Rant of a Running Fool

In trying to describe my penchant for running races, I have been bombarded with questions such as: Why do you like running? What’s the difference between running the miles on your Saturday or Sunday run and racing? Why are you paying to not be able to walk straight for half a week after a marathon? You’re OCD and you smell bad after you run!

OK, so the last one isn’t a question … and I have the new trial packets of Penguin Sports Wash from Runners Lounge.com to help take that sweet, sweaty smell of multi-mileage accomplishment out of my clothes. I have tried to formulate answers that people who are not OCD runners can understand, as the inter voice in my head just says things like, “That’s why they put the trail there. Not just to get from one place to another, but to do it in blurring fast speeds!” Even though Nike advertisements and Forrest Gump both said it best with, respectively, “Just Do It!” and “I just felt like runnin’,” I find that a lot of people just can’t grasp it. Why race, let alone run?

When I train, I set goals. In turn, those goals help support the goals I have set for accomplishing events in my life. (Back Story: In 1992 while deployed in the deserts of Kuwait I set a goal to run the “Bay to Breakers” in San Francisco. If you’ve been reading this blog for more than one week, you’ll know that I just completed my first marathon in 2009, as brief 2 weeks ago! I wasn’t such a good goal setter back then!) But now that I know what I’m doing, and I’m over my mid-life crisis, I know have gotten back to my roots of enjoying all things long distance.

Deep in thought: Growing up, I would often take off for long hikes or bike rides to see how far I could go, and return before I would be in trouble. I would swim for hours on end and not just the vertical play in the pool type of swimming. I would walk the community March-of-Dimes for the whole distance, because I could and it by walking was the only way I could get friends to come along. I used to be pretty fast, maybe not Superman fast, but more like Spiderman if he were out of web-shooter juice. Except I liked to diet like Flash, and even though I maintained some speed throughout the years, the junk that I put into my system should have killed me by now.

In 2000, I got a wake up call in the form of an Army Weigh-in. I had gotten too big for my britches, and I could lose the weight or meet the street. I started running and weight training, and my access started to shed off me. I ran my first non-Army competitive race, a 4 miler, and placed first in my AG. Over the last years from 01-07, I fought the rollercoaster of bad weight gain, and weight loss. But then in July, 2007 I really started to take it all seriously, and while deployed in Iraq, started to make changes that would last. The road was hard, but competition was in my blood as I would race in one FOB race each month and strive to improve in my performance.

After the FOB Hammer half-marathon on Christmas Day, 2007 everything was set into place. I loved the long distances, and I wasn’t too bad at it. By February, 2008 both Household-6 and I were signed up for our longest races ever, the trick was training up for almost a year before them and staying injury free. My aches and pains are nothing compared to the wife’s constant battle with plantar fasciitis. On most of her training days, she would be in pain from step one.

But now that I am this fit and this able to complete a marathon, I don’t want to slide back down the rollercoaster only to need to pick myself up. I want to push farther and go longer. If I got tired but could still run the 26.2 miles, then I want to do 31 miles. If I can do that, then I want to hit 50 miles. If I survive that, then I want to persevere and go to the next level, entering a 100 mile run some day.

From Nitmos at Feet Meet Street I found this nugget:

“I may have mentioned a long time ago that, when I first crossed that final mental hurdle to take the marathoning plunge, I wrote down a list of nine races I’d like to run. I had (and have) no intention of marathon Oprahing. In other words, I figured once I was in shape for one I’d knock out as many as I could, while it was still fun. I would not get in shape for one, fall back out of shape, get back in shape for another, etc. Too much work. Once I got in shape, I would roll through as many marathons as I could before retiring to my couch for a life of tank top undershirts, Cheese curls, and steadily growing man-breasts.”

I’m not so sure about the last part of all that, but the point to me is clear. Long distance running to me is not a “one-hit wonder.” The end of the weight roller coaster is here, and now I’m riding the fitness roller coaster. I’ve always enjoyed fitness workouts and love the duality of running. On one hand, it is a lonely sport with training runs being held against only yourself and the clock. On the other hand, somebody puts on an event and sets up a course and the next thing you now the whole community of runners is out together. That’s when running passes the fun mark and becomes extraordinary.

Then you have the advent of Blogs and forums, which I believe is the greatest addition to running. Runners who have similar goals can link-up, talk training, stretching, injury awareness and sometime even brag. Now, even solitary runs can be logged and shared with others who are logging and running and ideas can be expressed easily and motivation.

So maybe I haven’t answered the questions from the header of this text very well. So why do I race? With others I feel the excitement from the race. The motivation builds. As my “Alpha” personality surfaces and I start get loud as I motivate people, then the crowd of runners and spectators in turn gets loud. And the motivation and inspiration builds. When I run near a crowd, I try to pump them up, and most of the time there reactions pump me back up. I’m not the fastest, but the run is my stage. A motivational quip and a friendly hand signal feed the crowds. In return, my enjoyment for exercise becomes a love. The competition drives me and my personal times get better. Saturday and Sunday runs just don’t feed the fire like that!

As for walking straight after a marathon, I can manage a straight line. Stairs are an achievement, though!