Strength, Courage, and Confidence

When You Hate Running

I signed up to do a 50 miler on Saturday called Moab’sAlpine To Slickrock. One report I read said the difficulty level of the race is 9 on a scale of 1-10. The elevation certainly confirms that I may be crying at some point during the race.

I decided to do the race as a last long training run before the Javelina Jundred 100 miler next month. So I’ll do the 50 miler, then three weeks later the St. George Marathon, then three weeks later the Javelina Jundred.

I really love running. I seriously love being out on the trail for hours. I love the whole race experience. I really, really love those things.

Most of the time.

But inevitably at some point in a race I hate running. I seriously hate it. I am convinced that running is the stupidest hobby since collecting Garbage Pail Kids cards. And then I talk myself out of whatever race I have coming up. I never want to run again. I never want to do a race ever again. I think most of us go through phases like this whether in training or in races.

So what do you do when you reach that point when you decide you want to stop running and take up stamp collecting? Here are my suggestions:

1) Eat a Hostess product. (Actually, this is my first solution to any of life’s dilemmas.)

2) Remember that there are peaks and valleys. It's okay to go through some rough patches. In order to have the good, you need to have a little bad. 

3) Remind yourself that the harder the task is, the bigger will be that sense of accomplishment you will feel when you are done.

4) WAIT. Don’t make any immediate decisions. When your brain starts saying “Ugh. I want to drop out because running is dumb.” Or “I’m never doing a race ever again because only idiots run for hours on end.” just tell that part of your brain to shut up. Chances are that the low point will pass. Maybe it will take a while. But it will pass. 

5) Slap yourself and remember how fortunate you are to even be able to run. I work with lots of sick people who would give anything to be able to run for a mile. You are blessed. Don’t take it for granted.

6) Then, for good measure, eat one Hostess Donette.

Toquerville Falls and US 24 Hour Running Record

First and foremost, I used Random Number Generator to choose a number between 1-134. Verified by my daughter, the winner of the Peeps and CD pack was comment #2 which was.....SupermomE12! Email me your address and I'll send you the diabetes in a box. (coryreese1@hotmail.com)

This past week was a nice and relaxing taper for the Moab Alpine to Slickrock 50 miler coming up on Saturday.

Monday, September 3rd 2012: 6 miles @ 12:52 minutes per mile. We were in northern Utah for Labor Day and I was able to run on the Draper trails with my brother Kenny and my friend Susette. We only had around a dozen near death experiences when mountain bikers came flying down the trails.

The weather was perfect. Even a little cold when we started. I don't remember the last time I felt cold while running.

Tuesday, September 4th 2012: 3 miles @ 8:34 minutes per mile. I've been trying to do a short push your body to the brink of vomit workout speed workout each week. When I got home I collapsed on the front lawn trying to get the lava out of my lungs, and hoping neighbors wouldn't drive by wondering why I was crunched in fetal position in the front yard.

Wednesday, September 5th 2012: 11 miles @ 12:09 minutes per mile. I ran to Toquerville Falls for the first time. That was definitely one of the harder runs I've done in a while. The road was really rocky and there was lots of steep climbing. (Over the last two weeks I have had around 10,000 feet elevation gain on runs.)

The crazy thing is that I was feeling freakishly good the whole time. It was one of those rare runs where you feel like you are floating through the miles. Along the way there were some forks in the road so I wasn't sure I was going the right direction. I felt more confident when I came across a shoe tree.

Something disturbing happened while I was running. I was listening to the classic rock radio station and they played two songs that came out when I was in high school! What's up with that? Am I really that old? Do I need to schedule a mid-life crisis? Don't worry. I will send them some hate mail. Jerks.

Finally I made it to Toquerville Falls as the sun was coming up. It is like Niagra Falls in the middle of the desert. But smaller. And with less water. And no tourists. And no keychains that cost $9.99. (Yep, I was one of those suckers. I paid $9.99 for a keychain. And while we're on the topic of keychains, what kind of fool pays $9.99 for a keychain? In my defense, that happened in my younger years. Even before those "classic rock" songs came out.)

I walked around and explored a bit. There were lots of little frogs all over.

If you are looking for a challenging run with lots of rocks and hills and a great reward at the end, Toquerville Falls should be on your list. I'm looking forward to going back again.

Saturday, September 8th 2012: 7 miles @ 10:28 minutes per mile. Went out on the Jem trail and listened to the country station to boycott "classic rock".

Did you know the World 24 Hour Championship was over the weekend? The goal: run as many miles as you can in 24 hours. Mike Morton set an American record running 172 (YES, 172!!!) miles. Just the thought of 172 miles in 24 hours makes my toe nails turn black.

"Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up." ~ Dean Karnazes

PEEPS Giveaway!

A while ago I posted some pictures of some marshmallow Peeps I took along on a trail run. The next day I got an email from Just Born, the company that manufactures Peeps (as well as other awesome candy like Hot Tamales and Mike and Ikes). Ellie Deardorff from Just Born said she would like to send a care package.

A few days later I got the most amazing package in the mail with all the different types of candy they make! That's like having a box of heaven show up on your porch.

I resisted my impulse to start unwrapping packages and eat the entire box of candy similar to how Cookie Monster attacks a jar of cookies. (Although I did do that with a few boxes.) I thought I’d share some of the loot with you.

So I’m going to give some away. I’ll send you a chunk of the stash, including some boxes of fresh, soft Peeps. (Fresh Peeps in the middle of summer!) I will also throw in one of my piano CDs.

To enter the contest, just post a comment saying what your favorite kind of candy is. You’ll get an entry for each comment and can add as many as you’d like. Hope you like lots of different kinds of candy.

I’ll close the contest this coming Monday, September 10th. Best of luck to all you fellow candy lovers.

Scary Running Last Week and Upcoming 50 Miler

I'm excited - I signed up for a race coming up called Moab's Alpine To Slickrock 50 Miler. And.....it's coming up NEXT WEEK!

Monday, August 27th 2012: Nothing.

Tuesday, August 28th 2012: 4 miles @ 8:58 minutes per mile. I realized that I've got the endurance thing down, but I have completely neglected any speedwork so I'll work on that. I understand that 8:58 per mile for many runners is a slow, recovery run pace. You could run that fast after eating two chili dogs and a box of Benadryl. To those of you in this category, I'm jealous. Because 8:58 over 4 miles makes me want to throw up.

Wednesday, August 29th 2012: 4 miles @ 9:28 minutes per mile. I found a big hill then ran down it. Then up it. Then down it. Then up it. And so on.

That night I went on a 3 mile run with Mel, Jackson, and Ace. See if you can figure out which member of the group I'm describing:

1) One member wanted to stop every 4.8 seconds to go to the bathroom. (No, not me.)
2) One member whined for the entire three miles.
3) One member wanted to strangle the other member who whined the entire three miles.
4) One member wore a flourescent shirt and had just drank a green smoothie before the run. His stomach felt like he had just eaten two chili dogs during the run.

Thursday, August 30th 2012: Nothing.

Friday, August 31st 2012: 8 miles @ 11:25 minutes per mile. I planned to run to Toquerville Falls for the first time, around 12 miles round trip. There was lots of rocky, difficult climbing and I plan to go back here for some hill training. After a while I noticed a storm rolling in on the horizon:

I like running in the rain and loved the temperature cooling off a bit, so I just kept climbing. But within minutes the clouds got darker. And then the clouds turned to a solid wall of rain. It was the most distinct sheet of water I've ever seen.

I was a little more apprehensive to keep going when I saw that. Then the sky grew even darker and lightning started cracking all over. I decided I'd better pass on going to Toquerville Falls so my wife wouldn't have to hassle with filling out paperwork for my life insurance policy. The lightning around me was one of the few times I've ever been scared while running.

Saturday, September 1st 2012: 9 miles @ 11:49 minutes per mile. We were up in northern Utah for a family reunion and I took advantage of running some of my favorite trails in Corner Canyon, home of the 50k a few weeks ago. I searched for the hilliest routes which include some awesome views.

Running here is so different from the desert where I usually run. There are trees!

And instead of running in red, I get to run through a canopy of green!

It is so strange to see other runners out on the trails, that hardly ever happens in my neck of the woods dirt.

Just a heads-up. There is going to be a give away here tomorrow. I would bet my body weight in sugar that it will be the best give away you've seen in a while. It's going to be big. I hope you're hungry.