Don't Look Down

Today I ran with a running group in Branford, CT.  It was my first time running with them and I had a great time!  I've learned many things since I've started running an important one is that I absolutely prefer running with other people.

There's something about the motivation of having to meet people somewhere, that makes it more difficult to put off or blow off.  But once the running starts, even if we aren't talking, I really enjoy having people there with me.  Maybe the sadist in me enjoys watching other people torture themselves.  Maybe it's the competitive desire to not look like a douche in front of other people that wills me not to be tired.  Maybe it's just the time spent getting to know other people with similar interests.  Whatever it is, I get to spend more time distracted from how exhausting running is and I have to struggle less with self-doubt.  

This run was much different than the ones I usually do in New York.  We actually ran in the streets!  We ran on some small back roads, were surrounded by green things like trees and moss, and we even run up a trail in the woods to a point overlooking a marsh & the Thimble Islands in the Long Island Sound.  At the lookout, the group decided to haze me and make me read the inscription on a monument, but afterwards they told me it was the most inspirational reading ever!  

This run also included a lot more hills than I usually run.  This wasn't a problem until the last hill, I was starting to get tired and saw the hill in front of us.  I felt my heart drop a little, then we got to the top of the hill and I realized that it was only the warmup for a much larger hill.  While I was running up this hill, runner code named Iggy, told me a trick she referred to as "scouting".  Basically, it is an exercise to look at something, anything that is not what is directly in front of you.  I looked at a tree until I got close to it, then I picked another tree, then a bush, then a car started driving towards us so I had to look back up the hill, but you get the idea...

I equated scouting to being on a high ledge or a cliff and being told not to look down.  The hill was long and steep, but any trouble that it was giving me was in my own head.  When I ran the 8K race last Saturday, I noticed the same reaction, in that case though, it wasn't a hill, but the distance that got into my head.  I would look at the mile markers and start getting myself psyched out.  I'd see a marker indicated that there was one mile to go and I'd get tired and just think about that one mile.  It got to the point where I had to look down as though I was a horse with blinders on.  

In today's run, I had no idea where I was at any point so I just kept running.  I was never tired thinking about how much further there was to run because I didn't know.  When I got home I checked my Nike+ and I ran the same 5.4 miles that I ran two times on Saturday.  Despite the hills, I was not nearly as tired today as on Saturday.  

This group was a lot of fun to run with and I am looking forward to running with them again in the coming months.  

I know it's been a while since I mentioned our fundraising efforts, but it is going really well.  I have achieved 29% of my goal so far and Henry has recently recently reached 22%!!!  If you are interested in supporting us, donations can be made at http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/rnr09/sdziekan and http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/rnr09/hdziekan

Thanks for all of your support!

~Sam