A Reason to Run

I've been blessed these last two weeks to have some special time to spend with my boys. We've been franticly trying to finish logging our miles for their running club this summer. (We have six more miles to run before Sunday.) I love the running and sharing my love for it with my boys. I enjoy the physicality of our runs. The boys are getting to the point that they are fast enough that running with them isn't easy. There are times that we walk up hills that I run when I am alone, and there are walk breaks sprinkled in, but there are also all out sprints to beat the "bear" to the next goal. The running with them is fun, but the real treasure of our running, has been the time that I've had to listen. They have so much to say that I miss in the business of our days. Yes, I am with them all of the time, but, time to really listen is short. I know that come Sunday, they are going to think that our early morning runs should be traded for an early start to our school day, but I hope to convince them that there is value in our mad dashes up the hill each morning. I'm not sure if I will resort to bribery or not, but the thought has crossed my mind. After all, these days are short. Soon I won't be able to keep up with them, and they will be running their own life's race.

A Most Amazing Man

Our family spent some time near Leadville, Colorado this last week. We played in the lake, hung out with friends, enjoyed some beautiful scenery, and ran. My boys and I ran down a jeep road that lead somewhere. They each wore a Garmin watch. I loved watching them respond to the instant feedback. Maybe more of that in school would help their performance? I also got to do some running. Not that many miles, but I did get to tackle the Leadville Trail 100 course as it takes off out of Twin Lakes. Making that mile long climb up to the single track on a rocky jeep road, made me reconsider the stats that we'd looked over the night before. The slowest women that completed the race this year averaged around 15 or 14 minute miles for the entire 100 miles. That means that my 18 minutes up that slope wouldn't have cut it, and I was hiking up in the daylight without having run 60 miles before and having crossed three mountain already. As I was carefully picking my way down the mountain, I thought of my husband's experiences on these trails. He had a disappointing day on Saturday with a rough patch over Sugar Loaf that cost him too much time to make up. Still he averaged 21 minute miles while running up a crazy mountain and feeling horrid all the while. He once told me that the year he made it to Twin before being cut it was crazy to be at the top of that descent and know that you had ten minutes to run that last downhill mile. I was coming down on fresh legs and still couldn't navigate that road in less than ten minutes. Every time that I get a chance to run the trails up at Leadville, I am even more amazed at all that my husband has accomplished as a part of his races there. I am so proud of the crazy man that I married. I wouldn't change the experiences that we've had at Leadville as they have only helped me to see how truly amazing he is.

The Best Kind of Speed Work

Most of my miles these last two weeks have been run with my boys as they are logging miles for running club. We run up and down the hill near our house. The last few days, I've noticed a trend. They run like kids. We alternate between frantic rushes of speed and plodding walking. Then there is the perpetual game of tag with the back runner taking on some terrible form such as that of a bear. It is the most fun speed work has been in a long, long time.

Core Work

It seems like there are endless ways to relate running and fitness to life. My husband and I found another one this week. Our fifteenth wedding anniversary was a few weeks ago, and this week we managed to get a few days away at Steamboat Springs to celebrate. We slept in, went to bed late, ate dinner at 10:30 p.m., and just spent time together uninterrupted. We talked about everything serious and funny. We spent time being together without talking, just holding hands and looking up at the mountains. But, for me, the best part of our time together was the running hikes that we took up Mt. Werner and Fish Creek. We covered about 8 miles the first day and 7 or so the second. I especially enjoyed the time on Fish Creek. When we left, my legs were feeling worn. On the way up, I was just keeping up. As we progressed up the mountain and saw the late day-sun shining gold on the waterfalls, my energy returned. I think it had much to do with the encouragement of the wonderful man that was sharing his memories of the trail with me. He'd run this section down during the Run, Rabbit, Run 100 mile race last September. We got up on top and saw some amazing views of the world that God has created for our enjoyment. Some places the trail was cut from the rock face of the mountain. Sometimes aspen whispered to us as we passed. The undergrowth brushed our arms, containing ripe raspberries, gooseberries, and several unknown varieties as well as a yellow, purple, white, and orange wild flowers. Most of the time, the sound of rushing water accompanied our conversation. We kept stopping to marvel at the beauty of another waterfall or pool. We even stopped to dip our toes in one pool on the way down. The big excitement came as we were nearing the last mile of the trail. We'd been running, but my socks were slipping. I stopped to fix them. Justin stopped to wait for me then shouted back, "There is a bear on the trail." I thought he was joking, but looked up to see a small grizzly bear looking at us. He wasn't far down the trail, but after looking at us, he wandered off the trail. We were thankful for that as the only way back to the car was where he had been. We kept up the noise and finished with a bit of running after getting well past him. During one of our downhill running sections, we had remarked how what we'd been doing in the days that we'd had together was a lot like core work. In running, we talk about strengthening our core to keep us from getting injured and to help make our running stronger. Taking time to be with my husband this week without the usual demands of our lives, strengthened our relationship much the way I want to strengthen my core for running. The time invested in our relationship will help when the struggles of life come. I will confess that the core work that we got to do this week was more enjoyable than other types of core work I've done, but I think that the rewards will be much the same.