I second that, Lance. Thanks to you and Diane both for another great gathering! Really enjoyed the frisbee golf as well as the great food and friends.
Older, slower, and trying to keep up with Tall Dave.
Home Away From Home
L-
In reference to your Harvest half log of having to decide to care more or care less and watching others pull of into the horizon. I feel you. That is where I am now, my PR's presently are where most of this group was a fwe years ago. I to often battle my brain if I care because I really care and want to better myself or if my caring is in some way just my own bragging rights or self-esteem issues that I am better or worse then my fellow friends based on some race times. There are definitly days I wish I just didn't care. I doubt there is any bit of help for you in the rant just my personnal self thoughts on the matter. As a gear up for what I think I want to be a preductive and good PR year I also have to decide like you, to commit to the weight loss, the hours on road, etc. and what is the gain? Just a time to log on RA really, oh and the occassional shirt or metal that everyone gets no matter how bad they do.
MM#5768
"Anyone can do it in ideal conditions"- A quote from a true NE CN runner and friend.
As a gear up for what I think I want to be a preductive and good PR year I also have to decide like you, to commit to the weight loss, the hours on road, etc. and what is the gain? Just a time to log on RA really, oh and the occassional shirt or metal that everyone gets no matter how bad they do.
Yes, you get the gist of what I meant.
I love racing. I love the competition, the camaraderie, the banter, all of it. I love the chill of the morning air getting ready for a race. I love getting my stuff laid out the night before, the clothes, even putting my bib # on if it's a marathon. I love the drive with friends, the warm up jog, the banter again.; I love the fact that I've earned the right to start closer to the front than I used to. I love taking off, finding the pace, trying to breathe steady, locating McCullough or Cremer, or Cuch or you or any other person close to me and trying to gauge things. I love doing the math during races, the feeling of 3 miles to go, then 2, then 1, then the last few hundred meter push trying to pass people. I love the feeling afterwards, and of course the meal and a few beers and a blue dino road home afterwards.
As for marathons, sheesh. All this talk of marathons and it occurs to me that I have one only one marathon that I don't consider a disaster. I believe that makes me 1 for 4.
The training/time to be able to do these things? Not so much love for these right now, except when I'm with friends. I've at least temporarily lost some motivation and physical ability due to how I feel to put in the dark, lonely miles by myself like I need to. Then there's that questionable word again - need.
/rant.
where ah the babes? where's the hot chicks? how the fuck do i put a pic on the home page?
In order to see the truth, sometimes you have to loose an eye.
http://www.runningahead.com/groups/Utri/
I couldn't agree more. If you have a competitive personality, if you are goal-oriented, and especially if you have friends who are doing the same thing, racing is exhilarating, even intoxicating. For me, the racing can be any distance from a 5k to a marathon. It can even be a training run when someone (like Tall Dave recently) decides to pick up the pace, and everyone tacitly agrees that a race is on, even if that race is simply to keep up with the pack. Part of the competition is improving your own performance. Lance, I think you set the bar with your half at Hampton in February, as Greg did with his marathon at Bay State last year. I have to include Robin and Michelle here, as well as Tall Dave. Others will be added to this list (and perhaps could be now) as they improve their divisional performance. That's another yardstick to measure one's performance. Adding to all this is the challenge and sense of accomplishment when you do something that you had no chance of doing before your training, something that you would not have dreamed of being able to do before you made up your mind to do it.
As for the drudgery of training, that goes with the territory, but it's not something I intend to do for long. It will end when I feel I can no longer PR, or when I feel I have accomplished a PR that I can no longer surpass with a reasonable level of training. Then the focus will be on racing. I know some people race as much as they train, and that sounds like a nice end-point of the training that is still yielding improvement.
I've discovered in the last few years that I really do love running. Except when I hate it. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference. That said, I'll spend the next year busting my ass to get myself ready to run the absolute best marathon I possibly have in me, knowing full well that there are a million things that could go wrong along the way. I can wrap my brain around that by telling myself that it's not about how that race ultimately goes, it's about the process of getting there. If I do that, then I can put it down, knowing that I really gave it one good true shot, whatever happens. I do not want to go on indefinitely training, killing myself chasing ever harder to reach marathon PR's. It's not a fun way to live, and the pay stinks. One year, and then I'll just run for fun, as much or as little as I want.
That's how I'm dealing with those issues for now. I get all the fun stuff, the cameraderie and competition and Blue Dino rides, and I know the hard part has an end date.
A list of my PRs in a misguided attempt to impress people that do not care.
I've discovered in the last few years that I really do love running. Except when I hate it. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference. That said, I'll spend the next year busting my ass to get myself ready to run the absolute best marathon I possibly have in me, knowing full well that there are a million things that could go wrong along the way. I can wrap my brain around that by telling myself that it's not about how that race ultimately goes, it's about the process of getting there. If I do that, then I can put it down, knowing that I really gave it one good true shot, whatever happens. I do not want to go on indefinitely training, killing myself chasing ever harder to reach marathon PR's. It's not a fun way to live, and the pay stinks. One year, and then I'll just run for fun, as much or as little as I want. That's how I'm dealing with those issues for now. I get all the fun stuff, the cameraderie and competition and Blue Dino rides, and I know the hard part has an end date.
Wow, the words of all 3 of you ring so true for me and it seems for each of us. L- I love racing like you and have that joy of it. McCollough- I agree with the fun of a "friendly" race on a tuesday night just for fun. Cremer- You may have the best outlook yet, admit to your self that every year you will not improve and face the fact. Give it your best for one year, set your goals and go for them and then sit back and enjoy. Like you all, I love the racing but like you all as well there are days I love to run, days I want to run and then days I just don't want to get off the couch. On days like this I find that sometimes I get off and feel better after a few miles and then there are days that I regret getting off the couch becasue the run wasn't worth shit because I didn't really want to be there. Then there are the days I don't get off the couch and have to battle feeling guilty because I didn't.
I guess in the big scheme we all have to remember, we have jobs, families, kids, lives. Running can not overwhelm us and become us. We have to find that medium where the family still feels wea re a part of their lives and not always "out on a run". I speak from experiencing this with Allycia. There are days she has to come first.
I guess in the big scheme we all have to remember, we have jobs, families, kids, lives. Running can not overwhelm us and become us. We have to find that medium where the family still feels we are a part of their lives and not always "out on a run". I speak from experiencing this with Allycia. There are days she has to come first.
Hmmm, I wonder if any of the other wives (or husbands) feel this way. I suspect that the husbands (Chris and Richard) may be more tolerant given the inherent difference between men and women. My hats off to all the spouses for their tolerance of our training obsession.
You've got a shield, figyah it out.
Edit: I'm on it.
Edit again: Is this your way of saying that's all I need to get me out of my funk?
My hats off to all the spouses for their tolerance of our training obsession.
I second this, without them we would be lonely. Thier support makes us run better.
that's all I need to get me out of my funk?
ahhhh-haaaa!
plus i need a reason to come in here.
I suspect that the husbands (Chris and Richard) may be more tolerant given the inherent difference between men and women.
try again. boy your throwin out a lot of opinions. what's the mattah? tired of facts?
The Pig spaketh. (is that the right word? It doesn't look right).
Not tired but ignorant of the facts, I guess. Please fill me in.
Please fill me in.
you can't handle the truth.