The Hobby Jogger Experience: Honesty
Monday, December 11th — Easy Run
5 AM — 3 in 21:46
4:45 PM — 7 in 50:10 with 4x100 strides
My video I want to share with you comes from Scott Fauble and a new series he is doing called “Off Course”. Along with this two minute video, Scott also wrote a piece to accompany the video that you can read here. What Scott wrote was honestly one of the best things that I have read about running in a long time. I think his perspective was refreshing and also very honest about what running means to him. As someone who attempts to write about running, I was jealous with how well Scott was able to get that meaning across. In his writing Scott talks about the honesty of running. And it is one of the things that originally drew me to running and continues to draw me back as I get older.
I first started competitive running when I was a freshman in high school. Like most freshmen in high school, I had my fair share of awkward social situations. And my social life was what I cared about most at that time in my life. I looked up to a lot of older friends in high school and I was always a bit of jealous of how they so smoothly maneuvered their way through the social circles of high school. And this was the first time in my life that I became aware of how “ass-kissing” and knowing the right people could move people ahead in life or get them out of sticky situations. And I was jealous because I did not have these skills and I saw my peers work their way ahead of me not because they were better or smarter than me, but because they were more adept than me socially. And that does not feel honest to me. That feels fake. I believe that someone should work their way up in this world is through their work, not how well they can schmooze their boss or peers. But I noticed that first year of competitive of running that schmoozing held no value when it came to the sport. You could not talk your way to into running fast. You could talk all you want before the race, impress your peers with your superior social skills, but once that gun went off all that bullshit went away. If you could not get the best out of yourself and go balls out on race day, you weren’t shit. And I loved that and still do love that.
As I have gotten older and gone through college and now have joined the work force, I have run into a lot of people who I feel are talkers. These are people who are quick thinkers and are great at talking about ideas or what’s wrong, but they are typically lacking when it comes to taking action. Yet, I see a lot of these talkers get the best opportunities and move their way up in the world because they are really great at being those talkers. And now I go back to running because it is simply more honest than what people call “the real world”. Because in the real world, I could lie to you all on this blog. I could tell you all I was running 80 miles a week and none of you would know if that was true or not because 99% of my running is on my own and no one would bother to check if I was really getting after it or not. While I could lie on this blog everyday and it would look very impressive, I cannot lie when I go to the starting line of race. I may have all these pretty numbers written here in my training log, but on race day my body will show whether or not those numbers are true or mean anything. Cause I can write 80 miles a week in my training log but writing it down does not cause my body to respond and gain 80 miles of fitness. The only way to get that response from my body is to actually run 80 fucking miles. And that is why running is one of the most honest and pure things in my life.
There is a great quote in Once A Runner where Bruce tells Cassidy that the track is the one place in the world where the bastards can’t screw you over. I cannot give you the exact quote because I am currently lending my copy out but that is how I remember it and perhaps that is what matters. When I am out running, the bastards of the world have no way of screwing me over. That is why I keep coming back.
Tuesday, December 12th — Easy Run
5 AM — 3 in 22:27
4:45 PM — 7 in 51:33
8 PM — 3 in 21:39
Yeah I did three runs for 13 miles today. Originally I did not plan on doing this, but I just really felt like running later in the night and figured I would just get an easy three in. Sometimes you have to act on your impulses. I have been training well for the past two weeks and I really want to keep that up before I head into winter break at school. Tonight I signed up to run the Frosty Ten Mile race in Littleton, Colorado and I am super pumped up about that race. That race is January 20th and I want to string together some really good weeks of training before taking my first shot at racing ten miles.
Recently I have been bitten by the longer distance bug. I never would have imagined being this excited for a ten mile race. I just found it by accident last night and since have been thinking about it and have been really excited. I have also been thinking a lot about when I will decide to make my marathon debut. I did not think that would happen anytime soon after graduating college but right now I am thinking about taking a crack at it in the next year or two. I have also been considering taking a crack at a 50 mile race. I went and watched my buddy Ryan do one this past summer and it was an incredible experience and definitely something I want to be part of in the future. If you asked me in May, I would have told you there was not way I would ever run a 50 mile race. Now, not only do I think I will but I might give it a try in the coming years.
Wednesday, December 13th — Easy Run
5 AM — 3 in 23:31
3:45 PM — 4 miles with running club
6 PM — 3 miles
Another quality day of training. I did a workout with my top runners in running club that included two and a half miles at sub 5:40 pace so I’m making up for taking it easy yesterday. I’m at least doing some faster stuff.
For running club, I have been wearing sweatpants to run on these cold winter days. This is really the first time that I have explored running in sweatpants. Since my senior year of high school, which was the first time I actually started running consistently during the winter, I have run in running tights. These are skin tight, unlike sweat pants which are rather baggy. I made the switch to sweat pants just because I am running at school and I don’t want to cause some controversy wearing some running tights that are too revealing (for reference I was talked to during the cross country season about wearing short shorts that were too short). So let’s have a debate, sweat pants or tights?
By the way, this is all just for fun. Don’t take either one of these takes too serious.
Sweatpants
This may be the first time this has been ever been said, but sweatpants are the more professional choice in this case. Wearing tights just opens up the door for people to continue to yell ridiculous things at me while running, Running in sweatpants also gives your legs a little more room to roam, and I’ve read and heard some people complain that tights restrict their leg movement. Also, sweat pants are just more blue collar. Runner who wear tights are the type of guys who need to buy the newest running gear as soon as it comes out because they swear it will make them faster. The only thing that’ll make you faster is running more miles you fucking idiot. Also, studies show that runners who run in tights are 50% more likely to post a picture on Instagram talking about their run and “the grind” (aka the worst kind of person).
Tights
If you run in sweatpants, the chances are you also run in a hoodie. Nothing is wrong with running in a hoodie to keep you warm, but you need to know that if you run in a hoodie and sweatpants you look like a high school wrestler that runs around the gym to lose weight and swears he could beat you in a mile but in reality can’t break 8 minutes for the mile. In short, you look like a loser. You know who where’s tights to run? The Kenyans. Yeah, the best distance runners in the world. They are not wasting their time with your garbage sweatpants. Also sweatpants are terrible to have on a windy winter day. They are baggy and get caught flapping all in the wind. Tights are sleek and sexy.
My honest take: Sweatpants are not as bad as I originally thought. I have no beef with sweatpants. But I definitely side with tights here. As a guy who checks out his reflection while running any chance he gets, I agree that tights are “sleek and sexy”.
As always, I would appreciate your thoughts on the subject. Let me know what you think.
Thursday, December 14th — Easy Run
5 AM — 3 in 23:50
3:45 PM — 3 with running club
6 PM — 3 in 20:42
The classic 3x3 mile runs to get to nine miles for the day. Isn’t it crazy that my last run of the day can be 3 minutes faster than my first one? They were both done on the same route. I’m feeling the grind tonight, so I don’t have much too say. Winter break needs to get here.
Friday, December 15th — Easy Run
5 AM — 3 in 22:37
4 PM — 5 in 36:57
Whew. Made it to the weekend and I am gassed. I’ll write more tomorrow.
Saturday, December 16th — Interval Workout
8 AM — 3 in 20:42
2 PM — 2 mile warm up
Failed workout: 1 mile (5:47), 800 in 3:02, 800 in 2:58
1 mile cool down
Today was rough. My body and mind just felt like complete trash. When I ran this morning, it was just a struggle to get through three miles. After finishing the three, I stopped and lay in the grass in front of my house. I just lay there for a few minutes. It was at that moment when I knew that I was probably not going to be able to get through today’s workout. Warming up for my workout I knew that I had nothing in my legs and I knew I had basically no fight left in my mind. It is tough to write that sentence. Makes me feel like a failure and a fraud. It makes me feel like I did not deserve to be out there running today.
Days like today are the ones that make me question why I still do this. Of course everyone goes through these days. I remember doing runs in my life that were so difficult for me when I have thought “It would be okay if I died right now.” I have envisioned myself getting hit by a car on the run because at least that would end the pain of the run. Obviously I don’t want that to happen, but I write that so you can see how dark days like today can get for me. These make me go home and consider whether or not I should continue going for this. And on the way home from the track this afternoon, I considered whether or not I should at least take some time off from running with Christmas break coming up. And I was not sure if that was the right move or not.
When I go to this dark place in my running, I always need to find some thing to bring me back up. I’ve honestly seen this coming all week because I have been struggling getting it done all week. All week I’ve felt tired and have felt like not running when I get home from work. And it just all hit me today. Sometimes when I reach this dark place, I just sit around and think about it. I just stay in this dark place where I dislike running. Where I don’t want to run anymore. I know that staying in this dark place is never a good thing and can lead to weeks of bad, uninspired running. So when I got home, I decided that I needed to do something to get myself away from running.
The only thing I could find to do was to clean around the house. I’m like my Mom and I actually like cleaning and it is relaxing for me. First I cleaned the bathroom and then I moved to my room. I did some reorganizing of my room because it was a bit of a mess. Because I’ve been so focused on running and work I just was letting things lay around my room. So I got to reorganizing. In my reorganizing, I stumbled upon my pile of finisher medals and awards I’ve won from races these past four months. Finisher medals from the Colorado Springs Marathon 5K, the Candy Run, the Denver Rock n Roll half marathon. A second place trophy from the 5K at the Colorado Springs Marathon. A third place trophy for my age group at the Denver Rock n Roll half marathon. A third place medal from the Highlands Ranch Turkey Day 5K. A Christmas ornament for winning my age group at the Jingle Bell Run. As I looked at these, I had to think to myself if I was satisfied with it or not. On the one hand, it is quite a bit of accomplishments and trophies. For just four months of competitive running on the roads, it is nothing to be ashamed of. But then I got to thinking about those races. And some I was proud of, but there was none of those races where I walked away and thought “I could not have run any faster.” Even my half marathon, my best race these past four months, I feel like I did not quite get 100% out of myself. There is still room to grow there.
All of this had me remember this picture from the Jingle Bell Run I was looking at earlier this week:
This picture is of Andy Rinne and myself at the end of the Jingle Bell Run last week. And it reminds me of a thought I had last week after the race. I felt that I honestly could have beaten him. I felt like I did not pull everything out of myself in that race. Was it a good race? Absolutely. One of my best 5Ks in the past four months. But there is still more to pull out of myself. It is not about beating Andy Rinne. It is not about the fact that none of those trophies/medals I have are first place awards. It is not even about my competitors. It is about trying to pull the absolute best out of myself, which I know is still out there. So did I have a bad day today? Absolutely. But I will get up and try to pull more out of myself tomorrow.
Sunday, December 17th — Long Run
10:15 AM — 8 in 59:32
Two true statements:
- I’ve run 198 miles the past three weeks, my largest three week total since April/May.
- I had a crap weekend of training.
One of these statements is positive and the other one is negative. It was a tough weekend running wise for me which is disappointing. With work, I see my weekends as the chance to really push my fitness forward and to the next level. That’s why I go hard in a workout on Saturday and go long on Sunday. And looking at this weekend, it feels like neither one of those happened. I manged to struggle my way through sixteen miles but just could not run any of them hard and fast. And that is really frustrating.
However, I get to choose what to focus on. Running 198 miles (so damn close to 200) the past three weeks means I have put myself in position where I probably made a significant jump in fitness since Thanksgiving. It is the best three week stretch of training since graduating college and it means I am approaching a higher level of fitness. And that is what I am choosing to focus on moving forward. I’ve had a great three weeks of training, now lets make four, then five, and just keep building so I can reach new levels of running.
Thank you for those of who read every week and those who just read when you can. Medium tells me I get about 25 to 30 people who read every post which I think is awesome. The numbers of people who read are cool to see and obviously are really small compared to things published on the Internet, but I write this blog for me and for people who care about me. So it means a lot that you take the time to read it. Love you.
Tucker
