Guilt over not running

Interesting post on Will Run for Ice Cream about the guilt that she experienced due to the failure to complete a scheduled training run. I sometimes feel those same feelings when I miss a run, particularly if I miss it because of other decisions made the night before (The TUD = The totally unnecessary drink). But, I found that while injured, I really missed running and the fun that it brought to my life.

I have actually become more of a social runner than I used to be pre-injury. I think that I took running for granted, and started to view it as a chore: "Gotta get my miles in today so that I can run that marathon in March..." I was running solo, training solely with a goal in mind. I would pass up the running groups that I usually went with, or I would run ahead of of everyone else to get the miles in at an arbitrarily assigned pace. Now I run with the group, keeping a conversation. Granted, I go out for a few miles at a typical training pace for me before meeting the group, but then I slow it down to the group pace for the rest of my run. We talk, we laugh, and it's a good feeling when someone who was struggling to keep up says, "I've never run 5 miles in 8:30 pace before." If I were running up ahead at my usual pace, they may never have tried to keep up, and wouldn't have PR'ed their 5 mile training run. I got more joy out of that than I would have gotten out of running 7:00's for whole run.

I too, have been questioning whether I want to run a marathon in the future. I was caught up in the pack mentality with my marathon-focused running group. I signed up because, after a TUD, I felt compelled that it was something I "needed" to do. But, I truly love the half marathon distance. I think that I may focus on that the rest of the year. What's more, with my new joy for running, a refined technique, and the social atmosphere... I think my times are going to come down this winter. And, I often wonder how many more years I have where that will be true.

Post Ragnar Thoughts

It has been quite a bit of time since last writing to this blog. In that time, I have steadily built mileage and pace. I recently ran in the Ragnar Relay DC, as runner #3 on a team with friends from Baltimore and Philly. It was a blast. During my first leg, I ascended 1200 feet of elevation gain, most of that over 3 miles. Then descended 1000 feet, which quite honestly was the worst of the two elevation changes. I just hate that pounding on the quads and knees. I'll go uphill all day long. I had a goal of 7:30 pace for the entire run (7.8 miles), and I hit that with room to spare; going over in 7:05 pace. I was happy with that. My other two legs were both well under 7:00, at 4.8 and 3.2 miles in distance.

More importantly, the Ragnar Relay series is not just about times and mileage. It's about building a team bond, and I have become good friends with past teammates after meeting them for a first time at Ragnar. Heck, that's how I met my girlfriend. My favorite moment from our team was on Leg 5, with Kevin running. I was driving the van, and it was a twisty up hill run. The road was just a dusty fire road, and with all of the vans driving up and down it, I don't know how the runner were breathing. We screwed up reading the map, and missed a great spot to meet him with water. We got about halfway down the hill, and realized we should have met him with water given the hill, heat, and dust. So, I hopped out of the van with a crossing-guard flag and water bottle, fought the dust, and humped up a mile up the hill. I got to the top right as did Kevin, only to hear him say, "No thanks, I'm good." It was pretty comical. So, we had a great run down the hill together to the finish. I had just met Kevin two weeks earlier, as he was the emergency fill-in twelfth runner. It was a great opportunity to get to know him a bit better. The new Ragnar motto is "Connect, Conquer, Celebrate", and that's what it's about.

When our team needed that twelfth runner due to an injury, I posted on one of my local running group websites. Someone wrote, I'd rather just run a half marathon than do all that. He obviously didn't understand it, and probably wouldn't until he did one. In fact, I'm not sure most people would understand it until they ran the Ragnar.

Of course, there are plenty of people who run and just don't get it at all. The most annoying thing is to hear someone bitching and moaning about not getting a good sleep, or how miserable it is to run at 3:30 am, or how bad the porta potties are. Talk about first-world problems... I heard so many people stepping out of vans whining about how bad the free coffee is, and how they just can't run without good coffee. "Why don't they get Starbucks to sponsor it?" Sometimes, I think they should change their motto to "Wake Up, Shut up, and Run!" but perhaps I'll save that for the van decorations next time.