12

Still Brooding (Read 293 times)


#artbydmcbride

    Yeah, I always say, 'if Milktruck can do it, I have no excuse ever!"

     

    Runners run

    juniordo1


      What are you looking to get out of running?  I see 2 race distances under your PRs - 1/2M and Marathon - Is that correct?

       

      I run for 4 reasons:  1)  To be less fat / more healthy, 2)  To feed my "physical" animal, 3) It makes me feel good and 4)  For the challenge of it.

       

      Is the only reason you ran to set a Marathon PR ?

       

      Life is about experiences and what we learn from them.  Not all the experiences in life are posstitive, but we can use them in a possitive way.  Sounds like there was a lot of good learnings you could take from the Twin Cities experience.

       

      If you want to be a runner - You need to not have one race or experience as an "end all".  Running is the accumulation of years of training and experiences, decades if you are lucky.  What your results are yours personally, the desire to train is yours personally.  You choose what you take from the sport and what you give back to the sport.

      Yes, I have only raced those two distances. Yes I run for the same reasons. A marathon PR is only icing on the cake.

      2013 -Sub 2:00 for 1/2 marathon

      juniordo1


        We have all experienced "The thrill of victory (Personal), the agony of defeat."

         

        We get to chose if the agony of defeat will motivate us or not.

         

        I've got my finger on that switch, just trying to flip it now.

        2013 -Sub 2:00 for 1/2 marathon

        juniordo1


          Juniordo1,

          I could so see myself brooding over something like that also.   That really does stink, and it's hard to let go of something we've put so much time and effort into.  I'm also a bit OCD, and have trouble moving on anyway.

           

          After a race in December I was frustrated with some of my choices in training-- nothing serious or anything like what you and L Train went through thankfully.  But enough to make me whiny.  So I've decided to focus on future races, and its really helping me get my mind in a new place where I'm excited and looking forward instead of backwards.  In 2 weeks I have another marathon & in 5 weeks a 50k trail.  Don't have time to brood at this point.

           

          I am a lifetime member of the OCD club so maybe that partially explains my inability to let this one go. The race itself doesn't define me as a person or a runner but the experience planted a  big old seed of doubt in me.

           

          I know that's stupid because I've been the distance and I've trained successfully.

          2013 -Sub 2:00 for 1/2 marathon

          TripleBock


            Same here - Except I tend to focus on proving everyone else in the world wrong.  It does not put my mind through agony, but it has led me to abuse my body in the name of training.  Trying to find middle ground to train smart and not OCD like.  My body will not take the abuse it once could ... but without running I become an OCD fatass drunk.

             

             

            I am a lifetime member of the OCD

            I am fuller bodied than Dopplebock

              +1 Find a race and sign-up.  If running is something you enjoy, give yourself a reason to get back into it.  After a while, the running will be the reason and the race will just be something to do.

              joescott


                 I am a lifetime member of the OCD club so maybe that partially explains my inability to let this one go. The race itself doesn't define me as a person or a runner but the experience planted a  big old seed of doubt in me.

                 

                I know that's stupid because I've been the distance and I've trained successfully.

                 

                While you are right that the race does not define you as a person or as a runner, I bet that if you are anything like me, on your most honest days, you feel like it does.  And that is why it hurts so much.  I have been there more than a couple of times in the past few years myself, so I speak from experience.  Sometimes for me it just takes time.  It takes a while for the "sting" to go "numb", and then apathy sets in for a while and you wonder if your mojo will come back.  But just like your body, your spirit will heal over time.  And it's OK, even healthy I think, to be honest and say, hey, this failure feels like it's saying something about who I am.  Last summer I missed the race I had been targeting for months and then I turned around and laid a big fat egg in my secondary race two days later.  It hurt.  It really bothered me a lot.  For months.  But finally I think I've shaken it off and I might even take another crack at it.  People will say "shake it off" or even "stop being a baby."  They may be right, but hearing it really doesn't help or change how you feel deep down.  Telling yourself they are right doesn't really help either.  But getting out there again tomorrow in your running shoes helps.  And the next day.  And the next day.  And then after a while you wake up to the realization that you're better.  And tomorrow morning you put your running shoes on again and you get out that door.  And the next day.  And the next day.  And then one day, the fire, too, has returned. And you're back.

                - Joe

                We are fragile creatures on collision with our judgment day.

                  2012  goal race was a  Sept HM.    Looking forward to & training for this race for months.   Went into the race not quite 100% but still expected good results based on my training.   Very very disappointed even with wife there trying to encourage me by saying I did great.  In fact the more she said the more pissed I was at my performance.   steamed & bitched about it for awhile but then made the decision to go for it again.  Felt I had unfinished business.  Signed up for 2013 race as soon as it was possible to register (early bird registration saved quite a few dollars!).    Beat 2012 time by over 8 1/2 minutes & 3rd in AG.   Had a great time at this event & extremely well organized with lots of grub at the end.  Will do it again some time in future but probably not this year.  Got my revenge.


                  SheCan

                    ....

                    And tomorrow morning you put your running shoes on again and you get out that door.  And the next day.  And the next day.  And then one day, the fire, too, has returned. And you're back.

                     

                    exactly.

                     

                    Juniordo1, Let us know if you find another race to sign up for.

                    Cherie

                    "We do not become the people who this world needs simply by turning our backs on anyone we don’t like, trust, or deem healthy enough to be in our presence. "  ---- Shasta Nelson

                    NHLA


                      Its OK.  You wouldn't be brooding if it didn't mean anything to you.

                      The more races you run the more good races you are going to run and the fewer bad ones.

                      Establish a body of work. This means running every distance.

                      TripleBock


                        For a lot of people it comes down to why do you run?

                         

                        Many great HS or College runners quit after school is done, because they only ran because they were good at it, but not good enough to make a living at it ... so they stop cold turkey.

                         

                        Some people race toward a big goal, reach the goal and are done.

                         

                        I know some really good college runners that still run every day, but never race ... Runners run.  If it is something that you enjoy, makes you feel good - run.  If not, maybe try something else.  There are many, many great sports or athletic things a person can do to be healthy.

                        I am fuller bodied than Dopplebock


                        Latent Runner

                          For a lot of people it comes down to why do you run?

                           

                          Many great HS or College runners quit after school is done, because they only ran because they were good at it, but not good enough to make a living at it ... so they stop cold turkey.

                           

                          Some people race toward a big goal, reach the goal and are done.

                           

                          I know some really good college runners that still run every day, but never race ... Runners run.  If it is something that you enjoy, makes you feel good - run.  If not, maybe try something else.  There are many, many great sports or athletic things a person can do to be healthy.

                           

                          Very-very well said.  Thank you.  Smile

                           

                          I ran in high school, because I was good, but not that good, a little in college, and a little more in the Marines; between my mid 20s and my early 30s I don't think I logged more than 50 miles, total.  Got hooked back up into exercise when I was 33, did a bunch of Olympic triathlons, one Half-Ironman, and then met my wife, started a family, and didn't do much running for most of the next decade.

                           

                          We moved to New Hampshire when I was in my mid-40s and I discovered trail running; loved it, worked my way up to logging 30-40 miles per week.  Then one day I did something horribly irresponsible and dangerous; I went to pick my kids up at daycare, slipped in a puddle of water (with a layer of ice below it), broke my leg and partially tore my foot off.  The sturgeon [sic] who screwed me back together told me I'd walk with a limp for the rest of my life, and that my running days were over, and for about six years, he was correct.

                           

                          In my early 50s, looking very much like the fat, old, out of shape man I had become, I found a new trail (my previous trail had since been paved over), and very-very gradually, started running again; I'm now on the downslope to 60 and am regularly logging 200+ mile months.  Like you said, "Runners run."

                          Fat old man PRs:

                          • 1-mile (point to point, gravity assist): 5:50
                          • 2-mile: 13:49
                          • 5K (gravity assist last mile): 21:31
                          • 5-Mile: 37:24
                          • 10K (first 10K of my Half Marathon): 48:16
                          • 10-Mile (first 10 miles of my Half Marathon): 1:17:40
                          • Half Marathon: 1:42:13
                          juniordo1


                            Thanks everyone for the words of encouragement and the cyber--kick in the butt. This was actually the first time I even talked about the race since it happened. My immediate family and friends don't understand me running and are quite indifferent to anything related to running.

                             

                            I strung together three days of easy running in a row. Feeling good, ready to ease back into it. Looking at a 5K in June, a 10K in July and maybe a 1/2 marathon in mid August.

                            2013 -Sub 2:00 for 1/2 marathon

                            12