Another 10 days has gone by in the blink of an eye. It’s been an emotional roller coaster the last few days and running has once again brought a calmness to my life that I yearn for almost daily. While contemplating why this is, why running is a welcome hardship that somehow brings calmness, it became clear to me.
Regardless of how chaotic life is or frustrating our society can be, when I get on the trail to run I can leave all of that behind. I know what must be done and I know how to get it done. Sometimes it’s easy, most times it’s not, but I know what to expect and that’s comforting. Predictability provides comfort as I am a creature of habit, like most other humans.
In addition to leaving the hardships of life behind for a short window of time, I’m usually running my miles with friends. Bonds are created between people when you do hard things together. Conversations are had and friendships forged over hours of conversations while enduring pain on those long runs.
Yesterday was dark, rainy and windy all day. The clouds hid the sun all day, the rivers flooded and the tree’s shook. It was a miserable Sunday in December.
Then this morning the storm had passed. The Carolina Blue Skies were beckoning and the warmth of the sun was the last incentive needed to get in this run.
I’ve learned in my short existence that life is never a constant. There will always be ups and downs, good times and bad, feast and famine. In all of that, running and fitness in general is a counterbalance to those extremes. It creates resiliency.
Yesterday was not a good day; October was not a good month. Yet today the Sun was out, temperatures were great and the trail was clear. Tomorrow and the months to come will also have better days. A short conversation with my friend Jennifer on this past weekends trail run confirmed my belief’s that things will get better. Thank you Jen for that talk and sharing your story. It really helped.
In these past 10 days I’ve completed two trail runs with the club, each approximately 8 miles in length with a pace that nobody cares about. In-between the trail runs I got in numerous other runs and my local run club held their annual Christmas Party. It’s been an eventful 10 days with many highs and good times with friends and a few lows.
So here we go! Let’s take a short trip to look back over the past 10 days!
December 9th was a cool December morning and just right for a trail run with friends. Overall it was 8 miles of smooth, single track trails in a local preserve that I know well. It was a good run with friends where I completed 8.15 miles in 1:41.
My next workout wasn’t until the 11th. On that run I had a serious conversation with myself where I ended up winning an argument with the Fat Man. Read about that internal conflict against the voice of self destruction, named The Fat Man. After a serious debate inside my own head, God placed me at the lakes edge right at sunset and for that I a grateful. Thankful to be alive and thankful for mobility.
The next day was in the garage with my son, lifting weights and teaching the young man about form, intensity, repetitions and scaling. An hour of strength training felt good, even if I was scaling down to hang out with my son.
The 13th was a Wednesday, and you know what that means. Wednesday 5K! Except in this case I ended up with 4.07 miles with Dave. It was good to get another run with Dave as he’s turned into a close friend of mine and a source of an immense amount of knowledge and wisdom with running.
December 13th is also the anniversary when we finally found Sadaam Hussein! I was in Iraq when “We Got Him”. It’s a moment I’ll never forget. The camp I was on felt electric and we felt like the war would be over soon. How little we knew.
Moving forward to December 14th and it was the big day for our annual Club Christmas / Holiday Party! We had over 80 people attend and it was a good time. You can read about it on the Clayton Area Runners website. It was a great time.
Before the party I got in a 3-mile run with about 30 friends before we starting eating and enjoying the best beer in The South.
After a day off, I found myself back on the trail on the morning of the 16th. This time it was an official Trail Run with the club.
Sometimes in my life I look at my situation, look around and think “I’ve done smarter things”. With temperatures around 27F at the start, I was reminding myself that “Comfort is a Lie”. But with a handful of friends around ready to brave the cold and get in a run, what was there not to like about this cool, brisk morning in the woods!
My nutrition over the past 10 days hasn’t been the best. I haven’t eaten like a total asshole, just had a few days of treating my stomach like a dumpster. I logged just 34.83 miles in running and only accomplished one weightlifting session.
Lessons learned this week. Keep your head up, fix the nutrition and lift more heavy weights!
The next 10 days covers traveling to Florida and Christmas!! Expect to see some more videos.
Question to anyone who reads this far: Do you think the world needs another Running Podcast? Maybe a resiliency podcast with a focus on the positive effects of fitness and community. Right now it’s just a storm in the head. What are your thoughts?