Birthday Bonanza Stage 1

September 4, 2006

(Taking Risks)

I'm a little slow in celebrating my birthday with a long run, but I am glad I waited. Today I went out with a friend for a 21 miler that went along two sides of the Mississippi River and then around lakes near Fort Snelling, one of the first settlements of whites in the Minnesota Territory in the middle of the 1800s. It was a cool fort and the area surrounding it was beautiful. The weather was good and all seemed perfect for the day.

Some background on this run will highlight a point I've been thinking a lot about lately, the question of taking risks with your training. I am a firm believer in challenging oneself, with the idea that failure is a likely result, once in awhile. Today's run was a prime example of this. My longest run so far this year has been under 2 hours. Best case for this run, we would be gone for 2:40 and that was at a fast pace which might have been harder than if we went slower. By all practical guidelines, I had no business showing up at my friends house today for this run. Yet, there I was on a beautiful late summer/early fall morning in Minnesota wearing a singlet, ready to run.

The early miles of the run went by quickly as my friend and I chatted. At one point I felt we were moving pretty well, and shortly afterward he checked a split and we were moving along pretty nicely. We agreed to back off a bit, but I don't think we really did. We kept it up and the run was going great. The views were lovely and we were having a good conversation.

Nothing else too noteworthy aside from the fact that around the 1:40 mark I noticed I was starting to get a bit of tunnel vision. I have only so much time left once I start the tunnel vision, I tried to take in some calories and to break out of the tunnel so as not to miss the great views, but that was a sign of potential trouble. On we went and I was holding my own pretty well and started to feel reasonably perky around 1:50. That lasted for about 30 minutes. At the 2:20 time mark, I was getting pretty tired and the joy I had earlier had definitely gone. But one doesn't start a challenge workout and expect the challenge not to appear. And appear it did. We were making good progress and I kept at it okay but around 2:20 I could definitely feel the wheels wobbling. I managed to keep them on for another 15 minutes and was ready to call it a day at 2:35 when my friend tells me that if I can hang on for another 3 minutes, we'll go over the 20 mile point. I make it past the 20 mile mark and go a few more minutes. Now a few hundred yards later at 2:41:35 I call it a day. We were only about a mile from his house, but my stomach was going south quickly and my legs were in a bad place. I stop for a minute, drink a little water and start walking. I was sore and the walking was painful. After a few minutes of walking I realize that this last mile was going to take awhile if I didn't start running again, so I started up really slowly and jogged in the last half mile. Total run time, just under 2:45.

Lessons
By most accounts of today's run, I failed. I did not complete the scheduled workout and I pushed myself real hard, too hard probably while still not finishing what I started. Yet I couldn't be happier with how things went today. I learned a lot about myself and my current fitness. I stepped up to a challenge and did reasonably well. We first planned to run 20 miles, but when I arrived at my friend's house he asked I would mind an extra mile for a better route. I said sure, knowing full well that this could be more than I could handle. I stepped up and gave it my best shot, and what I had on the day wasn't too bad. I ran over 20 miles, probably 5 more than I had run all year at a pace faster that is faster than I usually run in training. I went longer and faster today. My run fitness is not great, but it is not too bad either.

I learned a lot today for a simple reason, I was not afraid to fail. I stepped up to a challenge. That challenge, while a bit of a stretch, was not too far out of field, however. I was not going to make it 26 miles today, nor was I going to be able to ride 100 miles on my bike. I took on a challenge in which I had a reasonable chance of success and a reasonable chance to fail. Through my failure to finish exactly what I started I am a better athlete. Let's hope the recovery from this isn't too bad as I hope to hit my 135K ride this weekend to continue the belated birthday bonanza some more. Have fun out there and don't be afraid to give it a go when you know you'll likely not make it. The journey is worthwhile in of itself.