Sunday, November 13, 2011

20 Years of Running: How the Hell Did I Miss That?

I somehow totally missed the 20th anniversary of when I started running: October 28th, 1991. That's the date I started. Well, I ran track in high school and such, but I didn't keep it up in college. Besides, doing it for a sport is different than doing it for yourself.

There was no special reason. My roommate at the time was training for his first marathon, so maybe I was just sort of seeing his runs and decided to start again. I gained some weight in college, lost it when I took a year off to teach high school in the Virgin Islands and was worried about starting to gain it back. In the end, I am still not sure what the dominant factor was that first day.

It was a Monday. I went to the IM East building at Michigan State after my last class. I started running on the indoor track, 9 laps to a mile. Did two miles that first day. A couple weeks later, I added a round on the Nautilus machines a couple of days a week. It was a bit of stop and go at first of course. I took time off over Christmas Break when the building was closed for a week or so.

But I kept running inside over the winter. By March, I was up to about 3.5 miles a day. I switched to running over lunch in the spring semester since my class schedule changed. One day I went out for a run outside...one day and I would never go back to indoor running again. In early April, my first 5k race. Did several of them. By late June, I signed up for and ran my first 10k, the Diamondal Dam Run (with a literal shotgun start from the local sheriff). The first Sunday of November was the Williamston Half-Marathon. I decided that was close to the one year anniversary of starting to run and that would be my celebration. I ran that cold half marathon, about 30 degrees out, 25 mph winds, freezing rain that had turned the dirt country roads to mud. Not exactly ideal conditions for the first one, but I did it...and knew I would be back next year.

Okay, skipped an important day. the Monday before the Williamston race, I went out for my last long training run. Near sunset. I hit the turnaround right at sunset and really hit my first big runner's high. Don't feel myself hit the ground once those last six miles.

I kept running outside all winter. By now, it was a lifestyle. Ran dozens of races. Kept that up when I moved to Florida. 1997 was the first Disney Marathon which was almost derailed when I got the chicken pox less than two months before the race. At the end of the race, I knew I would be back next year, and have been back every year since (and am training for January 2012).

I run everywhere I go in all types of weather. I don't have quite the high end speed I did 20 years ago, but still do pretty well for what I have to work with. I didn't keep good logs the first couple of years, but based on the ones I have, my lifetime total should be pushing 35,000 miles.

I am fortunate my health has held up (more because of running rather than in spite of it). I have a few odd injuries here and there...sprained ankles for bad steps, an occasional fall with some scrapes and bruises, occasional sore muscles, but the worst have always been non-running related (take the auto accident last year for example). I have added more gym work as the years have gone on, but I just can't imagine what life would be like without my time on the road each day. Doing the best to be sure I can run for the rest of my life.

12 comments:

  1. Boppster, Don’t you worry about your joints (bone joints Orbs) and your feet breaking down? Or do you buy good 'sneekers', I think the call them 'kicks' today to help absorb the shock?

    I read somewhere that basketball players have trouble with their feet from the constant pounding; they get some kind of cracks in them.

    My youngest daughter, where ever she left the house by the time she hit the sidewalk she was at a full run. Little shit was fast and she had zero ambition to go out for sports in high school.

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  2. I had the ambition be become a runner, was always kinda jealous of those I know that are.. they seem to get such joy out of it.. I cannot for the life of me get into it.. I find it so damn boring and I dont know why.. I can enjoy walks with taking in the nature the quiet thoughts and such, but it comes to running the same track I just get bored, plus I have no condition so I tire pretty fast.. so it's pretty much torture.. I would really like to do it.. maybe if I would see it through a little longer and not give up, but how do you do that when you feel like you are being tortured the whole time you are out there???

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  3. Good for you Hale, until recently my 80 year old mom ran 2 miles a day, she was in great shape. I have a daughter who has run 5 marathons, the last one in Chicago under 5 hours, she is running another one at Disney World sometime soon, with the goal to qualify for Boston, I think you need a time of 4 hours 40 minutes or better to qualify.

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  4. Not really, Ser. Many studies have shown that running improves joint and bone strength. I am not jumping like those NBA players...heck, I am too white to jump like that!

    I also have a very light foot strike when I run. Literally, people can't hear me run up behind them (I usually give a verbal warning since I scare way too many people as I run past if I don't). I hear other runners really pound the pavement a lot harder than I do, even if they weigh a lot less. I don't try to do this, just the way I run.

    I will be doing the Disneyworld Marathon in January, Jed.

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  5. January 2012...tell me when you can have dinner with us prior or after that one!

    You are so exceptional in what you do athletically...keep it up.

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  6. This is me jogging-run half a block *cough, cough, cough, HAAACK, wheeze, HAACK!* then fall down suffocating in pain...

    I don't know how you do it Hale, my hat is off you...

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  7. Run Forest, run! Seriously, congratulations, hale! I don't do well running. It must not be in my genes; I always get leg pain and too darn winded too quickly. Walking a couple miles at a fast rate is great exercise, though, and produces some good endorphins. I'm hoping my recent bout with foot pain ends soon so I can get back at it.

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  8. Thanks for all the kind words, but I will let you in on a little secret: Runners HATE being called joggers :)

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  9. Once while I was in London they where running the London Marathon. It was pretty neat to see, we were about 2 or 3 blocks from the end so we didn't get to see the mass of runners altogether running which would have been cool to see.

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  10. I went to Chicago to watch my daughter run the marathon, I was at the 20th mile marker and was able to see the leaders come thru, it was amazing, even after all those miles they were still sprinting

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