Why Am I Doing This?
Hey there! I haven’t had a Deep Thoughts post in a while, and I know how much everyone has been missing them (ha ha). Today I’m thinking about my upcoming race, and genuinely wondering what it is that makes me want to do it. Just as a reminder- on March 21st I turn 60, and I’ll celebrate by running an ultramarathon. I’ll get into all the details about the race in another post, but it’s a 14.3 mile loop that you run as many times as you want, and I plan to run 60 miles. I’m not doing it to prove anything, or to be able to enjoy saying afterwards that I ran 60 on my 60th. Well- maybe there’s a little of that. But mainly, I’m just looking forward to literally running all day on my birthday. WHY. The truth is, it’s going to be uncomfortable. There will be times where I feel good, maybe times where I feel great, but for a large part of this day I’ll be uncomfortable or actually in pain. Why is this appealing??? It’s my 60th birthday! I would be justified in spending it in the most pleasurable way possible. I could sleep late, eat waffles, get a massage, go to a bookstore, eat at a fancy restaurant and drink champagne- why in the world would I choose to run this race? It’s not even like it will be a beautiful course with breathtaking, panoramic views of natural beauty. It will be on a Florida trail, probably similar to trails I run on all the time, and I’ll see the same thing every time I make a loop. Oh, and it will almost surely be hot and sunny. Am I insane? The answer is…. possibly? I gave birth to both my kids naturally, with no pain meds of any kind. There were many reasons for that, but probably the most compelling one is, I wanted to know what it felt like. You’re telling me this hurts? How badly? Let’s find out! I don’t think I’m a masochist (although others may disagree). I just want to experience things, even if it’s painful or uncomfortable. I want to put myself in a position where I have to rely on mental strength to get me through. I want to experience the deep, deep sense of satisfaction of getting through something really difficult. I guess I want to suffer, and figure out a way to handle the suffering until I come out on the other side. Does this mean something is missing in my normal life? Again… possibly. While there are plenty of other people out there running ultras, the majority of the population does not want to do this. Most people probably find the whole idea unappealing, to say the least. Is my brain just wired differently? I have no answers here. Maybe I’ll come up with something during my epic birthday run- I’ll have plenty of time to ponder. When someone mentions ultramarathons, do you have a secret longing, or do you recoil in horror? Top photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash
Tuesday Topics- Recent Reads
Hellooooo! Welcome to Tuesday Topics, which I host with Jenn from Runs With Pugs. This week’s topic is: How do you bring more balance to your busy days? I have to be honest- I don’t have a lot of balance right now. At this point, my mental chatter sounds something like “Blah blah blah blah RACE blah blah blah blah MY RACE blah blah blah RACE…” It’s pretty much all I can think about (coming up on March 21st- how will I wait that long???) Next week I’ll have a couple posts about the race- my plans, hopes, dreams, goals… but for now, let’s talk about books. I finished two good ones! First up: This book was described by Meredith on the Currently Reading Podcast as a book she could confidently recommend to anyone. I was intrigued! The premise is, the main character finds himself on a tiny spaceship, millions of miles from Earth, which is facing the extinction of our species unless he can find a last-chance solution. At first I didn’t like the writing style. It felt like a dumbed-down version of Cixin Liu’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past. Andy Weir took a serious subject- um, the end of humanity?- and decided it would be more fun with lots of humor. The glibness irritated me for about half the book, and then I just gave in and enjoyed it. It was a fun, interesting read, and I loved the ending! Okay, Meredith- you can recommend this book to just about anyone. Next up! This one was really fun from the very beginning. Most of the story is told through emails between the characters. At first I thought I wouldn’t like that. Also, side note- I originally thought I wouldn’t like The Correspondent because the story is told through letters. I obviously have to get over this prejudice- reading other people’s letters and emails is FUN. The story in this book is engaging, it’s fast-moving, and it’s a puzzle laid out with all the clues available to the reader Like the best mysteries, you won’t figure out the solution- but when it’s revealed, you can see that all the clues were there. Great book. Have you read either of these books? What are you reading now? Join us next week —> Luck and hard work- which one has helped you the most lately? Link Up With Tuesday Topics Welcome back to Tuesday Topics, as Jenny, from Runners Fly joins Jenn at Runs With Pugs to co-host this link-up! Please join us every week for a new topic! Write on our weekly prompt or choose your own topic! Make sure to add your post to the link up, link back to your hosts, and comment on the other shared posts! You are invited to the Inlinkz link party! Click here to enter
Weekly Rundown- It’s In the Barn
Hey you guys- I had a pretty great week with back-to-back long runs, and I can say THE HAY IS IN THE BARN! My race is two weeks away, so all my long runs are done. Now all I have to do is keep myself in shape and in one piece until March 21st. Thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly Rundown. Let’s get into it! Monday I started the day with Caroline Girvan’s deadbug workout, followed by a 4 mile run. Later in the day- hip stability exercises. Tuesday Hmm. I did another Caroline Girvan abs workout. That was good, and I had an upper body strength workout planned, which for various reasons did not happen (I would live to regret this!) Wednesday Last long trail run! This will be my last time on the trail for a while. By the time my race is over, it will be almost summer, and this trail is awful in the summer (way overgrown and buggy). There were some highs and lows, but overall I felt good. The heat bothered me at the end (it got up to 83 degrees) but my race will most likely be hot, so I just sucked it up. I finished with 26 miles! At night I did Adriene’s yoga for lower back pain. i really love the stretch for the hip flexors in this video! Thursday In the morning I did Adriene’s morning hip release. Then I went to work, and after work it was straight to the gym for long run #2. I got on the treadmill, and after surviving the first few moments of bitter complaining from my legs and low back (“WHAT ARE YOU DOING??? WE DON’T WANT TO DO THIS! STOP RIGHT NOW!!!”) I actually started to feel pretty good. SO good, in fact, that when I got to my goal of 10 miles I didn’t want to stop. So I added on one more mile to make it 11, and I still felt like I could have kept going, but decided better safe than sorry, and called it a day. Total running for the two days=37 miles. Friday I was thinking of doing a much-needed upper body strength workout, but my Garmin kept insisting that my stress levels were higher than normal. Oh, very well- I’ll do yoga instead! I did Adriene’s yoga for tired legs, and really enjoyed it- it was just what I needed. Saturday I opted to sleep in, then after work got out for a 4 mile run. Once again, I had an upper body workout planned, and once again it didn’t happen. Sunday I’m super happy with all the running this week! However, I did almost no strength training. Oops. On tap for today- hip stability and upper body workout. Seriously- I have to do it!!! Are you happy about the time change? – I’ll spend the whole day grumbling about it. I hate the dark mornings! Are you getting excited for spring? – No. Not ready for the hot weather yet!!!
March Ultimate Coffee Date!
It’s the first Friday in March, so I’m joining Coco and Deborah for the Ultimate Coffee Date. Note the snazzy new mug (gift from my husband on our anniversary). It holds an extra large amount of Earl Grey tea! Let’s get started… If we were having coffee together, I would tell you that my big, goal race is two weeks and one day away!!! As a reminder, on March 21st I turn 60, and I will celebrate (as one does) by running 60 miles. I’ll be talking more about the race in upcoming posts, so all I’ll say is, I’m excited! I mean… what better way to spend my birthday than to run all day? At the end of the month we have another exciting event, which is a visit from my son and his fiancee. This will be her first time here, and the house needs some… attention, ahem. My project is named “Make the House Great Again” and I’m starting off by cleaning one thing every day. By that, I don’t mean doing the dishes or sweeping the kitchen floor. I mean something that I wouldn’t normally be cleaning, and there’s a long list of nagging chores that can be taken care of this way. I’ve already cleaned up several mysterious and baffling messes, like a pile of clothes that’s been sitting in the living room for several months, a basket in the corner that’s been there since my daughter’s birthday (not the last one- two birthdays ago) which somehow had filled up with cat toys and fake flowers (???) and, well, you can imagine the rest. I have my work cut out for me, but with my “clean one thing every day” schedule, I’ll get there. The last thing I would share over coffee is, my reading life has been stellar lately! At first I wasn’t sure how I felt about Project Hail Mary, but I ended up loving it. I’m only about halfway through The Appeal, and I’m really enjoying that one as well. More on both of these coming up in a “reading” post. Do you have anything exciting coming up this month? Have you read either of these books?