Lessons From Christopher McDougall

Last night I attended a lecture by Born to Run's Christopher McDougall. Sorry, I do not have any pictures because I'm lame. Also, his talk was really engaging and I sort of just forgot. I was supposed to go on a fun run with him and some other locals beforehand, but I did the right thing, which is listening to my body and my body told me I wasn't ready to try and keep pace with anyone yet. Better safe than sorry.

Chris McDougall
Source

Back to the lecture though! It's been a long time since I've seen a lecture without a powerpoint or slides or anything, but all it takes is one speaker to make you remember just how captivating words alone can be. He opened by talking about Caballo, how he first met him, and his passing two weeks ago. Caballo seems to have died in what Chris described as the exact way he would want to go - doing something he loved, running.

Caballo Blanco
Source

He spent the rest of the lecture talking about meeting the Tarahumara for the first time, doing research for the book, observing the Tarahumara's unique running form, and how our species is designed for running. A few of the major things I took away were:

We're Born to Run
Well, obviously. I read the book, so I knew what he was talking about. But hearing him explain it again - our evolution as a species, how we are exceptionally good at sweating and breathing at the same time, how we are fundamentally designed for running as fish are for swimming and birds are for flying - it hit home. Kind of nice to know you're doing exactly what our species is designed to do best.

Run free
When someone in the crowd asked him what he thought about the newest Newton running shoes, his answer was simply that we shouldn't spend so much time focusing on "the stuff." It's not about the latest shoes* or the time on our Garmin. Of the things that influenced him the most he said Jenn Shelton's motto "run free," was one of the best. I've naturally been incorporating this into my injury recovery and hearing him talk about makes me think "running free" will have an extended stay in my life.

*Chris himself was sporting some huaraches made by Barefoot Ted, which he wore to the fun run and the lecture. 

100 Up
I imagine the question he most often asked by runners (and was last night) is how exactly the Tarahumara run. It's not something he could really explain, but he told the audience to go home and find a video called the 100 Up. See the video below for a demonstration. You can also read his original New York Times article about it here.

Have you tried the 100 Up? How do you feel about "running free?"

Friday Favorites

Welcome to my random amalgamation of things that make me jump with joy!

4 Mile Morning
This morning I woke up early, laced up my running shoes, and ran before work. Not only was it a magical four miles on it's own, but it was my longest run in 8 weeks and  my first early morning run in at least 9. I forgot how much I love running when the rest of the world is still asleep. I even got Mike out of bed to come enjoy it with me.

No better way to wake up than with a run along the river

The PT has instructed me to take two more days rest before my next run, but starting Monday I can begin running every other day if it feels okay! OH JOY!!

Mike's Birthday
Tomorrow Mike celebrates his 29th birthday! I am taking him to a rock climbing gym, which he has been begging me to do forever, and then we are going to Fogo de Chao for dinner, another thing on his bucket list.

Happy Birthday Bubs!

We're Moving!
Our lease is not up until September, but we have been slowly growing out of our one bedroom apartment over the past two years. Luckily we have an awesome landlord and she agreed to let us move out June 1st. That is not only going to be moving weekend, but also conveniently the weekend I would have run The North Face Endurance Challenge DC 50-Miler. I will be sad to miss it, but at least I will have moving to keep me busy. I'm super stoked to get a bigger place, maybe even our own house. I'm ready for a change!

Countdown to Caitlin
My sister has been studying abroad in Senegal since January, but it's now officially less than a month until she comes home. I've missed her so much and I can't wait to see her (and celebrate her belated 21st birthday)!

 

The Long Course
This past Monday I headed to the pool after work and when I got there I realized they had the long course set up, so that a length was 50 meters instead of just 25.

The barrier in the center comes down on Mondays

I was a little nervous about not having enough endurance to get through my workout (and possibly choking on a gallon of pool water and embarrassing myself in front of the Penn Varsity swim team practicing a few lanes over), but it was a success! I actually really enjoyed the long course. I think I'll make an effort to get to the pool more on Mondays now that I've tested it out.

A Blogger Meet Up?
I feel like I always read about bloggers in other cities doing meet ups with other locals and to be honest it sounds like a blast!

Would any Philly bloggers be interested in a meet up? Has one been done before? Group run? Drinks? Both?!

Around the Interwebs

My brain is still cramping a little bit since my final yesterday. Good news is that it went really well. Bad news is that all the intentions I had to keep up with it over break have gone out the window. I definitely need a 4 week break from it after that!

Brain freeze!!!!

So, because I'm not coherant enough today to write a real post I'll leave you with these two things:

Fitblogger Feature

The lovely folks at Fitblogger have decided I'm worthy enough to be a featured guest blogger today. Besides their fabulous 'Blog Spotlight" section (where I've discovered many other wonderful bloggers who I now read), they have all sorts of articles on fitness, nutrition, races, etc. Definitely worth a look if you've not visited them before!

Twitter Me This

I might have been on Facebook since it's advent in 2004 (you know, when you had to have a college email address to register), but I missed the whole Twitter boat. A few days ago, though, I decided to get with the times and see what all the fuss is about. And you know what? I kind of like it. I kind of like it a lot. Why didn't anyone tell me!?! It's like Facebook and blogging, but even easier!

But seriously, if you're not on get on and if you are on come find me! :)

Getting Back in the Game

After what has been a pretty stressful week (which led to pessimistic posts like yesterday's) I finally feel like I'm getting back in the game. The combination of a demanding class schedule, approaching final exams, and looming work deadlines has led me to feel quite overwhelmed, and when I feel that overwhelmed I tend to shut down all together and try to hide in a hole.

Of course, "shutting down" now is not the same as how I would have "shut down" five years ago. Back then I probably would have skipped all of my classes, called out of work, and not left my house or pajamas for a whole week. In comparison to that, this week was actually quite productive, but it's all relative, and this week I just wasn't on my game like I have been recently.

While it felt really good to finally run on Wednesday morning after 24 hours of  trying to make it happen, I was still feeling really unproductive. Doubly so when I slept through my alarm on Thursday morning and missed my swim session at the pool. Time to get in gear girl!

First thing I do when I'm feeling out of it? Find some motivation. NYRR registration opened yesterday at noon for their first quarter 2012 races. I spontaneously signed up for the Manhatten Half in January as something else to motivate me and look forward to in the dead of winter.

Feeling a little more motivated after that, I got my homework done during lunch instead of leaving it for later and headed out promptly at 4 pm for a run. No specific distance in mind. No particular path to follow. I ended up doing about 10 miles at a little over a 9 min/mile. I was a little shocked when I realized my pace because it felt really easy the whole time and I felt like I could have run forever. 9 min/miles might not be the best I've ever been, but lately, since my injury and the marathon, I've been slow as a snail. Could I possibly be regaining some of my speed?

Feeling better after my run I actually enjoyed my class, which usually feels neverending. When I came home Mike had dinner ready for me: brown rice and tofu/veggie stirfry. That put a nice smile on my face.


Yay for colorful meals!

Determined not to let my good vibes disappear just as soon as I'd found them again, I forced myself out of bed this morning at 5 am to run with Back on My Feet. It's been a few weeks since I got out to run with them and as much as it sucks getting up that early, I never ever regret going and I never get back home afterwards wishing I had stayed in bed. It will certainly be challenging to keep it up over the winter. Not only is it pitch black out, but it's also getting super cold. This morning was 30 degrees!

Time to pull out the Lule hand warmers

I have to work super late tonight because of an event, but I'm not going to let it get my weekend down. I plan to get in two more runs Saturday and Sunday plus a trip to the pool and, of course, several hours of homework. The important thing is to hang on to this good mojo I've found again. I'm starting a new training plan on Monday so I will certainly need it!

A Photo-Fine Afternoon

Today Mike and I took off early from work to do our engagement photos. I have been really nervous about them all week because I feel like I'm super awkward in forced shots. We decided to do the photos by the Art Museum and Waterworks.

Waterworks

Back of Art Museum

I really wanted to get married there, but it was super expensive. This was a way to get some nice photos there without having to pay the price! In addition, I really would have preferred to get married in the fall, my favorite season, but I didn't want to wait a year and a half to get married and five months was too short. So, again, this was a good opportunity to get some fall foliage photos in without having to plan the whole wedding for this season. 

The weather was absolutely perfect: 55 degrees, sunny, and the leaves had turned, but not fallen! The only downside was that it was rather windy out. Hence the grumpy face below:

Today was not a good day to have bangs

Our photographer was absolutely amazing! I love her! She made us feel totally comfortable and we were able to get in at least ten different locations for shots so we will have a lot of variety. We did a mix of architectural shots with the Art Museum and Waterworks (I heart architecture) and a bunch over the river and with the foliage as a backdrop. The timing ended up being perfect as well. If we had scheduled it after this Sunday (Daylight Savings) we definitely wouldn't have had light as good as today.

We should get the photos in two to three weeks. I'm hoping sooner so we can show one at our engagement party during Thanksgiving!

And in actual running news:

This morning's Back on My Feet run was a timed mile, instead of our usual 1-4 mile jaunts. I decided to "race" it as best as I could (being careful to not cause more damage to my shin) to see where I was at. After more than a month with out speed work I was surprised when I came in at 7:49. I was equally surprised at how painful it felt. Must do speed work again! 

Back on My Feet Fridays!

This morning, bright and early at 5:30 am, I joined my first Back on My Feet group run. Back on My Feet is a fantastic organization with which I have already been able to work with on two previous occasions.

Their goal is to promote self-sufficiency for those who have experienced homelessness and are on the road to recovery. They currently operate in seven cities (their eighth in Atlanta will open later this year) and have six teams in Philadelphia. Each team works with a different local shelter and residents meet for weekday morning runs on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in addition to some evening and weekend runs. Resident and non-resident (ie. me) members run together and many train for and run races. Running is a huge confidence builder, which is a big part of the reason this program is so successful. After proving a commitment of at least 30 days to the running program residents become eligible for financial assistance from BoMF for education, job training, and other things that will help them to become self-sufficient.

My first experience with BoMF was earlier this June when I fund-raced for them for the Baltimore 10-miler. They were really supportive of my fund raising efforts and I could tell right away that these were people I wanted to do other things with in the future.

Then, in July, I ran the 20in24 Midnight Madness, which raised money for BoMF. Many res and non-res members also ran the race. One res member even completed 60 miles in the Lone Ranger Ultra Marathon!

I have wanted to become a volunteer runner with them for awhile, but I wasn't quite sure when to fit it in. But, I finally figured there's no better time than now. What's one more thing on my plate, eh? Plus, it's not like it interferes with my normal waking hours.

Though getting up at 4:50 am this morning was a shock to my system, by the time I got going and ran the 1 mile to the meet up location I felt awake and alert. I was really nervous about going. I tend to be very shy in social situations, especially new ones, so I'm really glad I got myself out there. I ended up running 4 miles with a res member who had also just run the RnR Philly Half on Sunday. We chatted about running and injuries and goals. It felt really good. I can't wait to go back next week and make more running friends! I hope that at some point I can become even more involved whether it's participating in Saturday long runs or going to their social events like picnics and Phillies games. For now though at least, every Friday will be Back on My Feet Friday!