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“Yes, I Can”

Posted in health, motivation, training, tagged C25K, couch to 5K, running, Yes You Can on October 26, 2010| 41 Comments »

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I have a friend, let’s call her K, who I have been encouraging to take up running for over a year now. She’s inching closer. Last year she got the equipment (shoes and clothing). This past summer she went out on a couple of short runs. There have been starts and stops. Currently she is in stop mode. She’s convinced that her time has passed; that time and children have done irreversible things to her body and she could never be a runner or in the shape she was in 20 years ago.

I tell K that I only took up running 2 years ago. Yes, I dabbled in running before, but 2 years ago, I was Christine O’Donnell…I was not a witch runner. I ate healthfully, I exercised occasionally, but by no means was I a runner. Today, I will admit that I am a runner. I will also tell you that I am you (her). When I started running, I didn’t think that I could run a marathon.

K looks at me and says she could never run as fast as me. Maybe. But I have the same thoughts when I look at my fast friends Steve, Caleb, Kristen and Lam. I don’t let that discourage me though. I use it as inspiration. There’s always going to be someone faster and slower than you.

I tell K that because of running, I am in better shape at 41 than I was at 21.

Unless your name is Dean Karnazes, you don’t just wake up one day and decide you’re an Ultra-Marathon Man. It’s a progression. It takes time for one to go from the couch to the marathon. It goes faster for some, but the bottom line is, with little exception, we can all be runners, whether you top out at the 5K distance or progress to ultras.

K says over and over again, “no, I can’t.”

But I know she can say, “Yes, I can.”

Is it easy?

No.

Is it instant?

Never.

Is it worth it?

Absolutely!!!

There’s a reason why the Couch-to-5K and other walk/run programs are wildly successful.

So I ask you to leave a comment to tell K your story; tell my friend that she can turn back time and feel better than she did 20 years ago – that she needs to understand what we already know…yes, she can!

Why do you run?

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What now?

Posted in boston marathon, motivation, other, tagged boston marathon, BQ, Choices, What now? on October 21, 2010| 20 Comments »

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So it’s finally sinking in. I did it. Almost 2 years ago I started running. Shortly thereafter I had the audacity to think I could qualify for Boston. A little under a year ago, my first shot ended in a Frankenstein’s Monster walk (3:54). Next came the surprise of Boston 2010 as an invitational runner ending in heartbreak on Heartbreak Hill (3:32). That was followed 2 weeks later with the oppressive heat and humidity of Providence (3:30). Although I finished each of those marathons, they all ended in a failed attempt to qualify. I was inching closer, but a BQ still seemed like an impossibly difficult dream.

But two and a half weeks ago, I did it. 3:19:19. I qualified for Boston with a little room to spare. It has finally sunk in (I was one of the lucky one who signed up Monday morning at 9AM when registration opened). With New York less than 3 weeks away I have been wondering, “what now?” Whether I decide to gun for 3:15 in New York or not, the truth is, for the last 16 months I have been focusing on one thing – a BQ. As amazing as the feeling of finally accomplishing that goal was, the joy was in the journey. My three failed attempts fueled a fire and made the story that much more meaningful to me.

That journey is done, and despite my growing excitement for the New York Marathon and my anticipation of running Boston in both 2011 and 2012 (hopefully), I am now left with a feeling that something is missing. In my world of running, I have done it! I have achieved my goal. It is time for a new journey. So what’s next? What’s the next goal? I’m still not sure, but here are two things that I am considering.

First, the probably impossible dream of a sub-3:00 marathon. Despite taking nearly 35 minutes off of my marathon time in just over 11 months, the idea of taking off another 20 minutes sounds downright insane. Plus, at my age, I’ll be lucky if I don’t start slowing down significantly very soon. Still, it’s alluring. Much like being able to say I BQ’d, how cool would it be to be able to say I had a sub-3:00 marathon under my belt?

The other possibility that I am seriously thinking about (and yes, Doug, I do remember that I did promise I would do it if I qualified for Boston at Smuttynose) is running the Vermont 50 this coming September. I have never run an ultra, and 50 miles is about as far as I ever want to go. I am definitely intrigued by the idea. But this isn’t just 50 flat miles. No, this is 50 miles through the Vermont terrain. The elevation profile frightens me. Because Smuttynose was run late in the year, I actually not only qualified for Boston 2011, but also Boston 2012 as well, so there won’t be the urgency of running another marathon in the fall – that is if the BAA doesn’t change the requirements for qualifying in light of this years rapid close. If they do, that may be the tipping point for me.

So, what do you think? Do I go back to Hampton next October and shoot for a sub-3:00 marathon or do I head to the mountains of Vermont and run a 50 mile race?

Fortunately, I don’t have to decide just yet, so I’m going to concentrate on New York. 3:15 anyone?

Why do you run?

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Blue in New York

Posted in motivation, New York City Marathon, Odd Ball, racing, tagged Autism Speaks, fund raising, ING New York Marathon, running on October 12, 2010| 9 Comments »

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Okay friends, New York is less than 4 weeks away. When I first put it out there that I needed to raise $2600 to run the New York Marathon for Autism Speaks, you put me there in less than 4 weeks. I was amazed and humbled how quickly my circle of friends rallied around to support this cause that is so very important to me. I am extremely grateful. For the last couple of months however, I’ve been stuck at a little over $3,000. Nothing to sneeze at for sure, but I know I can do better. So I’m throwing out a challenge.

If I can manage to raise $8,001 ($1 more than the goal of the fundraiser currently standing in 5th place among New York runners) before the Friday (11/5) I leave for New York, I will do this:

Yo! Wuzzup?

That’s right. I will, for the first time in my life, dye my hair, and not only will I dye my hair, I will dye it Autism Speaks Blue. Come on. How many of you wanna see me walking around New York City with blue hair?

Here’s the link to my fund raising page —>HERE<—

Get me to $10K, and maybe I’ll even dye the dog!

Why do you run?

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BQ

Posted in boston marathon, motivation, New York City Marathon, racing, tagged boston marathon, BQ, running, Smuttynose Marathon on October 5, 2010| 17 Comments »

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Smuttynose Marathon 2010

3:19:19

Thank you to all of you! You have been so supportive!

Full race report is on the way.

(Still sorting it all out in my head!)

Official Time - 3:19:19

Five weeks until New York!

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Forecast

Posted in boston marathon, motivation, Odd Ball, racing, tagged boston marathon, BQ, running, Smuttynose Marathon, weather forecast on October 2, 2010| 2 Comments »

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Today’s weather forecast for the Smuttynose Marathon in Hampton, NH:

Sunny to partly cloudy, high of 58° with a chance of BQ.

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The Power of Many

Posted in boston marathon, motivation, racing, training, tagged friends, marathons, running, Smuttynose Marathon on September 30, 2010| 16 Comments »

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In a few days I will be traveling up to Hampton Beach, New Hampshire to run the Smuttynose Rockfest Marathon. I have worked hard this summer, following a proven plan, hoping that it will translate into a Boston Qualifying time. During this week I have actually been surprisingly unfidgety with my taper. In previous marathons I have dreaded this week before a marathon, but with every workout on the Pfitz 12/55 plan planned right up to Marathon Day, I have had a sense of calm I have not experienced in the past. That’s not to say that I’m not very excited.

But as excited as I am about running this thing and hopefully achieving my goal, I am just as excited, if not more so, about running Smuttynose with two friends, Pete and Brendan. The interesting part about this though is that I have only met Pete once and I have never met Brendan. Still, I plan on putting much of my Smuttynose experience in their hands.

Our plan is to run together for as long as we are able. We have agreed that if someone falls off the pace (7:38/mile) we will not all slow down for them, but we do plan to try to carry each other to a sub-3:20 finish, which would be a PR for all three of us (Pete’s PR is a 3:24, Brendan a 3:27 and mine is a 3:30). Unfortunately for Pete, he’s a bit younger than Brendan and I, so a 3:20 doesn’t qualify him for Boston. I won’t blame him if at some point he is feeling it mid-race and takes off. In the meantime, we will run together – strangers in the real world, good friends within our online running community.

I feel lucky that I live in an age where a site like dailymile exists. The three of us have become friends because of dailymile (and to some extent Twitter). Pete (of Runblogger fame) was the first person in the ether to reach out to me a year ago when I was stumbling blindly on Twitter looking for advice on the Manchester Marathon. Through him I was introduced to dailymile. On dailymile (a social site for active people) I was able to connect with many, many other people who, like me, found joy in regular physical activity. I eventually connected with Brendan, who just might be one of the most positive people on dailymile that I have ever interacted with (which says a lot because as a whole, the people you find on dailymile are a very positive bunch!).

Over the past few months, the three of us have encouraged each other through good runs and bad, through health and injury. This Sunday will be the first time I go into a marathon with a solid plan to run with friends. Hopefully we will draw strength from our numbers when we all inevitably hit the wall at around mile 20. Regardless of what happens, I know that the experience of running together will be a positive one and will help us run faster than had we been alone.

Wish us luck…hopefully there are 2, maybe even 3 BQ’s waiting for us on the other side of this weekend!

Stay tuned!

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No Longer Waiting for Greatness

Posted in boston marathon, motivation, training, tagged 3:20, BQ, Foxnews, Hampton Rockfest, marathon, Oprah, Random House, running, Smuttynose Marathon, training on September 27, 2010| 16 Comments »

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Since 1992 I have been waiting.

Waiting for what you say?

I can’t specifically say. To be discovered? To be handed fame and fortune? To win the lottery? I have been waiting. As a youngster, I always felt I was destined for something big, but I never did anything about it. In 1992 I said to some friends I wanted to go to New York, become a soap opera regular and become a star. My friends were all for it. I did eventually go to New York, but not until 1996, and only for a job as a paralegal at a midtown law firm. I did finally make it on to a soap opera, but only as an extra and only because a dear friend of my sister-in-law happened to be the head writer and was kind enough to get me on (Thank you Lil’ Jess and Tom!).

Yup, that's me in the background...

Still, I waited. Waited for greatness, for fame, for fortune.

***

It’s not coming, is it? There is no Justin Bieber fairytale waiting for me, is there? (part of that may be because I don’t sing…details.) Random House is not going to stumble upon my blog and decide they MUST have a book written by Luau. Foxnews is not going to decide that they MUST talk to me about the minimalist movement and make me a media darling. Oprah is not about to come calling, asking me to talk about how we can get America healthy again…is she?

No.

The lottery, both figuratively and literally, is not about to call out my numbers. My blog may be just under a year old, but at nearly 41, I’m no longer that fresh face with potential.

And yet I have waited.

***

For the last 11+ weeks I have been following a training program aimed at helping me run a 3:20 or better at the Smuttynose Marathon on October 3rd. I have not followed the program to a tee, but I have worked very hard and made re-adjustments along the way to keep me on track, both in mileage and types of workouts. Injuries and travel have required me to make some changes, but my numbers are lining up correctly and I am feeling very confident. If I don’t manage to qualify for Boston, it’s going to be very, very close.

If I do run a 3:20 or better I will have to face an ugly, brutal truth: – to achie—

-<<record stratch>> – Wait…what? Luau, um, did you just said that if you ACHIEVE your goal, you’re going to have to face an ugly truth?

Yup. That’s what I said. The ugly truth is this: to achieve your goals, most of us must work for it. If I run a BQ (Boston Qualifier), it will have been achieved through sweat and pain, hard work and determination and even a little bit of blood. There has been no “waiting” this time around for a BQ.

As much as I like to pull the “back when I was your age” card on my children and younger friends, the truth is, my generation really was the beginning of the immediate gratification/MTV society (I can’t say generation anymore because we have had children that also carry this need for immediate gratification…Video on Demand? DVR’s? 24 Hour News?).

My father didn’t raise me this way, but somewhere along the way, I lost the thread. I left the path and I got lost. Things came too easily too early for me and I got comfortable. Well, these 11 weeks have brought me a new perspective. Barring a twisted ankle on the course, I will run close to, if not achieve a BQ. Regardless, I know I will run a personal best (Providence is my current PR at 3:30:11), and it will all be because of hard work. I feel like I’ve cut away the fat, more mentally than physically. I am ready.

So Random House, Foxnews and Oprah, watch out. After I hit this BQ, I’m coming.

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Sliding Doors

Posted in health, motivation, Physics, tagged Choices, Long Term Health, running, Sliding Doors on September 16, 2010| 16 Comments »

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I never saw the movie Sliding Doors. If I had, maybe I wouldn’t be writing this post. For those that have never heard of it, the plot of the movie centers around the two possible lives a woman may have had depending on whether she made it on to a subway car or not on one fateful night.

How many sliding doors do we make or miss every day in our lives?

According to some physicists, every decision we make is Sliding Doors in the making. Every decision we make creates two or more possible outcomes, with every possible outcome actually occurring in separate universes. Some of those sliding doors lead to minor, almost undetectable changes in our lives; others can have dramatic effects. It’s enough to paralyze one’s decision-making ability, which I’m sure is one of the sliding doors.

It makes you wonder what your life would be like now had you taken a slightly different path early in your life – a poetry course instead of American Lit in school; or a skiing trip instead of the beach or home for Spring Break; the drug store instead of the grocery store to pick up some Advil. Would you still be you?

What does this have to do with running?

Nothing really, except this – many of us go through life not really thinking about the sliding doors we may or may not be going through. We don’t think about what doors may be closing for good on us as we walk past them. I am making an effort to make sure that I do everything I can to maintain my health and my ability to run. I am actively looking for the sliding doors that I think will make me a better, stronger and more enduring runner and in the long run, a healthier old man.

It’s still a guessing game. You never know for sure which sliding doors lead where, but you can make educated, pro-active guesses, and do what you know is right for you. Sitting on the couch with a pint of ice cream after dinner or going for a walk? On any given day, either choice will probably not have long, rippling effects, but making the same bad choices on a daily basis certainly will.

What doors did you walk by today?

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I Won’t Forget

Posted in motivation, other, tagged I Won't Forget, Remember, run, running poem, September 11th on September 11, 2010| 3 Comments »

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On this day,

Run to honor those whose feet no longer touch the earth,

And now run with angels.

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Be Selfish

Posted in health, motivation, other, rest, tagged autism, mental health, physical health, running, Selfish on August 2, 2010| 8 Comments »

This post was inspired in part by akbutler. (You will run that 5K!)

That’s right.

Be selfish.

I don’t mean cut people off in line or swipe the last food item without asking. I don’t mean hoard all of the ice cream, talk without listening, or think only about yourself.

What I do mean is go out for that long run, go to that gym class, schedule that massage, meet your girlfriend for a manicure and pedicure, book that haircut with your hairdresser, and occasionally, eat your cake too! And don’t feel guilty about it! (Unless you are one of those people who ONLY does those things…then I’m not talking to you.)

I think that people who work very hard taking care of others very often forget to take care of themselves. I see it in the eyes of my wife and others who spend so much time tending to the special needs of their children, siblings or parents.

The focus.

The Go-Go-Go.

The exhaustion!

Even when a particular need is met, there is often still a mountain of needs that are waiting to be taken care of.

No time to rest. Must get to the next task!

But what we all need to remember, that in some cases, being selfish is the most selfless thing you can do. By taking care of yourself, you are better prepared, better able to deal with the challenges that you face. It allows you to be more than just there.

Taking care of yourself could be getting some sleep, getting a run in, or maybe even something simply cosmetic like getting your hair done. It’s important. It’s important because if you don’t do it, you’re gonna crash and be useless. Who can take better care of the ones you love better than you? No one, except a rested you.

There’s a problem of course. There are only 24 hours in a day. Those hours can come and go very quickly.

When, Luau, when am I supposed to be able to do these things for myself? I hear ya. I really do. Let me pose it a little differently with an unrelated short story:

Many years ago, the wife and I were struggling with a recommendation from a doctor regarding little Brooke. I won’t get into specifics, but suffice it to say that it was a very difficult decision that took a lot of soul searching. We kept asking ourselves, what happens if we do this? What are the possible negatives going forward? In the end, and I can’t remember whether it was the wife or I who came up with it, but we flipped it and asked ourselves, “what is the price if we don’t?” Once we approached it from this perspective, our path was clear.

So I ask you this. What is the consequence if you don’t somehow find the time to take care of yourself, both short-term and long-term? And if you ultimately break down, who will be there to take care of those you have been working so hard to take care of?

I am selfish about my running. 4 – 6 hours a week. Those 4 -6 hour are mine and no one else’s. Sometimes it’s 90 minutes at 4:30 in the morning, sometimes it’s 2 hours starting at 11:00 at night. If I’m lucky, I get a lunchtime run in. It keeps me up even when the world conspires to bring me down, but it also contributes to hopefully keeping me around for at least another 50 – 60 years. If I can be relatively sharp-minded and able-bodied until I’m 90, Brooke will have me around until she’s almost 60. Hopefully by then she won’t need me the way she needs me now. That is why I am selfish.

What do you need to be selfish about?