Motivational Mondays (Aug 30) - Guest Blogger Extraordinaire

As promised, this is Mrs. LB's guest post. Mrs. LB asked if she could post this and I gladly accepted her. With any luck, she'll do this regularly.

Now, onto Mrs. LB's post...


Okay, I admit it, my eyes do glaze over when runners talk about running. Someone pointed this response out at my husband’s running banquet and I immediately recognized myself in her speech.

I want to pretend that I’m insanely interested in how song 12 on the playlist led to a faster mile or how in mile 4 of 21 the incline started to have an affect. But, I’ll be honest, mile 4 sounds exactly like mile 21 to me. One mile sounds just as torturous as the next.

Obviously, I am not a runner. Not even close. I understand that it’s one of those activities that you have to experience to truly understand. I am so proud of my husband’s efforts; his drive and motivation to become healthy, fit and eventually a full-blown marathon runner. I brag about him and tell people his story. I’m amazed at his fortitude and willingness to push his body to even longer distances.

Having said all that, my eyes still glaze over when he tells me about the 12-mile turnaround run to his parents’ house and back. I try. I really do. Asking questions helps but I know he can feel my eyes getting that far off look. I sometimes feel like a bad runner’s wife so I try to make up for it by helping him get in as many runs as he can.

I’m also beginning to see that long-distance running is like a religious experience for those who do it. In some ways, I kind of get it. The faith it takes to believe you can finish 26 miles before collapsing. The way you feel almost invincible in leading the battle against those 26 miles. The zen-like state you must be in when you keep moving your legs no matter how much they hurt or how much you’re bleeding. The heaven you must feel crossing the finish line as all your emotions rush forward and flood your fatigued body.

But, I get it in a way a documentarian understands the tribe she has spent time filming. I see it but I don’t feel it.

Before any of you readers think about suggesting I can feel it if I only start today - just one mile and then one more - don’t try it. In the same way long-distance running is like a religion, so is the attempts to convert that go along with it. Some people can’t be converted. Let’s just count me as one of them for now.

So, in the vein of religion, I guess I’m asking for a little absolution for my eye glazing. I will cheer my husband in as many races as I can get to in order to do my part. I actually enjoy watching races. I have now learned that marathoners don’t like to be told they’re almost there - even if they’re literally almost there. I guess it’s not helpful after 25 miles.

I will volunteer and run water stations when I can to support my husband’s efforts. I will help him find the best shoes out there and get carb-filled food before a long run. I will wash (and rewash) the smelliest running gear ever so they’re fresh and ready for the next run.

I will not, however, be able to truly understand how he felt when he crested the hill near our house in record time. I’m going to keep trying though and maybe one day my eyes won’t glaze over.

Guest Blogger: Tahoegirl Conquers Camp Pendleton

While spending time with Tahoegirl and her hubby on Saturday, something slipped my mind. I wanted to see if she'd be up for guest blogging here. I wanted to have her recount her experience for the Camp Pendleton Mud Run. But since she was on vacation, I figured I'd ask her once she got back to Michigan. However, I just forgot to ask.

Luckily, she went ahead and did something to the effect. She posted a comment on Tuesday, after going on a run up near Lake Tahoe. Ha! Tahoegirl's in Tahoe. Anyway, I didn't really ask if she would mind if I posted the comment here but I did want to give it a platform of its own (and sprinkle in some of the official race pictures I came across of her).

Without further delay... I turn the blog over to Tahoegirl:

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A brief recap of my thoughts on the mud run as I am still on vacation but I had to see LB's post:

Hills? ah, I got these. Then I saw and felt the hills -- lets rephrase that to say several long hills that n-e-v-e-r seemed to end. Yes, I had to walk some of it as I was thinking eff these hills, eff this race i am on vacation what am i doing here? I was joking with LB earlier about the sun, you know it's always sunny in southern California right? Well it wasn't...until we were 10 minutes into the run. Hello SUN!!

The walls where a piece of cake. (ok, Mr. TG helped me) The slippery hill was a snap 'cuz LB told us to run up the middle. The river crossings, well, there is nothing like running with water, sand, mud, sticks and stones in your shoes for the next 6 miles.

I have scraped knees from the tunnel crawl as a badge of honor and I somehow have a huge bruise on the inside of my right arm. Dunno where that one came from.

The final mud crawl was a chore as I initially sank shoulder deep but then moved to a better path.

Would I do it again? Heck yeah!! We had so much fun running and gettin' dirty. Look for us again in 2011 but this time I will train for those hills! :o) Thanks LB for hanging out with us. I knew I wasn't going for any records. I just hope we didn't hold you back from going all out.

Next up, Chicago (Marathon) 10-10-10...

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Thanks again to Tahoegirl and Mr. TG for including the Mud Run and yours truly in your vacation. It would be a treat to have you participate in the Mud Run again next year.

And of course good luck on your training for the Chicago Marathon. You will have the support of the entire Muddy Runner nation.

Motivational Mondays (May 4)

It's the start of the week, and to change things up a bit I decided to open up my blog for the first time and allowed a guest blogger to chime in here with his thoughts. It's not that I necessarily didn't have a topic to write about to motivate us all to get this week started off on the right foot but when I read through the guest blogger's post, I figured it would be a great fit for the Motivational Monday slot.

So, here is my little brother Danny chiming in with a guest blog on a topic of his choice.

Roving blogger

My older brother, Luis, wrote the following about me in an earlier post:

“When I was dropping my weight…it was great to have (Danny) around…to emulate…and try to reach to his level.”

In other words, he gives me full credit for his incredible weight loss and change to an active lifestyle.

To thank him for his public acknowledgment of my important role in his life, I’ve decided to contribute to his blog as a guest blogger.

Now, Luis used to be fat. Really fat. But what many of you don’t know is that about 13-15 years ago I also suffered from an EMEL lifestyle (Eat More, Exercise Less) and was also fat. Not as fat as Luis was but, still, pretty fat.

Our fat days never really overlapped so at that time (circa 1994-96) Luis was more active and spent a lot of time playing basketball at the park. I’d always want to tag along with him and our oldest brother, Hugo, but they denied me repeatedly. So, in a sense, it’s ironic that Luis limited my physical activity and, thus, kept me fat while, years later, I would be the catalyst for his weight loss.

Although I was subjected to a host of other abuses by my own brothers, I can honestly say that I’m not excessively bitter or resentful about this time of my life. I’d say I have just the right amount of bitterness and resentfulness. This has helped fuel my drive to stay in shape and also is part of the basis of our – I think “friendly” is the term Luis used – sibling rivalry.

Over the years, as I shed my pounds and Luis packed his on, I never thought we’d be where we are today – actually challenging each other in physical activities like distance running. In turn, I think this has really improved the way we train ourselves. I know that for myself I’ve increased the intensity of my training because I know that Luis is only a few minutes behind me (Mission Inn 10K: Danny - 49 min., Luis - 53 min. Owned!).

Beating each other may not seem like a “nice” motivator to train but I think it’s been working pretty well for both of us. And I can even say that I wouldn’t be too disappointed if Luis increased his training to the point where he actually beat me in a race (the 2008 Mud Run does NOT count). Do I ever think that will happen? No. But as long as we keep pushing each other I think we’ll be satisfied.

One thing that I do wish we’d be able to do more of is train together (queue audience: “aawwww, how sweet”). We’ve only done this a handful of times but each time has been really good. The 5-mile run to our parent’s house, the interval laps at the high school, and the 4.5 mile run at the beach are good examples. I always invite him to my house to train on the weekend but he’s only come over once. I think this is because he lives way out in the boonies. I guess, technically, I’m the one to blame because I’m the one who moved away.

That’s why I’m really looking forward to the mud run in six weeks where I’ll have another chance to run against, er, with Luis.

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Editor's (that would be me, LB) notes:
* the 2008 Mud Run does count
* it wasn't 53 minutes in the Mission Inn Run, it was 52:55. Big difference.
* the picture was taken in June 2007, some 50 pounds ago