With my long runs becoming longer and longer, I have taken to plotting them on Google Maps. This is a wondrous web service; right up there with email and Fandango if you ask me. Google is about 90% accurate (in my opinion) and I can finally have a way of more accurately measuring the distance of my runs, before I run them. Oh but there is one hitch. I live in Tigard, Oregon, population of approximately 46,000+. Do you think that perhaps the city could hire one damn civil engineer and implement their suggestions?!
My frustration stems from the fact that like many areas of the Northwest, not every street is labeled with a sign, sidewalks are limited if they exist at all, and little if any street lights. Add to that some streets are not through streets (with no signage). Perfect example: there is a street about 2 blocks from my house. Now from Google maps, using the satellite view it appears to be a through street, so much so that Google recommends this route. As I proceed on my run down this street it becomes immediately apparent that this is not a through street because someone never finished paving the damn street. Oh look, some kindly neighbor has decided to extend his fence across the street as well. Great! Now I have to either jump a fence to trespass on this guys made up boundary line or worse run back up the street and find an alternate route. I choose the later. Tigard police don’t give warnings. They give citations - big fat citations with matching fines.
I figure that this dead-end is a once in a blue moon kind of deal and continue on my run. But wait; there is more – as I continue to run following the remainder of my route, I again come to an unmarked dead-end, but this time there is no fence. This time there is a very deep and stinky creek that I have to traverse. WTF! I am on mile 13 of my run. My legs are shaking and now I have to do some kind of American Gladiator move to cross this damn creek! I find an aqueduct and use that to cross the creek. After completing this run and all the additional mileage as a result of my re-routing, I decide to see if the local Parks and Rec website can give me a map of available trails to use in my future runs. Well, there are some small parks and some of them are honestly very nice. Thank God! But none of the parks are linked in any way to each other. Oh there are proposals to one day, maybe link some of these trail together, but that is years and many dollars away. So to complete my blithe rant, I will continue to run in Tigard; dodging road kill & traffic, exploring dead-ends, and getting lost in my own neighborhood - over and over again.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Like a hamster on a wheel...
Running. Always running. That is my life. When is my next run? How far is that run? What elevation, incline, speed, terrain, etc? Am I sore, tired, fatigued, stiff or is it that one moment of rarity where nothing hurts and I have enough energy to think of something to clean. This training has becoming all encompassing, but I have come to the point that as much as I am sick of it – in some sick way I relish it. I love that I am getting stronger, faster and more determined than ever. Yesterday, I ran 16.29 miles – outside and up some serious hills (okay I walked up the hills). A year ago that would have been unimaginable. Now it’s only the most recently accomplished challenge. Next week 17 miles is my long run. Already I am trying to plan my next route.
Don’t get me wrong – I miss having time to seriously do my art (or at least think about creating). I miss not being able to hang out with my friends and family members because I have to prepare for a run for the next day. There are days (like today) where I am just sick of it all and would like to take a long nap and forget it. However, there is something so incredibly self servicing and freeing about this training for me. Knowing that I am preparing for a battle that is nothing less than against myself, is as fear inducing as it is exciting. There is nothing that is going to stop me short of serious injury, from doing this marathon – nothing that is except me. When people say that running is a mental game – it’s all too true. Your body could be at its peak in performance, but if your mind isn’t – you aren’t running. Too often we discount this connection. But where your head is – will determine when your feet will follow.
Don’t get me wrong – I miss having time to seriously do my art (or at least think about creating). I miss not being able to hang out with my friends and family members because I have to prepare for a run for the next day. There are days (like today) where I am just sick of it all and would like to take a long nap and forget it. However, there is something so incredibly self servicing and freeing about this training for me. Knowing that I am preparing for a battle that is nothing less than against myself, is as fear inducing as it is exciting. There is nothing that is going to stop me short of serious injury, from doing this marathon – nothing that is except me. When people say that running is a mental game – it’s all too true. Your body could be at its peak in performance, but if your mind isn’t – you aren’t running. Too often we discount this connection. But where your head is – will determine when your feet will follow.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Slacker is my name-O!
Marathon training requires allot of discipline. More perhaps than most are willing to dedicate and sacrifice their time in pursuing the goal of running a marathon. I understand this more fully now than ever. I love the fact that I am pursuing this goal and that I am able to see my progress, however slow it may feel.
August is proving my most difficult month thus far in my training. Every weekend has a social engagement, a weekend getaway, or some other event of which I have promised my attendance months previously. This normally inspires excitement and anticipation from me. I am, by nature a social butterfly. But with my long runs on the weekend becoming more and more demanding of my energy and time, I find that I am forced to breakup these runs into two separate runs to accommodate my time and energy. I fear that these mini-long runs are a poor substitute for the intensity of the true long run of 13+ miles that is scheduled for me. Another side effect is that I am missing my rest days, if not all of them during the week, then at least one. I was very excited for this past weekend. I was going to run with the Portland Marathoner Training – 5 hour group. Their run, which was scheduled at 8:00 AM, was an 18 mile run. Since they are more advanced in their training than I; I was planning on only running 13 miles.
This plan was perfect; however I decided to go for a run Friday night to make up some miles I had missed earlier in the week. When I came home about 9:30 PM, I found I could not fall asleep and was restless, but tired. When I finally fell asleep, it was 1 AM. When my alarm went off at 6:30 AM for my run with the Marathoner’s group, I was so tired, I felt nauseous. I made an executive decision. I was miss the run and meet up with the group the weekend after next. Unsure of where to run and having a commitment later that day, I completed a 5 mile run along the waterfront in downtown Portland. On Sunday, I ran another 8 miles in my neighborhood. Sunday night I was exhausted. Exhaustion, I am learning will make my sometimes less than smooth social skills even less effectual; case in point – completely forgetting at the bridal shower the bride-to-be fiancée name was Page and loudly asking what a “page” had to do with a wedding. Ouch!
Tired, I can manage. Exhaustion is something I am beginning to understand requires rest to recover sufficiently from. Gumption or sheer force of will, will only take me so far.
I am blessed to have so many wonderful friends. I wouldn’t imagine missing someone’s wedding, bridal shower, or some other once in a lifetime event. But honestly, I can not wait for September. No plans, no commitments – only running. Lots and lots of running.
August is proving my most difficult month thus far in my training. Every weekend has a social engagement, a weekend getaway, or some other event of which I have promised my attendance months previously. This normally inspires excitement and anticipation from me. I am, by nature a social butterfly. But with my long runs on the weekend becoming more and more demanding of my energy and time, I find that I am forced to breakup these runs into two separate runs to accommodate my time and energy. I fear that these mini-long runs are a poor substitute for the intensity of the true long run of 13+ miles that is scheduled for me. Another side effect is that I am missing my rest days, if not all of them during the week, then at least one. I was very excited for this past weekend. I was going to run with the Portland Marathoner Training – 5 hour group. Their run, which was scheduled at 8:00 AM, was an 18 mile run. Since they are more advanced in their training than I; I was planning on only running 13 miles.
This plan was perfect; however I decided to go for a run Friday night to make up some miles I had missed earlier in the week. When I came home about 9:30 PM, I found I could not fall asleep and was restless, but tired. When I finally fell asleep, it was 1 AM. When my alarm went off at 6:30 AM for my run with the Marathoner’s group, I was so tired, I felt nauseous. I made an executive decision. I was miss the run and meet up with the group the weekend after next. Unsure of where to run and having a commitment later that day, I completed a 5 mile run along the waterfront in downtown Portland. On Sunday, I ran another 8 miles in my neighborhood. Sunday night I was exhausted. Exhaustion, I am learning will make my sometimes less than smooth social skills even less effectual; case in point – completely forgetting at the bridal shower the bride-to-be fiancée name was Page and loudly asking what a “page” had to do with a wedding. Ouch!
Tired, I can manage. Exhaustion is something I am beginning to understand requires rest to recover sufficiently from. Gumption or sheer force of will, will only take me so far.
I am blessed to have so many wonderful friends. I wouldn’t imagine missing someone’s wedding, bridal shower, or some other once in a lifetime event. But honestly, I can not wait for September. No plans, no commitments – only running. Lots and lots of running.
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