What if your life were a running shoe?

Running shoes are often categorized in terms of their cushioning, flexibility and responsiveness. Runner's World magazine regularly features new running shoes in the various categories, so you can select the shoe that best meets your individual needs. It occurs to me that we can use these same categories in other areas of our lives.

Motion-control shoes are designed for runners (often over-pronators) who need plenty of support and durability. Overpronators have excessive foot motion, the arch tends to collapse inward too much, increasing the risk of injury.

Stability shoes are designed for runners who need a combination of good support and cushioning.
Cushioned shoes are designed for runners (typically biomechanically efficient runners) who need a minimum amount of support and maximum cushioning. Underpronators (supinators) tend to have a high arch, which can result in too much shock traveling through your body, since your arch doesn't collapse enough to absorb it.

Performance shoes are recommended either for racing or, if you're biomechanically efficient, for training. They are generally lighter.

If a shoe is too soft, it may lack durability. In general, more cushioned shoes tend to be less responsive. Responsiveness of a shoe relates to how smoothly a shoe moves with your foot from heel strike to toe-off.

If a shoe is too firm, it might not provide enough protection, making a runner susceptible to injury.

If your life were a running shoe, what type would currently suit you best?

Do you need more motion-control? Are you an over-pronator in various areas of your life such as work? Before reaching the "collapse" point, additional support might be needed.

Are you perhaps like many of us and need a combination of both motion-control and cushioning? If that is the case, what does stability consist of for you?

It is useful to take a look at your larger life in terms of biomechanics. There may be areas where you know you have weaknesses that make you more likely to suffer an injury. Being proactive about those "biomechanically weaker" areas, could consist of adding more motion-control, stability or cushion.

In which areas of your life are you already efficient and ready to race? What's your next event?

Comfortably Hard

Track workouts are supposed to feel "comfortably hard". That's an interesting way of phrasing it, because repeats on the track actually take you out of your comfort zone and push you. Sometimes track workouts are anything but comfortable. Usually they are hard and sometimes they are really hard. However, approached with the right attitude, they truly are comfortably hard - hard enough to know you are doing the work. The comfortable part? By the time the goal race arrives, the track workouts allow you to step up to the starting line comfortable in knowing that you are prepared.

This morning at 5:32 AM I stepped onto the Illinois Wesleyan University track for my first speed workout of the season. I haven't done speed workouts on the track for two years, because of my focus on Ironman training. This year, however, in addition to the 1/2 Ironman event in August, I am running the St. George, Utah marathon in October. I have two goals for that marathon - the first is to obtain a Boston Marathon Qualifying time and the second is to run a sub-4 hour marathon. Both of those are realistic and attainable goals. And both will involve some hard work.

When I qualified for Boston before (2004 Boston), I spent countless hours on the IWU track during the summer before my fall marathon to qualify. I typically did speed workouts twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. I loved those workouts - especially when they were finished. I always felt like a "real runner" once I stepped onto that track.

This morning was a misty, drizzle-filled morning. I wasn't sure what kind of shape I'm in, or if I would be able to complete the workout my coach provided. The workout called for a 2-mile warm-up, followed by 6 x 800 (1/2 mile) repeats with 2 minutes rest (jogging) in between. The goal is to run each of the 800's at approximately the same pace. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I ran each repeat about 10-15 seconds faster than my workout called for and my pace didn't vary more than 4-5 seconds per repeat.

I did my cool-down and left the track feeling tired but happy. It feels good to be back on the track. It feels good to begin the work to obtain the goals I have for this year's running.

If you are reading this and are not a runner, you may be wondering what, if anything, this has to do with you. Everything! One area to explore the "comfortably hard" workout is in a track workout. What other areas of your life are you holding back? Going at a pace that feels comfortable, or perhaps, even complacent. Where is the place you could step up the pace and push beyond your normal pace?

Six Degrees of Inspiration

Today I find myself thinking about inspiration, living "strong" and making a difference in both small and large ways.

Tomorrow, May 13th, is LIVESTRONG Day. LIVESTRONG Day is Lance Armstrong Foundation's one-day initiative to raise awareness and funds for the cancer fight.

You probably have heard of "Six Degrees of Separation" - the theory that we are all connected to one another. Six degrees of separation refers to the idea that, if a person is one step away from each person he or she knows and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people he or she knows, then everyone is an average of six "steps" away from each person on Earth.

Applying "Six Degrees of Separation" to the disease of cancer, it is certainly true that within 6 steps away from us, we each know someone who currently has cancer. Within 6 steps away from us, do we each know someone who is doing something to make a difference, someone who is doing something to find a cure? Are we that "someone"?

I happened to come across the term "Six Degrees of Inspiration" on one of my coaching forums. It takes the concept of "Six Degrees of Separation" one step further by noticing the direct and indirect impact we can have on one another. We can inspire one another by our actions.

Somewhat like the Butterfly Effect (which describes and demonstrates how an action as small as a butterfly flapping its wings can have a major impact on the world weather patterns), both the seemingly insignificant and significant actions we take can inspire others.

As we move through our lives, we may not realize the inspirational impact we are having on others, both those who know us and those who don't know us personally, but are watching, none the less, and noticing what we're about.

Lance Armstrong's Foundation is certainly inspirational. Almost everyone has either seen, or worn, one of the LIVESTRONG yellow baller bands. Not only did the yellow wristband idea (for both cancer awareness and fundraising efforts) catch on for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, other causes soon began to use the wristbands as well.

The following taken from Lance Armstrong's blog says it well:

"In essence, they show each of us that we can be active citizens, we can be proud of our life’s work, and each of us in our own very personal way can support the betterment of society. It is the essence of the word “community.” We are all part of something bigger. And we can band together to impact our world."

One of the posters at the 2008 Boston Marathon, which Lance Armstrong ran in a time of 2:50, showed pictures of Lance running along with the following:

"Whatever your 100% looks like, give it!"

How can our own individual 100% (whatever that is for each of us) support the betterment of society, impact community and allow us to be part of something bigger? When we do that, we are living strong.

If you knew that how you are living your life, the actions you take, the words you say to others, the choices you make, the causes you support, would impact people "Six Degrees of Separation" away, would you do anything differently?

What would you most like to inspire other people to do?

Race Report - Lincoln Marathon

My morning started out earlier than the 5:00 AM time I had planned. My hotel room was one of those adjoining rooms (with connecting doors, so that two rooms can become one) and as a result probably not as sound-proof as a regular room. My next door neighbors were a family with two young children. From the sound of things, as they tried to get the little ones settled down for the night, there was a toddler and a baby. Finally around 10:30 PM, the parents were successful in getting things quiet. I could hear almost every word through the door and knew they really were trying to quiet their children down for the night.

At 3:30 AM, the littlest one was up crying. This continued until about 4:30, giving me only another 1/2 hour or so before my scheduled wake-up time. At least I had plenty of time to get ready. I could also tell that one of the parents in the room next door was running as the entire family seemed to be up and going between 5:00 - 5:30.

My breakfast consisted of coffee, Gatorade, Multi-Grain Cheerios (not my first choice, but apparently they no longer make Team Cheerios which are less sugary), part of a plain bagel and 1/2 of a Cliff bar.

I left the room around 6:15 for the approximately 1 mile walk to the start. The temperature was a nice brisk 39 degrees. The wind was a bit breezy, but not too bad.

Before I knew it, it was time to find my place in the starting corral and the gun (sounded like a cannon) went off. The start was on the campus of the University of Nebraska, by the old coliseum. My first mile or two I was very aware that I felt dizzy - or at least that my head felt foggy. Perhaps this was due to the lack of sleep, because after the first couple of miles that sensation thankfully went away.

Some of you may know that I typically miss things along a marathon race course, such as the Alamo during the San Antonio Marathon. I am getting better at noticing things around me. As usual I missed some points of interest, such as the State Capital. However, I did notice somethings as I ran along.

The race course description mentioned two significant hills - one just past Mile 9 and one at Mile 20. I did notice the hill at Mile 9 - it was a tough one. I also noticed the hill at Mile 2 and the hill at Mile 5, neither of which were mentioned in the course description. I did not notice any antelope in Antelope Park (near the 20-mile mark), so I'm not sure if there is any connection with the name of the park and the animal.

My plan for this marathon was to run conservatively for a couple of reasons. First of all, this was the least trained I've ever gone into a marathon. Driving over the day before, left me a bit under-hydrated (I didn't want to make a 7 1/2 hour drive even longer by frequent pit stops) and a little under stretched out. Sitting in a car for that long the day before a marathon is not ideal.
The biggest factor for my conservative race approach was the fact that I did not want to risk running so hard that I either felt too wiped out or too sick to drive myself home.

My plan was to try to run even splits, although I knew my training would ultimately end before the race did. Sure enough, even though I ran the first 1/2 of the race a good 7-8 minutes slower than I usually run the first 13 miles of a marathon, I could not maintain the same pace for the entire race.

This marathon was challenging in that most of the 6,000 participants were only running the 1/2 marathon, which meant the course was lined with spectators saying things like; "You're almost there", or "Only two more miles to go". Those statements were true if you were a 1/2 marathoner. Shortly before Mile 13, there was a right hand turn for the 1/2 marathon finish and a straight ahead for the full marathoners. I felt as though almost everyone was turning. Most, in fact, were turning. Only 1200 of the 6000 runners were doing the full marathon. I told myself that at least now I wouldn't hear any more of those comments until they were actually true. Of course anyone who has ever run a marathon knows that inaccurate comments such as "You're almost there", or "It's all downhill from here", or "You're looking good", make up the spectator dialogue along the entire race course.

From Mile 13 - Mile 19 I tried to prepare myself mentally for the big hill at Mile 20. Even though the morning had started out quite cool, the temperature was quickly rising and with the cloudless blue sky, there was little relief from the sun. Here is the description of the area around Mile 20 from the marathon course literature:

"Holmes Park - A great place to picnic and watch the race as runners approach "the wall" at the 20 mile mark. The climb up the dam to the park on Normal Blvd. may be the toughest stretch of the race."

As I was running along near this section I happened to hear a group of bugler's playing and then the spectators and some of the runners themselves yelling "charge". There seemed to be quite a bit of fanfare around this. Hmm.... is it possible that I have already run "the hill". As I rounded a traffic cone and crossed the chip timing mat at Mile 20, I asked a fellow runner who seemed very familiar with the course, if we had already conquered the hill. He said; "Didn't you notice that big hill that we just ran up?" (Obviously he hadn't heard of my reputation for missing the obvious during marathons.) I cheerfully responded, I wasn't sure if that was it or not, but I felt really good knowing I had just run up the toughest part of the race.

I really did feel pretty good all the way into the finish. The most challenging part of those last 6 miles, was the last .2 miles. The pavement into the final stretch was in very poor condition. It was a combination of uneven bricks, potholes, and attempts to repair potholes that were even worse than the potholes themselves. On already fatigued leg muscles, it made any attempt to run hard to the finish line an impossibility. I found myself instead paying attention to running as carefully as necessary to avoid injury or a fall.

The finish line did not provide the usual Mylar blanket. There was, however, a nice surprise waiting for the female runners. The volunteers were handing out beautiful long-stemmed red roses. These were not your usual limp second-rate roses that are often handed out in mass at various events. These were beautiful florist-grade roses. The marathon medal itself was not particularly noteworthy, but it was proof of a successful finish so that's good enough.

At first, I politely declined my rose, letting the volunteer know that I would be traveling and therefore the rose would not hold up during the long trip home. I thought perhaps someone else could take it home, even if it was a volunteer after all the runners had received their roses. She said with a bright smile on her face; "Then just enjoy it while you can, honey".

That got my attention. She was absolutely right. It was about that moment. Here I was so quick to pass on the opportunity to breath the delightful aroma of that rose. Those are the moments of our lives. And so I carefully carried that rose with me during the mile walk back to the hotel, breathing in the scent as I walked along. The sun was shining, it was a glorious day, I now have the state of Nebraska crossed off my 50 states marathon list and I had money in my pocket for a Starbuck's just 3 blocks from my hotel.

Unlike the Tucson Marathon a number of years earlier, I didn't feel a sense of loss that no one was there to congratulate me at the finish line. I felt proud of myself that I had taken on the challenge of this marathon even though I could have easily made enough excuses to bail out on the idea.

I will say the trip home crossing the state of Iowa was very, very long! My quads are still sore 4 days later and I have yet to run. Typically I run within 2 days of a marathon. The recovery process seems to be a bit delayed following my 8-hour drive home immediately following the marathon. I literally was in the car driving within 40 minutes of getting back to my hotel room.

Next marathon? Indiana on May 31st. At least I can say I've done a 20-mile training run.

Pre-race Prep

Ultimately, as most of you would have guessed, I decided to go to Lincoln to run the marathon. I haven't traveled by myself to run a marathon since I ran the Tucson, Arizona marathon. Typically I have either friends or family accompanying me to races.

The memories of that trip (Tucson) still linger - flight delayed out of Bloomington for 6 hours due to fog, a series of missed flight connections, not hydrating properly, and eating a soggy slice of pizza at 9:30 PM for my pre-race carbo-loading. The race had its moments of bleakness as well. My "gear" was stolen out of my gear-check bag (something that rarely happens at races), the mile markers were not well marked and the temperature during the race rose very quickly. I felt about as lonely as the occasional tumbleweed along the roadside when I crossed the finish line and realized the only one to say "well done" to me, was well.... me.

The first positive part of the trip to Lincoln? No fog. The only delay in getting out of town was the long line in the Starbuck's drive thru. So far, so good.

Frequently before marathons I take along some motivational/inspirational materials. This can be in the form of music, books, favorite quotes, etc.

For this marathon my mental preparation came from three seemingly different sources which turned out to have much in common.

Music: Phantom of the Opera CD which I listened to during the drive

Book: Rand Pausch's book "The Last Lecture"

Movie: The Bucket List

Music
I'll start with Phantom of the Opera. I love the music - it makes my heart soar to listen to it. I think that is important to consider. When is the last time you felt your heart soar? I particularly like the song "The Music of the Night". I believe that song has a wonderful message in the lyrics:

"Let your spirit start to soar and you'll live as you've never lived before."

One of the places where my spirit soars is when I'm running. It's not so much about the act of running, it is about the being of running.

Book
I have already viewed two of Randy Pausch's lecture videos - "The Last Lecture" and "Time Management". The book entitled "The Last Lecture" includes portions of both of those lectures. In the introduction of the book, Randy Pausch says the following:

"These lectures [Last Lectures] are routinely videotaped. I knew what I was doing that day. Under the ruse of giving an academic lecture, I was trying to put myself in a bottle that would one day wash up on the beach for my children. If I were a painter, I would have painted for them. If I were a musician, I would have composed music. But I am a lecturer. So I lectured.

I lectured about the joy of life, about how much I appreciated life, even with so little of my own left. I talked about honesty, integrity, gratitude and other things I hold dear...."

Interesting for each of us to consider whether or not we have children. If we put ourselves in a bottle to wash up on the beach for someone to pick up, what is the message they will find inside?

What I love about this description is the fact that simply be being who we are, we can leave that message. As a runner, what is the message I leave for those around me - my beautiful granddaughters, my coaching clients, or even people who don't know me personally?

The second part of the book that struck me was "The First Penguin Award". At the end of each semester Dr. Pausch would present one team of his students with a stuffed penguin. It was given to the team that took the biggest risk and suffered the most glorious failure. Based on the notion that when penguins are about to jump into the water that might contain predators, someone has to be the first penguin, Dr. Pausch encouraged his students to take that bold jump. What's the upside if the jump doesn't go so well, or doesn't turn out as planned? He says it this way:

"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. It is a reminder that failure is not just acceptable, it's often essential."

What a great reason to have the courage to be a penguin!

Movie
I decided to treat myself to a "pay for view" movie in my hotel room. I watched the Bucket List with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nickolson. Even though this movie received mixed reviews, I found quite a bit to take away from it. It is about the story of two men, Carter Chambers, a blue collar mechanic, played by Morgan Freeman and Edward Cole, a billionaire hospital magnate, who have both been diagnosed with less than a year to live.

Carter begins writing a bucket list which consists of items at the feeling level - intangible, "being" types of things. Carter explains to Edward that his "Bucket List" is a list of things to do before he "kicks the bucket". His list includes such items as "laugh until I cry", "do something good for a complete stranger", "witness something truly majestic".

Edward decides the list needs more fun and adventure. He begins to add things from the doing level such as ski diving, climbing the pyramids, going on an African safari.

The items on Edward's list are more grandiose, they require such things as money and time. The items on Carter's list may not require much time or money. In order to view something majestic, it may be as simple as walking out the back door and viewing the sunrise.

Two very different approaches. One about adventure and doing. The other about feeling and being.

I actually already have such a list. It's probably heavier on the adventure, doing, action verb side of things. A great balance, I believe, would be to have a balanced amount of each. Perhaps that is the key to living a good life. Or the key to running a good marathon.

One of the quotes from the movie that I liked is:

"You measure yourself by the people who measure themselves by you." I believe that is where the balance comes about. Certainly success can be measured by the "doing" part of a person's life. However, the more profound impact happens when someone is successful in both how he or she does their life and gives equally attention to the being part of their life.

Carter also tells Edward about two questions that God might ask as a person is about to enter heaven.

1) Have you found joy in your life?
2) Have you brought joy to others?

In order to be able to answer "yes" to both questions, we must be willing to do both the adventure, doing, action verb items and be willing to be there for others.

Now I think I'm ready to run tomorrow morning.

Race report is still coming. :)

On the Fence... Indiana or Nebraska

I had a decision to make about whether to run the Indy 1/2 Marathon on Saturday, May 3rd or the Lincoln, Nebraska Marathon on Sunday, May 4th. My decision making continued up until the very last day that on-line registration was open (Monday, April 28th).

Pro (for running Indy):
1) I love this 1/2 marathon and can generally get a fast time.
2) Many of the Team in Training group, including Howard, are running Indy.
3) I'm actually trained to run a 1/2 marathon.
4) It would be easier and more fun.

Con (Indy):
1) I wouldn't be able to visit Howard's dad in the hospital the day before his release following hip replacement surgery.
2) I wouldn't have an official finish time (borrowing a friend's bib number who is injured)

Pro (for running Nebraska):
1) This would give me another state (29).
2) It sounds like a great marathon (based on Marathon Guide comments).
3) I think I can run it smart enough to finish and avoid injury.
4) I'll have Nebraska scratched off the list and I won't have to drive across Iowa again.

Con (Nebraska)
1) I'm not adequately trained (long run of 16-17 miles, limited mileage over the last month due to being sick and then in New York for 1 week). This is the least trained I've ever gone into a marathon.
2) I will have to drive by myself - Diana is injured, so I have no travel companion. It is at least a 7-hour drive.
3) I have to drive through Iowa to get there.
4) I have to drive through Iowa to get home.

As Howard said to a friend who happened to inquire about my decision; "Knowing Sherry what do you think she chose?"

Nebraska here I come. Iowa please pass by quickly.

Race report is coming.

Why Can't We Just Be?

This morning I happened to read a blog posting written by Kristin Armstrong. She was writing the blog as a result of taking one full week off from running after she competed in the Boston Marathon. She describes having "the talk" with her relationship partner, which in this case is running. It is very well written and I encourage you to take the time to read it.

The link is:

http://milemarkers.runnersworld.com/2008/04/the-talk.html

She writes that it might be time to start seeing other people such as yoga or pilates. She considers the possibility of the toll it takes to always be such a serious couple (describing herself and her partner - running), contemplating where they are going next or what the future holds. She ends that with the question; "Why can't we just be?"

It made me laugh when I read her description of having "the talk" with her relationship with running - assuring "running" that it wasn't about him, it was about her needing a break, needing to do things differently.

I have a good friend who recently had a chance to go on a trail run in the mountains. He described looking out across a meadow, seeing snow-covered mountains and then stopping for ten minutes to appreciate his life, the gift that he can run, the view, his friends, and his family.

After reading her article, it occurred to me that it might be useful for us to have "the talk" with anything that we spend a large majority of our time in relationship with. For some, it could be work. For others, it could be an endless to-do-list. For many of us, it might be worrying. It could even be watching television. Does the television looking back at you get more of your time than other things or people in your life?

Or perhaps, "the talk" might be one that you have with refined sugar, processed foods, high fat foods or alcohol. The seeing "other people" might consist of seeing more veggies or whole grains. I can hear the conversation now:

"I know that our relationship (refined sugar) has been in place a long time. I know how much you look forward our time together, to giving me that "sugar high" followed by the inevitable "sugar low". I know that you have enjoyed the additional time you get to spend with me in the form of extra body fat. But, it is time for me to see new people in the form of green leafy vegetables.

Now I'm going to add a video into this conversation. You may wonder how the blog posting written by Kristin Armstrong and a video lecture on time management relate. I happen to think they have quite a bit in common.

Yesterday I happened to watch Randy Pausch's video of a lecture he gave at the University of Virginia on time management. You may be familiar with his "Last Lecture" presentation given at Carnegie Mellon Univeristy. Although that lecture has received a great deal of media attention and publicity, Randy Pausch says he is most proud of his lecture on time management.

He starts his speech out by saying that as a man dying of pancreatic cancer, he needs to be an expert on time management because he has a very limited amount of time left. He suggests that although many people may have a household budget, very few of us have a "time budget". We as a society have not elevated time to the same level as money. It certainly is true that if we lose money, we can always obtain more. When we waste minutes or hours of our lives, we can never get that time back again. Where are we spending our time? What are we in relationship with?

I especially liked his thoughts on doing the things right vs. doing the right thing. He says that it is so much more important to do the right things adequately than to do the wrong things beautifully.

I'm guessing that Randy Pausch would take Kristin Armstrong's article one more step. He might inquire as to whether we are choosing to spend our time on being in relationship with the things and the people that matter most.