Recreation Through Endurance

First, you want to leave right from the house. Second, you want it to be safe, which means low traffic and wide roads, which hardly ever go together. Third, if possible, you want it to be fun, with turns, hills, and scenery.

Maps and websites, can be great, but don't fulfill requirement #1. I've been lucky enough to find a quick route to Varina through downtown, but Riverside is my real favorite. Andy Thompson just wrote a great article about Bike Route 1, which uses my section of Riverside. Link here.

Sneaking out before the rain comes.

In It's Not About The Bike, Lance Armstrong talked about how if you want something bad enough, you can accomplish any goal. I'm not sure Jan Ullrich would agree with him.

Liz and I joined Brooke and Tyler of RSR to see the 2nd showing of Spirit of the Marathon, which profiled runners doing the Chicago Marathon including two pros, Daniel Njenga and Deena Kastor. Deena had never won a major marathon and felt she needed to in order to secure her reputation. Daniel had never won Chicago but came in 3rd twice and 2nd twice despite a PR of 2:06:16. They both wanted, and trained hard, to win Chicago in 2005.

I'll spoil the ending for you (since race results are online anyways). Deena barely held her lead and came in first. Njenga came in 3rd, then vowed to win the next year where he came in 2nd... again.

Of course, those reading this aren't the elite level. We're regular local athletes, possibly looking to get better at the sports we love. Running, biking, tris, whatever, there's always room for improvement and no matter how good we get, there's always going to be someone faster. I've known this since I started running in 2000 and biking the next year and I'd like to think I've been improving all that time. Still I don't expect I'll ever win even a local race, only perhaps some specialty category like Clydesdale Enduro if such a thing existed.

To win, you have to be faster than everyone else and herein lies the problem. If one's goal is the out-race everyone out there, by definition, you're basing your success and failures more on other's fitness than your own. If that's the case, why race at all? Perhaps to judge progress, perhaps as a challenge, but really, because it's fun. I've had great races where I won my class, came in second and many, many more where I've been much lower. But the best one, from a campfire story point of view, was where I came in D.F.L.

Last September, I had a 10 minute mechanical during the SM100. If... If.... If I'd registered Clydesdale I'd been 3rd, 22 minutes behind the leader. ...and there's always room for improvement.

Last year, I had a focus. I dedicated my year to unfinished business and earning the race of a lifetime. I was focused on finishing the SM100 and racing Xterra in Tahoe. This year, I find myself at a loss. Without any vengeance to pursue, or any worth to prove to myself, what am I to do?

By this time last year, I had my real and imaginary race schedule planned out. I did 5 of 11 Xterras and 4 of 9 other races. I also did a couple extras like the Blue Ridge Relay and OBX Marathon that I didn't plan on. It's about time I get my race schedule together for 2 double-O 8. With a touch of pride and sadness, I feel like I've accomplished my goals. Doing the SM100 "faster than last year" isn't as compelling as "finishing what I started".

Still, I'm in the game of one-up-manship when it comes to what I've done. 3 potential goals come to mind (remember, goals are something that have a chance at failure):

42 minutes at the Monument 10k. This confirmed and definite. Hold me to it.

Xterra Regional Champion Jersey. I'm no longer in Harlow age group, and rumors show LeRoque's concentrating on the 100 milers. I might have a chance.

Odyssey Half-Iron Off-Road Tri. It's like an Ironman, only half the distance, but off-road. Like two Xterras in one. Still, shouldn't I have another goal than just to complete it?

Liz is training for her first 10k. She's done a couple of 5ks in the past, though this is her first race under her own motivation. ...and she is definitely motivated. Here's, in her own words, what she's come to conclude about this pursuit:

* I like drinking water now b/c I know it's going to help me feel better on my run.

* I got my 1st blister (on the instep of my right foot) and successfully ignored it!

* After the discovery of my blister, I quickly learned about the benefits of body glide...

* I still don't get the whole mini water bottle/gu that people strap around their waist...on a 3 mile run.

When I see ciggies now, I don't think "I would love just one of those", instead, I think, "If I smoked one of those it would kill all the progress I've made with running!"

* Peanut butter (crunchy) on toast is my super food.

* On the subject of food, I feel more hungry since I've started running.

* I'm slow. but I'm ok with this.

* On a YMCA training run, a guy called me the turtle. He was the hare. We kept leap frogging each other. Guess who beat him in the end?

* If you can't tell already, I have a slight competitive side to me. I've always known this, just never admitted it.

* Screw what the scale says. I ran 6 miles yesterday--albeit I was locked out of my house and had nothing left to do.

* Wait, did I just say 6 M I L E S ?

* I've realized, "holy shit, I can do this!" and it makes me so happy I want to cry!

Last year's Trail Travail really had me looking forward to this year's. Though I'd probably been short on long runs, I also was last year. Besides, it's more of a social race than it is competitive. Unfortunantly, life occasionally throws rocks at you and sometime they land under your foot. By the day of the race, I could walk without limping, but still no condition to run 15 miles on trail.

The race went on without me of course and from what I hear, it was great fun. RSR's own Tyler V even got his picture in the paper.

Trail Travail 25K never will be mistaken for walk in the park

Ok, cat's out of the bag. This is the exciting news I couldn't wait to announce. Woody and I have put this race series together that links all the local off-road races into a points series that will give racers something to compete for over the season.

Spread the word.

http://virginiaoffroadseries.com/

A few months ago, a good friend gave me his copy of Running Times, like he always does when he's done. Chris pointed out an article about Anton Krupicka, who's from Nebraska but now lives in Colorado. The article framed him as the running version of Chris McCandless, who once slept in a bathroom because hotels were too expensive, then won the Leadville Trail 100 the next day. Just last month, he logged a 179 mile week.

It appears that there's now a movie about call Indulgence: 1000 Miles Under The Colorado Sky. Trailer: here. I may have to pick it up since I doubt Netflix has it.

This movie was a one-night event a couple week ago that I missed. Apparently it was popular because it's going to be showing in theatres nation-wide again on the 21st. It's follows 5 runners from first-timers to elites on what the marathon means. Go see it: Spirit of the Marathon