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. :)