Alameda Runners – Get After It!

I just posted an article about going from being a desk jockey to running a 5k the other day.  Today, I found a similar article from active.com in my inbox.  Their article is similar to mine.  We both encourage you to get out and do it.  Do not overdo things.  There is no shame in walking.  Slowly build up to the 5k distance.

I am a firm believer in getting multiple opinions and making your own decisions.  It is amazing how many things work well one day and not so well the next.  Read up on things and draw your own conclusions.  Do your best to not come up with excuses to rest.

Acitve.com is a great place for articles.  They are like the Microsoft of event management.  They reign supreme but they know there a lot of options available.  To stay relevant, they have an online magazine and wordpress style blog.  Their blog is excellent.  The articles are well written and pertain to most sports for all levels.  They are a “for profit site” but I have never noticed a bias in their writing.  I give them kudos for keeping the bias out.  I have people send me stuff to review and it is so hard to not cheer on the little guys who are just starting out or the people who contact me.

If you are not a member of active.com, I encourage you to browse around their web site.  It is a good idea to sign up for their service and have your credit card on file.  Some of the events we do sell out quickly.  It is good to be on record when you sign up for these events.

Note: I have no affiliation with Active.com

Getting healthy is hard but it does not need to be painful.  When you lead a comfortable sedentary lifestyle, it can be really hard to get started.  If you make it painful, the chances of you repeating the effort decrease dramatically.  Getting started is the biggest hurdle.  Once you start, take it easy.  You will get stronger as time progresses.

• Do it – Get out the door and take that first step.  Decide when you are going to train and do it.  It is amazing how many excuses we can come up with to skip a workout.  I am currently training for a triathlon.  I am training for more than 15 hours per week and I still look for reasons to skip a workout.
• No pain – I know about the old saying “No pain, no gain”, but that is not always true.  If you get a pain in your side, do not suck it up and keep going.  Relax; there is nothing wrong with slowing down or walking.
• No huffing and puffing – If you are having a tough time breathing, slow down or walk.  There is nothing wrong with shuffling along and getting it done.  You are training to get stronger.  When you are starting out, moving is the primary goal.  Get out and do it.
• Start easy – When I started running the telephones were about 100 yards apart in my area of rural Pennsylvania.  Paradise, Pennsylvania to be exact.  I would run from one telephone pole to the next, and then walk to the next pole.  I would make it about 3 or 4 poles then I would start walking a little bit early then start running a little bit late.  After a couple of weeks of this, I would run for 2 poles then walk one.  Before the summer was over, I could run 3 miles without stopping.
• Distance before speed – Do not worry about your speed.  Work your way up to a distance of 2-5 miles then work on speed by using the same telephone poles.  The same thing happens when you are working on speed as distance.  Working on speed can bring tears to your eyes.  Know the difference between lung pain and body pain.  If you are not sure, assume it is body pain and slow down or walk.  Injuries mess things up.

I know these tips are general in nature.  The idea is for you to find tips from a lot of sources and do what works for you.  Take it easy, have fun and don’t get hurt.  I excel at the having fun part but I am not too good at taking it easy and staying healthy.

Thanks for all of the phone calls and e-mails voicing concerns for my safety.  I did not run the Boston Marathon this year.  As all of the readers who know me can attest, I love running and I love people.  I can’t comprehend why someone would want to harm anyone for any reason.  It makes me sad to see people getting injured.  A lot of my friends have been making comments and asking me questions about peoples reactions and how I would have reacted if that happened to me.

Here are my responses to some questions regarding the bomb blasts at the 2013 Boston Marathon.

Did you see what happened at the Boston Marathon?  First of all, I did not watch the coverage of the bomb blasts.  When I saw it on the news, I turned it off or turned to something else.  It breaks my heart to see senseless violence.

What about the guy who got knocked over by the blast then got up and kept going?  My response is, marathons are hard.  When you get to the finish line after 4+ hours of running, the only thing on your mind is that finish line.  The first two hours of a marathon are easy.  The third hour becomes more difficult because you worry about  your preparation.  The fourth hour is hard.  The excitement from the day before is starting to take its toll on you.  The lack of sleep from being in a hotel and getting up early are starting to wear on you.  The fourth hour, of a four hour marathon is pure hell.  When you are that close to the finish line (a couple hundred yards), the only thing in life is the finish line.

Would I have stopped to help people?  I am not a medic but I am trained in first aid.  I do not know if my training would help, but I would have stopped to make sure everyone was okay.  If I did stop, I would have done my best to help and stayed until released by the authorities.  After I was released, I would have finished the race even if I had to crawl to a finish line that was taken down.

Would I have been upset if I was told the race was cancelled when I was at mile 25?  I would have been devastated.  You have to qualify about a year in advance for Boston.  That means most people have to invest more than two years of training to run the Boston Marathon.

At mile 25, you have been through hell and are running on determination and the promise of almost finishing.  You immediately know you have to stop.  A bomb blast is entirely up to the imagination.  The implications don’t really sink in for a few hours because the body is so fatigued.  I don’t know how I would feel if that happened to me.  I imagine that every thing about it feels horrible for the poor people who were out on the course.

I will stop here because it hurts me to imagine how the people involved feel.  I hope something like this does not happen again.
Mike’s Thoughts:  Sorry to hijack Ted’s post, but I share a lot of the same thoughts … it’s such a tragedy that three people lost their lives, along with those injured in the bomb blasts.  They are all in my thoughts as they face a difficult and painful road to recovery.