Ahh where to begin so much has happened..life has spun its eery web around me and my running game. Things are on the up and up...I am about a stiff month out from my ultra! Gah can you believe that? 40 miles straight, that's insane. Today will be the look back, "the recap", you would say of where I have been and where I am going.
This is my 10th month into running and I have had one heck of a journey. Gripped with fatal, tumultuous lows, and tremendous and exciting highs. I have come through some very serious breakthroughs mentally and physically and I cannot imagine life with out these small breakthroughs.
Lessons learned > Life is truly a gift and it is what ever you make of it. I praise God every time I have the energy to make my silly little legs move, let alone run. I have been injured twice, both needing Physical therapy, but weren't a result of running. They set me back, but I pushed harder. I have been depressed, I have been Happy, I have been content.
Now I run for the thrill, the crisp air rushing through my lungs ever so blissfully. Feeling exhausted as my calves and hips bellow out symphonies of pain and discord. Moving through treacherous terrain only to grab each and every web spun by Charlotte and her pals, almost waiting for my above average stature to rip it apart.
I run for the journey. For life is just a smidgen more meaningful when you win while others stay stagnant. When you don't focus on finishing first, you focus on bringing someone to the finish line with you. That JOURNEY. That place of comfort. Is what makes my heart beat every morning I rise and wipe the sand out of my eyes and pound/the pavement or trails.
I owe a gigantic thank you to every single person who has entered into my life and pursued the journey with me. You have no idea how you impacted me!
Story time......
Finally after all the mushy dialog and appreciation. I did get up over the weekend at 5am and enter the forest for a run. This by far was the most scary/terrifying thing I have ever done in my life. SO here is the picture I am going to paint in your mind. It's pitch black outside, its 2x pitch-black inside the forest. You have got a headlamp on providing just enough light to see your immediate peripheral vision and a small LED beam directly in front of you. You have UTTER darkness everywhere else around you. All you know at this point is a rough outline of where you are going, and a few wooden posts stating "trail _____ this way". Now you buck up, outside all your initial fears, and begin the run. What feels like .5mi go by and your like ok not that bad, it will be light soon, I can do this. HA! You hear sounds, large sounds, also voices. Immediately thoughts creep into your head so fluidly you cannot stop them. Your heart races like a thoroughbred horse that is untamed. Blood and Adrenaline surging through your veins. So I ran faster and faster. I was petrified. Long story short, I survived and I jumped out of the forrest at 2.5miles and finished my 7mi total on the road. Lesson learned, Journey logged. :)
Ryan
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Running MOJO..
So I have found that you have to have some version of MOJO coursing through your body whilst running. Think about it, what is really controlling you out there? What helps you get out and really run, gather your stroke, feel the rhythm, truly ride the trails....its your MOJO. Whelp I'm here to tell you, I lost mine. For over a week I felt like a sloth..I didn't want to run. I didn't even want to move. I was feeling overwhelmed with not being where I needed to be mentally and physically for my upcoming 40mile run...ughhh I was depressed...beat up inside..and then I had a breakthrough.
I did the Run or DYE fun run.
I have literally never had so much fun in my life whilst running. And well being covered in random ALLEGEDLY plant friendly dye helped.
So what did I learn?What did I evaluate?
I learned for me the upset of territory and sleep messed up my running MOJO. I had been house sitting for my aunt for over a week about 45mins from home. The dogs had kept me up many nights in a row, and I was out there alone. No running buddies and no idea of territorial boundaries. I felt like I was on an island. This was...self imposed, because I had two little dogs to watch like babies, but still. Long story short I am back in the swell of running and ready to be swept away on the records and plateaus I will be breaking everyday setting new land-speed records and beyond....wait who am I kidding, It'll be some work!
One last thing and then the funny story....I am about a month behind in training so I have switched to, 2-a-days. Looking to devour double digit runs through the week and settle in at a comfortable pace for double digits over the weekends. Still maintaining two cross training/non-running days.Has anyone done double-digit-2-a-days?
Funny Funny..
During the Color walk...which it was because 7,000 people showed up. We made ridiculous puns with the word DYE. (I'm DYE'ing, Don't just stand there you'll DYE, Wait a DYE'Gone minute, ect.. you get DYE point.) However, one thing that was rather funny/strange was the usage of the Porto-johns whilst running. Here's the funny part, so let's say I'm running, covered in DYE packets head to toe, and sweating. Now I have to use the bathroom and this alleged color dye has seeped all the way through my clothing and stained my body. When I use the bathroom to be fair, it leaves residue. HAHAHA now multiply that by conservatively 1,000 people. Now can you embrace the Rainbow?
Cheers friends!
Ryan
I did the Run or DYE fun run.
I have literally never had so much fun in my life whilst running. And well being covered in random ALLEGEDLY plant friendly dye helped.
So what did I learn?What did I evaluate?
I learned for me the upset of territory and sleep messed up my running MOJO. I had been house sitting for my aunt for over a week about 45mins from home. The dogs had kept me up many nights in a row, and I was out there alone. No running buddies and no idea of territorial boundaries. I felt like I was on an island. This was...self imposed, because I had two little dogs to watch like babies, but still. Long story short I am back in the swell of running and ready to be swept away on the records and plateaus I will be breaking everyday setting new land-speed records and beyond....wait who am I kidding, It'll be some work!
One last thing and then the funny story....I am about a month behind in training so I have switched to, 2-a-days. Looking to devour double digit runs through the week and settle in at a comfortable pace for double digits over the weekends. Still maintaining two cross training/non-running days.Has anyone done double-digit-2-a-days?Funny Funny..
During the Color walk...which it was because 7,000 people showed up. We made ridiculous puns with the word DYE. (I'm DYE'ing, Don't just stand there you'll DYE, Wait a DYE'Gone minute, ect.. you get DYE point.) However, one thing that was rather funny/strange was the usage of the Porto-johns whilst running. Here's the funny part, so let's say I'm running, covered in DYE packets head to toe, and sweating. Now I have to use the bathroom and this alleged color dye has seeped all the way through my clothing and stained my body. When I use the bathroom to be fair, it leaves residue. HAHAHA now multiply that by conservatively 1,000 people. Now can you embrace the Rainbow?
Cheers friends!
Ryan
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Fast as errrrrrrr....Lightning?
So here is the week/weekend in review. Played soccer this past Friday at an alarmingly competitive/physically high level.....first mistake. While it was great cross trainning the days past were rather excrucuating. Moving from compltely stiff legs, to calves feeling like baseballs, to overall body feeling down in the dumps....:(
I had to ditch my long run sandwich and struggled to get myself onto the road the days following. I woke my sore self up at 4am Sunday morning and set out, in my mind, for a 16miler...I wanted to catch-up. It made sense to get it all done in one day and what an achievement that would have been....would have been. I got to about 3.5miles and I physically and mentally could not go any further...burning siadic and hurting ankles. sucks! I managed to WALK the 3.5 back and logged a very slow 7 miles...but I logged them! That's whats important!
Monday I kept myself from the pavement and allowed my body to heal further!
Today I met my friend at a local park and we proceeded to log 5 miles. I added in about 2.5miles of trials and the rest on pavement. Finallllly, I felt like myself. I warmed up at a 9:03 and over 5 miles brought it down to about 8:03. HUGE! Helps the ego out a ton!
Funny story I get so excited about new territory (staying in smyrna all week) that it literally keeps me awake at night. I dream about Running to the beach, about 8 miles away, and back and what a tremendous day/achievement that would be. I won't be denied of that joy either.
I know its sick in the head, but running brings out my passion, and you know, the world needs a little more passion sometimes!
Btw today we ran through 7 lightning strikes, torrential rain, and two tornado warnings. Let's just say it was rather intense!
"Find the joy, Grab the joy, Hold the joy, and then Spread the joy!"
Ryan
I had to ditch my long run sandwich and struggled to get myself onto the road the days following. I woke my sore self up at 4am Sunday morning and set out, in my mind, for a 16miler...I wanted to catch-up. It made sense to get it all done in one day and what an achievement that would have been....would have been. I got to about 3.5miles and I physically and mentally could not go any further...burning siadic and hurting ankles. sucks! I managed to WALK the 3.5 back and logged a very slow 7 miles...but I logged them! That's whats important!
Monday I kept myself from the pavement and allowed my body to heal further!
Today I met my friend at a local park and we proceeded to log 5 miles. I added in about 2.5miles of trials and the rest on pavement. Finallllly, I felt like myself. I warmed up at a 9:03 and over 5 miles brought it down to about 8:03. HUGE! Helps the ego out a ton!
Funny story I get so excited about new territory (staying in smyrna all week) that it literally keeps me awake at night. I dream about Running to the beach, about 8 miles away, and back and what a tremendous day/achievement that would be. I won't be denied of that joy either.
I know its sick in the head, but running brings out my passion, and you know, the world needs a little more passion sometimes!
Btw today we ran through 7 lightning strikes, torrential rain, and two tornado warnings. Let's just say it was rather intense!
"Find the joy, Grab the joy, Hold the joy, and then Spread the joy!"
Ryan
Sunday, August 4, 2013
The first sandwich
What an amazing set of days here in upper DE. We have had low-humidity and clear skies....for the most part the past few days. I am in week 5 of Ultra-training and this week looked like this > Tue- 9miles, Wedn - 4miles, Thurs-9miles, and then my first LONG RUN SANDWICH. What is a sandwich? It's when you do back to back long runs of 10+ miles. This was my first attempt at this and to be frank, I was scared, very scared. I made it, I struggled through, but I'm glad I did it. Saturday I did 11.57 trail miles, and then today I did 13.08 miles of which 10+ were trail's.
Yesterday was an amazing run, I am really getting used to trails and loving them. I actually found a .25mi footbridge out over a swamp in a local park. You can see it below. I have been wanting to find something like this for quite some time after I saw an article of a beautful bridge out west. Little did I know there was one in my back yard...soo neat!
Today's run.....ohhhh today. Stuggle city. First I woke at 6:40am to do 13+ miles. Let's just say I was not at all excited, but I knew if I ever want to get this 40mile race done, I would need a lot more than just these two little back to back runs. Low and behold....I woke up and made it happen. I am forever thankful I did that.
This was one of the most amazing and scenic long runs I have ever done. Path along the crisp rushing water. Birds and insects chirping with anticipation along side my right shoulder. The cool mellow breeze racing across my ankles and shins, as every muscle worked harmoniously for the greater good of mileage. I loved it!
The funny part.....the original course was a single loop to end at the start. As you can see above...I made a wrong turn. You can ask my running mentors, this is my speciality haha.
I got lost running head strong on the trail, over an hour goes by and finally I see a human(this is a good sign). I slow down and ask "hey where is the nearest road?" the man calmly responds "go a few yards ahead and you will see the sign with the PA trails"....."WHAT! I exclaimed, I am in PA, I started my run in DE"...he laughed and said " yeah you will need to turn around then buddy".. hahah Funniest thing that has ever happened to me.
I kept pushing thru because I was already 10miles into the run and an turn around would be 20miles total. My hips couldn't handle that.
It was a cool fun run, I almost made it to MD on my course and that would have been funny...state traveler!
To end this ramble I stumbled upon a quote I read in a book and it has really been my heartbeat for a while now. Honestly it send chills up the back of my neck every time I read it. Here it goes > " Every run is a gift". Ahh to take advantage of something so normal, running, walking. Would be forsaking something so eloquent that God has gifted me with.
Ryan
Yesterday was an amazing run, I am really getting used to trails and loving them. I actually found a .25mi footbridge out over a swamp in a local park. You can see it below. I have been wanting to find something like this for quite some time after I saw an article of a beautful bridge out west. Little did I know there was one in my back yard...soo neat!
The funny part.....the original course was a single loop to end at the start. As you can see above...I made a wrong turn. You can ask my running mentors, this is my speciality haha.
I got lost running head strong on the trail, over an hour goes by and finally I see a human(this is a good sign). I slow down and ask "hey where is the nearest road?" the man calmly responds "go a few yards ahead and you will see the sign with the PA trails"....."WHAT! I exclaimed, I am in PA, I started my run in DE"...he laughed and said " yeah you will need to turn around then buddy".. hahah Funniest thing that has ever happened to me.
I kept pushing thru because I was already 10miles into the run and an turn around would be 20miles total. My hips couldn't handle that.
It was a cool fun run, I almost made it to MD on my course and that would have been funny...state traveler!
To end this ramble I stumbled upon a quote I read in a book and it has really been my heartbeat for a while now. Honestly it send chills up the back of my neck every time I read it. Here it goes > " Every run is a gift". Ahh to take advantage of something so normal, running, walking. Would be forsaking something so eloquent that God has gifted me with.
Ryan
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