Social Butterfly

Greetings!

I've had a couple weeks of good running and am definitely in training mode now for upcoming races. I've never been a high mileage runner, so if I get 20 or more miles in right now, I'm happy. The other thing that I have been doing lately is running with groups.

Up until recently, other than races and doing runs with Lil' C, I always ran alone. I like running by myself just fine and don't need others to motivate me. With that said, running with a group is nice too. You get to interact with people who "get" why you run, you can learn from them, get and give advice and having other people around is just motivating. Who wants to dog it when others are watching?

I'm not exactly a social butterfly, but maybe I'm at least Arthur from "The Tick"

The two group runs I have done so far have been with my work "Brooksie Way Half Marathon" team and at a Hansons Group run in Royal Oak.

I am the "captain" of our Brooksie Way team (simply because I am helping to organize it, not because of my running greatness) and this year I'm trying to help make us a "team" rather than just people who don't really know each other getting a mediocre score. Part of this is trying to run together. I was able to organize a run and have people planning to show up and then I got sick with some stomach thing. I recovered enough to attend the run, but I still felt pretty rough, even a couple days after feeling "better".

After being up half the night with stomach pain, I wasn't going to run, but thought I should at least show up since I was the one who set the thing up. Once I got there, of course I was going to run. I'm glad I did because I got to meet and get to know the team from work (we all have the same employer, but don't really work together). It was fun, even though the run was a struggle. The run also seemed to get me back on track to start my "real" training.

The other group run was last night at the Hanson's running store in Royal Oak. This running store hosts a group run every Thursday night. While I had considered going before, my work schedule didn't really allow it. Now that my schedule is more "normal", I decided to check it out. There was a big turnout (35 - 40 people) with a broad range of ages and abilities. Most people run 4, 6 or 8 miles on set routes. I did 6, which is a long run for me after work. It was friggin' hot and I didn't bring my hydration belt, but survived. I didn't really run with anyone for a long period of time, though there was always someone either a bit in front or behind me (I always seem to be doing my own thing behind the better, experienced runners but ahead of the rest of the pack, both in races and apparently in group runs). Still, I wouldn't have run 6 miles on a hot weekday if I didn't go to the group run and I met some nice people, so it was a win.

I have another group run set for tomorrow at a local Metropark (kind of a regional park system). I'm meeting a couple people from a group I found on "Meetup.com", hopefully along with some of my Brooksie Way team. The plans is to go 8 miles or so at around 45 sec / mile less than my planned half marathon pace.

I'm adding a race to my schedule for next weekend, the "Run Thru Hell". Yes, I will be running through Hell. Hell, Michigan. This is surely a race where the T-shirt should be a keeper!

The almost annual Run Thru Hell is a 10 mile trek through Hell which I'm told is quite hilly. I've debated running hard versus running like a training run for the race and have pretty much decided to run it hard unless conditions or health dictate otherwise. It will be my first 10 mile race and should be a good "warmup" for the Crim 10 mile later in the month and the Brooksie Way at the end of September.

Do you attend group runs? Do you find them unnecessary, helpful or essential?

Any upcoming race plans?

 

Back in the Saddle Again

"I'm baaaaaaaaaaaack! I'm baaaaaack in the saddle again!" I thought the great Aerosmith song "Back in the Saddle" describes how I am feeling about my running lately. I ran over 20 miles this week for the first time since May and had a nice run this morning. I didn't run particularly fast and have run further a couple dozen times, but, for the first time in a few weeks, it just felt right.

Here's what the first 3 weeks of July looked like in terms of my mileage:

 

Here's what the last week or so has looked like:

There were many reasons why my running was down, but I'm just happy to be back at it. Physically and mentally, I just feel right when I am running regularly.

I feel pretty good after almost 9 miles today, so I'll probably do some running before heading to church with the family tomorrow morning. I officially signed up for the Crim 10 Mile on Aug. 25 and The Brooksie Way Half Marathon on Sept. 30th (for which I'll be running with a team from work). I also may do the "Run Thru Hell", a race through Hell, MI (yes, there is such a place). This is a 10 mile race (there is also a 4.8 mile "weenie run") which I would consider a warmup for the Crim.

I wasn't able to run the Crim last year due to the passing of my Grandfather, Wilbur (Willie). I plan to dedicate the race to him in some manner. I have some ideas. 

Ever need to come back from a lull or layoff? How did you get back to "normal"?

Any plans for upcoming races?

My Run - The Terry Hitchcock Story

Last week, I wrote about a movie I watched on Netflix called "Run for your Life - The Fred Lebow Story". Tonight, I watched "My Run - The Terry Hitchcock Story", another running movie which isn't really about running at all.

The documentary movie starts out noting how Terry and his three children lost a wife and mother to cancer. (Cancer sucks!) He was understandably heartbroken. A short time later, Terry also lost his job. The early part of the movie notes many difficulties of being a single parent. A few years after the loss of his wife, Terry ends up arriving at the conclusion that he needs to do a "Mega Marathon" from St. Paul, Minnesota to Atlanta (during the '96 Olympics) to bring attention to and raise awareness and hopefully money to help single parents find help in finding help and resources to support their families.

The rub is, to start, Terry is not a runner at all. He's in his 50's and people say he looks a bit like Santa Claus (I say more like Kenny Rogers, but anyhow...). There is quite a bit of work setting up a 2 1/2 month long run where Terry plans to run "a Marathon a day".to total about 1900 miles. Much like another "ultra long distance" running movie, Running the Sahara, he has a team to help him with various aspects of the journey, from runner support, to supplies, publicity and medical care. Most of his team is made of of his kids and their friends.

There is quite a bit of tension during the trip and the majority of the team, apparently due to mental frustration and a real lack of knowledge about what it would take to pull this run off, bail after about 3 weeks. Terry's older son stays on and they press on toward Atlanta. Along the way they learn about themselves and each other.

I don't want to give away the entire movie, but the journey Terry and his son undertake is memorable and, by most measures, a success. Terry proves that anyone can be a runner and that runners don't need to look a certain way or move a certain speed. I hope that I can work towards showing a fraction of the fortitude Mr. Hitchcock demonstrated during his journey. The movie is an uplifting, real life story which I would recommend. It is available on DVD or, as I viewed it, on Netflix.