Monthly Archives: June 2013

I Race Because I Am Lazy. . .

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I am lazy.  No ifs, ands or buts about it.  I know this about myself.  This is precisely why I run half marathons.  Having that set date on the calendar when I have to be able to run 13.1 or more miles keeps me running.  That race date is the carrot on the end of that stick of training runs.  That race date interferes with the lingering urge to skip a long run or take a week off here and there.

This is why the summer is not such a great time for my running.  Most of the races are early in the spring and in the fall.  If I am not working toward a race, it is so much easier to procrastinate and rationalize my way out of a 3 miler.  It is very easy to get into a rut and fall out of a groove.  “I can just get back into the groove when the training schedule for the next race begins,” I tell myself.  It is so easy to skip a run when those summer temps hit the 80s and the humidity is stifling.  As I write this, I am dangerously close to a rut, but alas, there is an 8 miler scheduled for this weekend, thanks to the Dumbo Challenge.   Thanks to summertime, there are also some lovely 90 degree temperatures scheduled for this weekend.

I am not sure what to make of the lack of motivation currently.  When I first started running, 8 miles seemed like a huge deal.  Now, not so much.  That is progress, I suppose.  I never imagined I would think 8 miles was routine.  I have certainly come a long way.  Yet, even though I have been running going on two years, and I still find that I require the motivation of an upcoming race to keep me going.  I do not want to crash during a race (again), and that is my motivation.  I have yet to make running a habit, although I do get a bit antsy if I don’t run for a few days.  I know that without the “threat” of an upcoming race, that edginess is easily overcome by laziness.

The real victory will come when it can’t be.  When I can finally call running a habit.  When I can finally say I run simply for the fun of it, for the health benefits.  Until then, I’ll take what I can get.  If it takes 5 or 6 half marathons a year to keep me running, so be it.  The races are a blast, and I have a great running partner along for the ride.

My Inner Ninja

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Nothing about my running is stealthy.  Dangerous?  Maybe.  But, I will never be mentioned in the same sentence as “agile,” or “ninja-like” unless it is an exercise in antonyms.  That doesn’t stop me from dreaming. . .

Running has helped me find out a lot about myself.  I have an inner strength that I was never really sure was there, and that I never fully challenged.  I never thought of what to call it.  I discovered a song recently that gave it a name:  My Inner Ninja.  The song, appropriately titled “My Inner Ninja,” is tops on my playlist right now.  It has a great tempo to run to, but it also has motivating lyrics that apply to life and running.  Bad habits?  Drop ’em.  Problems?  Deal with ’em.  Back against the wall?  Fight your way out.  “Never dwell in the dark, ’cause the sun always rises.”  Once you find your inner ninja there is no stopping you.  A bit cheesy?  Sure it is.  But it is motivating knowing that you have that strength inside you to conquer anything.  You just have to find it, and use it.  That’s the hard part.   Running has helped me push away my inner sloth, and has uncovered at least part of that inner ninja.  I am looking forward to continuing on that journey to full ninja-hood.

The quote below feels particularly applicable to my running.  As I head into the Dumbo Double Dare in less than 100 days, I am sure this one will pass through the Ipod dozens of times.  Each time it does, my pace will pick up, if only for those three minutes. . .

It’s a feeling that you get in your lungs when you run
Like you’re runnin’ outta air and your breath won’t come
And you (uh) wheezin’, gotta keep it movin’
Find that extra (uhn) and push your way through it

I’ve had bad habits but I dropped em
I’ve had opponents but I knocked them out
I climbed the highest mountains
I Swum the coldest seas
There ain’t a thing I’ve faced that’s been too much for me

Nobody’s gonna see me comin’
Nobody’s gonna hear a sound
No matter how hard they tryin’
Nobody’s gonna bring me down

Nobody’s gonna see me comin’
Nobody’s gonna hear a sound
No matter how hard they tryin’
No stoppin’ me since I’ve found
My inner ninja. . .