stride, or you will end up on the ground and left behind.
There are some other terrain encounters worth noting. Off-camber trails and turns [trails cut with a slant to the left or right, turns with negative banking], can wreak havoc on your knees and ankles. Don’t just plow through these sections. Search out every level surface you can for each step. I guess this brings us to the end of the road, err… uhh… trail. Trails are your chance to mentally focus unlike other times. I compare it to chopping vegetables. Pay attention [i.e. focus] and use proper technique, and you will enjoy the results. Don’t and you will likely get hurt! I hope some of these thoughts help get you down the trails you choose to run, and I hope to see you out there!
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Monday, October 25, 2004
The Polarization Of America – Election 2004
The Polarization Of America – Election 2004
Commentary by Reed Nelson
25 October 2004
Well, I have HAD it! Today Bush said Kerry would ‘cut and run’ in Iraq. Truth? Bush has no clue what Kerry would do. Kerry slammed Bush for not finding tons of explosives hidden in Iraq. This comes after weeks of cries about no WMD’s. And, furthermore, was Bush the person solely responsible for finding the explosives? Was he crawling and sifting through the sand in Iraq, or did I miss something?
This, my friends, is a daily occurrence… and a huge annoyance for people who are thoughtful and intelligent enough to see past this type of third grade, back-and-forth campaigning. This election, like the last, is all about emotion. This election, like the last, is all about hate. Last time around we had the Republicans going hard after the Clinton-led Democrats, driven by hate and disgust for one Slick Willie. This time we have the Democrats, who kicked out crazy Howard Dean in favor of John Kerry. Not the best choice of the lot, but in my opinion the lot was purposefully made weak to LOSE this election so Hillary can run in 2008. Make no mistake… the Clintons CONTROL the party. Dig deep and you will find this to be pretty accurate. Anyway, without a robust candidate, the election is driven by the party’s hate for Bush, and the belief that he ‘stole’ the 2000 election. Now, if that is not emotional, can someone tell me what is?
So we have it. Both parties are guilty of very bad campaigning. Both candidates have lied and deceived their way down the campaign trail. I have watched this closely… both sides. I feel like I know. I also feel like I have a good basis for rational commentary. I have voted for presidents four times. One Democrat and three Republican. I have voted for Senators and Representatives on both sides of the aisle as well. I despise the two-party set up we have now. It is all too simplified… and polarizes the issues, skewing our thinking and our real positions. So, oftentimes, if we look honestly, we sit firmly on BOTH sides, but we choose one because we must. Often, inertia has everything to do with that choice, and rational thinking has been omitted from the process. Disagree? Well, if you buy into EVERY issue in ‘your’ party’s platform, you can always vote for that party in good conscience. If you do not buy into the whole lot of salad that ‘your’ party is tossing [I suspect most people fall into this group, but refuse to honestly look at it this way], you have a dilemma. How do you decide?
I’ll get to the decision process in a minute, but first I have to touch on the polarization issues. We’ve all been politicized to death in the past few years. It is quite disgusting in this day and age that grown and [supposedly] mature adults must avoid political discussions because arguments inevitably erupt. Why must that be true? And just why IS it true most of the time? And why do we accept that discouraging news so readily? Personally, I refuse to keep the company of friends who cannot argue their points factually and rationally. I’d rather know other people, to be quite honest about it… and not just people who agree with me. The point is we have just plain lost it. We have Michael Moore doing Fahrenheit 9/11 and calling it a ‘documentary.’ Really? And just who checked all of the facts for accuracy? We have bumper stickers from Democrats that say ‘Vote the Son of a Bush Out.’ Now that’s a classy way to represent 'your' party of choice. Republicans are not immune to drama either. They had Slick Willie stickers in 1996 and Sore Losserman [aka Gore Liebermann] stickers in 2000. This year we have Swift Boat Veterans coming out of the woodwork. Listen, just where were these people for the past 18 years that John Kerry has been Senator? Oh, apparently they had no problem with that. Riiiiiiight. This year I have actually seen regular bumper stickers for Bush Cheney defaced on cars by Democratic supporters. Again, the hate just continues to grow into ever uglier actions. This stuff is inexcusable. Both parties need a bath and an enema.
Now, back to the question at hand. How do you vote? Well, let’s do a little civics here. Let’s all remember that this country is NOT a democracy in the purest sense. It is, in fact, a representative democracy. When we elect people to office, we elect them to vote their Conscience for us. It is impossible to poll constituents on every issue and very inefficient as well. Since conscience is a key factor, I would opine that the CHARACTER of a particular candidate is central to any voting decision. Of course, we went through this a few years ago when the phrase ‘character doesn’t matter’ was circulating. Of course, that is lunacy. Character ALWAYS matters. It matters with you, your children, your spouse, your parents, your friends… and your elected officials. We all need to understand that very clearly. Think about it for a while. And, I will be glad to tell you where the question of character really matters… with VOTERS. I will be voting a split ticket this year. I am voting on character and will impose my own’ term limits’ in some cases, since most of our congresspersons are too self-absorbed to limit themselves. I wonder how many people truly consider the candidates? I wonder how many Democrats listen to Rush and how many Republicans listen to Carville? Or is it just the same ole song? Punch the straight ticket, check for hanging chads, and go home.
I hope most people are smarter than that. So, you may wonder where I stand. I will tell you that I am not voting for Nader. I will tell you that in the presidential race, the winner, based on the question of character, is clear if you look hard enough. I will tell you that in the state of Missouri that Kit Bond has been in office long enough. I will tell you that you probably do not know what you need to know about the threats we face as a nation from rogue terrorists… Washington will not tell you because it is too scary and they do not trust you. Both of those facts are sad. And just who am I to say these things? Well, at least you can ask me that question without fear of reaping a whirlwind of venom and emotion. My message to you is simple. Calm down, look deeper, and vote. Where you stand [or who you vote for] is of no consequence to me.
Commentary by Reed Nelson
25 October 2004
Well, I have HAD it! Today Bush said Kerry would ‘cut and run’ in Iraq. Truth? Bush has no clue what Kerry would do. Kerry slammed Bush for not finding tons of explosives hidden in Iraq. This comes after weeks of cries about no WMD’s. And, furthermore, was Bush the person solely responsible for finding the explosives? Was he crawling and sifting through the sand in Iraq, or did I miss something?
This, my friends, is a daily occurrence… and a huge annoyance for people who are thoughtful and intelligent enough to see past this type of third grade, back-and-forth campaigning. This election, like the last, is all about emotion. This election, like the last, is all about hate. Last time around we had the Republicans going hard after the Clinton-led Democrats, driven by hate and disgust for one Slick Willie. This time we have the Democrats, who kicked out crazy Howard Dean in favor of John Kerry. Not the best choice of the lot, but in my opinion the lot was purposefully made weak to LOSE this election so Hillary can run in 2008. Make no mistake… the Clintons CONTROL the party. Dig deep and you will find this to be pretty accurate. Anyway, without a robust candidate, the election is driven by the party’s hate for Bush, and the belief that he ‘stole’ the 2000 election. Now, if that is not emotional, can someone tell me what is?
So we have it. Both parties are guilty of very bad campaigning. Both candidates have lied and deceived their way down the campaign trail. I have watched this closely… both sides. I feel like I know. I also feel like I have a good basis for rational commentary. I have voted for presidents four times. One Democrat and three Republican. I have voted for Senators and Representatives on both sides of the aisle as well. I despise the two-party set up we have now. It is all too simplified… and polarizes the issues, skewing our thinking and our real positions. So, oftentimes, if we look honestly, we sit firmly on BOTH sides, but we choose one because we must. Often, inertia has everything to do with that choice, and rational thinking has been omitted from the process. Disagree? Well, if you buy into EVERY issue in ‘your’ party’s platform, you can always vote for that party in good conscience. If you do not buy into the whole lot of salad that ‘your’ party is tossing [I suspect most people fall into this group, but refuse to honestly look at it this way], you have a dilemma. How do you decide?
I’ll get to the decision process in a minute, but first I have to touch on the polarization issues. We’ve all been politicized to death in the past few years. It is quite disgusting in this day and age that grown and [supposedly] mature adults must avoid political discussions because arguments inevitably erupt. Why must that be true? And just why IS it true most of the time? And why do we accept that discouraging news so readily? Personally, I refuse to keep the company of friends who cannot argue their points factually and rationally. I’d rather know other people, to be quite honest about it… and not just people who agree with me. The point is we have just plain lost it. We have Michael Moore doing Fahrenheit 9/11 and calling it a ‘documentary.’ Really? And just who checked all of the facts for accuracy? We have bumper stickers from Democrats that say ‘Vote the Son of a Bush Out.’ Now that’s a classy way to represent 'your' party of choice. Republicans are not immune to drama either. They had Slick Willie stickers in 1996 and Sore Losserman [aka Gore Liebermann] stickers in 2000. This year we have Swift Boat Veterans coming out of the woodwork. Listen, just where were these people for the past 18 years that John Kerry has been Senator? Oh, apparently they had no problem with that. Riiiiiiight. This year I have actually seen regular bumper stickers for Bush Cheney defaced on cars by Democratic supporters. Again, the hate just continues to grow into ever uglier actions. This stuff is inexcusable. Both parties need a bath and an enema.
Now, back to the question at hand. How do you vote? Well, let’s do a little civics here. Let’s all remember that this country is NOT a democracy in the purest sense. It is, in fact, a representative democracy. When we elect people to office, we elect them to vote their Conscience for us. It is impossible to poll constituents on every issue and very inefficient as well. Since conscience is a key factor, I would opine that the CHARACTER of a particular candidate is central to any voting decision. Of course, we went through this a few years ago when the phrase ‘character doesn’t matter’ was circulating. Of course, that is lunacy. Character ALWAYS matters. It matters with you, your children, your spouse, your parents, your friends… and your elected officials. We all need to understand that very clearly. Think about it for a while. And, I will be glad to tell you where the question of character really matters… with VOTERS. I will be voting a split ticket this year. I am voting on character and will impose my own’ term limits’ in some cases, since most of our congresspersons are too self-absorbed to limit themselves. I wonder how many people truly consider the candidates? I wonder how many Democrats listen to Rush and how many Republicans listen to Carville? Or is it just the same ole song? Punch the straight ticket, check for hanging chads, and go home.
I hope most people are smarter than that. So, you may wonder where I stand. I will tell you that I am not voting for Nader. I will tell you that in the presidential race, the winner, based on the question of character, is clear if you look hard enough. I will tell you that in the state of Missouri that Kit Bond has been in office long enough. I will tell you that you probably do not know what you need to know about the threats we face as a nation from rogue terrorists… Washington will not tell you because it is too scary and they do not trust you. Both of those facts are sad. And just who am I to say these things? Well, at least you can ask me that question without fear of reaping a whirlwind of venom and emotion. My message to you is simple. Calm down, look deeper, and vote. Where you stand [or who you vote for] is of no consequence to me.
Thursday, September 30, 2004
The Spirit Of Amateur Competition
The Spirit Of Amateur Competition
Commentary by Reed Nelson originally written 30 September, 2004
ARTICLE EXCERPT
“Japan's diminutive Mizuki Noguchi put on an extraordinary display of front-running to win the Olympic women's marathon title on Sunday as Paula Radcliffe's challenge ended in bitter tears. Big pre-race favourite Radcliffe, who led for the first half of the race, failed to finish, breaking down in tears at the 36-km mark as she slipped back to fourth after two hours' running.
The Briton, world record holder and never beaten in three previous marathons, tried to re-start but then slumped down by the side of the road, sobbing. Her record was almost 11 minutes quicker than Sunday's winning time.
The marathon had begun at 1800 local time but the heat was still intense. By five km, the lead group had already been whittled down to around a dozen. Radcliffe, desperate for a first title at a major championships, was unable to fight her eagerness and broke to the front after 25 minutes, shadowed by the Kenyans, Ethiopians and Japanese.
Already the event, on a steadily rising course, was taking casualties. Lydia Simon of Romania, the Sydney silver medallist, was dropped and soon 10 were left at the front. Kenya's Margaret Okayo, the fastest performer of the year, also lost touch as the race proper began. After exactly one-and-a-half hours Noguchi made her move, blasting up yet another incline and exploding the leading pack of seven. Only Alemu was able to keep in touch but Noguchi kept attacking up the climbs to forge 15 seconds clear, then 30, with a third of the race to run. Ndereba cut the gap to 12 seconds with two kilometres to go but Noguchi held on.”
The above article snip is available in its entirety at http://in.rediff.com/sports/2004/aug/23oly-ath1.htm
Well, I see it happen all the time. People train and live for an event, the event unfolds, and dreams of victory are crushed. But, is that really the intent and spirit of competition and amateur athletics? Let’s take a closer look from an entirely factual point of view.
First, let’s look at the true meaning of the word amateur. It has changed from a positive meaning to a disparaging meaning over the years. From Merriam Webster and from dictionary.com:
Etymology: French, from Latin amator lover, from amare to love1 : DEVOTEE, ADMIRER2 : one who engages in a pursuit, study, science, or sport as a pastime rather than as a profession3 : one lacking in experience and competence in an art or science.
Second, let’s look at the true meaning of competition. According to Merriam Webster:
Etymology: Late Latin competere to seek together, from Latin, to come together, agree, be suitable, from com- + petere to go to, seek:
1 : to strive consciously or unconsciously for an objective (as position, profit, or a prize) : be in a state of rivalry
Finally, let’s look at the word spirit, from the Merriam Webster definition:
Etymology: Middle English, from Old French or Latin; Old French, from Latin spiritus, literally, breath, from spirare to blow, breathe1 : an animating or vital principle held to give life to physical organisms
Now that we have knowledge of the words, true combined meanings can be derived. So, let me try my hand at defining the “spirit of amateur competition.”
“A gathering of people, with whom a common love of a particular sport is held, to strive for a common goal of victory, in which vitality also results.”
Now combined, it is clear that there are TWO purposes when one engages in the spirit of amateur competition. To win and to live [better]. And underlying all of that is love. I may have an altruistic view, but if one is acting out of love, then both goals of the competitive spirit need not be accomplished. By engaging in the competitive spirit alone, vitality is a result… and isn’t that a victory in-and-of itself? Winning should always be the goal, and without it there is no real competition. But winning is merely a bonus, as it is temporary. Vitality is clearly ”victorious’ over winning, as it is the essence of life, the addition of “spice” to our world and lives. “Winning is not everything, but the effort to win is,” says Zig Ziglar. There are variations to this quote such as “learning does not come from victory, but from struggle.” I believe these statements to be true.
Therefore, I have a hard time with quitters and sore losers. I cannot find sympathy in those situations. With the Radcliffe debacle, initial articles said she feigned some sort of leg injury. That is nonsense. Unless she was carried away, she still should have been on the course. Personally, I would have crawled the last 3 miles if I had to. There was a stadium full of people and over a hundred nations watching, and in the race of her life, Radcliffe quit and cried. She could have continued and cried, and she would never be forgotten. But as it is, this will haunt her. There are reasons that there are not millions of links on the web to post race interviews with her. First, she was too ashamed to talk. Second, the press is loath to spend too much time on quitters at the Olympics. Harsh? Maybe. But, as an amateur athlete, defined by a supposed love of her sport, she did a great injustice to her sport when she quit. It was an act of selfishness instead of selflessness. And the spirit of competition took a blow to the gut as well. When watching this unfold, did anyone feel vital? Conversely, would anyone have felt vital if she had continued toward the finish, crossing the finish and defying the tragedy of defeat?
Now, there is another side. Enough about Radcliffe. As the current world record holder I hope she will go on to win more races. Hopefully she can uphold the spirit of amateur competition when she does. I say this because the flip side of feeling shame is promoting shame. This is done through trash talking and over celebrating. Quitting is not nearly the problem that over celebrating has become. The NFL has tried to subdue it, and a portion of the rabid fan base and the highlight-dependent media have dubbed the NFL acronym as meaning the No Fun League. This is a warped view of competition in my opinion. But the NFL is a professional league, and those guys are playing for money and entertainment’. There is no pretense in that fact… and what passes as entertainment to one person may indeed repulse another person. So, I cannot criticize it too heavily. Still, the wrong message is delivered when a secondary goal of competition becomes humiliating the opponent. So now we have taunting and spiking and goalpost destruction and fighting… the negative list just goes on and on. Let me pose these questions:
1. “Would it be OK for an Olympic marathoner to trash talk their opponents on the course with a microphone for audio television coverage?”
2. “Would it be OK for me, upon finishing my marathon, to back track the course and encourage other potential finishers to quit because they can’t win anyway?”
3. “Would it be OK for a gymnast to shout at their competitors during the routine in an effort to distract them?
I could go on forever here, and most often the answer to the scenarios I would pose would be “no.”
Thankfully, there are still a few professional sports that, most of the time, promote the spirit of amateur competition. Golf comes to mind. Men and women battle and grind against themselves and each other on the course. Good shots and playmaking are usually acknowledged, even by competitors. There are no gifts… if an athlete has an off day they will most certainly be beaten badly. At the end they all remove their hats and shake hands. Competition has brought them closer. After all, they had a common love for the game and a common goal of winning, and all of them struggled mightily for that goal. Tennis comes close to this sometimes, too. There are other sports with higher standards, too, but none reach the pinnacle of amateur sports.
So, what can we take from this look at the spirit of amateur competition? I would say this to everyone. Compete! Go out and compete in something which you are bound to lose [but try to win anyway!]. Enjoy the lessons of competition like humility, and respect. Conversely, go out and compete in something which you are likely to win. Then, you may teach the same lessons to others. In doing this you will find your life more vital than before. You will find new friends. You will find your limits of physical and emotional endurance. After all, you will have competed and acted out of love, and life doesn’t get much purer than that.
I will end with a few quotes.
I love the winning, I can take the losing, but most of all I Love to play.
~ Boris Becker ~
The medals don't mean anything and the glory doesn't last. It's all about your happiness. The rewards are going to come, but my happiness is just loving the sport and having fun performing.
~ Jackie Joyner Kersee ~
I don't compete with other discus throwers. I compete with my own history.
~ Al Oerter ~
If you make every game a life and death proposition, you're going to have problems. For one thing, you'll be dead a lot.
~ Dean Smith ~
Wise men never sit and wail their loss, but cheerily seek how to redress their harms.
~ William Shakespeare ~
The opponents and I are really one. My strength and skills only half of the equation. The other half is theirs. An opponent is someone whose strength joined to yours creates a certain result.
~ Sadaharu Oh ~
My greatest point is my persistence. I never give up in a match. However down I am, I fight until the last ball. My list of matches shows that I have turned a great many so-called irretrievable defeats into victories.
~ Bjorn Borg ~
Sports do not build character. They reveal it.
~ John Wooden ~
The first thing is to love your sport. Never do it to please someone else. It has to be yours.
~ Peggy Fleming ~
Men talk as if victory were something fortunate. Work is victory.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~
Any time you try to win everything, you must be willing to lose everything.
~ Larry Csonka ~
If you set a goal for yourself and are able to achieve it, you have won your race. Your goal can be to come in first, to improve your performance, or just to finish the race -- it's up to you.
~ Dave Scott ~
You can stand tall without standing on someone. You can be a victor without having victims.
~ Harriet Woods ~
AND FINALLY, ONE OF MY OWN…
Every time I lace up or strap the velcro on my shoes it is a new personal record, because it is one more step or pedal stroke than I have ever done before.
~ Reed Nelson – September, 2004~
Commentary by Reed Nelson originally written 30 September, 2004
ARTICLE EXCERPT
“Japan's diminutive Mizuki Noguchi put on an extraordinary display of front-running to win the Olympic women's marathon title on Sunday as Paula Radcliffe's challenge ended in bitter tears. Big pre-race favourite Radcliffe, who led for the first half of the race, failed to finish, breaking down in tears at the 36-km mark as she slipped back to fourth after two hours' running.
The Briton, world record holder and never beaten in three previous marathons, tried to re-start but then slumped down by the side of the road, sobbing. Her record was almost 11 minutes quicker than Sunday's winning time.
The marathon had begun at 1800 local time but the heat was still intense. By five km, the lead group had already been whittled down to around a dozen. Radcliffe, desperate for a first title at a major championships, was unable to fight her eagerness and broke to the front after 25 minutes, shadowed by the Kenyans, Ethiopians and Japanese.
Already the event, on a steadily rising course, was taking casualties. Lydia Simon of Romania, the Sydney silver medallist, was dropped and soon 10 were left at the front. Kenya's Margaret Okayo, the fastest performer of the year, also lost touch as the race proper began. After exactly one-and-a-half hours Noguchi made her move, blasting up yet another incline and exploding the leading pack of seven. Only Alemu was able to keep in touch but Noguchi kept attacking up the climbs to forge 15 seconds clear, then 30, with a third of the race to run. Ndereba cut the gap to 12 seconds with two kilometres to go but Noguchi held on.”
The above article snip is available in its entirety at http://in.rediff.com/sports/2004/aug/23oly-ath1.htm
Well, I see it happen all the time. People train and live for an event, the event unfolds, and dreams of victory are crushed. But, is that really the intent and spirit of competition and amateur athletics? Let’s take a closer look from an entirely factual point of view.
First, let’s look at the true meaning of the word amateur. It has changed from a positive meaning to a disparaging meaning over the years. From Merriam Webster and from dictionary.com:
Etymology: French, from Latin amator lover, from amare to love1 : DEVOTEE, ADMIRER2 : one who engages in a pursuit, study, science, or sport as a pastime rather than as a profession3 : one lacking in experience and competence in an art or science.
Second, let’s look at the true meaning of competition. According to Merriam Webster:
Etymology: Late Latin competere to seek together, from Latin, to come together, agree, be suitable, from com- + petere to go to, seek:
1 : to strive consciously or unconsciously for an objective (as position, profit, or a prize) : be in a state of rivalry
Finally, let’s look at the word spirit, from the Merriam Webster definition:
Etymology: Middle English, from Old French or Latin; Old French, from Latin spiritus, literally, breath, from spirare to blow, breathe1 : an animating or vital principle held to give life to physical organisms
Now that we have knowledge of the words, true combined meanings can be derived. So, let me try my hand at defining the “spirit of amateur competition.”
“A gathering of people, with whom a common love of a particular sport is held, to strive for a common goal of victory, in which vitality also results.”
Now combined, it is clear that there are TWO purposes when one engages in the spirit of amateur competition. To win and to live [better]. And underlying all of that is love. I may have an altruistic view, but if one is acting out of love, then both goals of the competitive spirit need not be accomplished. By engaging in the competitive spirit alone, vitality is a result… and isn’t that a victory in-and-of itself? Winning should always be the goal, and without it there is no real competition. But winning is merely a bonus, as it is temporary. Vitality is clearly ”victorious’ over winning, as it is the essence of life, the addition of “spice” to our world and lives. “Winning is not everything, but the effort to win is,” says Zig Ziglar. There are variations to this quote such as “learning does not come from victory, but from struggle.” I believe these statements to be true.
Therefore, I have a hard time with quitters and sore losers. I cannot find sympathy in those situations. With the Radcliffe debacle, initial articles said she feigned some sort of leg injury. That is nonsense. Unless she was carried away, she still should have been on the course. Personally, I would have crawled the last 3 miles if I had to. There was a stadium full of people and over a hundred nations watching, and in the race of her life, Radcliffe quit and cried. She could have continued and cried, and she would never be forgotten. But as it is, this will haunt her. There are reasons that there are not millions of links on the web to post race interviews with her. First, she was too ashamed to talk. Second, the press is loath to spend too much time on quitters at the Olympics. Harsh? Maybe. But, as an amateur athlete, defined by a supposed love of her sport, she did a great injustice to her sport when she quit. It was an act of selfishness instead of selflessness. And the spirit of competition took a blow to the gut as well. When watching this unfold, did anyone feel vital? Conversely, would anyone have felt vital if she had continued toward the finish, crossing the finish and defying the tragedy of defeat?
Now, there is another side. Enough about Radcliffe. As the current world record holder I hope she will go on to win more races. Hopefully she can uphold the spirit of amateur competition when she does. I say this because the flip side of feeling shame is promoting shame. This is done through trash talking and over celebrating. Quitting is not nearly the problem that over celebrating has become. The NFL has tried to subdue it, and a portion of the rabid fan base and the highlight-dependent media have dubbed the NFL acronym as meaning the No Fun League. This is a warped view of competition in my opinion. But the NFL is a professional league, and those guys are playing for money and entertainment’. There is no pretense in that fact… and what passes as entertainment to one person may indeed repulse another person. So, I cannot criticize it too heavily. Still, the wrong message is delivered when a secondary goal of competition becomes humiliating the opponent. So now we have taunting and spiking and goalpost destruction and fighting… the negative list just goes on and on. Let me pose these questions:
1. “Would it be OK for an Olympic marathoner to trash talk their opponents on the course with a microphone for audio television coverage?”
2. “Would it be OK for me, upon finishing my marathon, to back track the course and encourage other potential finishers to quit because they can’t win anyway?”
3. “Would it be OK for a gymnast to shout at their competitors during the routine in an effort to distract them?
I could go on forever here, and most often the answer to the scenarios I would pose would be “no.”
Thankfully, there are still a few professional sports that, most of the time, promote the spirit of amateur competition. Golf comes to mind. Men and women battle and grind against themselves and each other on the course. Good shots and playmaking are usually acknowledged, even by competitors. There are no gifts… if an athlete has an off day they will most certainly be beaten badly. At the end they all remove their hats and shake hands. Competition has brought them closer. After all, they had a common love for the game and a common goal of winning, and all of them struggled mightily for that goal. Tennis comes close to this sometimes, too. There are other sports with higher standards, too, but none reach the pinnacle of amateur sports.
So, what can we take from this look at the spirit of amateur competition? I would say this to everyone. Compete! Go out and compete in something which you are bound to lose [but try to win anyway!]. Enjoy the lessons of competition like humility, and respect. Conversely, go out and compete in something which you are likely to win. Then, you may teach the same lessons to others. In doing this you will find your life more vital than before. You will find new friends. You will find your limits of physical and emotional endurance. After all, you will have competed and acted out of love, and life doesn’t get much purer than that.
I will end with a few quotes.
I love the winning, I can take the losing, but most of all I Love to play.
~ Boris Becker ~
The medals don't mean anything and the glory doesn't last. It's all about your happiness. The rewards are going to come, but my happiness is just loving the sport and having fun performing.
~ Jackie Joyner Kersee ~
I don't compete with other discus throwers. I compete with my own history.
~ Al Oerter ~
If you make every game a life and death proposition, you're going to have problems. For one thing, you'll be dead a lot.
~ Dean Smith ~
Wise men never sit and wail their loss, but cheerily seek how to redress their harms.
~ William Shakespeare ~
The opponents and I are really one. My strength and skills only half of the equation. The other half is theirs. An opponent is someone whose strength joined to yours creates a certain result.
~ Sadaharu Oh ~
My greatest point is my persistence. I never give up in a match. However down I am, I fight until the last ball. My list of matches shows that I have turned a great many so-called irretrievable defeats into victories.
~ Bjorn Borg ~
Sports do not build character. They reveal it.
~ John Wooden ~
The first thing is to love your sport. Never do it to please someone else. It has to be yours.
~ Peggy Fleming ~
Men talk as if victory were something fortunate. Work is victory.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~
Any time you try to win everything, you must be willing to lose everything.
~ Larry Csonka ~
If you set a goal for yourself and are able to achieve it, you have won your race. Your goal can be to come in first, to improve your performance, or just to finish the race -- it's up to you.
~ Dave Scott ~
You can stand tall without standing on someone. You can be a victor without having victims.
~ Harriet Woods ~
AND FINALLY, ONE OF MY OWN…
Every time I lace up or strap the velcro on my shoes it is a new personal record, because it is one more step or pedal stroke than I have ever done before.
~ Reed Nelson – September, 2004~
Sunday, September 19, 2004
2004 Lewis & Clark Marathon Journal
Lewis & Clark Marathon Journal
September 19th, 2004
The Vision
This past year has been a running adventure, and with an early season half marathon, my partner and I had kept our momentum over the spring and summer. We had no goal other than to work out enough to eat whatever we wanted. I think my partner always had her sights set on this half marathon… it is actually a very nice way to bookend the warm seasons. I was non-committal. But, as the month of September drew nearer we ran more and I became available for longer training runs. Following a trip to Las Vegas, two weeks prior to the event and just before a trip to Mexico we ran 12 miles and walked four on a Saturday. It was not a problem. We decided that day to register for the half marathon, as the fine people at Fleet Feet said we could do another lap if we chose to. And there it was, hedged to the maximum, registered to run a half and hoping to complete a full. But, usually one to complain about such evasions to commitment, I thought the whole scheme to be smart. The fact was that we were not prepared for a full 26.2 miles. Why not let our bodies decide on the day of the event?
Training
From a training standpoint, my partner and I do everything. She does more indoor and treadmill work than me. I do more weights and biking than her. Our mileage is probably similar. I like hills, she does not. She likes heat, I do not. There are other fun contrasts. Anyway, she follows the Fleet Feet half marathon schedule pretty well. I am more into the long runs once I have a good base. Since speed and times are not a concern for me, the long run is my key in training.
The Night Before
I made fettuccini Alfredo and we indulged. Crème brulee for dessert and we indulged some more. It was all homemade and wonderful. We planned on meeting at the Arena at 615am.
Race Morning
I set off after eating some lady fingers and Nutella and drinking my usual six shots of expresso. I threw in a protein drink and a glass of water for good measure. Everything seemed fine. I loaded my supplies in the car and drove in the dark onto 364 east. Just as I was grabbing the right lane for the Arena Parkway exit I heard a thump. I thought I must have hit a bird or rabbit and I drove on. There was little traffic at that point. After parking I organized everything and started to put on Body Glide as I watched the cars fill in around me. As I reached for my shoes my heart stopped. The thump I heard was the 70mph force of the wind ripping the shoes off the roof of my car… I had left them there when loading the car earlier!!! I quickly started the car and drove against the incoming flow of cars to the Arena. I was home in less than 10 minutes and grabbed more shoes and socks. Returning to 364 I knew exactly where to look for my Saucony’s. And there they were, safely positioned on in the “V” space between the merging lane from Heritage Landing and the main traffic lanes. I pulled off and grabbed them. I found my trusty Wright socks as well. Everything was good… if I could make the start time. The traffic had become horrendous. In a cell phone call with my partner, I had set up a meeting spot under the 10 minute pace marker. I made it with five minutes to spare. There was no need to warm up… my heart had been racing for 30 minutes! We were off!
The Start – Mile 2
DAG timing is cool. No worries about getting your true time. We just trotted up to the start line, and it took a couple of minutes. There was no real nervous energy, but anticipation of a good day by most. My partner handles things a little different than me. I usually end up the talker and cheerleader in stressful moments. She is usually irritated by my upbeat approach initially, and thankful for the diversion later! I am a militantly positive person, and everyone around me realizes that if they stick around long enough. The runners did not spread out very much for the first few miles. We ran in a crowd on the concrete of Arena Parkway. At the 2-mile mark on Main Street I was commenting on how Flat Five runners struggled mightily up the shallow grade in front of the Ameristar. I commented that I do not consider that particular geographical obstruction a hill at all, and that, according to me, there were NO hills on this course. Hey, I told you I was an optimist!
Miles 3-6
As we made Riverside Drive we traced our normal training route for about 1.5 miles. It was nice to be on your “home field” for your first marathon, I thought. Runners were comfortably spread out as we made the turn onto Second Street. As we made it through DuSable and Bales parks, I had no idea there was so much space up that way. Winding our way through the area would be the only new ground we would tread that day. Getting onto the Katy was gratifying for the joints, but I was careful of the pebbles. Getting one in your shoes is a frustrating experience, and would require a stop to remove it.
Miles 7-11
This is Katy Trail country. Flat, easy, shaded. The first two traits are welcome in a marathon, but torturously boring in training. Shade is always welcome! The only diversion is the section through Frontier Park. The Missouri River is a source of energy for me. It is ancient and mysterious and powerful. It hums to me. I liked being close to it for a moment. I know it sounds weird… but I can’t tell you how many times in the winter I have stood atop a bluff and watched the river flow. It is so persistent in its progress. It is exactly what we need to be to run a marathon, I thought.
Miles 12-13.1
Going up to the new parking lot at Page was another grade, but since riding it the first time I have thought the hill to be remarkably well done. I just zoom right up it on a bike. Running was no different. Two women were just hammering up the top section, which is the steepest part. I had heard them discuss getting up and getting over it quickly. I liked that approach. At the top I heard a man say “go Reed” at the food station. I looked back and was blinded by the southeastern sun, and just gave appreciative thumbs up to the unknown man. At the turn into the Arena parking lot at mile 12 we saw Sue, Jon and Jennifer from the “wine circle.” They had said they might come down and cheer us on at the halfway mark. It was VERY cool to have your own fans! Just after them there was a group offering Dixie cups of beer. I resisted the temptation. I had discussed not kicking the finish with my partner. Yeah… right! She never disagreed or agreed, but with her competitive nature she just could not hold back. After circumnavigating the parking lot we took the left turn into the Arena and finished in a flurry of activity and people. We walked around disoriented and grabbed some water. We finally made our way outside and to the car. Sue, Jon and Jennifer took a few quick pictures and we were off and walking.
The second half… mile 13.1 – 15
This was a discussion period for my partner and I. We committed to our walk run pattern and finishing, and I committed to staying with her. She seemed to deflect this commitment or not fully understand why I would do that. Marathons are a thing better experienced with others, but that is my opinion. I just get more out of doing things as a team… I accomplished enough by myself. I suppose not everyone feels the same, and that is cool, too. My partner had a blister on the knuckle of her big toe; I was going to be there for her if she were to tough it out to the finish. Our pattern was to be 2 walk, 1.5 run, 2 walk 1.5 run, 2 walk, 1 run, 2 walk, finish running. We reached the 15-mile marker and I was happy for the fact I had stopped sweating and regained my breath completely. I felt particularly strong. We started running again.
Miles 16 – 20
Truthfully, these miles just flew by. We made jokes with running club member Sheila at the Boonslick intersection about how we needed foot transplants and where we could go to get them. We ran along Riverside and onto Second, again knowing every inch and crack in the surface. We walked into and through the turnaround and began running again on the Katy Trail. I had to convince my partner to run, as her foot was really hurting. She gutted it out and found a favorable groove. As we progressed I made the comment that every step or stride we took for the remainder of the event was a new PR for both of us. We made the 20-mile mark at the South end of Frontier Park and started walking again.
Miles 21-23
At this point we could really smell the finish. It became easier in a way. But, my pinky toes were hypersensitive and my partner’s blister was raw and painful. Mentally, though… it was easier. At this point we both knew we would be able to finish. The whole race we had drank at every stop and did gels every 30 to 45 minutes. I had brought electrolyte drink for my fuel belt, which I had reloaded at my car, and had consumed 84 ounces of it… my kidneys ached slightly, and I realized why! We saw people finishing at the end of this stretch, which was very emotional for me. I saw two boys join their father to run the last mile and almost lost it.
Miles 24 – Finish
We were on our last interval… we had made it! There was no question at this point for me. The day, the weather, the energy, the plan… everything had fallen into place. Even with the catastrophic beginning, it had all worked out. We walked up to the 364 parking lot and I finally found out who my fan was. Ken, ultra-runner freak extraordinaire, was the man I could not see before. Ironwoman Vicki was there, too. At the Arena Parkway re-entry, running club member Terry was out there in her cast, recovering from a stress fracture. Damn, we were lucky! We had all of these people we knew see us and cheer us on. We had Terry there and she reminded us that we were healthy enough to do the event. We saw others as well. Ironcouple Terry and Kay were on the course as volunteers. It was awesome. We reached the 25-mile mark and started to run again. Another lap of the parking lot… but this time I grabbed a beer when offered and chugged it! As Severine and I hit the 26-mile mark I started thinking out loud.
“320 meters to go,” I said.
“And to think that my [ex] wife moved out a year ago yesterday,” I said. My partner began to cry a little. We have both had tough roads this past year. But we have created a nice legacy so far, becoming better people than we were before. We surged into the chute into the Arena, seesawing with each other in a full sprint. I kept yelling at her to push it. We were marathoners!!!
Post Race – Aftermath
I took off my shoes and walked on the freezing Arena floor. I placed my shoes on the finish line for a few moments. They had carried me through some miles, and would never bear my weight again. I don’t intend to run another marathon either. But I never say never! My more likely future is a graduation to Triathlons and Duathlons. My partner caught the bug, and will likely do another one. I hit the massage table and my smaller toes cramped into a bird’s claw position. A young lady marveled as she massaged the cramps away. I felt so good. They didn’t even hurt. It was great to walk out to the car in bare feet. I saw running club members Glen and Kelly resting on the grass. We had a few words, just like we had done in the starting mass. It had all come full circle. But now, after, burning about 4,000 calories and consuming only 1,000, it was time to EAT!
Equipment Details
Almost 100% of training and racing done in Saucony Grid Omni 3 CRM-M [Moderate Stability] 9.5 regular width. These shoes have a wide toe box and prevent my main foot problem… toe overlap/rub. Alternate shoes were New Balance 870OR [off-road] 9.5D. Also used Wright Running Lite double layer socks and BodyGlide lubricant to eliminate almost all blisters, rubs and chaffing. Used Clif Shot Mocha Gels in Amphipod Micropack LandSport & Airflow Rapid Access pouches. Used Ultima Replenisher sugar free electrolyte replacement drink in a 2005 Terminator 6 bottle Fuel Belt. I use running-specific shorts and wicking poly shirts of several brands... my favorites are InSport and Asics. Finally, I use waterproof athletic tape over my nipples to prevent wearing the ‘red number eleven’ at the end of long runs!!!
September 19th, 2004
The Vision
This past year has been a running adventure, and with an early season half marathon, my partner and I had kept our momentum over the spring and summer. We had no goal other than to work out enough to eat whatever we wanted. I think my partner always had her sights set on this half marathon… it is actually a very nice way to bookend the warm seasons. I was non-committal. But, as the month of September drew nearer we ran more and I became available for longer training runs. Following a trip to Las Vegas, two weeks prior to the event and just before a trip to Mexico we ran 12 miles and walked four on a Saturday. It was not a problem. We decided that day to register for the half marathon, as the fine people at Fleet Feet said we could do another lap if we chose to. And there it was, hedged to the maximum, registered to run a half and hoping to complete a full. But, usually one to complain about such evasions to commitment, I thought the whole scheme to be smart. The fact was that we were not prepared for a full 26.2 miles. Why not let our bodies decide on the day of the event?
Training
From a training standpoint, my partner and I do everything. She does more indoor and treadmill work than me. I do more weights and biking than her. Our mileage is probably similar. I like hills, she does not. She likes heat, I do not. There are other fun contrasts. Anyway, she follows the Fleet Feet half marathon schedule pretty well. I am more into the long runs once I have a good base. Since speed and times are not a concern for me, the long run is my key in training.
The Night Before
I made fettuccini Alfredo and we indulged. Crème brulee for dessert and we indulged some more. It was all homemade and wonderful. We planned on meeting at the Arena at 615am.
Race Morning
I set off after eating some lady fingers and Nutella and drinking my usual six shots of expresso. I threw in a protein drink and a glass of water for good measure. Everything seemed fine. I loaded my supplies in the car and drove in the dark onto 364 east. Just as I was grabbing the right lane for the Arena Parkway exit I heard a thump. I thought I must have hit a bird or rabbit and I drove on. There was little traffic at that point. After parking I organized everything and started to put on Body Glide as I watched the cars fill in around me. As I reached for my shoes my heart stopped. The thump I heard was the 70mph force of the wind ripping the shoes off the roof of my car… I had left them there when loading the car earlier!!! I quickly started the car and drove against the incoming flow of cars to the Arena. I was home in less than 10 minutes and grabbed more shoes and socks. Returning to 364 I knew exactly where to look for my Saucony’s. And there they were, safely positioned on in the “V” space between the merging lane from Heritage Landing and the main traffic lanes. I pulled off and grabbed them. I found my trusty Wright socks as well. Everything was good… if I could make the start time. The traffic had become horrendous. In a cell phone call with my partner, I had set up a meeting spot under the 10 minute pace marker. I made it with five minutes to spare. There was no need to warm up… my heart had been racing for 30 minutes! We were off!
The Start – Mile 2
DAG timing is cool. No worries about getting your true time. We just trotted up to the start line, and it took a couple of minutes. There was no real nervous energy, but anticipation of a good day by most. My partner handles things a little different than me. I usually end up the talker and cheerleader in stressful moments. She is usually irritated by my upbeat approach initially, and thankful for the diversion later! I am a militantly positive person, and everyone around me realizes that if they stick around long enough. The runners did not spread out very much for the first few miles. We ran in a crowd on the concrete of Arena Parkway. At the 2-mile mark on Main Street I was commenting on how Flat Five runners struggled mightily up the shallow grade in front of the Ameristar. I commented that I do not consider that particular geographical obstruction a hill at all, and that, according to me, there were NO hills on this course. Hey, I told you I was an optimist!
Miles 3-6
As we made Riverside Drive we traced our normal training route for about 1.5 miles. It was nice to be on your “home field” for your first marathon, I thought. Runners were comfortably spread out as we made the turn onto Second Street. As we made it through DuSable and Bales parks, I had no idea there was so much space up that way. Winding our way through the area would be the only new ground we would tread that day. Getting onto the Katy was gratifying for the joints, but I was careful of the pebbles. Getting one in your shoes is a frustrating experience, and would require a stop to remove it.
Miles 7-11
This is Katy Trail country. Flat, easy, shaded. The first two traits are welcome in a marathon, but torturously boring in training. Shade is always welcome! The only diversion is the section through Frontier Park. The Missouri River is a source of energy for me. It is ancient and mysterious and powerful. It hums to me. I liked being close to it for a moment. I know it sounds weird… but I can’t tell you how many times in the winter I have stood atop a bluff and watched the river flow. It is so persistent in its progress. It is exactly what we need to be to run a marathon, I thought.
Miles 12-13.1
Going up to the new parking lot at Page was another grade, but since riding it the first time I have thought the hill to be remarkably well done. I just zoom right up it on a bike. Running was no different. Two women were just hammering up the top section, which is the steepest part. I had heard them discuss getting up and getting over it quickly. I liked that approach. At the top I heard a man say “go Reed” at the food station. I looked back and was blinded by the southeastern sun, and just gave appreciative thumbs up to the unknown man. At the turn into the Arena parking lot at mile 12 we saw Sue, Jon and Jennifer from the “wine circle.” They had said they might come down and cheer us on at the halfway mark. It was VERY cool to have your own fans! Just after them there was a group offering Dixie cups of beer. I resisted the temptation. I had discussed not kicking the finish with my partner. Yeah… right! She never disagreed or agreed, but with her competitive nature she just could not hold back. After circumnavigating the parking lot we took the left turn into the Arena and finished in a flurry of activity and people. We walked around disoriented and grabbed some water. We finally made our way outside and to the car. Sue, Jon and Jennifer took a few quick pictures and we were off and walking.
The second half… mile 13.1 – 15
This was a discussion period for my partner and I. We committed to our walk run pattern and finishing, and I committed to staying with her. She seemed to deflect this commitment or not fully understand why I would do that. Marathons are a thing better experienced with others, but that is my opinion. I just get more out of doing things as a team… I accomplished enough by myself. I suppose not everyone feels the same, and that is cool, too. My partner had a blister on the knuckle of her big toe; I was going to be there for her if she were to tough it out to the finish. Our pattern was to be 2 walk, 1.5 run, 2 walk 1.5 run, 2 walk, 1 run, 2 walk, finish running. We reached the 15-mile marker and I was happy for the fact I had stopped sweating and regained my breath completely. I felt particularly strong. We started running again.
Miles 16 – 20
Truthfully, these miles just flew by. We made jokes with running club member Sheila at the Boonslick intersection about how we needed foot transplants and where we could go to get them. We ran along Riverside and onto Second, again knowing every inch and crack in the surface. We walked into and through the turnaround and began running again on the Katy Trail. I had to convince my partner to run, as her foot was really hurting. She gutted it out and found a favorable groove. As we progressed I made the comment that every step or stride we took for the remainder of the event was a new PR for both of us. We made the 20-mile mark at the South end of Frontier Park and started walking again.
Miles 21-23
At this point we could really smell the finish. It became easier in a way. But, my pinky toes were hypersensitive and my partner’s blister was raw and painful. Mentally, though… it was easier. At this point we both knew we would be able to finish. The whole race we had drank at every stop and did gels every 30 to 45 minutes. I had brought electrolyte drink for my fuel belt, which I had reloaded at my car, and had consumed 84 ounces of it… my kidneys ached slightly, and I realized why! We saw people finishing at the end of this stretch, which was very emotional for me. I saw two boys join their father to run the last mile and almost lost it.
Miles 24 – Finish
We were on our last interval… we had made it! There was no question at this point for me. The day, the weather, the energy, the plan… everything had fallen into place. Even with the catastrophic beginning, it had all worked out. We walked up to the 364 parking lot and I finally found out who my fan was. Ken, ultra-runner freak extraordinaire, was the man I could not see before. Ironwoman Vicki was there, too. At the Arena Parkway re-entry, running club member Terry was out there in her cast, recovering from a stress fracture. Damn, we were lucky! We had all of these people we knew see us and cheer us on. We had Terry there and she reminded us that we were healthy enough to do the event. We saw others as well. Ironcouple Terry and Kay were on the course as volunteers. It was awesome. We reached the 25-mile mark and started to run again. Another lap of the parking lot… but this time I grabbed a beer when offered and chugged it! As Severine and I hit the 26-mile mark I started thinking out loud.
“320 meters to go,” I said.
“And to think that my [ex] wife moved out a year ago yesterday,” I said. My partner began to cry a little. We have both had tough roads this past year. But we have created a nice legacy so far, becoming better people than we were before. We surged into the chute into the Arena, seesawing with each other in a full sprint. I kept yelling at her to push it. We were marathoners!!!
Post Race – Aftermath
I took off my shoes and walked on the freezing Arena floor. I placed my shoes on the finish line for a few moments. They had carried me through some miles, and would never bear my weight again. I don’t intend to run another marathon either. But I never say never! My more likely future is a graduation to Triathlons and Duathlons. My partner caught the bug, and will likely do another one. I hit the massage table and my smaller toes cramped into a bird’s claw position. A young lady marveled as she massaged the cramps away. I felt so good. They didn’t even hurt. It was great to walk out to the car in bare feet. I saw running club members Glen and Kelly resting on the grass. We had a few words, just like we had done in the starting mass. It had all come full circle. But now, after, burning about 4,000 calories and consuming only 1,000, it was time to EAT!
Equipment Details
Almost 100% of training and racing done in Saucony Grid Omni 3 CRM-M [Moderate Stability] 9.5 regular width. These shoes have a wide toe box and prevent my main foot problem… toe overlap/rub. Alternate shoes were New Balance 870OR [off-road] 9.5D. Also used Wright Running Lite double layer socks and BodyGlide lubricant to eliminate almost all blisters, rubs and chaffing. Used Clif Shot Mocha Gels in Amphipod Micropack LandSport & Airflow Rapid Access pouches. Used Ultima Replenisher sugar free electrolyte replacement drink in a 2005 Terminator 6 bottle Fuel Belt. I use running-specific shorts and wicking poly shirts of several brands... my favorites are InSport and Asics. Finally, I use waterproof athletic tape over my nipples to prevent wearing the ‘red number eleven’ at the end of long runs!!!
Monday, August 09, 2004
Keeping It Real – True Confessions of a Lying Cheating Running Scoundrel
Keeping It Real – True Confessions of a Lying Cheating Running Scoundrel
written in AUGUST 2004
PART ONE
You all must know by now that I love words and etymology. I even get into slang. With that in mind, here are some current terms to be used in the coming paragraphs.
>’Keeping It Real’ is a slang phrase I use a lot for ‘reality checks’ with others and myself. It means being you and not being a fake. Further, it means not living in a fantasy world. A fantasy world is generally one in which a person mistakenly believes his or her actions only affect themselves. Finally, it just means being TRUE to you and others in every way possible.
>Partner – the archaic definition is ‘one that shares,’ and I happen to like that definition!
>Scoundrel is defined as a disreputable person. A synonym is RASCAL, which is defined as a mean, unprincipled, or dishonest person.
Introduction & Purpose
Most of us have been running and training for years. Some of us are just getting started. This article serves as a tongue-in-cheek reminder of the quirks and bad habits we fall into as we train and exist as athletes in a world of couch potatoes [or worse, mean motorists and farm implement operators]. Be warned! There is no sugar coating to come. I am, as the title says, keeping it real. But the accusations and references to come are things I am guilty of myself. If you get offended just read the self-appraisal at the end of next month’s newsletter. You will find that I am taking long looks in the mirror on a regular basis and trying to change some of these things. Some of these traits are not worthy of a change effort, but of hardy laughter! So take all of this as seriously as a dentist’s visit but as lightly as a children’s musical. Does that make sense?
Subtle and Not-So-Subtle Ways We Lie & Cheat
Now, lying and cheating are powerful words. But we do it to ourselves [and others] all the time! Sometimes we don’t even know we are doing it. Scandalous! How? Read on… my friends!
>The Training Intensity Lie: How many times does our training schedule call for an easy day and we crank the effort up to the moon? Admit it! You look at the schedule in the morning. The afternoon comes and you start your run. You feel GOOOOOD! You reason with yourself and decide to push it. You finish and are proud of your effort. You are a liar and a cheater! You lied to yourself when you read the schedule and promised to stick to it. You may have lied to your partner, who was expecting to run with you based on the schedule you were waving around in the air. But you left them and your schedule far behind. You certainly did not share… right partner?! Personally, I try to do what my intentions and agreements call for. I do less if I am feeling crappy, but I never do more than prescribed. Why not? Listen, if Chris Carmichael makes a workout schedule I am sticking to it. I don’t want to burn out or have injuries creep up on me just because I decided I felt good enough to push it on an ‘easy’ training run. Further, if I am running with partners, I am sticking with them unless we have previously agreed to ‘scatter and gather.’ Sometimes this means taking one for the team. That means we run slower than preferred or we are bumping our redlines from the start. Hopefully we can find some common ground between these two extremes. I suppose the bottom line when running with partners is to clearly state our intentions before starting, and then stick to them. Nobody should get bent about that method.
>The Training Performance Lie: Have we ever been stopped at a stop light or felt bad and had to walk a few steps? Have we, at the end of our run, ‘reshaped’ the performance of the training because of these events? We may have said “I would have averaged an 8:45 mile were it not for the stoplight.” Or, my personal favorite, “If I were feeling better and didn’t have to walk, I could have ran a 7:30 average pace!” Uh, yeah… whatever dude! If I would have let off the gas pedal I would not have gotten that speeding ticket either! Cops don’t accept most excuses, and you shouldn’t either. We should police ourselves and record the real performance of our workouts! Log our honest results. If we don’t want to account for impediments, we should use a track or a treadmill. When I have to walk I log a run-walk, and forget about the pace data [it is irrelevant because I obviously went too fast!]. I get out of a lot of self deception by just logging time instead of miles [hey, I’m slow and can do it this way!]. However, if I run the Clark trail in 1:25 including stops, it gets logged as 8.2 miles at 1:25. I never ‘guess’ at my ‘true’ running time. That is ridiculous. I read an article about an elite marathoner who, because of time constraints, never runs more than 10K at a time. My point? It is crazy to get hung up on ‘what ifs’ and such… just run [or walk] the miles and log the TRUE results, and everything will usually work out fine. Of course, we’d all be accountable and unable of self-deception if Shiela were to buy a wrist GPS for all of us!
>The Training Purpose Lie: This one gets to me more than any other lie. We tend to sandbag here [understating reality a little bit to make ourselves look better]. The result of sandbagging is usually negative. Let’s say we tell a colleague in a conversation at work one Friday that we run for ‘fun and enjoyment.’ The following Monday we meet at the water cooler again to discuss the past weekend’s events. We tell the colleague of the 10+ mile club run Saturday at 7am, and of the 30 mile bike ride on a windy Sunday afternoon. The colleague leaves the conversation with a smile [they are thinking ‘it must be FUN to get up at 530am on Saturdays and ENJOYABLE to fight a vicious headwind for 90 minutes], and we leave with zero credibility! Come on people… if we have any goals at all, state them! The only reason we sandbag is that 1] we risk being judged [or judging ourselves] for not reaching a goal in the future or 2] we risk being labeled as a freak. So what if we fail? You are going to fail from time to time… get used to it. And, to most non-athletes we ARE freaks, so get over it. And I hope you never invite me on a ‘joy ride’ or ‘easy run’ for ‘fun and enjoyment’ while you click off 24mph or 7:30 miles, unless you want a replay of the Exorcist back at the car! This happened to me for the Mueller Monday rides two years ago. The sandbagging, perpetrating biker scoundrel was actually someone we all know, but the person is thankfully not a club member! [hahaha] The same water cooler discussions can also tarnish us if we are excessively humble. Let’s not talk about 10 mile runs as ‘easy’ to a non-runner. It is discouraging for them to hear such things. We want to encourage people to participate in our sport, and understating the effort and difficulty of it is not the best way to do it. Our club run is moderately hilly, and until recently, offered no decent place to take a leak. It’s TOUGH! And if someone is just starting training, they may end up running alone. By all means, let’s be truthful about those things.
>The Catch-Up Lie: I know what you are thinking… but no, this does not refer to a popular condiment! All of us take some days off from time to time for rest, injury, or illness. Instead of picking up where we left off in our training plan, we play catch up and try to squeeze the training we missed into our lives. The lie is thinking that this actually helps us gain fitness. This is no joke, and can lead to injuries. With the fitness base most of us have, it is best to just pick up where we left off or jump ahead to stay on schedule. Try not to skip the long runs, which are so important to most of us. But puuuhhhleeeze, do NOT try to squeeze five days of training into 2 days.
>The Rewards Lie: This one is funny, but serious, too. We often think to ourselves “I train like a freak, so I can have dessert anytime I want to!” And, guess what? We can! But do not complain when the pounds do not go away, or worse yet, reappear. None of us deserve continuous rewards for our healthy lifestyles, lest they become unhealthy because of overindulgence! If we reward ourselves for specific performances instead (that Saturday morning run, for example), we are less likely to cheat ourselves. That chocolate oblivion brownie with Hagen Daas dulce de leche ice cream I just had sure was good, though! [Doooh!]
In part two [The Way of the Scoundrel], sandbaggers will take another vicious blow to the jaw, road hogs will be slaughtered, and cutthroat competitors will be put under the microscope of reason. All of this will be followed by a short therapy session for Reed, and you will be invited to sit on the couch with him! Do you dare?!
In part one, lying and cheating ourselves and others was reviewed. The purpose was to take a look at ourselves and each other. Are we keeping it real? I certainly hope so! Here in part two we get to look more closely at the behavior of others, while keeping an eye on ourselves as we discover…
The Way of the Scoundrel
Keeping It Real – True Confessions of a Lying Cheating Running Scoundrel
Now, these bad traits are much easier to define and spot in other people. But once again, beware and don’t possess these hate-creating personality flaws… remember that we often run amongst the cars!
>Sandbagger Scum!
I’ve already touched on sandbagging. Now, we all know these people. It is annoying! These people show up for a run or a race. They whine and fret and b**ch about myriad ailments. Soon after the run starts all we see is their butt or a slowly disappearing race number. After the race we hear them called out for an age group award. Sandbagger Scum strikes again. Shut up and race. Jeeeez!
>King of the Road! [You could put my picture beside this one]
Well, runner/biker people of the world… actually, the road is NOT ours. While most of us own or admire ‘Share The Road’ shirts, why is it that we must ride/run two and three abreast on the roads and trails? Why is it that we fight with farmers each October who are struggling to get their crops in, and who have no other choice but to use the roads to get heavy equipment from field to field? Why do we blow through stop signs and lights without right-of-way, rarely announcing our intentions with hand signals? Why do we endanger pedestrians by going around them at 20+mph on sidewalks? It is no wonder that motorists, farmers, and pedestrians loathe to see a group of riders or runners coming at them. NEWSFLASH… slow down and get over! We can use the slow down to practice track stands and sprinting back up to pace. We can practice your coordination, teamwork, and off-road skills when we have to get over. The bottom line is this… we have enough enemies on the roads and trails without propagating more.
>Peacemaker Die!
Competition… it is one of the best parts of life, and it can distort the human mind into a selfish, reckless, human manifestation of hate in about 5 seconds. Most of us who run are competitive [or have we been sandbagging?!]. But what is true competition? It certainly is not spitting in our opponents’ lane before the swim start of a triathlon [One of our ‘lovely’ women Olympian swimmers from 2000 was known to do this]. Competition is certainly not wishing for our opponent to make a mistake or get ill. Let me give you my version again. Competition, in its truest sense, is preparing for and hoping for the best possible outcome for ourselves AND our fellow competitors, with winning as the goal. But winning becomes less relevant if a true competitive spirit exists. Personal performance and positive experience are the focus. I have written about this in previous articles. True champions are well prepared. On race day they lace up and wish their fellow competitors good luck. During the race they are quiet, focused, and if they talk they say only positive things to fellow competitors. After the race, they congratulate the best competitors regardless of their own finishing position. There are a few sports where this sense of decorum still exists. Generally, I think running and biking athletes are pretty good about having the right competitive spirit. But we could be better. The last time I was trash talked in a road race was years ago. I said something less than complimentary about the guy’s momma, knowing he wouldn’t stop mid-race to beat me up, and that I could disappear into the crowd at the finish! But those days are long gone for this writer.
The self-appraisal:
Nowadays I struggle to be a better person. When it comes to communicating I still stink at it sometimes. Sometimes I just need to shut up [like when confronted by a complete moron]. But, otherwise, I still try to keep it real all of the time. The hardest thing I have been learning is the transforming power of empathy. I have always been ‘geeked out’ about motorists and farmers trying to kill me on the roads. But then I started talking to a few of these people. I received some very real feedback [before they found out I was one of their ‘human targets.’] What I got was a dose of reality. As runners and bikers we are among the least desirable groups to relate to for non-athletes and motorists. I have been a lying, cheating, scoundrel at times. But now I tell people that I run to eat and to compete. I also say that my main competitor is me [because I am a weak, broken human]. I tell people I will try to crush them in a race, and that I would not even let my own kids win if I had any, let alone their kids! I am absolutely a freak about sandbagging, but even my own hatred of it doesn’t prevent an occasional lapse in self-awareness, with me making a sandbagging fool out of myself. And I know I just have to slow down and get over… but, I’m working on it.
written in AUGUST 2004
PART ONE
You all must know by now that I love words and etymology. I even get into slang. With that in mind, here are some current terms to be used in the coming paragraphs.
>’Keeping It Real’ is a slang phrase I use a lot for ‘reality checks’ with others and myself. It means being you and not being a fake. Further, it means not living in a fantasy world. A fantasy world is generally one in which a person mistakenly believes his or her actions only affect themselves. Finally, it just means being TRUE to you and others in every way possible.
>Partner – the archaic definition is ‘one that shares,’ and I happen to like that definition!
>Scoundrel is defined as a disreputable person. A synonym is RASCAL, which is defined as a mean, unprincipled, or dishonest person.
Introduction & Purpose
Most of us have been running and training for years. Some of us are just getting started. This article serves as a tongue-in-cheek reminder of the quirks and bad habits we fall into as we train and exist as athletes in a world of couch potatoes [or worse, mean motorists and farm implement operators]. Be warned! There is no sugar coating to come. I am, as the title says, keeping it real. But the accusations and references to come are things I am guilty of myself. If you get offended just read the self-appraisal at the end of next month’s newsletter. You will find that I am taking long looks in the mirror on a regular basis and trying to change some of these things. Some of these traits are not worthy of a change effort, but of hardy laughter! So take all of this as seriously as a dentist’s visit but as lightly as a children’s musical. Does that make sense?
Subtle and Not-So-Subtle Ways We Lie & Cheat
Now, lying and cheating are powerful words. But we do it to ourselves [and others] all the time! Sometimes we don’t even know we are doing it. Scandalous! How? Read on… my friends!
>The Training Intensity Lie: How many times does our training schedule call for an easy day and we crank the effort up to the moon? Admit it! You look at the schedule in the morning. The afternoon comes and you start your run. You feel GOOOOOD! You reason with yourself and decide to push it. You finish and are proud of your effort. You are a liar and a cheater! You lied to yourself when you read the schedule and promised to stick to it. You may have lied to your partner, who was expecting to run with you based on the schedule you were waving around in the air. But you left them and your schedule far behind. You certainly did not share… right partner?! Personally, I try to do what my intentions and agreements call for. I do less if I am feeling crappy, but I never do more than prescribed. Why not? Listen, if Chris Carmichael makes a workout schedule I am sticking to it. I don’t want to burn out or have injuries creep up on me just because I decided I felt good enough to push it on an ‘easy’ training run. Further, if I am running with partners, I am sticking with them unless we have previously agreed to ‘scatter and gather.’ Sometimes this means taking one for the team. That means we run slower than preferred or we are bumping our redlines from the start. Hopefully we can find some common ground between these two extremes. I suppose the bottom line when running with partners is to clearly state our intentions before starting, and then stick to them. Nobody should get bent about that method.
>The Training Performance Lie: Have we ever been stopped at a stop light or felt bad and had to walk a few steps? Have we, at the end of our run, ‘reshaped’ the performance of the training because of these events? We may have said “I would have averaged an 8:45 mile were it not for the stoplight.” Or, my personal favorite, “If I were feeling better and didn’t have to walk, I could have ran a 7:30 average pace!” Uh, yeah… whatever dude! If I would have let off the gas pedal I would not have gotten that speeding ticket either! Cops don’t accept most excuses, and you shouldn’t either. We should police ourselves and record the real performance of our workouts! Log our honest results. If we don’t want to account for impediments, we should use a track or a treadmill. When I have to walk I log a run-walk, and forget about the pace data [it is irrelevant because I obviously went too fast!]. I get out of a lot of self deception by just logging time instead of miles [hey, I’m slow and can do it this way!]. However, if I run the Clark trail in 1:25 including stops, it gets logged as 8.2 miles at 1:25. I never ‘guess’ at my ‘true’ running time. That is ridiculous. I read an article about an elite marathoner who, because of time constraints, never runs more than 10K at a time. My point? It is crazy to get hung up on ‘what ifs’ and such… just run [or walk] the miles and log the TRUE results, and everything will usually work out fine. Of course, we’d all be accountable and unable of self-deception if Shiela were to buy a wrist GPS for all of us!
>The Training Purpose Lie: This one gets to me more than any other lie. We tend to sandbag here [understating reality a little bit to make ourselves look better]. The result of sandbagging is usually negative. Let’s say we tell a colleague in a conversation at work one Friday that we run for ‘fun and enjoyment.’ The following Monday we meet at the water cooler again to discuss the past weekend’s events. We tell the colleague of the 10+ mile club run Saturday at 7am, and of the 30 mile bike ride on a windy Sunday afternoon. The colleague leaves the conversation with a smile [they are thinking ‘it must be FUN to get up at 530am on Saturdays and ENJOYABLE to fight a vicious headwind for 90 minutes], and we leave with zero credibility! Come on people… if we have any goals at all, state them! The only reason we sandbag is that 1] we risk being judged [or judging ourselves] for not reaching a goal in the future or 2] we risk being labeled as a freak. So what if we fail? You are going to fail from time to time… get used to it. And, to most non-athletes we ARE freaks, so get over it. And I hope you never invite me on a ‘joy ride’ or ‘easy run’ for ‘fun and enjoyment’ while you click off 24mph or 7:30 miles, unless you want a replay of the Exorcist back at the car! This happened to me for the Mueller Monday rides two years ago. The sandbagging, perpetrating biker scoundrel was actually someone we all know, but the person is thankfully not a club member! [hahaha] The same water cooler discussions can also tarnish us if we are excessively humble. Let’s not talk about 10 mile runs as ‘easy’ to a non-runner. It is discouraging for them to hear such things. We want to encourage people to participate in our sport, and understating the effort and difficulty of it is not the best way to do it. Our club run is moderately hilly, and until recently, offered no decent place to take a leak. It’s TOUGH! And if someone is just starting training, they may end up running alone. By all means, let’s be truthful about those things.
>The Catch-Up Lie: I know what you are thinking… but no, this does not refer to a popular condiment! All of us take some days off from time to time for rest, injury, or illness. Instead of picking up where we left off in our training plan, we play catch up and try to squeeze the training we missed into our lives. The lie is thinking that this actually helps us gain fitness. This is no joke, and can lead to injuries. With the fitness base most of us have, it is best to just pick up where we left off or jump ahead to stay on schedule. Try not to skip the long runs, which are so important to most of us. But puuuhhhleeeze, do NOT try to squeeze five days of training into 2 days.
>The Rewards Lie: This one is funny, but serious, too. We often think to ourselves “I train like a freak, so I can have dessert anytime I want to!” And, guess what? We can! But do not complain when the pounds do not go away, or worse yet, reappear. None of us deserve continuous rewards for our healthy lifestyles, lest they become unhealthy because of overindulgence! If we reward ourselves for specific performances instead (that Saturday morning run, for example), we are less likely to cheat ourselves. That chocolate oblivion brownie with Hagen Daas dulce de leche ice cream I just had sure was good, though! [Doooh!]
In part two [The Way of the Scoundrel], sandbaggers will take another vicious blow to the jaw, road hogs will be slaughtered, and cutthroat competitors will be put under the microscope of reason. All of this will be followed by a short therapy session for Reed, and you will be invited to sit on the couch with him! Do you dare?!
In part one, lying and cheating ourselves and others was reviewed. The purpose was to take a look at ourselves and each other. Are we keeping it real? I certainly hope so! Here in part two we get to look more closely at the behavior of others, while keeping an eye on ourselves as we discover…
The Way of the Scoundrel
Keeping It Real – True Confessions of a Lying Cheating Running Scoundrel
Now, these bad traits are much easier to define and spot in other people. But once again, beware and don’t possess these hate-creating personality flaws… remember that we often run amongst the cars!
>Sandbagger Scum!
I’ve already touched on sandbagging. Now, we all know these people. It is annoying! These people show up for a run or a race. They whine and fret and b**ch about myriad ailments. Soon after the run starts all we see is their butt or a slowly disappearing race number. After the race we hear them called out for an age group award. Sandbagger Scum strikes again. Shut up and race. Jeeeez!
>King of the Road! [You could put my picture beside this one]
Well, runner/biker people of the world… actually, the road is NOT ours. While most of us own or admire ‘Share The Road’ shirts, why is it that we must ride/run two and three abreast on the roads and trails? Why is it that we fight with farmers each October who are struggling to get their crops in, and who have no other choice but to use the roads to get heavy equipment from field to field? Why do we blow through stop signs and lights without right-of-way, rarely announcing our intentions with hand signals? Why do we endanger pedestrians by going around them at 20+mph on sidewalks? It is no wonder that motorists, farmers, and pedestrians loathe to see a group of riders or runners coming at them. NEWSFLASH… slow down and get over! We can use the slow down to practice track stands and sprinting back up to pace. We can practice your coordination, teamwork, and off-road skills when we have to get over. The bottom line is this… we have enough enemies on the roads and trails without propagating more.
>Peacemaker Die!
Competition… it is one of the best parts of life, and it can distort the human mind into a selfish, reckless, human manifestation of hate in about 5 seconds. Most of us who run are competitive [or have we been sandbagging?!]. But what is true competition? It certainly is not spitting in our opponents’ lane before the swim start of a triathlon [One of our ‘lovely’ women Olympian swimmers from 2000 was known to do this]. Competition is certainly not wishing for our opponent to make a mistake or get ill. Let me give you my version again. Competition, in its truest sense, is preparing for and hoping for the best possible outcome for ourselves AND our fellow competitors, with winning as the goal. But winning becomes less relevant if a true competitive spirit exists. Personal performance and positive experience are the focus. I have written about this in previous articles. True champions are well prepared. On race day they lace up and wish their fellow competitors good luck. During the race they are quiet, focused, and if they talk they say only positive things to fellow competitors. After the race, they congratulate the best competitors regardless of their own finishing position. There are a few sports where this sense of decorum still exists. Generally, I think running and biking athletes are pretty good about having the right competitive spirit. But we could be better. The last time I was trash talked in a road race was years ago. I said something less than complimentary about the guy’s momma, knowing he wouldn’t stop mid-race to beat me up, and that I could disappear into the crowd at the finish! But those days are long gone for this writer.
The self-appraisal:
Nowadays I struggle to be a better person. When it comes to communicating I still stink at it sometimes. Sometimes I just need to shut up [like when confronted by a complete moron]. But, otherwise, I still try to keep it real all of the time. The hardest thing I have been learning is the transforming power of empathy. I have always been ‘geeked out’ about motorists and farmers trying to kill me on the roads. But then I started talking to a few of these people. I received some very real feedback [before they found out I was one of their ‘human targets.’] What I got was a dose of reality. As runners and bikers we are among the least desirable groups to relate to for non-athletes and motorists. I have been a lying, cheating, scoundrel at times. But now I tell people that I run to eat and to compete. I also say that my main competitor is me [because I am a weak, broken human]. I tell people I will try to crush them in a race, and that I would not even let my own kids win if I had any, let alone their kids! I am absolutely a freak about sandbagging, but even my own hatred of it doesn’t prevent an occasional lapse in self-awareness, with me making a sandbagging fool out of myself. And I know I just have to slow down and get over… but, I’m working on it.
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