Half on the Horizon

With my half marathon looming large on the horizon—just 9 weeks away—I hit a wall. I didn’t feel like I was doing anything differently but I stopped losing weight, I felt sluggish, and I was overwhelmed by the prospect of increasing my longest run from 8 miles to 13. To make matters worse we were slated for a 6 day trip to the west coast; I was sure this would be the end of any and all of my motivation.

As I packed and readied for the trip, I made a decision—I would take the week off. I would eat what I wanted, drink beer, and take it easy with my workouts. I packed my running gear, but figured if I got one run in, I would be fine. I was on a brief hiatus.

On the very long plane ride I decided to read book my mother in law had gotten me for Christmas: Born to Run by Christopher MacDougall. It had caught my eye on the shelf at home and I had decided to throw it into my carry-on at the last minute. I read half of it that afternoon and evening and loved every second.

The book is about a lot of things, but one thing that really resonated for me is the joy that these people take in running. They do it because it is fun and it makes them feel good. Now, that isn’t how we usually think about running—it isn’t fun, it hurts, and you just struggle through it so that you can say you did it. But not the majority of the players in Born to Run. They revel in it. They feel eminently powerful. They take joy in the pure movement.  

This got me thinking…I was not having fun. It was a grind to eat carefully, skip having a beer, and to drag myself from bed extra early to get a run in. Why wasn’t I enjoying myself anymore? When I first started, running hurt like hell. I could barely stumble along for 90 seconds. But, at some point, I started to feel progress. I liked feeling capable. I liked moving quickly. I felt special that I had gotten in shape, lost weight, and gained strength. I lost that and I needed to get it back.

So, we got to San Francisco and I decided to take a run. I tend to get up early, so I thought I would take advantage of the morning and get outside. And it was great. I didn’t pay attention to my mapping app, I stopped and took pictures, and I got lost in the moment. It drizzled the whole time, but I had a blast. I came back, uploaded some pictures to Facebook, took a shower and we were off to spend a day in the city.

Me, soggy and smiling, at the top of Dolores Park

           

Then I went out to run the next day, too. This time I was treated to sunshine and warmth and I explored my way up a very steep hill and was rewarded with amazing vistas of the city and the bay. Look at my face…I am grinning like an idiot:

I am really pretty jazzed!

This is the hill--at the top of the other hill--
when I finally found the entrance to the park

 

When I got back this time, everyone else was awake. I said to my wife, “If I ever stop running, remind me about today. Tell me to go out, forget about my time, take some pictures, and really enjoy myself.” I found it that morning…the joy. The power. The satisfaction. It was back!

The view of downtown and the bay was unbelievable.

I ran some more while we were there—you couldn’t have stopped me—and I had so much fun. We came home and I ran some more. And I began my final 7 weeks of training before the half marathon. I feel motivated, I added a day of high intensity interval training to my workout plan, I lost weight for the first time in 4 weeks, and I can’t wait for the challenge of the half.

That is where you find me now. Just about 6 weeks out, and ready to kill it! And it is all because I remembered that this whole thing is supposed to be good for me, but fun, too. Find the joy. 

The hills are sick and the views are sicker!

Awesome street art.