Patience

Graded and Recorded!

This post is more than just about running; although, as I'm comming to find out, it could be very applicable to my new favorite past-time, running rediculously far.  You see, lately I've been struggling with the application of patience to my everyday life, as well as my athletic goals.  It hit me tonight as I was pounding through a stack of papers to grade (typical night when my wife is working her night shift).  Patience is something we all have to learn at some point and I for one place it high on the list of things that are not fun, right up there behind grading papers.  Furthermore, there is nothing rewarding about the process of learning patience; quite frankly, it sucks.  However, it appears that at the end of the process, there seems to be some kind of satisfaction.  It actually reminds me a lot of training at times, although I usually find training to be something enjoyable, there are of course moments where you ask yourself, "why am I doing this again?" 

Ultra runners know the importance of patience.  Push too hard early in your race and a big fat DNF is all you'll get at the finish line, if you even make it to the race.  I'm convinced that 99% of all running related injuries happen as a result in one form or another from lack of patience. 

Cyclists know that patience is also critical when competing at the highest levels of the sport.  "Go ahead, attack 2 miles into the race.  You can sit out front and burn yourself up while we sit back here in the peloton and sip Coke.  We'll even stop for a pee break, and still reel you in with miles to go before the finish and you'll be so tired we'll spit you off the back and leave you sucking wind all the way to the finish." (I'm pretty sure this happened to me early in my bike racing days.)

Aside from the above analogies, I have really been struggling to be in the moment.  It is all too easy to look around at the "Jones'" and wonder, "why can't I find the money to (fill in the blank)?"  There are numerous things that I find myself fancying, idolizing, and just plain lusting over (darn you bike shop!).  I can't even limit myself to things of monetary significance.  Of those things, there's that doctorate degree I'd maybe like to get someday, or maybe a business to own.  Heck, there's even a big part of me that wants to sign up for a 100 mile ultra run this year just because I know I could do it.  But then there's a burning question of "is this really the time to be worrying about that?"  After all, it is true that you are only young once, but this applies more to my kids than to myself.  I have found myself trying to remember daily that the moments I have with my two little ones are precious and limited, yet in spite of this, patience eludes me.  I remember once someone saying: "don't ever pray for patience, because God is good and he will deliver the circumstances under which we need to develop it."  I must have missed that point, and at some point prayed for this development of patience that I'm definitely needing at this point.  Funny though, my children have a head start on me... tonight's bedtime story, "Patience."  My 21 month old chose it.  Amazing how kids can bring out the best in us all.

Bedtime story and an award that will always top any race honor...

Nampa's NEW bike shop!

As much as I loved Cafferty's Cyclery in Nampa, I am so excited to help announce the addition of another local bikery called Rolling H Cycles, also in downtown Nampa.  Rolling H will be a different experience than Cafferty's and I hope both shops can do well.  I will report more on situation in 14 days when Rolling H opens its doors, but for now you'll just have to check out their webpage and as most things these days, follow the progress on facebook...  Enjoy!

Crazy training run story...

Its been about 2 1/2 weeks since the carnage of the WCF50K and I feel that my legs and body are starting to come around.  I have been able to log some good runs, and feel ready to take on training for my next planned race, The Silver City Endurance Run on June 23rd.  I have basically decided to loosely follow Bryon Powell's plan outlined in Relentless Forward Progress with some minor modifications to account for a fluctuating schedule of opportunities to run.  I'll definitely be posting some updates as I get them, but for now, there's not much to report.

The only real interesting thing that happened training wise occurred this morning on my pre-work 6-miler.  I set out from home around 5:45am and less than a mile into the workout encountered an older man walking his giant German Shepperd dog.  The dog was startled by my presence and jumped out towards me where I was running on the road.  The jerk caused the man to stumble and fall down a small, shallow, grass covered ditch between the sidewalk and the road where he apparently hit his head and was knocked unconscious.  I carefully approached and tried to communicate with the man and he did not respond to my shouting.  Immediately, I looked around for a passing car and flagged down a woman and her daughter who happened to have a cell phone.  I explained the situation and asked them to call 911.

By then the man was stirring, but still facing the ground and unable to get up.  Another passing car stopped and the gentleman jumped out and came to help.  We made contact with the man who was obviously very out of it, he didn't recall falling down or know what happened, and he eventually asked to get up.  I was very concerned to try this but thought that as long as we held onto him, he couldn't fall and hurt himself again.  After a few shaky steps up to the sidewalk, the older man appeared to have regain composure and was able to walk off towards his home which he insisted was "right around the corner." 

Obviously, I was a bit freaked out by the whole incidence, but felt I maintained calmness and thought clearly enough to take care of the situation.  For the next 5 miles, I thought continuously about the man and wondered if I should have made him wait for the ambulance.  I guess maybe next time I will have to make the same decision, but will have a bit more experience.  I want to point out that I did not move the man until he was already trying to move himself and I asked him more than once to stay on the ground until some help arrived.  When it was clear that he was not going to do that, I helped him up so that he didn't take another fall.  Talk about a memorable morning on a mundane training run...  If you have any comments about these kind of things, I'd love to hear them.