My passionate year of running reduced to a cold bar graph. It shows nothing of the living I did during each of these runs nor the experience of each foot step.
First the numbers:Days I went running: 227
Hours of running: 210
Miles: 1,431
Average time per run: 59 minutes
Average distance per run: 6.3 miles
Average pace: 9:05 per mile
Calories burned: 208,334
Busiest month: November (22 runs for 207 miles)
A close second: October (23 runs for 203 miles)
But to heck with the numbers. You use them and then you throw them away. So be gone.
This year was really about a continuation of the long journey. A trip started several years ago and culminating by qualifying for Boston in my hometown of Sacramento. It's a journey of exploration and reflection, of desire and fulfillment, of self-determination and the beauty of the support of your friends; both those that are familiar and just around the corner and those that live far way and I have never actually met.
The journey of 2009 really began several years before when I wandered away from the my boys baseball game to run a single lap around the adjoining track. A lap that I did not finish but one that propelled me into vowing to start running again. A promise to myself that I likely would not have kept had Bob not helped me to make the connection between running and...being. It changed my values and so mybehavior . It made me find the courage to let go of the life I had and to run toward the one that was waiting for me. To give myself the time to play each day. To run a few races.
Those races stand along this new journey like mile markers along a highway, While they don't at all give a glimpse into the very real moments spent in this life of running, they do rise above to show the physical progress that accompanies the other benefits. The races themselves give no measure of the internal quest, the search for one's self or the innate need to become a good person. But the race numbers are a reflection of heart and determination. A quantitative measure of your mettle.
2009 is better understood when I look back at what came before. In 2006 I ran my first marathon and barely I finished. Huge cramps gripped my ill prepared legs causing me to stop frequently to stretch them out so I could run a little further. I finished in 4 hours 47 minutes. A year later I ran the Portland marathon again, but this time with at least a simple training regimen. I printed and used the online plan at runnersworld.com and I went out with the Portland marathon training group a couple of times for some long runs. I was beginning to understand the concept of base, LT and V02 but still suffered cramps in the last few miles, crossing in 3 hours 53 minutes. In 2008 I chose to run the recently resurrected Eugene marathon. I had two huge advantages going into this race, a training partner in Randy and weekly email coaching from John. All was going well until I hurt my back a few weeks before the race and I was only able to do a 3 hour 44 minute effort. An improvement to be sure but the injury cost me a few minutes I'm sure. After Eugene, I took a break from running every day.
Which brings me to January 1st, 2009. Although I didn't have John's indispensible advice until later in the year, his counsel was never far from me, "you're fast but not strong. Stay consistent." I needed to log a lot of miles. Which meant LSD: long, slow, distance. It would help change my anatomy and keep me from getting hurt. During the spring and early summer I did get a lot done and had a nice mix of strength, speed and endurance runs. I ran the plan. Running along the rim of the Grand Canyon as the sun set and the colors changed all around me was a wonderful chance to have taken.
Then it got hot outside. When most people shy away from the rain and only emerge to run during the more fair weather, I am closer to the opposite. During the last part of July and most of August I ran less than I should. The only highlight of this time was running around the Capitol Mall in Washington DC . But as the summer cooled I started increasing the miles to make a run at the California International Marathon.
In the fall during the peak of my specific marathon training I really tried to run everything John Ellis sent me out to do. I trusted him and his advice although I knew it puts me on the the brink of breaking something. But we got away with it this time...BARELY.
The year really wasn't about that race. It really only became important after I did I unexpectedly did well at it. It's the experience, not the markers along the road. A road that keeps going long after 2009 has ended.
Hours of running: 210
Miles: 1,431
Average time per run: 59 minutes
Average distance per run: 6.3 miles
Average pace: 9:05 per mile
Calories burned: 208,334
Busiest month: November (22 runs for 207 miles)
A close second: October (23 runs for 203 miles)
But to heck with the numbers. You use them and then you throw them away. So be gone.
This year was really about a continuation of the long journey. A trip started several years ago and culminating by qualifying for Boston in my hometown of Sacramento. It's a journey of exploration and reflection, of desire and fulfillment, of self-determination and the beauty of the support of your friends; both those that are familiar and just around the corner and those that live far way and I have never actually met.
The journey of 2009 really began several years before when I wandered away from the my boys baseball game to run a single lap around the adjoining track. A lap that I did not finish but one that propelled me into vowing to start running again. A promise to myself that I likely would not have kept had Bob not helped me to make the connection between running and...being. It changed my values and so mybehavior . It made me find the courage to let go of the life I had and to run toward the one that was waiting for me. To give myself the time to play each day. To run a few races.
Those races stand along this new journey like mile markers along a highway, While they don't at all give a glimpse into the very real moments spent in this life of running, they do rise above to show the physical progress that accompanies the other benefits. The races themselves give no measure of the internal quest, the search for one's self or the innate need to become a good person. But the race numbers are a reflection of heart and determination. A quantitative measure of your mettle.
2009 is better understood when I look back at what came before. In 2006 I ran my first marathon and barely I finished. Huge cramps gripped my ill prepared legs causing me to stop frequently to stretch them out so I could run a little further. I finished in 4 hours 47 minutes. A year later I ran the Portland marathon again, but this time with at least a simple training regimen. I printed and used the online plan at runnersworld.com and I went out with the Portland marathon training group a couple of times for some long runs. I was beginning to understand the concept of base, LT and V02 but still suffered cramps in the last few miles, crossing in 3 hours 53 minutes. In 2008 I chose to run the recently resurrected Eugene marathon. I had two huge advantages going into this race, a training partner in Randy and weekly email coaching from John. All was going well until I hurt my back a few weeks before the race and I was only able to do a 3 hour 44 minute effort. An improvement to be sure but the injury cost me a few minutes I'm sure. After Eugene, I took a break from running every day.
Which brings me to January 1st, 2009. Although I didn't have John's indispensible advice until later in the year, his counsel was never far from me, "you're fast but not strong. Stay consistent." I needed to log a lot of miles. Which meant LSD: long, slow, distance. It would help change my anatomy and keep me from getting hurt. During the spring and early summer I did get a lot done and had a nice mix of strength, speed and endurance runs. I ran the plan. Running along the rim of the Grand Canyon as the sun set and the colors changed all around me was a wonderful chance to have taken.
Then it got hot outside. When most people shy away from the rain and only emerge to run during the more fair weather, I am closer to the opposite. During the last part of July and most of August I ran less than I should. The only highlight of this time was running around the Capitol Mall in Washington DC . But as the summer cooled I started increasing the miles to make a run at the California International Marathon.
In the fall during the peak of my specific marathon training I really tried to run everything John Ellis sent me out to do. I trusted him and his advice although I knew it puts me on the the brink of breaking something. But we got away with it this time...BARELY.
The year really wasn't about that race. It really only became important after I did I unexpectedly did well at it. It's the experience, not the markers along the road. A road that keeps going long after 2009 has ended.
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