Putting Purpose in your Run

I have really come to love my training schedule.

I love reading it over to plan ahead.  I love going through the workouts in advance and calculating my splits then writing them out.  I love keying in my results into my spreadsheet and comparing them to past results then processing exactly how I felt physically during them and tweek the plan to adjust for something I feel I'm missing.  On top of all that I love reading about coaches and athletes; how they approach the same workouts I'm using, how they overcome the same challenges I face, why they do what they do, and of course I love reading about their results.  Incredible endurance, amazing kicks and blazing top end speed.

That paragraph was awful, but I'm gushing.

I just love this!

I also love that every single workout and run has a purpose.  There is some specific focus or objective, because it is one more step in the right direction on my path.  I'm sure some people wouldn't like having that sort of mind set, and I get that.  Depends on what you want out of running.  But when there is a specific goal in mind, then everything should be aimed at reaching that goal.  Otherwise, you're just wasting time.  Everything I read from great coaches and athletes, as well as great businessmen or anyone else at the top of their field, repeats this point.

There has to be Purpose.  A reason to do what you're doing.

What started out as a sort of fantasy and tangible example of some things I always say about getting the most out of life, has turned into a real passion.  And that passion is delivering all the things I had hoped it would in the beginning.  It's become my Purpose.

First of all is the fact it's made me stronger and faster.  I still flash back on a regular basis to when I was sick.  I know that can get kind of old to hear, but I'm not going to forget it.  I'm reminded of various aspects of that time of my life almost daily.  When I ache I'm reminded of how whatever I feel right now is nothing compared to the pain I felt the first days after surgery and the months around the end of my radiation treatments.  I was triple dosing on the pain meds and still not getting relief.  Whenever I lean in and drive through a turn on the track I'm reminded of how exhausted I would get just walking up a flight of stairs.  And, of course, every time I hear of someone else who's been diagnosed with cancer I'm reminded of how lucky I've been and that I need to be there in some way for them like people were for me.

Those memories are always placed against where I am now, and where I am now is someplace I had only hoped to be.  5:01 in the 1500 and sure of myself that I can break five minutes.  Ranked 30th in the country last year in my age group for the 800 was a total shock.  That part I hadn't even dreamed about.  Racing in a national championship had never crossed my mind, but I've gotten to do it.  My running has given me strength and speed that surprises and thrills me all the time.

Secondly, because I've seeing such gains from my focus and planning on training, I'm doing the same things in work and in life.  I'm looking at something that I want to accomplish, and then working backwards with a plan.  Then, each and every day, I'm working that plan.  Some things have been in place for awhile, and others I've just embarked on.  Either way I know that I have a far better chance of reaching my goals by approaching them with purpose.

Lastly, and probably most important of all of this, is what I hear from various people I've crossed paths with since I set out on this mini-quest.  People are inspired by it.  They tell me about how they've begun running, or have decided they want to see how fast they can get.  A few have asked for help and I'm having a blast working with them to set new PR's.  I get excited knowing that, if we plan right, and the work gets done, they're going to experience the same thrilling emotions I have when they finish that race and look at they're watch.  It's so incredible.

Yesterday I read something in an article in Running Times about the best advice elite athletes have gotten from coaches over the years, and one of them was by Aaron Braun.  This guy ran 10,000 meters in 27:41.  Wow, that's fast.  His college coach told him to "run for something greater than yourself."  His point being that if you're only running for yourself, you may back off in that final lap because you know you'll just race again another time.  But if there's something outside of you that is your focus, you're more likely to push on.

I've found that to be so true.  And not just for an individual race.  It's the same for every single workout.  I push hard the last rep, the last hill, or the last mile and sometimes do "just one more" because there's something greater than me at stake.

People are watching and wanting to see good results.  It inspires them, motivates them to do better as well.

I've had Purpose in my running from the beginning of all this, but it's transformed into something else.  Other people are trying harder, exercising more, living better and smiling more often.  I want to help them along even if it's just a little thing like a random post on facebook that makes them say, "wow, that's fast" and wonder if they could do something like that.

Put Purpose in your running and you will.

Relay For Life and One More Birthday

What a great birthday week for me.

Spent the weekend of my 50th birthday down in Manteo with just about my whole family and a bunch of friends.  I also got to spend a good bit of time on Saturday and then again Sunday morning helping out at Dare County's Relay For Life event.  And what an incredible event it is.  It's kind of surprising how much positive feeling can be generated by hearing about, and seeing, such terrible life experiences.  But that's exactly what happens.

It seems to me that we tend to find the greatest strength and hope in the face of adversity.  Of course it's easier to push back against the weight of the world when there are others facing something so similar to yourself.  The whole "strength in numbers" thing.  And events like this leave me feeling humbled and empowered at the same time.

I remember the first one I attended here.

I had just finished up my radiation treatments, gotten over "the plague", and had worked my way up to walking three miles in a row.  I'd also gained back about 20 of the 40 some pounds I had lost.  I was driving in between contracting jobs and heard an ad for Relay on the radio.  "That's perfect!" I said out loud to myself and jotted down the website address so I could sign up when I got home which is exactly what I did.  I didn't join a team, or create one, or anything.  I just signed up.

Because somehow I thought it was a 5K.  And I could walk a 5K and maybe even jog some!

The next Saturday I heard another ad and heard the words "24 hours."  WTH?  Seriously?  Who the hell does any running or walking for 24 hours?  That's when I decided to actually read the website.

"Oh," I thought.  "I'm going to need a team."

So Sunday morning I stood up in church during the prayers and concerns, admitted to everyone that I was an idiot and needed help forming a team and raising money.  A dozen or so people joined up just about immediately.  It was great.

One of those folks was my Cancer Compadre, Shane.  He and I co-captained the team and did a pretty decent job of fundraising bringing in almost $ 1500.  We also had a good time camping out together that night and talking about ways to do a better job the following year, now that we understood what the hell it was we were supposed to do.  Shane and I walked a lot, too.  Hours and hours together and taking turns.  I don't know what got into me, but I started walking at the noon kickoff and just didn't stop.

While Shane and I talked about things I had mentioned that I wanted to get back to running because the past six months had given me all I ever wanted of feeling helpless and weak.  I talked about what I used to do in high school and Shane even said that he could never really be a runner because his knees always hurt and he just knew he'd hate it.  Well, as we walked a thought sort of got in my head and I wanted to see what would happen if . . . I just didn't stop walking.  How far could I go beyond the three miles I had done a few times that past week?

Turns out that was 105 laps around the track.  26 and a quarter miles.  A marathon.

I was so exhausted and limping, but I made myself do it.  Then was in agony for the next several days, but hey.  I walked a marathon.  Having done that I decided it was time to train and do something even better.  That's another story, but six months later I ran my first and only marathon. 

One year and one day after being diagnosed with cancer.  3:48 and change.

Shane started running after that day, too.  He said he was inspired by me and my efforts and since then the guy has just blown me and himself away.  He's done marathons, Half's, ultras, and even a 200 mile relay!  Had an article written about him in Endurance Magazine.  Totally cool.  He also created the Cupcake 5K as the team's fundraising tool for each year's Relay For Life.  Now it's also become the "big finish" for the weekend.  He and his wife's efforts, along with a long list of others, has taken something as rough as cancer and created a shining diamond of a moment for many, many people.

This year we sold out weeks before the event with 400 runners.  Next year we'll have to go even bigger!

So this entry doesn't go on forever, here's some pictures from the weekend.

There's Shane with the mic getting the volunteers together.

 

 

 

 

Happy Faces at the Starting Line

 

 

The fast guys take off.  Blue shorts up there, Chad, won it.  Second was Millar the guy in black there, and third went to my motivation/inspiration, 48 year old Keith in the white with black shorts.

 

 

 

On the far right edge of the picture is the Mile 1 sign.  Missed it by that much.

 

 

It's an "out and back" course, so here's heading out...

 

 

...and heading back.

 

 

The course finishes on the track with all the attendees hanging around and walkers still on the track, too.  The runners move out to the outside lanes and through the finish line by the main stage.

 

 

In my last post I talked about coming in last on purpose to encourage the folks that were struggling to finish and take the pressure off anyone who was worried about that stigma.  Well at the Cupcake 5K, the last place finisher gets the biggest applause and is accompanied by almost all of the other people who have all ready finished the race!  Another of Shane's brilliant ideas.  The race has always had people in it that were currently going through some serious cancer treatments, so there has always been people using that event, that moment, as a way of showing they were still there and still fighting.

 

This year was no different.

 

The last place finisher went the whole way using a walker and hauling her oxygen tank along with her.

 

 



 

When she finished she took the mic from Shane and encouraged all of us to take advantage of our lives and live them to the fullest.

 

 

 

That wonderful experience was enhanced because I had another friend who came down from Maryland to run the 5K and support me and the team.  My fraternity Little Brother, Blake.  If you've read my book he played a significant part in a turning point for me during my treatments.  He and I walked together behind this woman and chuckled at each other because we were both crying behind our sunglasses.

 

 

 

And heeeeerrrreee's Blake!

 

 

 

All in all I couldn't have asked for a nicer way to spend my birthday weekend.  I even was able to win my age group.  Of course it helped that I wasn't lumped in with Keith anymore.  ; )

 

 









2013 Monument Avenue 10K Results

There.  That title should help with some web searches out there...

What a terrific weekend!

As I approached this year's Monument Avenue 10K I felt sure I could beat my time from last year, which was a 44:04, because I knew I'd been training with more distance and tempo runs.  Optimism.  Then I looked at that pace, 7:04 per mile, and how in my last three tempo runs I couldn't hold a sub 7 minute mile for more than 3 miles.  Hell, my last one I only made two miles!  7:04 for over six miles seemed a little out of reach.  Anxiety.

So I pulled up my training log from last year and found I hadn't run crap over 7 miles back then, and I've been getting in at least one 7+ mile run or workout in every week since January.  Optimism.  I also have been able to negative split my 10 mile runs finishing them at about 7:30 pace overall and even got a couple of sub 7 final miles in there.  More Optimism.

Then on Thursday night something weird happened I still can't explain.  I came home from having dessert with my grand kids and their parents, walked upstairs and almost couldn't get back down!  I had this very sharp, stabbing pain in my left heel where my Achilles tendon connects to my heel.  I tried stretching it some and that was horrible.  I hadn't twisted it, strained it or anything and yet it was if I had a very bad case of tendinitis.  Anxiety.

I took a handful of ibuprofen, and put a bag of Brussels sprouts (I couldn't find any ice packs) on my heel and watched some TV.

It felt a little better.

Before I got in bed I smeared a glob of Blue Emu cream on it and went to sleep.

It still hurt the next day, but only when I tried to stretch it out or walk down stairs.  Walking and even hopping a little didn't bother it too much but it felt hot.  I decided that after work and hitting the expo for packet pickup I would buy some ice and soak this piece-of-shit-old-ankle-that-got-injured-for-no-damned-reason when I got home at night.

During the day my leg didn't feel too bad, but I was careful not to stress it and just limped whenever I had to go down some stairs.  Fortunately, the expo was all on one floor and I was able to move around that with no problem.

I love running expos.  All the people (read that "all the cute running girls"), the energy, and the stuff!  I love stuff.  Especially buying it.  And I found one piece of stuff that I had hoped to find and picked it up pronto.  It's called The Stick.

The Stick is a massage tool that looked to be a very effective piece of plastic and fiberglass.  And all the cool kids at Indoor Nationals had them, so I knew I should have one, too.

The sales people they had at the booth were actually very knowledgeable about physiology and massage therapy.  I told the lady about my Achilles and she said, "you're going to roll this up and down the back and both sides of your upper calf."

"Ummm. OK."

"When you do that you're going to find a trigger point (sharp pain) in one of these three spots," as she pointed to the back of my calf muscle under my knee and off to the outside about three inches below my knee.  "Those spots are where knots form that tighten up your calf and restrict blood flow to your tendon."

Damn if she didn't nail it.

That spot on the outside of my calf made me jump when I hit it.  I went more gently and after a few rubs it worked out a little.

I bought The Stick.

Now I look like the cool kids when I stretch after a run.

On my way out of the expo I met a guy named Daniel Komen.  He was manning a booth with a sign "Train With the Kenyans."  Google Daniel Komen.  Holy cow.

I was standing there chatting with the only human ever to put two sub 4 minute miles back to back.  The world record he set in the two mile back in the 90's still stands, along with his world record in the 3000.

He was super nice and he and his booth-mate David Cheromei run a running camp that is put together as part of a mission trip experience to raise money for the school that Komen started for orphans in Kenya.  My wife and I, along with some friends of ours in our church in Manteo, sponsor a child through Heart for Africa and he was familiar with that and spoke highly of it.  He asked me to come and support his school and said the kids get a lot out of seeing people there to help them and run with them.  He smiled and said, "Kenya make you fastman!"  I've got all their info for doing a trip to Kenya for the camp and then working with the kids at the school or doing grounds/building work while there in hopes I could actually do that some day.

Daniel told me he would autograph my bib number and I got a picture with him.

So cool!

 

So it was home to use The Stick and ice both ankles since I discovered bad knots in both of them.

In high school I had a nice case of tendinitis in the same area and the Trainer had me do a little icing routine using a big bucket and the jacuzzi.  I shoved my leg down into a bucket of 1/3 ice and 2/3 water for two minutes, then immediately shove that leg into the jacuzzi where the water temperature was about 100 degrees.  Sounds painful doesn't it?  It is.  Ridiculously painful.  But I only had to do it twice in two days and the inflammation was gone and I raced on it like nothing had ever happened.

I don't have a jacuzzi and I remembered how much moving into that hot water felt.  I figured I'd do without all that this time and just do the ice part.  So I dumped about half a large bag of ice into a paint bucket and filled it with water.  Then I grabbed a beer and used my phone as a stop watch.  Three times in and out and that should do it.

 

 

I soaked for two minutes in and five minutes out, then just kept them in there for a full five minutes the last time.  Geez, that was something.  Brrrrrr.

 

Then I massaged with The Stick, popped a couple more ibuprofen, rubbed on some more Blue Emu then went to bed.

 

When I woke up I felt fine.

 

Moved around the room.  Stretched.  My calves felt sort of tight and sore liked I'd worked them out hard, but there wasn't any sharp pain, even when I walked downstairs.

 

Sweet!

 

The race itself went about perfect.  Just like the weather.  55 degrees, sunny and a very light breeze.

 

I decided to do this race differently than I usually do, which is out fast and see how long I can hang on, and do the negative split thing I'd been doing on my long runs.  According to the things I've been reading it's best to go out for the first quarter of whatever your running at a pace that is slower than what you actually want to average for the race.  Then you steadily speed up, but just barely.  It makes it seem easier and it feels like I always have something in the tank along with speed if I want it.  I was surprised as I got to mile 2 at 7:10 pace and had been telling myself to take it easy.  Hold back.

 

At the 5k mark and the turnaround point I was at 7:04 and felt very strong.  It was also the only point where I got a good picture.  I took about five during the run and they all looked like crap.  But this one looks cool:

 



 

Hitting the turn hard

 

 

I pressed the first half mile after the turn and didn't get passed again the whole way.  I would look at my Garmin and watch as the average time dropped steadily.  At mile 5 I was dead on 35 minutes and a 7 flat pace.  I was going to PR this bitch.

 

I reminded myself of how dead I felt last year at this point and how hard I was fighting just to hang on.  "Completely different," I said out loud.  A guy next to me glanced over and I continued, "compared to last year.  I feel great this year!"  He smiled and grunted, and slowly faded off behind me.

 

I was grinning as I looked ahead and started pumping.  My hands were relaxed (except for holding my phone), my legs were driving along, and I kept on accelerating.

 

I covered that last mile in 6:26 and was smiling ear to ear when I came across the finish line.

 

I swear there are very few feelings in this world like the one I get when I run fast.  I don't even know how to describe it except that I always remember that day I was laying at the top of my stairs exhausted, sick and weak, then compare it to what I was doing in the last strides of that race.

 

And I just smile.

 

Exercise and Cancer

Bob and I got an email from someone who came across our blog and wanted to share one of her articles about how exercise can impact someone going through cancer treatments.  Having been through all of that myself, I know that my job as a contractor kept me physically active throughout the process and it made a positive difference in not only my energy levels, but in my emotional state.

So here's a little something from Melanie Bowen who writes for www.mesothelioma.com:

Fitness Can Help Cancer Patients Heal Faster and Feel Better!

When people are diagnosed with any form of cancer, including rare forms such as mesothelioma, many become depressed, and most often are in shock. At first, many don’t know what to do or where to start. Exercise may be the last thing on a cancer patient’s mind, but it is one of the first lines of defense in cancer treatment. Exercise helps to remove toxins and free radicals from the body to help the immune system fight foreign bodies such as cancer. People who don’t exercise will have a higher risk of complications in terms of healing from the surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.

Cancer and fitness go hand-in-hand as long as there are no extenuating circumstances such as anemia. Anemia may inhibit some cancer patients from exercising. Check with your doctor to confirm that there are no extenuating circumstances so you may receive the following benefits from exercising.

1. Build Your Immune System With Exercise
Physical activity can make immune systems stronger by fighting free radicals in the body. The body will heal faster when the immune system is strong. When patients receive radiation and chemotherapy, the body will become weaker so therefore even the smallest amount of exercise could help a patient bounce back quicker. Patients with strong immune systems also have a higher chance of fighting the return of cancer. Sedentary patients typically have a higher risk of recurrence because their immune systems tend to be weaker.

 

2. A Patient’s Prognosis Can Improve With Exercise
Studies have shown that patients who engage in physical activity for 30 minutes or more on a regular basis will improve their prognosis significantly. Research shows that exercise decreases not only the risk for recurrence of cancer, but also the risk of developing another life threatening disease such as diabetes or heart disease.

 

3. Energy Balance is Achieved Through Physical Activity
Energy balance is necessary for cancer patients to function throughout the day. Many cancer patients often become fatigued during treatment, and exercise is one way to make them feel more energized. Exercise also releases endorphins that keep the mood elevated, which is necessary in the proper healing of cancer patients. The emotional benefits of exercising are an essential piece of the healing process, and the endorphins from working out will help throughout your battle.

 

Engage in Physical Activity as Much as Possible
Because of the studies done on cancer treatment and fitness, many people are improving their health and living longer after cancer treatment is complete. Many physicians are recommending exercise for other health conditions and are obtaining favorable outcomes.  If you are not feeling motivated, talk to your doctor or a support group to help find your way. Some patients even set a goal such as a cancer walk or attending a number of group fitness classes to keep moving forward. No matter what your exercise choices are, they will make you feel better and more energetic!

Race Day!

Have you heard the flu is going around?  I've had it for two weeks now, and while I'm feeling much better than I did that first week I'm now very sick and tired of being sick and tired.  Enough is enough.

I've been a good boy and doing the rest and tons of fluid thingy the past week and even though I felt like I could run I haven't.  Rest, rest, rest is what doctors are preaching regarding the flu and I'm paying attention.  It does bug the crap out of me that I've missed two fun weeks of my awesome training spreadsheet and the beginning of my interval workouts again, but I figure if I take it easy now I'll be better off in the long run.  Hey, I just used a running metaphor in a blog about running!

Sweet.

So, two weeks off and I had a race today in the Outer Banks.  I registered for it awhile back and since it was a 5k I decided to use it as a way to move back into my running with a short, relaxed run with my friends in the Outer Banks Running Club.  And, once again, they put on a really nice race.

The Frostbite 5K is the OBRC's annual membership race and they do it up with something cool each year.  This year we got embroidered jackets!  Here being modeled by myself, Matt and my Cancer Compadre, Shane.  That's my buddy Joe the Plumber in the white.  ...and, yes, he actually is a plumber.

>

The weather this year was really warm, about 60 degrees, but it was a dreary looking day with all the fog.  There was an Adrienne Barbeau sighting early on and a couple of people thought they saw a guy covered in seaweed carrying a big meat hook.  From what I heard, though, we had as many finishers as we did starters so all were accounted for.

 

The Front Porch Cafe provided coffee and hot choclate and others brought cookies for all the runners to enjoy.  Shane played EmCee at the beginning to introduce the new Board of Directors for the club and get us all over to the starting line.

 

I lined up with a few of the folks I know, figuring I'd go out pretty quickly just to move my legs and see what my lungs felt like.  I got a picture of Jessica who went on to be the top female finisher as we were covering the first couple of hundred meters.

 

 



 
She's very quick so I was lucky to get a picture.

Another friend, Pete was with the lead group and right behind me when I got the picture.

"Hey look at Ed running a 5:30 pace!" just before he chugged on by me and left me in his dust.

However, I did get a picture of him LOSING to me for a little bit there.

I settled back into a comfortable pace when I had a brief coughing fit and decided I wasn't getting any air in my lungs. My legs felt great, but I wasn't going to be going to set a PR today. We ran through a neighborhood that led back up to the dirt road that would take us up into the woods to the turn-around. A few more people passed me as we went and got a couple of good pictures as we ran.

The dirt road.

The trail after the turn-around. High fiving friends as we passed each other. About here I decided I needed yet another running self portrait since I just think that's funny.

Goofy, yes.

 

Then it was back down the dirt road, through the neighborhood and a hard right turn through the finish line.

 

 

 

I got a 23:06 official time, so I immediately told myself I could've found 6 seconds almost anywhere on that run, but it was off to the coffee and cookies!

 

 



 

 

Thanks OBRC for another fun race!  Looking forward to getting back on track (literally) and actually making Pete race me....

Extreme Running

Ed -

I used to be a member of The Outer Banks Running Club in the beautiful OBX of North Carolina.  Actually, I still might be a member but I think it lapsed since I moved back to Virginia.  I still run in almost all of the races they put and have a bunch of friends there that are getting more and more into group training runs.

Several of my friends have signed on to do the Tuna Run.  I had never heard of it, but it's a 200 mile relay race from Raleigh, NC down to Wilmington, NC.  That's nuts.  200 miles and only 6 members on the team!  It's going to be a huge adventure and definitely ranks up there with extreme running.

The Captain of the team is a friend of mine named Shane.  He and I had the same cancer just a couple of months apart and that's how we met.  He was finishing treatment just as I was starting and he really stepped up with support and insight to help me through the whole thing.  After I finished up and started running for the first time in decades to rebuild my strength, Shane got inspired and started running, too.  He's now "all eaten up with it" as they say in that neck of the woods and is a running machine.

He's also one heck of a production guy and has been putting together videos to promote the Tuna run and his team.

You gotta see this!

Tuna Run Training Video

Enjoy!