Running 4 Your Life

Frank A. Clark said, “If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.”

Like most things in life, there are peaks and valleys. And, if we can just weather the valleys, we’ll make it to the summit. As I embark on my ultrarunning series, I like to keep this in mind.

My first race in the series is coming up on November 15 - a 50K (31 miles) in Stinson Beach, California. It is a trail run on a challenging course along the Pacific coast. Throughout my running history, I have not been a trail runner. Living in Chicago for mosts of my running life has not afforded me the opportunity to run on trails. A gorgeous lakefront yes, but trails no. And, since the marathons I’ve run have been road races, even in the past year in Boise, I’ve trained mostly on asphalt running paths.

New adventures bring new challenges. Most ultramarathons are run on trails - trails with lots of hills. So, that is my new challenge. Last weekend, I ran the Royal Victoria Marathon in Victoria, Canada - on roads. Most of my training was on roads for this race; however, for the past couple of months, I have been introducing trails up to about 6 miles. And, with a trail run coming up in a few weeks, I have been putting in short trail runs on a regular basis.

Yesterday, I ran 10 miles in the hills on trails, my longest trail run to date. It was challenging to say the least. But remembering that if I could just get through the rough patches, I would make it to the summit, I succeeded and felt great afterwards. Notice I said, “afterwards.” There were patches where I didn’t feel so great during the run. But I am getting better every time I go out there.

There were so many highlights of that run, but one of the bonuses of running that particular path was seeing the gorgeous fall leaves. I ran on a trail I haven’t run before, and I thought about all the people who will never see the beauty I saw yesterday - either because they are unable to hike those trails or they are unwilling. I ran along the top of a ridge above a gulch. Besides seeing for miles in every direction - which was so cool - I saw the trees below in the gulch. Every shade of color you can imagine - it looked like the photographs you see on travel brochures beckoning travelers to come see the fall colors. The beauty took my breath away (or it could have been the uphill running and the altitude).

I am so fortunate to be able to run in the first place, but doubly fortunate to have the foothills and trails to run on here in Idaho.

Yesterday, I literally experienced the peaks and valleys in my running. And, everyday we experience figurative peaks and valleys. And, as we weather both the literal and figurative valleys, we get stronger everyday. I’m excited about taking on new physical and mental challenges, and I’m already enjoying the process.

A huge piece of competing in any type of event is the mental component. It’s one thing to embrace a physical challenge: we set goals, train, we eat right, and come race day, we are hopefully at our peak performance.

But how do we prepare mentally for what may await us on race morning? (more…)

As I sit here on the South Shore Electric Line train headed to East Chicago, Indiana, I am thinking about how we are always traveling. We often seem to be “on our way” to some place - the “place” not always being a physical destination.

We might be traveling to a position in our company, to a happier state of mind, to a goal that we have set for ourselves. Or we might be traveling, in fact, to another physical location - as I am today, to Indiana and then on to Benton Harbor, Michigan.

I am reminded of a story Wayne Dyer tells (more…)

A couple of days ago, I was talking to someone who told me that he wants to start running, but he just doesn’t have the time. So, after talking for a little while, we finally determined that it’s not really that he doesn’t have enough time - because we found the time - rather, it’s that he just doesn’t know how to get started and stay with it. Every time he gets started, he “falls off the wagon” and ends up stopping. Saying there’s not enough time is just an excuse.

So, how do you get started and stick with it? Here are a few tips: (more…)

I’m back in Chicago for a few weeks after a long trek across the country from Idaho. Nebraska and Iowa were pretty uneventful until I ran into a major thunderstorm in Iowa. And, what’s the first thing you think of when you look out over the vast plains of Iowa? Tornadoes. Thankfully, we did not encounter any tornadoes - just wild winds, thunder, lightning, and sheets of rain.

We’ve talked about focusing on the process - traveling 2000 miles across the country is a good exercise in practicing this. You set a goal, and if you focus on just being in the moment and taking in your surroundings, you’ll eventually reach your destination. Driving, I was forced to practice focusing on the moment at hand.

Jack Canfield says, “When you’re in the room, be in the room.” Just another way of reminding us that the only time we really have is right now.

We made it to Cheyenne, Wyoming, last night. Fremont was pretty happy to be out of the car. I just broke the news to him that we have to get back in the car this morning.

Had a little trouble with the wireless connection at the hotel last night, but it’s up and running this morning.

Gorgeous drive yesterday - I saw things I’ve never seen before. Tis the season, however - construction season that is. Saw a lot of that, too.

We’re headed to Davenport, IA, today. I’ve never driven across Nebraska. Always another new adventure.

Hills are my friends. I love hills. I will persist until I succeed. I said those things to myself this morning as I ran the hills and humidity of Louisiana. Knowing that I have two races coming up in August that have lots of downhills, my focus is to get stronger and better at hill running - both up and down.

As I was running hills this morning, I thought of how hill running is the perfect metaphor for the things we do everyday. And, how we approach hills is a good indicator of how we deal with other challenges in our lives.

Although I knew that today’s run would be hard, I couldn’t wait to get out there this morning - I looked forward to the challenge. I thought, “How I do anything is how I do everything.” Just saying this helped me as I faced the challenge: I charged up the hills and relaxed on the downs. And, I took one hill at a time and focused on that hill before I turned my attention to the next one. Every time I got to the top of the hill, I felt a sense of accomplishment - I had achieved that goal. How cool is that to achieve 20 accomplishments in one run?

Engaging in any activity that requires me to work harder and draw on inner strength is totally energizing. I am grateful to have the opportunity to test my limits.
You’ve heard people say when they have a tough challenge ahead, “It’s an uphill climb.” And, conversely, when something is easy they say, “It’s all downhill from here.”

I say - Embrace both the ups and downs. We have things to learn from both “hard” and “easy” days. And, keep your eye on the top of the hill - persist until you succeed. Reaching the summit of every hill in your life is the achievement of yet another goal.

All the things I’ve been talking about in my blog up until now converge these few days before the Eugene Marathon. I’m now in the home stretch leading up to race day, and as I prepare for the actual “event,” I reflect on the past 6 months of training:

How you do anything is how you do everything: I commit to a goal, I stay focused, I am disciplined, I manage my time, and I persist until I succeed.

You can’t do it alone: Rarely does anyone achieve any meaningful success on their own. Coach Scott has worked with me for the past 6 months helping me get stronger both physically and mentally. My husband, who often asks, “Can’t we just go on a vacation without having to run a race?” has hung out with me on my long runs setting water along the path so I didn’t have to carry a waterbelt. My kids and friends have listened to me talk about my track workouts, my tempo runs, and my long runs - even when some of them don’t know what the heck I’m talking about.

Everyday we’re tested: I’ve trained through a cold and snowy Idaho winter - one of the coldest in a long time (I hear). I thought training in Idaho would be a piece of cake compared to training in Chicago during the winter. Idaho was no bargain. Cold, snow, ice, rain, wind. I probably ran only half a dozen runs… (more…)