Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Okay I am back in the Game

...or to quote Al Pacino... 'Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in'.

I thought I was in for good a couple of weeks ago. Got in 6 solid days of running 40-75 mins. The next week was on a roll again when an 'oops' started and I took 3 days off. I have been able to rectify that oops this week, but we'll see.

If it's any consolation we finally sold our house, bought one (final paperwork today) and begin moving in about 2 weeks, although we won't be living there til early Jan. That and Julie's impending pregnancy, Carter's endless energy, the rain and my own lack of discipline (This is the worst I have fallen off the wagon) have meant a lack of running, but when I do I feel great. My mechanics have felt good, my stride is more 'core' and powerful, but it's always a long road back. Thank god I had some semblance of 3-4 days of running before this or it would be ugly

When things go awry I often go back to the simple things and one of the reason for starting this blog was to share what I feel is a somewhat unique set of perspectives and experiences on someone who somehow made it through this sport in a very strange series of events. The sport has never been easy for me, but somehow I've landed on my feet (most of the time anyways).

In that regards 'getting it' and how difficult this sport can be goes hand in hand with my personality (hence why I have always seen the fictional Quenton Cassidy of Once a Runner fame as a soul mate). I have never been the OCD true blue distance runner and it's something I've had to work at (at times far more than most realize and definitely more than I sometimes understand).

This leads to the next series of posts (I will update regularly) rather than go on about training and my own self loathing.

I've had the opportunity to pass on some of my running perspectives at both the HS and Uni level. Over time I have had the chance to tweak a PowerPoint presentation to the point where I can do it at many levels and too many groups (not just running). Over the next while I figure I'll change gears and write about something that I already have a skeleton structure in place.

The idea behind said PowerPoint was to 1) remind me of where I've come from and what I need to do myself and 2) to give younger athletes a bit of idea on what I wish I could have told myself if I could go back in time. Nothing is that original (except my eccentric way of presentation) and instead is based upon more methodology of what I have gleamed in my own experiences and from those much greater at this sport than myself (egs Joe Vigil, Steve Ovett, Arthur lydiard, Peter Snell, etc...)...so here goes:

If could pinpoint one main place to begin in running and that is a philosophy of what the sport means to you. It's an idea I took from a man I would consider a great motivator and that is Joe Vigil. I've wrote about Joe before but his ability to connect with athletes is legendary and it left an indelible mark in my mind. One of the core ideas of Vigil was that each athlete should have a philosophy. In time of stress, concern or despair the philosophy is what you fall back on. I can be your own idea (my quote of the 'key to success is patience with a sense of urgency' has always stuck with me, but I've found a much more fluid philosophy from Ron Daws. Daws was a running eccentric and schmuck, but he also made himself into a "Self Made Olympian'. He began his training book 'Running Your Best: The Committed Runner's Guide to Training and Racing' with the infamous Teddy Roosevelt quote (and this blogs main name) 'In the Arena', but I found Daws quote even better. It really does get at the core and when I find myself struggling (as I do right now) it's my core vision of what the hell I am actually trying to do....

“Making a commitment to run comes down to how badly you want to explore your limits. It means honestly confronting your excuses. It means making time to train. Unless you go all out for something, you may conclude your life without actually having lived it. It doesn’t have to be running, but it should be a quest for excellence, and it need be for only that period of life that it takes to full explore it. That’s how you find out who you are. To live your life your way, to reach for the goals you have set for yourself, to be the way that you want to be, that is success”

(Ron Daws from ‘Running Your Best’ – 1968 Olympian)