I had the opportunity tonight to go to a seminar by Fleet Feet Sports Chicago at the Old Town location called "Breaking Through the Wall". "The Wall" is what the running world terms that part of the race you hit when it literally feels like you ran into a wall an can't go any further.
While during a run, I can't say I've experienced this yet, I have had my share of injuries and am currently fighting patellarfemoral syndrome (runner's knee) and platellar tendonitis (jumper's knee). Two weeks before the event that I've been training for all summer long. Stages of grief? Check.
For me, this has been happening for the past week and a half. I did get in a 20 mile long run 5 weeks out and a 13 mile run 4 weeks out. And a whole 3 miles in the last 1.5 weeks TOTAL. It may not be the race, but yep that's a wall...
The timing of this was interesting in that for the past week and a half I've been stretching, icing, elevating, praying, offering sacrifices (ok, maybe not that. But if I thought it'd help I would not be opposed!) and the pain has been persisting even when standing and walking. But today? It was less! Moreover, as I was sitting in the theater waiting for the event to start, I overheard conversation of a girl that had a toe injury in the last few weeks. Boy misery does love company!
And then I got to watch and hear from a panel of 5 amazing people:
- Carey Pinkowski - Executive Director, Bank of America Chicago Marathon
- Mike Norman - Co-Founder and Head Coach, Chicago Endurance Sports
- Deena Kastor - American long-distance runner. She holds American records in the marathon, half-marathon, and numerous road distances. She won the bronze medal in the women's marathon at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece
- Meb Keflezighi - American athlete, specializing in long distance running. He is a 2004 Olympic Silver Medalist in the Marathon and finished in 4th place in the 2012 Summer Olympics
- Monique Ryan - Author of Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes and nutritionist with over twenty-five years of professional experience
- Those running for charity are expected to raise between 12 and 14 MILLION dollars for their respective charities!
- Upwards of 14,000 people will volunteer their time to make the 2013 Chicago Marathon a reality.
- In training for the race this year, Fleet Feet's awesome FREE hydration stations that have been lining the lakefront will have distributed 325,000 cups of water and Gatorade!
- In a TAPER week, Meb runs ONLY 90 miles. Yeah, he's not quite like you and me!
But there was much than stats. There were a few powerful things that I'm going to apply starting now even outside of my runs that I wanted to share:
- It's no secret that training takes time. 17 weeks by my schedule. Though that's really assuming you've run a bit before. It's no secret that this time has to come out of your free time thus leaving you with less. And then there's all the time planning and reflecting on that training. It's easy to get caught up in "I don't have the time". But Deena shared this: "When God made time, He made enough of it." And so it's up to each of us how to balance what we're given with what we need to do.
- Keep a training journal! (Ok so this is for my next marathon). Likely not every run will be great. That's OK! But those that stand out in a positive way for ANY reason, highlight them in the journal (with a pink highlighter, naturally). You may have a week of only one highlight. But then as you get into the taper and look back on the last 14-17 weeks you'll hopefully see a lot of pink! Or I suppose any other color will work too. ;-)
- The Chicago course is known for being pancake flat. And then there's "Mount Roosevelt". As Dave Zimmer (owner of Fleet Feet Chicago and moderator for today's event) put it to Race Director Pinkowski, "In a city where anything can be done with a phone call, why is there still a hill at Roosevelt Road?!". Pinkowski's reply was a quote from 2010 champion Sammy Wanjiro: "Thank God for that hill or I wouldn't have won." I recall something similar when watching the push rim (wheel chair) competitors finish last year. They BATTLED that hill; going backwards with each forward push. Yet they succeeded. And seeing that I now view each hill with that mindset. I'm thankful for each opportunity I have to make it up the top!
- Finally, the simplest and yet most complex advice, from Deena, from her coach: "Define Yourself." Race day will be filled with a number of choices leading to and during the event. What to eat. When to drink. How much to drink. Am I going to hard? Can I go harder? All of these points give you the opportunity to define yourself. So too, LIFE is filled with these opportunities. In a few seconds, minutes, hours, day, weeks, months. We're all given opportunities to define ourselves. And it's up or us and how we respond to shape our own definition. This may have entered the lead for what I want my post race tattoo to say. :-) (fittingly, ALSO my first)
One final anecdote. On World Record Sunday nonetheless, it was mentioned that Wilson Kipsang (the 2:03:23 man!) would have been "maybe the fifth guy or so" that Pinkowski would have recruited for Chicago this year. Look out, we may have our own WR in a few weeks!
And when it was all over, I got to meet and get photos with both Meb and Deena. They were so amazing and down to earth! And the knee? I took the stairs with no pain!!! Yeah I think I'm breaking through my wall. Thanks to Fleet Feet for organizing this and for the incredible panel for doing this. I've now gone from hopelessness to a feeling that I can will finish dominate this race!
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