May Running

Looking back at May, it has been a pretty good month of running.  I ran 87 miles.  I ran my first 10K, in Hawaii, and finished up the 1/2 marathon training plan in prep for my 1/2 marathon in June.

I know I've already blogged once on the 10K experience, but here is a brief, but more formal recap/critique of the race.  The race took place on the Pearl Harbor Bike Path.  My sister and I thought it would be fun to sign up for a race while we were in Hawaii.  So we typed in Oahu' and May races and found this one.  I think it was the perfect distance for a race during vacation.  The race started at Lehua Elementary school and Navy Housing.  It was a timed race and I was the proud racer who wore an ankle timer.  My sister and I joked that it looked like we were prisoners all running with these velcro timers on our ankles (there is a first time for everything).  The bike path was not the most scenic.  Oahu' has some very nice trails, scenery, but the bike path we were on gave us instead a view of homeless people camping out in their tents and a stench which almost made me vomit at 2 miles into the route.  I was also disappointed in lack of view of the harbor. I was also glad it was only a 10K, because me and heat just don't jive and by 30 minutes into the race it started to heat up. I was super thankful to race with my water belt on. I know I'm sounding a bit negative, but it really was a good race for me.  I ran it in 55:05 (8:53 mile pace).  I was fourth for my age range (out of 11 :)) and 50 out of 144 racers.  Both my sister and I were glad we  did the race and its fun to say you've done a race in Hawaii.

The following are some fun quotes/ideas I read this month in The Runner's Book of Daily Inspiration: A year of Motivation, Revelation and Instruction by Kevin Nelson.  It was another month full of great running quotes and ideas.

May 3 " If I ever stopped running, I'd feel terrible, as if I were slowly decomposing.  I enjoy being fit.  There's a feeling of independence".- Bill Rodgers, marathoner

May 6 "As my eyes search the prairie, I feel the summer in the spring."- from a Chippewa song  Kevin Nelson added: Until you've run a marathon, you've never experienced it.  But once you experience it, you realize it's there: the lure of the finish. ... The finish line in a marathon-in any race, really- works like a magnet, drawing runners to it....keep your sights set on the finish, knowing that as you come closer and closer to it, your energy will increase.


May 7 "Health is the mystical and mysterious balance of all things by which we stand up straight and endure". - G.K. Chesterton, writer  Kevin adds: A "second wind" may be mysterious in origin, but its effects are real and undeniable.  You can be struggling as a runner and then not... Believe in your capacity for a second wind.  Believe that if you need it, you always have more energy to call upon.


May 8 "I like finding out what my body can do." -Charles Steinmetz, ultramarathoner

May 13 "The quality of our expectations determines the quality of our actions".- Andre Godin, philosopher

May 16 "If you hear a voice within you saying, 'You are not a painter,' then by all means paint... and that voice will be silenced." - Vincent van Gogh  Kevin adds: If the negative voices are saying, "You are not a runner," ... then by all means, set your sights on your goal and go for it. Only through action will these voices be stilled. The negative voices inside you possess only the power that you give them.  Act against these voices, and you will rob them of their might.  


May 17 "The secret of getting ahead is getting started.  The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one." - Mark Twain

May 18 "Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own, sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction." - William James, philosopher and Kevin adds: There comes a point in running when you simply cannot go one more step.  You're so tired, so utterly tired...You're completely spent, and all you want to do is sit down on a curb and cry.  We all have our person "walls", where we seemingly reach the limits of our endurance or desire or both... This is one of the most inspiring elements of running.  People break through walls all the time... Like so many others, you will find that your personal wall has the consistency of air, and when you finally pass through it, your limits as a runner and a human being will expand. 


May 21 "As long as I can remember, I've been absolutely hagridden with ambition.  If I could wish to have anything in the world it would be to be free of that ambition" - Tallulah Bankhead, actor  Kevin added: Ambition causes frustration.  Every runner knows that.  You may be happy running, say, a few times a week.  You run a couple of miles each time, and it feels so good that you decide to do a little more...With greater ambition comes greater expectations.  You start timing yourself, and you get serious about it... Ambition has its place in the world, and it may even have a place in your running.  But not every day, not all the time...Let running be a break from all that, and some days, just go out and enjoy yourself. 


May 23 "See everything. Overlook a great deal. Improve a little."- Pope John XXIII  Kevin added When you improve a little in running, you improve a lot. ...you define it, success comes only a little at a time.  Dramatic breakthroughs are a fiction, the stuff of movies and novels.  For most runners, success is achieved through small, gradual, incremental almost imperceptible improvements.  But that is a lot.  Get it out of your head that only big improvements are worthy of praise or attention.  Little improvements add up to big improvements over time. 


A great month of running and running quotes/ideas.  Onward to June and marathon training- hope to find some inspirational quotes to help improve my training and running.  But also hope to do what May 21st suggested: just go out and enjoy yourself!