Life Perspectives - December 6, 2008

It's Saturday night, I've returned from a short trip that ultimately took me to Memphis and back cutting through Alabama, Mississippi, and Western Tennessee.  My wife Angela was working an expo booth at the St. Jude's Memphis Marathon and my sister Stephanie and I joined in on a chance to supply some free labor.

The trip, as short as it was, provided a lot of perspective.  Driving through the southern countryside, you quickly see that the rest of the south is nothing like the city of Atlanta and it's surrounding suburbs.  Sprawling neighborhoods and new strip shopping centers are replaced with abandoned homes, broken cars, and more interest in the Alabama football game rather than the stock market.

At the Memphis Marathon Expo, which was all part of the fundraising efforts for the St. Jude's Children's Hospital, you got the full spectrum of residents in the United States.  You had people flying in from all over the country to participate in what they believed was a good "destination" race.  We met people from California, Alaska, Florida and various other states.  All it took was plane ticket and a hotel reservation and they were off on a weekend adventure chasing a finishers medal to their expanding collection. 

We met athletes that have been training hard for months to attempt to break a PR.  We met first timers from corporate America who were looking for a new challenge in life.  We met what I would call "non-athletes" who were anxious to participate in an effort to raise money for the hospital or for the benefit of a sick child.

The locals confirmed that this event wasn't a regional or national triathlon event.  The unemployment rate in Memphis is well over 7%.  I heard one stat that said Memphis currently has the second highest unemployment rate in the nation.  I'm not sure if that is true or untrue, but I can confirm that what employment opportunities are available for the general population, aren't exactly white collar jobs in air conditioned offices.

No matter, we still witnessed a sold out event.  Never mind the economy or the holiday season, these locals wanted to participate in a running race.

As I mentioned in my blog yesterday we ended up in an area of town (right across from the airport) that left me feeling a bit "insecure" about my own personal safety and the safety of my wife and sister.  Here's a few of the jokes that we were throwing around trying to make light of the situation;

1. I wasn't sure where the cleanest place to lay down was in the hotel room, so I picked the bathroom floor figuring there was at least a decent shot that it was hosed down in the last few months...

2. I did my best to wash my hands after touching the soap that was on the bathroom counter...

3. The safest way to wash off the toilet seat was to pee on it...(yeah, gross...)

4. Please let the SUV be there when we go outside to leave at 4:30am...

5. Do you think it's ok to sleep in the bed with socks on or should I leave my sneakers on too...

6. Wow, there goes a police officer driving really fast...and here come the thugs chasing him...

Needless to say, I was happy to "hit the road" and return to "an average life" (or what I believed to be an average life.)  Holy schnikees.

And along the way, I still met people doing Ironman Lake Placid next year, ultra-runners, people that have done 50+ marathons, and individuals whose biggest concern was whether or not to wear sunglasses during the race (totally no worries).

Well, enough on that.

I'm a bit "off schedule" with sleep, routine, eating, workouts, etc.  I'm hoping that I have the motivation to follow through on what I feel like doing most tomorrow which is "just run."  I'd like to run long.  How long?  I'm not really sure.  What heart rate?  I don't really care.  What route?  I'll chose when I get to a crossroads.  I'll probably wear a GPS just to track the miles run but I don't really care about much more than that.  I just feel like running and running long.  Maybe running long will mean an hour.  Maybe three hours?  Maybe hills...maybe the flats...It sounds so scientific doesn't it?

I'm feeling the urge to start exploring the world of ultra running.  It seems rather intimidating to me.  So impossible.  How do they do it?  How does the body do it?  Why do people do it?  It just doesn't make sense.  Yet, I'm being sucked in.  It reminds me of my beginnings of Ironman when I used to wonder "Can I do it?" rather than "How fast can I do it?"

Of course there is the draw of earning a belt buckle.  Rather than finishers medals, those that can complete a hundred miles in less than 24 hours are rewarded with a belt buckle.  I think I want a belt buckle...Oh boy...Maybe the urge will fade.  But for now, it seems so impossible and I wonder if I could do it.  That's a dangerous combination of unknowns.

And my experiment has officially been confirmed.  A body in motion stays in motion.  A body at rest tends to stay at rest.  I went the entire year only missing 3 days due to a severe sickness back last February.  Since then, I haven't missed  a single day of 30 minutes of exercise.  And then I let myself miss a day which turned into another, which turned into another.  I'm now at 9 missed days and still have 25 days remaining for the rest of the year.  It's so hard to get back into a permanent routine.  Two months ago and I was averaging two hours a day.  And now I can't seem to make myself even walk for 30 minutes each day.  Am I just really tired or am I becoming lazy?

By The Numbers

• Injured Jan 1 through June 30 with plantar fasciitis and achilles problems on the left leg.  Sick for two weeks at and after Ironman Canada with a cold.
• 0 - Days in a row of consistent training
• 9 - Days missed of training at least 30 minutes in 2008 (goose-eggs in the training log)
• 232- Days remaining until Ironman Lake Placid
• Only 19 shopping days remaining until Christmas
• Only 16 days until Hanukkah (Happy Hanukkah Caplan)

Comments

[Ole Jacobsen]

Run Forrest, run.

[Matt]

> I'm feeling the urge to start exploring the world of ultra running.

Go for it!

[Jim]

Jim Wagener
342/0

[Renee]

I don't think it's a matter of being lazy. Sometimes you just have to listen to your body, put regimines aside, reaccess your priorities and go from there - most times with renewed vigor.
Renee 336/6