Have you ever been in this scenario: You want to buy something, but you really can't afford it or justify the expense, so you think up some impossible thing that can only happen with a miracle and say that if that thing happens, you'll make the purchase?
That's what I did last week when I was looking to buy the HBO series Six Feet Under on DVD. It was $110, which is pricey, but I told myself that I'd deserve it if a miracle happened and I broke my 5K PR in the first race of the year without training or preparing at all for it. And there wasn't much chance of that happening...I thought. Now here we are, 50 seconds faster than my record, and I'm deciding not just if I should spend $110, but if I should spend $190 on the larger gift set (which is supposed to protect the discs better than the thinner, less-expensive packaging).
Decisions, decisions.
I will end up getting it one way or another, not just because I promised it to myself as a reward, but because in a weird way, the show has had a significant impact on how I appreciate life, and I never want to forget how important that is.
I had originally just watched a few episodes from season 5 in which Chris Messina made appearances as a secondary character, and when I got to the end of the season (and incidentally the series), I was really affected. It stuck with me for months, and I ended up going back and watching the entire series, which moved me even more to try and get out and appreciate life while I have it.
Today I ran the Foxtrot 5K to raise money for Parkinson's research and had an awesome race. To be honest, I expected for it to be awful. In January, I started a new exercise regimen with very little running, and since then I've done almost nothing to prepare for flat, fast, road running. And when I ran this course last September, it was with a hugely disappointing time of 27:54, which is just about a personal worst. Awful, this was not, though. Apparently the exercise routine is perfect for me, seeing as it has resulted in a huge improvement in my finishing time: 24:26 (for a pace of 7:51 per mile), which is 50 seconds better than my last official PR!
Since I haven't been running consistently, I had no expectations coming into this race. I didn't even know it was happening until 2 weeks ago. There was one person who had run it last year who I wanted to beat if she ran it again, but that was my only goal.
When the race began, I started at a pretty fast pace. I had been listening to Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" (yes, I freely admit it - it's like an anthem for runners - especially in NJ!) and played it over in my head to stay pumped up. I waved and gave a thumbs up to volunteers and people watching from their houses and enjoyed what was turning out to be a very nice day. It was chilly, but the fog that had covered the town that morning was beginning to lift, making for a sunny day.
My first mile was in 7:30 minutes, and at that point, I felt pretty good. I figured that if I could maintain that pace, I could set a new PR. I began to feel tired at the halfway point, and I know I began to slow down there. A few people passed me, but I hung on and kept going. I played a few different songs over in my head and tried to catch my breath without slowing down too much. With about a half mile to go, a girl about my age passed me. I knew that I was probably giving up a placement in an age group category, but I was giving it my all and couldn't summon up any more speed to pass her. When the finish was in sight, I was able to pick up the pace, but I didn't have a sprint in me. My main focus was the clock. I was shocked to see that I was probably going to come in under 24 minutes and 30 seconds.
And that was it. I crossed the finish with unimaginable triumph gasping for air like a smoker climbing stairs. The combination of my fingers being frozen from the cold and shaking from oxygen deprivation made it a little hard for me to remove the tearaway strip with my name and age from my bib, but I managed to get it off and made my way through the chute without incident. I finished only 6 seconds behind the girl who passed me.
As if unexpectedly breaking my personal record by so much wasn't good enough, I was surprised again by winning a free raffle. The prize was a $25 gift certificate to a running store! Could my day get much better? But wait! It could! I was second in my age group - 6 seconds away from being first - and received a medal. I was so pleased because I really felt that I deserved it after running so hard. It was an awesome run, and it benefited an important cause.
The run was in support of the Michael J. Fox Foundation. An elderly library patron who has Parkinson's Disease was there and participated in the 1-mile walk, and you can tell that the fundraiser meant a lot to him. I just wish that more people could have participated. There were so many community volunteers who had worked to promote it and put it on, and I think that there were only 60 or 70 runners who participated. Maybe I can persuade some of my runner friends to come along next year.
This afternoon found me driving around, not knowing where I was going, and totally rocking out to James Blunt's latest CD. I had a serious runner's high. It wasn't 72 degrees, but there was a zero chance of rain, it had been a nearly perfect day, and I got to run some great trails for the second weekend in a row.
Last Sunday was my first time out on a technical trail since December. I originally was just going to go for a run on the road, but my brain turned on, and I realized that I would be able to navigate hills, rocks, and tree roots without worrying about ice or snow. (I never did buy any traction devices this winter). I visited a local state park about 15-20 minutes away and started on the trail that had become my standard run in that park. I did a little bit of hiking on some of the steeper and rockier parts, but it wasn't long before I got warmed up and got to running, high-stepping around the rocks and flying down hills with my arms windmilling.
When I got to a cross-road, instead of taking the path to the end of the trail I had been on, I decided to turn right and try a new trail. I didn't know what to expect from this one, and I honestly didn't think that it would be that steep. There were a few flat stretches, but for the most part, it was very steep, leading down the mountain to a lake. And it was amazing. I had to walk down some of the steepest parts, which had terrible footing from being littered with leaf-covered rocks, and it was very poorly marked, but as I got closer to the lake, I saw hints of green creeping up along the edges of the trail. Green ferns began to grow thickly on either side, and a stream ran down along one edge of the trail while the other side was cast in the shadow of giant rock formations that had been dropped there long ago by the glacier that carved out the mountain ridge. At that point, this became my new favorite trail in the park. I followed it down to the lake and stopped for a little to admire the scenery.
In the past, I've had a hate-hate relationship with hills, but now that I've gotten into the habit of running up mountains, I have begun to respect and really enjoy them. I knew that the way back up this trail would be a steady incline, and I wanted to run as much of it as possible. So I started, and once I got into a fairly steady rhythm, I didn't have much trouble at all. I think that all of the foundational strength-training I've been doing with the Wii EA Sports Active Personal Trainer program has made a huge difference with my leg strength. And it felt great.
As much as I loved the trail, I did begin to curse it when I got off-course due to poorly placed trail markers. Not only were they faded and difficult to see, but there just weren't enough, and those that were there weren't placed in helpful spots. I actually got "lost" because of this. I made it back all right, though, and I couldn't wait to get back out on the trail again.
Of course, it snowed at least 3 or 4 inches during the week, and I thought that I'd have to wait a long time before running technical trails again. Maybe it's an addiction, but I wanted to get back out again so much that I decided to try some trails even with the snow. So today I drove up to another state park with pretty smooth single track bike trails. My last attempt at running here had turned into a frantic quest to be reunited with civilization when I got lost using a woefully inadequate trail map, so I don't know why I felt so comfortable running here in the snow, but it turned out to be great. Either most of the trails received a huge amount of traffic in the past week, or someone actually cleared the snow, because about 80% of the trails were clear while the rest of the forest was covered in several inches of snow. And I guess that I ran around in circles enough last time to get pretty familiar with the trails, and I had a pretty good idea of where I was most of the time. I was feeling so good that when I finished, I decided to take the dirt fire road up to Tower Hill (there's a cell tower at the top) and back again, just to get some more miles in. I had to do a little walking up the fire road, but I really enjoyed myself, and after I made it to the top, I flew down so fast that I almost lost control a few times in the snow and mud. When I got back to the car, I lay down on the blacktop in the sun and did some relaxing stretches before turning up the volume and completely rocking out to James Blunt. It was pretty awesome.
Can't wait for the snow to leave for good so I can do some more exploring!
That's my list of greatest fears when running/biking. Notice that bears are number one. I've lived around bears all of my life, and I know all of the things that you're supposed to do when you come across one, but for some reason I'm terrified of them. What, then, could be scarier for me than coming face to face with a black bear in the middle of the woods at sunset?
Coming face to face with four black bears in the middle of the woods at sunset.
That was the scenario I found myself in yesterday as I enjoyed my second bike ride of the year.
It was a perfect day with temperatures in the lower 70s and lots of sun, and because it would have been a crime not to, a friend and I took our bikes to the trail for a ride after work. My legs were feeling a little tired, so we stopped quite a few times during the first half of the ride. Around the midway point we took a long break sitting down near a lake to have some snacks, and I realized at that point that it was getting late and that we might not be able to get back to the car before the sun set.
So we set off at a faster pace and started to make pretty good time. It was getting steadily darker, though. At one point, I looked past my friend, who was in front of me, to see two black shapes ahead up the trail. They were walking toward us as we rode toward them. I asked if they were bears, and almost the moment that I did, my friend stopped, jumped off his bike, shouted, and waved his arms. The two bears took off into the bushes to the right of the trail, but another bear ran from the bushes on the left across the trail and to the right. He raised his bike above his head and shouted more. I believe that at this point, another bear ran from the left to the right across the trail. I, of course, was paralyzed with fright and just watched. Since when do bears travel in packs of four? I've never seen more than two together, so this really shocked me.
After being sure that there weren't any more bears hiding in the bushes, we continued on, making lots of noise as we did, and we continued to push the pace to get back before it got really dark. We were biking faster at the the end of our 15.5-mile ride than at the beginning. Considering how tired I had felt at the beginning, I was surprised by the strong finish. It felt great, though. This time I wasn't worried about going slowly through the mud puddles (or small lakes, as it seemed sometimes) and ended up soaked and muddy, but I felt really exhilarated. It turned out to be a great ride.
So the organizers of the snowshoeing event put together a video of the run. I appear (in my stylish hotfingers hunting hat and a blue jacket) at 0:56-1:12 and 3:22-3:53. You can definitely tell the difference between the pros and those of us who were on snowshoes for the first time. We all had a great time, though!
If there were a pizzeria within half an hour of my home that were actually open right now, I'm pretty sure that I would have to go and order a slice or two. Toppings would be roasted red peppers and pepperoni.
You know, I'd even settle for a frozen DiGiorno at this point. I just want pizza. Or BBQ. I almost stopped for lunch at a barbecue place this afternoon when I was on my way home from a friend's house, but I didn't know the name or exact location of it. If I had known at that time that when I got home, there would be nothing to eat but salad, I would have made a point of finding the place. But I didn't. And oh how I wish I did.
It was a beautiful day, and when I got home, I went for a 3-mile run. I wasn't feeling particularly peppy, probably due to the fact that in a 24-hr period, my food consumption consisted of half a chicken-salad sandwich, chips and salsa, heavily-iced sugar cookies, fudge, chocolate, Cap'n Crunch cereal, and salad. I don't think there's much on that list that can be considered a good fuel for running. But I didn't feel that tired, so I did a Wii personal trainer workout after dinner. Dinner, by the way, consisted only of lentil soup. It was yummy and healthy, but oh how I wish it were a rack of barbecued ribs or a pizza. Not only am I starving right now, but I probably could have put a lot more intensity into my workout and felt better about my run. I noticed that my foot turnover was really fast on the downhills - better than I've ever noticed before - but I felt pretty slow for the rest of the run.
So, I guess that the lesson for today is to properly fuel for exercise. It will be nice to check on a good day to see if my running has improved in any other ways besides the foot turnover speed.
So, it's winter again here in the Northeast. I would have loved to go for a long run today, but after last night's snow, the roads will be gravel-ly and narrow, so I'll probably stay inside and do another personal trainer workout with the Wii and run on the treadmill. In honor of President's Day, though, let's take a look at some of our country's leaders keeping healthy by running:
President Carter was the first U.S. president to get into jogging when it broke onto the exercise scene in the 60s and 70s. He may have been onto the current trend in minimalist footwear, but I don't think those socks will be catching on anytime soon.
Apparently Ronald Reagan was more into horseback riding than running, but his successor, President George H.W. Bush, often laced up and hit the pavement. Kinda wish he had gone for a regular t-shirt, though.
The kid in the front of the stroller doesn't care that Mom and Dad are keeping pace with President Bill Clinton. He just wants to go faster!
Like his dad, President George W. Bush also liked to hit the pavement. Made for some better photo ops.
If it's true that President Obama quit smoking, maybe we'll see him doing a little more running than this in the future.
Have you ever been in this scenario:
