4 Years of Motion

(Mile ~45 at the Vermont 50 - 2009)

I am not a runner.

Let me rephrase that.  I don't think that I was meant to be a runner, or born to be a runner.  I don't run fast, or efficiently.  I probably over-pronate...or under-pronate.  My stride is most definitely wrong and I likely don't breathe at the right times.  I still run in big bulky running shoes and not trendy "fingered" footwear.  I am a rather old fashioned runner, despite the latest crazes or what the latest "scientifically backed research" tells me I am doing wrong.  I'm not up on the latest technology and still wear old beat up shirts that I got free at some race.  I don't have some deep seeded passion for running that "I've known since I was s child" and there have been many times that I would have rather done something more fun than go on Tuesday afternoon 6-miler or a Saturday 18-mile long run.

There are some people though, that are runners.  They just are.  Some of those people, the most elite, can run 5 minute miles, finish marathons in 2 hours 15 minutes, finish the Leadville 100 in 17 hours, and have VO2max values over 75.  I am not one of those people, and pending some sort of insane change in my life dedications...probably could still never be.  I'm just not wired that way...the elite athlete way.  I like to think that I was more wired to be a hiker...my true passion of motion.  Despite all of this though, I still run.

Over four years ago I set in motion what would become a new way of life for me.  I had succumbed to lifestyle of familiarity and comfort.  A lifestyle that didn't involve any real "motion".  I was stagnant on so many levels.   In 2007, I changed this in one fell swoop with what seemed a ridiculous and impossible goal: To hike the 2175 mile Appalachian Trail...all at once (a thru-hike).   After 3 and a half months of walking, I stood at the northern terminus sign with an incredulous look on my face, and a feeling inside that I hadn't come close to feeling in a very long time.   I vowed to not lose that feeling ever again.  I remembered having it when I was younger, but somewhere along the line...lost it.

When I started a new graduate school program that fall I went through the motions of classes and work and that feeling started to fade again.  That Christmas, I sat across a table from an old friend back in my home town.  We traded stories over a few beers and he told me how he was training for his first marathon.  I remember thinking that I ran cross country back in junior high school...maybe I could try to run a marathon.  It felt like it would be a tangible goal.  Something I could work towards while still in school, and perhaps regain some of that feeling that had started to wane again during the previous busy semester.

So I did....and I'm telling you this, because as cliche' as it sounds....if I can do it, so can anyone.  There are dozens of great marathon training programs out there.  Me...I used a slightly modified novice Hal Higdon program.  This type of program is an 18 week long build up routine with a few step-back weeks built in....and it really works.  I went from not having run in over 10 years, to completing a marathon in under 4 hours.  A lot of people have asked me how I trained, or what program I used...below is an example (this is the intermediate program that I'm doing right now, similar to the novice, only stepped up a bit).

     I sit here now some 4 years later and realized that since taking that first step on Springer Mountain back in 07, I haven't really stopped moving.  I haven't stopped trying to keep that feeling alive inside of me.  Training for and running races, hiking long distances, and wandering off to various places is one sure way that I know how to.  

The reason I bring all of this up, and have written it down, is because I was sorting through all of my running photos in iphoto today....and realized all of the different running memories I've begun to accrue. I remember when I graduated from college years ago, my parents got me a Dr. Seuss book..sort of half jokingly.  The book was "Oh the places you'll go".  I like to think that this was the first little message telling me to keep moving

After finally sorting all my pics, I found several that when I looked at them....I could remember the exact and specific emotion I was feeling the moment the picture was taken.   Like I said in previous posts on here, I write a lot of these entries so that I don't forget things.  

So as a reminder to myself, john, here is why you should always keep moving...

When you feel like you're losing that forward motion, re-read this post, and remember that feeling you had when...

Finishing that first marathon you trained so hard for...in under 4 hours

(Pocono Marathon - 08)

Knowing you were going to finish that first 50 miler

(VT 50 - 2008)

Actually finishing your first 50 miler

(VT 50 - 2008)

Starting your first "repeat appearance" at a race

(Pocono Marathon - 2009)

Knowing you were about to start a beautiful and insanely 

muddy course that was actually a "training run" for the VT 100!

(Finger Lakes Fifties - 2009)

Making it to mile 76 in my first 100 miler and getting

to run with my first Pacer

(Vermont 100 - 2009)

Not believing that you just finished your first 100...and in under 24 hours

(Vermont 100 - 2009)

Running in the one race that I wanted to be a part of 

more than any other single race...and feeling ecstatic.  Especially

after being told by doctors only a few weeks before the 

race that your foot was probably broken.

(Leadville 100 - 2009)

Actually finishing the Leadville 100...to this day the one running

achievement I still can't believe.

(Leadville 100 - 2009)

Running and finishing the Rochester Marathon 20 years after dad did.

(Rochester Marathon - 2009)

Knowing you were there for another runner...by playing a part in 

helping a first-time 100-miler cross the finish line

(Pacing at the Oil Creek 100 - 2009)

And of course, do not forget...

Stepping off of that plane for the first time in West Antarctica

(WAIS Divide - 2008)

Finishing the your first Alpine Thru-Hike

(Colorado Trail - 2008)

Finishing the Impossible

(Pacific Crest Trail - 2010)

And of course....lastly....

How it all began

(Appalachian Trail Completion- Aug 15th, 2007)