50/50 (20 page)

Mind Games

All runners occasionally find themselves dreading a planned run. Overcoming this dread and having a good run anyway can be as easy as using one of the following motivational mind games:

• Change your route to something unfamiliar.

• Buy new running shoes or clothes for your run.

• Find a friend to run with.

• Take your dog with you (or, for a real adventure, take a neighbor’s dog).

• Tell yourself you’ll just run for fifteen minutes. (You’ll almost certainly wind up running longer!)

• Drive somewhere cool to run—the beach, a nice park.

• Change your pace: Do something short and fast.

Breaking routine was not an option to maintain my motivation level during the Endurance 50, however. Every run was totally scripted. I had committed to run precisely the same distance at more or less the same pace for fifty consecutive days. Each route was also predetermined. Because each marathon took place in a different state, the Endurance 50 did have some built-in variety that kept things very interesting. Nevertheless, now that I was about halfway through, my spirit began to yearn for some unscripted, spontaneous running—a yearning I could do nothing to satisfy for a few more weeks.

In fact, on the morning of the Rocket City Marathon, my spirit yearned not so much for unscripted running as to sleep in and maybe take a day off. That changed, though, when I arrived at the starting line. Upon seeing the other runners standing on a street corner near the starting line, psyched to run, my spirits lifted immediately. While the Endurance 50 was routine to me by now, it was fresh and exciting to these folks—as it was to each new group of runners I met throughout my human-powered tour of America—and their enthusiasm was infectious. In this particular circumstance, it was the people that kept me motivated to run the next marathon rather than any factor intrinsic to the running experience itself. So be it. When it comes to motivation, I say get it wherever you can.

QUICK TAKE:
It’s hard to find motivation to run when you don’t have the energy to run. Dietary fiber is a good friend to runners, because it slows the absorption of food calories and helps provide a more steady, lasting supply of energy to the body. There are two types of fiber: soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber dissolves in water to form a gel-like material and can help lower blood cholesterol and glucose levels, while insoluble increases the movement of material through your digestive system. Soluble fiber sources include oats, beans, apples, peas, and citrus fruits. Insoluble fiber sources include bran, nuts, many vegetables, and whole wheat flour. Aim to consume at least twenty-five total grams of fiber daily.

I do quite a lot of motivational speaking for corporations and other groups. The job of a motivational speaker is, of course, to motivate people. The irony is that I don’t believe one person really can motivate another person. Pep talks may have a short-term effect that causes participants to leave the seminar room with a spring in their step and big plans in their head, but it seldom lasts. Real motivation always comes from within. You must choose to be motivated. The most that others can do is help you make this choice by serving as inspirational examples of great passion. And that’s all I try to do in my motivational talks. I simply tell folks about my great passion for running and the incredible journey this passion has opened for me. There is no need for me to translate this message from the domain of running to the domain of business or whatever else when I speak before nonrunning groups. People are pretty adept at doing this for themselves.

The key to keeping your passion for running strong over the long haul is to ensure that it remains a journey and never becomes routine. Lots of runners, myself included, use running to test and redefine various physical and mental limits, which brings endless fulfillment. Others pursue intellectual development through running, learning ever more about the art and science of effective training, how nutrition affects performance, and so forth. The possibilities are endless. The only wrong move is to miss out on
all
of them and make running something it’s not: boring. Because the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other and moving forward at an accelerated rate can be one of life’s greatest—and simplest—pleasures.

Day 27

October 13, 2006

Healthy Huntington Marathon

Huntington, West Virginia

Elevation: 600'

Weather: 50 degrees; clear

Time: 4:09:17

Net calories burned: 86,049

Number of runners: 18

The morning of the Healthy Huntington Marathon in Huntington, West Virginia, was among the coldest mornings I had yet faced in the Endurance 50. The temperature was in the low forties when I left my hotel. It was now October 13—mid autumn—and it felt like it.

Runners often lose some of their motivation to train in the fall, as the days grow colder and shorter. It can be hard to face that first blast of frosty air when you step outside. Cold and inclement weather is just one of several external factors that sometimes make it a battle to get out the door and complete a planned run. A busy day at work that leaves you mentally exhausted and physically flat may also do it, or the challenges of business travel, or emotional stressors such as a recent disagreement with your spouse.

I face these motivation killers just like every other runner. My way of dealing with them is very simple. Psychologists call it projection. Nonpsychologists might call it laying a guilt trip on yourself! I simply think about how much better I will surely feel after running, and I ask myself,
Do you really want to pass that up?
Over the course of the past fifteen years, I have run more than five thousand times. Not once have I ever felt worse after finishing a run than I did before I started. I always feel better after a run. My knowledge of this fact is a great motivator. Whenever I find myself tempted to skip a run for a dubious reason such as bad weather, I just remind myself of that wonderful post-run feeling, and moments later I am out the door. Give it a try. If you’re anything like me, you’ll be pleased with the results.

As it had at yesterday’s marathon in Alabama, my motivation level got another big boost, despite the morning chill, when I arrived at the starting line of the Healthy Huntington Marathon and found eighteen beaming runners ready to bust out 26.2. The finish of this race is at the southern goal line of the school’s forty-thousand-seat football stadium. Matthew McConaughey had just been there filming his movie
We Are Marshall
, about the tragic loss of the school’s football team in a 1970 plane crash, so there was lots of buzz and emotion in the air.

After our group had entered the stadium and completed a stirring trek across the field to the southern goal line, Bob Marcum, the university athletic director, presented me with an official Marshall Bison football jersey. My last name was on the back, and I was assigned the number 27 to correspond with today’s marathon of the fifty. Then Marcum announced that Governor Joe Manchin had just signed a proclamation declaring this day, October 13, Move Your Feet Day in West Virginia, to commemorate our marathon and to promote healthy, active living within the state each year.

The Three-Day Countdown

Motivation and smart training alone do not guarantee successful race performances. What you do in the final three days before a race can make the difference between achieving your goal and falling short. The following table provides some suggested preparations for the final three days before a competition.

This was, of course, a great honor to all of us involved in the Endurance 50. For my son, Nicholas, though, the greatest gift was yet to come. As if I hadn’t already received enough rewards, I was lastly presented with a football signed by the entire Bison team. When I put the ball down to shake Mr. Marcum’s hand, Nicholas quickly snatched it and started kicking it around the field. One of the staff grabbed him and explained that this was a commemorative trophy, not something to be booted about. Being the gentleman that he is, Mr. Marcum quickly summoned a new football and gave it to Nicholas, who thanked him and then immediately resumed his shenanigans on the field. As Plato said, “Of all the animals, the boy is the most unmanageable.”

My daughter, Alexandria, meanwhile, was up to some mischief of her own. She had been inside the employee section of the stadium to use the restroom and had come across an interesting find. “Pssst,” she whispered to me. She gathered up the family and snuck us in the back door she’d just exited. Inside was the school mascot, a massive woolly bison, mounted on a Harley.

“Hop on!” she ordered. “We gotta get a picture of this.”

It must have been something they drive around during games to rally the fans and spectators. We climbed on top of the bison, took a quick snapshot, and then Alexandria said, “Quick, let’s get out of here before they arrest us.”

We hightailed it back to the field.
Boy, if Governor Manchin could see me now
, I thought as we dashed out. Well, if nothing else, I guess we were
moving our feet
. Running a marathon, escaping the law—it’s all movement of a sort.

So, to all you West Virginians—athletes and outlaws alike—when October 13
rolls around, start movin’ those feet of yours. If ya don’t, there could be a bison-toting hog comin’ after ya. And a kid with a football driving it.

CHAPTER 20

A Full Recovery

Day 28

October 14, 2006

United Technologies Hartford Marathon

Hartford, Connecticut

Elevation: 161'

Weather: 59 degrees; clear

Time: 3:29:28

Net calories burned: 89,236

Number of runners: 7,600

T
he Hartford Marathon,
which I ran on Day 28 in Hartford, Connecticut, was a live event. As in the other live marathons of the Endurance 50, I ran this one at my natural pace, since I didn’t have a group to pace with. I crossed the finish line in a little less than three and a half hours, or roughly thirty minutes faster than the typical re-created marathon run with a group.

When I woke up the following morning, my legs felt better than they had in several days. This came as no surprise. Over the preceding four weeks I had noticed an interesting pattern: My faster live marathons took less out of me than my slower group events. Maybe it was because I spent less time on my feet when I ran faster. Or maybe it was because I ran more efficiently at my natural pace. Whatever the cause, the effect was noticeable.

The ability to recover quickly from hard running is probably my greatest strength as a runner. I’m certainly not the fastest guy around, but like the Timex GPS system I wore throughout the Endurance 50, I can take a licking and keep on ticking.

I discovered that I was unusual in this regard after running the Western States 100 one year. The finish area looked like a battlefield triage center, with some runners laid out on gurneys, others receiving IVs, and none looking particularly well. But I felt fine. I had run as hard as I could and felt that I’d left everything I had out on the course, but after chitchatting near the finish line for a few minutes, I was almost ready for more. Instead, I drove home to go windsurfing.

Throughout the Endurance 50, my body held up surprisingly well against the brutal running schedule. I felt sore, beat-up, and wiped out some days, and I caught a few colds, but that was the worst of it. The objective data that Koop gathered from my blood and urine samples confirmed my feelings. Failure to recover properly can result in chronic dehydration, accumulating muscle damage, systemic inflammation, depressed immune function, and changes in hormone levels. If I were getting in over my head with the Endurance 50, one or more of these signs would have manifested sooner or later, and they didn’t. My body fluid samples were analyzed for markers of each of these signs of incomplete recovery, and almost all of them stayed within the normal range throughout the Endurance 50.

QUICK TAKE:
A convenient way to monitor your recovery status is to take your pulse first thing each morning. A pulse rate that is above normal suggests that your body is still working to recover from a recent workout and may require additional rest.

I suppose the final conclusion of Koop’s study of my body’s response to the Endurance 50, which he performed on behalf of Carmichael Training Systems, had to be this: The human body is a remarkably adaptive instrument. With proper training and nourishment, there’s no telling what we are capable of achieving.