I broke away today for a mid-day run today, in no small part to clear my head. Thanks to Melissa's fabulous and very useful, addictive, obsession enabling web find, I know excactly how far I went, how fast I went, and even how many calories I burned.
Today's wintry weather took some by surprise. We had lovely high of 37°and sunshine. I still had to de-sleeve my jacket after 10 minutes. Happy running to you all.
My post on Sister Madonna Buder was triggered by Pamela's comment on Dean Karnazes quest to run 50 marathons in 50 days. As a regular reader of Runner's World, I was familiar with Dean and the small, but growing, population of ultra-endurance athletes. Still, one of the quotes Pamela noted was striking:
"Somewhere along the line, we seem to have confused comfort with happiness."
for what it says to me beyond running and pushing physical limits. Substitute the word "stuff" or "food" for "comfort" (maybe in a little auto rotate .gif image) and you pretty much got it covered.
I frequently read a search for purpose and clarity in the stories of these ultra-endurance athletes -- a hunger Americans generally try to satisfy with food and stuff, resulting in near crisis proportions of obesity and consumer debt.
While it's possible to undertake marathoning and have it actually add to the stuff and complications of your life, ultramarathoning takes so much commitment that simplifying and prioritizing life must be essential. There are also few activities as good at reducing mental clutter than a good long run. Hopefully, I can find my sense of balance* clarity without going to quite the extreme or using superglue on blisters.
*Ed. note 11/12/07: This post was no way meant to imply that running 50 marathons in 50 days was any kind of indicator of balance.
One Saturday afternoon in October 2001, I turned on the TV and stumbled upon coverage of the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. Competitors swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles and, then, run 26.2 miles.
Many competitors had dramatic personal stories as but I was captivated by the story of Sister Madonna Buder, who was attempting to become the frist 70 year old female finisher in Ironman history. The task was particularly impressive since the previous year, Sister Madonna had been blown off her bike by Kona's infamous winds. She finished in 2001 and kept coming back. Now known as the Ironman Nun, Sister Madonna set yet another age group record this past October - at 76.
Sister Madonna started running at 48 when a priest she met at a retreat recommended running to harmonize the mind, body and soul. She has since completed hundreds of triathlons.
Puts things in perspective, no? When 3 miles seems daunting on a winter morning?
. . . and maybe a little tranquility
First, a recap of my 2006 goals:
Find a new physical event goal.
Nope, I never did. I kept considering all sorts of races and then deciding against them. Each threatened to skew my workouts entirely toward one activity. I've been running, biking, swimming, and doing yoga. It took me all year to come a good balance of those activities. It took a full eleven months to come to terms with running only twice a week. I'd been running three days a week for years, which is a recommended minimum for building to longer distances. However, if my longest run is 6 miles, twice is sufficient. Twice, doesn't support running 10 milers and half marathons. I think that's ok for now.
Do more yoga.
Yep. I spent 4 months early in '06 attending Bikram classes before changing jobs/graduating/going to China. Since returning I've been much more regular at yoga than I have in years.
Loose 12.5 more pounds.
Lost 2.5 pounds and 1 more pant size.
Bake more.
When I mentioned in my last resolution post about wanting to really enjoy my allotted 3 starches per day, I was reacting against both the quality of mass produced baked goods and our detachment from their creation. In the last year, I have found cooking and baking from scratch to be incredibly satisfying. I'm confident about the quality, can control the nutritional content, and am connected to the creation. I even made the foray into yeast breads.
We have recently acquired a soy milk maker which rapidly makes a quart and a half of hot soy milk from soaked beans but also results in a couple of cups of nutritious, high fiber soy pulp. Luckily, the pulp, called okara, can be baked into almost anything for a nice nutritional punch and a little extra leavening action. I predict more bread in 2007 . . . and many okara veggie burgers.
On Balance, a heck of a lot happened to us in 2006. Doubtless, 2007 will bring more changes, challenges, triumphs, defeats, joys . . . .
My 2007 goal is (to strive for) Balance.
- Physical balance.
- Nutritional balance.
- Work-Personal balance.
- Creative balance.
- Spiritual and emotional balance.
Here's wishing you a balanced, tranquil, and joyous new year.
Find a new physical event goal. After the marathon, I briefly considered doing the Chesapeake Bay swim until I read that entry required either proof of completing another open water swim or a 3 hour pool swim. I don't doubt i could swim for that long but, man, I just don't want to. That put the length of the Bay swim in perspective for me though. I missed the registration for the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler. I tried to register but the server was too busy to handle it and then it filled up 24 hours after registration opened. I'm tentatively planning to do the Frederick Half-Marathon in April but I'm floundering a bit with event goals . . . so I should focus on my goal to
Do more yoga. I suspect my lack of yoga routine in 2005 to be closely related to my hip discomfort during the MCM. I haven't had a solid yoga routine since before going back to school. It's high time I focused on it again.
Loose 12.5 more pounds - or so. I didn't quite loose 30 pounds in 2005 but I did loose 27.5. Now, faced with meeting the goal, I think should raise the bar (I can do chin-ups now, by the way - tee, hee. Wasn't really a resolution but I've been working on them since Paul hung a chin up bar in the hall between the kitchen and the front door.) and add 10 pounds (lost) to the original goal. By my very geeky body fat to lean mass calculations, that should put me solidly in the healthy zone. I'm not really sure what my natural lean body weight should be but 12.5 more pounds seems like a good next step. Unfortunately, I already need new pants. The clothing situation is getting desperate but I hate clothes shopping . . . I picked up a pair of jeans and a pair of corduroys (and a pretty new suit for $1) at my mom's favorite thrift shop over the holidays so maybe I can manage to avoid a full scale wardrobe shopping event for a while still.
Bake more. You might question the wisdom of this given the previous goal. The 4th quarter of 2005 was definitely marked by more cooking than the previous 10 or 12 quarters. But still, I did very little baking. Then, during the last three weeks of 2005, I made >400 cookies, 7 loaves of pumpkin or zucchini bread, and a peach cobbler (and I helped make an apple crumble). I believe that may have followed 48 weeks of no baking at all. They were all tasty (though some textures left a bit to be desired) and many were low fat and sweetened with fruit juice. Baking is not very South Beach but I'm allowed 3 starches a day - may as well really enjoy them.
That seems like a pretty good list . . . I still would like to teach the bird to come on command or do other tricks. Since trick training is transferable and we could teach her some basic manner commands too, it would really help whoever takes care of her while we're in China for 5-6 weeks next summer (contact me to get on the list of wannabe bird sitters) but I need to consider my commitment to this for a few more days first.
Jen Mueller is a Washington DC mom, environmental advocate, communications professional, yogi (and yoga instructor), writer, photographer, runner, and owner of a small green pacific parrotlet named Bug.
Looking for Jen's kids and baby yoga classes?
