There's so much more. . .

Finisher medals, technical tee-shirts, water bottles, other running schwag. Those are the physical objects you get to take home after a race. If that's why you race, stop now and save yourself the money. Think of the hardest physical activity you've ever done. . . then compare it to this: Badwater. This is the baddest ultra-marathon on the planet. If we don't consider the time training here is a little bit of what it takes: A crew of atleast 4 people, their transportation to Death Valley, their hotel stays, minimum of two vehicles (one van of sorts to carry everything to support the runner), all supplies that will be needed throughout a 135 miles race for the runner and team. This is the tip of the iceberg. For a more official breakdown click here. What do you think is waiting at the finish line? Answer: your crew, the race coordinator and a few local inhabitants. What do you think you get for finishing such a grueling race? A hand shake, a finisher medal and a belt buckle.

I got the pleasure of hearing Darren Fortney talk about his "Zero to 135 in 5 years". Darren finished Badwater in 2009 and is doing it again this July. He is raising money for Gilda's Club because of their impact on his life while battling cancer. Darren touched on his training, what got him in to ultra-marathoning and his opinion on cancer - "When people ask me what kind of cancer I had, I say, the bad kind. There is no good or bad cancer, it doesn't matter what color bracelet (referring to his yellow Livestrong) you wear." He had great insight and inspiration for anyone looking to accomplish anything. Here were some of my favorite take-aways:

-There is no rule for choosing what distance races you do when. You don't have to start with a 5k the move to a 10k and then a half marathon. Do what you want.

-Use 'and' instead of 'or'; don't decide 'well should I do the Madison half marathon OR the Milwaukee Lake Front?' No rules apply.

-Learn to use the word 'Yes'. Yes you can do it, yes you can accomplish it.

-Be accountable and honest with yourself (there is nobody else watching you!)

It was a great little event and I thank Fleet Feet and Darren for the chance to hear him speak.

There was also a guest in the audience who will be defending his title at McNaughton in Vermont. Ryan Dexter aka the Punisher, will be putting his 200 mile title on the line in a few days. And yes that's a 200 mile.

It's not about medals and shirts. It's about the personal accomplishment.

Cast Away moments

Most of my running routes are the same routes I drive on a daily basis. Often times when I'm driving I can't help but think about Tom Hanks character in Cast Away in the above scene. In the scene he's in his hotel awaiting Fed Ex's big press conference welcoming him back. He's holding a lighter and clicks it on and off and on and off as he thinks about the amount of work it took him to accomplish the same result on the island as his simple click in the hotel.

It's a great feeling of accomplishment driving here to there knowing that I've run that same route. It makes me wish that I didn't need a car and could simply run wherever I needed to go, but kids and life don't make that quite possible, but I'd like to start incorporating less car and more running in to my daily routines that aren't a part of my normal training. Coming soon is take your bike to work week and I encourage all of you that are able to participate. I'm thinking about knocking the dust off the kids trailer and pulling them to daycare before heading on to work. Yes there's extra time that needs to be built in, but it's good for me, a good example for the kids and it beats $4 a gallon gas.

As race season is pretty much here and people are coming in to their final weeks of training, I want to point out a great source of inspiration; for those of you on Facebook join the group 'Couch to 5k'. It's a free running program that sets a schedule to get people off the couch and running a 5k race. The Facebook group is a sounding board for those in the program who are seeking and giving encouragement to each other. I find myself spending more and more time in that group reading about people's personal achievements and growth as they become more and more active. I am also providing as many tips and tricks to people who are seeking some simple guidance. I challenge those of you that are experienced runners to join the group, and find some people that you can help, whether it's simple encouragement or some insightful advice about anything running. The people I've responded to have been very happy for the tips I've passed along. I'm not identifying myself as a marathon runner or triathlete or anything like that, just trying to be a voice of help and reason to help them along. Check it out it's great.

Run-enomics

Government spending, deficit, home values, jobs; what do they all have in common? Besides the fact they suck right now and impact all of us one way or another; I believe they have all helped lead the way to a running society.

If money's tight, gym memberships at $35 a month are less affordable. Yoga and zumba classes at $100 become too much on the budget. People have had to reduce or eliminate discretionary spending due to lost or frozen wages or to supplement a $55 full tank of gas, but still there is a need and want to stay fit. Running has a low cost of entry. Most people have a pair of shoes laying around that they either used to wear to the gym or have run in before. I know when I started running I grabbed some shoes out of my closet that resembled running shoes and off I went. I ran for months that way. I got hooked running that way.

This correlation between crap economy and people running is supported here . The link is to Running USA's 2010 Marathon and Half-Marathon statistics. Since 2007 an additional 50,000 people have completed marathons. 2009 had the biggest jump in marathon completion increase at almost 10% from 2008. The only thing that's better is the increase in half-marathon finishers: in 2007 just under 800,000 people crossed the finish line of a half-marathon, 2009 - 1.1 million. Each year since 2002 there have been an additional 20 inaugural half-marathons. The participation in half-marathons has outpaced the growth of 5k races. That's great news. Of course races have a cost of entry, but if money's tight and we make the commitment to spend $50 on a race entry fee, it makes the training and running of the race that much more important.

With economics there's ebs, flows, and bubbles. Running may be reaching bubble status, but if you talk to runners and are a runner, the economy doesn't matter; running matters. The economy may have indirectly got you in to running but as we run more and more we find more and more reasons to keep running, usually to keep our mind off the crap news that surrounds us.

Daddy Hugs Hustle

A few weeks ago we took the kids to the book store to pick out a couple new books. I helped Emmie find her's and the first one she picked. . . Daddy Hugs. It's become her favorite night time story which she will ask for by name and I can't really say I'm upset by that. Today we were blessed with warm weather and I had the opportunity to knock the dust off the running stroller. I figured Emmie would enjoy the time outside and maybe even take a nap. I was right on both accounts and Emmie and I were able to do our Daddy Hugs Hustle. It ended up being a longer run than I had planned on, so I wasn't really prepared from a fluid standpoint with the hot weather, but I didn't care.

Training plans are organized and scientific to maximize your body's potential in a given time frame for a specific goal. It's easy to get locked in and too focused on what the goal really is. . . to run and finish. We're talking about running a race not rocket surgery. Sometimes it's good to just run and not worry about heart rate, pace, distance, calorie intake, fluids, salt pills and the other things you can start relying on when training longer distances. Don't forget to run just to run. Grab a kid, grab a friend or family member and just get out and run because you want to not because your training plan says it.

Humble pie

The coach of one of the most successful NFL teams in the last decade, Bill Belichick is known for dealing 'humble pie' after every game. Even during New England's undefeated season all his players would note how there was always room for improvement.

Running's version of humble pie is a race. If you want to know where you stand in your training, sign up and give it what you have. I'm over simplifying but shorter races are great measuring sticks for your progress. If your a male and your goal is to qualify for Boston, you have to run a 3:10 marathon. If you sign up for a 10 miler during your training and you struggle to finish at 8 minute miles, there's some work that needs to be done between now and the race. Racing is like all natural butter; there is no substitute for the real thing. Most training plans/schedules include and show when build up races should be run; these are important to include in the training. I would encourage to try and have these be real races, and not just you running that distance as if it were a race. Obviously timing plays a role in that, there may not be a race of the specific distance you need when you need it, but don't be afraid to vary the weekend training schedule to squeeze the real race setting in.

I haven't been taking my training serious enough and it wasn't until yesterday I realized how far behind I am. I set aggressive goals for myself and I think my first goal needs to be adjusted because I didn't put the work in up front. Now I'm left with 8 weeks and couldn't feel farther from a 3:10 marathon. I knew up front that it was a big under taking, but currently I'm not on pace because of lack of effort and lots of excuses. Last year while training for my first marathon I didn't care; I didn't know what I didn't know so there was nothing to slow me down. Now that I've gone the distance and been there and am confident I can do it again I've been less motivated to go out and reach new highs in miles run. I'm adjusting my goal not to accommodate a lazy schedule, but to remain realistic. Here's a strategy for building a training schedule and race plan:

1. Pick your race and distance
2. Set your goal finish time (if this is your first race at that distance, finishing is the goal)
3. Find a training schedule that you feel will help you achieve your goal finish time at the race
4. Take the shorter races that fall in the schedule seriously and learn from them
5. Adjust 1. or 2. based on what you learn from 4.
6. Always be realistic, finishing distance races is a huge accomplishment in and of itself, having an unattainable goal will only take away from the success of finishing.
7. Find a way to make it fun. Training isn't fun, running long distances is not fun; the fun and reward is finishing, it's making it farther than you thought you could go, so you have to find a way to make that hard work fun. I blog, what do you do?

Knowing can be twice the battle

When I was a kid I loved watching GI Joe. Every episode ended with a special message to help you move on to your day, and each message ended with the GI Joe character saying ". . . and Knowing is half the battle." It wasn't until this year's training that I actually think that knowing can make it twice the battle.

About a year ago I was in the middle of my 18 week training for my first marathon. I remember looking ahead to CrazyLegs and wanting to use that as a benchmark for my training. My goal was to run CrazyLegs in 35 minutes, I more or less did it: result (type in griego), and then I ran seven miles home. I didn't know what I didn't know, but that wasn't going to stop me because I knew how hard I worked. Fast forward to today and I feel about the opposite. I know that I can complete distances I never thought attainable so if I'm tired or not feeling 100% it makes it that much harder to get up and do the training that needs to be done. Lately, my excuse is how cold it's been. I've gotten burned out on the 9 degree, or colder, morning runs. I have about 8 weeks to get off this excuse machine and finish strong.

There's a reason kids are so resilient, they don't know not to be. It takes a special person to train at a high level for any distance race and those of us who aren't at that level either have to decide that training is a fantastic way to get in shape and stay in shape and that races are just the icing on the cake, or we have to realize that we can keep making improvements but we can't let our successes slow down our growth.

Mind over matter

Most of you probably have no idea what the heck the picture is of. It kind of looks like the headless horseman or something evil. It's actually ginseng. The main ingredient for penicillin. The reason that's today's picture is because my grandfather was a woodsman. He used to 'hunt' for wild ginseng. Wild ginseng sells for about $350 a pound. Growing up my grandfather had crates of it drying out in a spare bedroom of his house. What does any of this have to do with running? A lot. Last Thursday my grandfather passed away. His mind was still spot on but his body was failing. I had the opportunity to spend his last good day with him. He talked hunting, fishing and even brought up the packers. He was the same grandpa he's always been. He died two days later. The night he died I spoke to my mom who was exhausted after spending the week in the hospital with him and my grandma and her brother and sister. I could hear how tired she was and it made me think. . . I want to challenge myself for a reason. So I put the following post on facebook: "For everyone that 'likes' this post, I will run a mile tomorrow for my grandfather." It took about a minute before 2 likes came through. I shut off facebook and let things happen. I set my alarm for 3 am the next day so I could have time to do whatever I needed to do. I believe that those people that 'liked' the post did so because they believed that I could do it. I woke up at 3 am to 26 likes. So I set out and toured Madison. Here's the route for what I called "Grandpa's marathon".

It was a struggle. I had only gone that far twice previously and both those where the two marathons I did last year. The only thing I could think about was "Grandpa's marathon". I had to get 26. Along the way I realized something. It wasn't fair if what I was doing was just about me, there were 26 people who believed in me that I could do it, so I wanted them to join. I cut the run at 22.8 (call it 23 miles) and challenged those that challenged me to finish the marathon. I don't expect people that read my blog to go out and be inspired to run a marathon, but I thought that everyone could be included in one and all they had to do was push themselves to finish the race for me and my grandpa.

Since posting my results last Friday, I've had people reach out and tell me they finished the race or will be soon. I even got some thank you's for helping them get back in to running. Running isn't about the distance it's about finishing and when you run for a reason, it makes finishing that much gratifying. Thanks for believing in me and pushing me farther than I thought I could go.

For Chester 'Chet' Gilbert, December 20th, 1930 - March 10th, 2011.