The Finish

Finish lines are crazy places.  A fairly arbitrary line is drawn and people get there as fast they can.  Folks are crying and puking and collapsing.  They are also smiling and hugging and celebrating. If you ever need inspiration for running, find a job at the finish line of a full or half marathon.  I had two hours at the end of the Lincoln Marathon a few weeks back and it is the kind of experience that brings you energy once again.

I’ve been doing this running thing long enough where I think I sometimes get a bit jaded.  I don’t honestly question whether or not I am going to finish the race.  While a DNF is always a possibility (especially in some of the longer races I’ve done), it still something of an abstract idea.  The big question for me is how is the race going to go.  Will it be a struggle for longer than I expect?  What might I end up overall?  How am I going to finish in my age group?  I take it for granted that finishing the race is going to happen.

But watching the finish of the races back in early May, I was struck by the range of emotions.  As a high school coach I work with new runners all the time.  But those are still the formative years of an individual.  You are supposed to be trying new things at that point of your life.  As runners came across the 50 yard line of Memorial Stadium in Lincoln it was just different.  Guessing where people were in their lives and knowing the range of experiences and motivations was fun game.  Seeing is believing though.  The facial expressions, the hugs among family and training partners (could be the same thing), the gratitude to the National Guard members handing out finishers medals.

The majority of runners I was bearing witness to were finishing a half.  Maybe it was their first half.  A life long goal.  A life affirming goal.  This was a task they decided to go for in this point of their life.  Something new.  Something difficult.  Something they may have had no idea how to even approach.  They asked questions.  They found someone to help them.  Possibly they went for it on their own.  The work got done.  They had the courage to start and then overcame whatever factors to get to the finish.  Then they got to celebrate with a goal met and a job well done.

Running is weird like that.  What I mean is that you could apply this idea of challenge and goal setting and courage to almost any new activity.  I want to learn the harmonica.  Someone might be all about pickle ball. Another is down with baking or gardening. Fixing engines.  The list goes on.  Running is different though.  It is objective.  You finish or you don’t.  You run that goal time or you don’t.  You finish at a certain place or you don’t.  I won’t know for sure when I learn the harmonica.  But I know damn well the result of my race.  That can be really frustrating. It can also be really up-lifting.  If you want to feel what I am saying just go watch a finish line.

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One of those days

Ivan Marsh, Myself, and Andrew Jacob. Showing off some pottery from Living History Farms 2016.

This could have been a story about the two guys above and how we develop friendships through this ridiculous (and wonderful) activity.  For real.  Both of these guys I barely knew a decade ago.  Now I count them among my closest training partners.  I assume the feeling is mutual, but they don’t need to say it back.

I have learned a ton from these guys, among many others I have had the privilege of working with over the years.  When I say “learned a lot” it means training methods, but also attitudes towards running and racing.  Like my teaching, I am a different runner now than I was 15 years ago.  Oh, if I only knew then what I know now. . . .

Andrew is training for the Lincoln Marathon.  I don’t want to jinx whatever his goals are, but he has put together a solid training cycle.  One of his recent efforts was a random longish run.  Nothing to indicate that it was going to be a good run.  No workout was planned that day. It was the middle of the week. A big week at that.  But he absolutely ripped it.  When I texted him on it, his only reply was, “It was just one of those runs”.

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A puff of dust

When home computers were just becoming an entrenched part of our lives, I was a junior high student.  An Irving Aardvark in Lincoln, NE (at the time, probably still, the only aardvark mascot in the country).  One of the features of computers at the time was something called a screen saver.  This is a graphic that would come on for a specific period of time before the machine went to sleep or shut down.  Now a days our computers or phones just skip this step and go right to sleep, like a teenager.  You could customize the screen saver with all kinds of images.  Lasers, and clouds, and fish tanks, and the stars.  The stars were my favorite.  Think a warp speed scene from any space movie.  You could probably even search that online to get the idea.

It is also the best I can come up with when describing one of my strongest memories of virtually any outdoor pursuit I have been on.  Like many experiences you try to share it with people as best you can, but unless you know you don’t know.  While I am sure that I had this happen to me at younger ages, there is one in particular that is vivid.  I am sure a psychologist could explain what happened in my brain but since the late summer of 2008 it has become apparent every time I am outdoors.

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2018 Trails in Motion 6!!!!!

Bringing it back for the fourth year now.  With huge sponsorship thanks to Lincoln Track Club and Lincoln Running Company.  Hope you can join in this community building and fundraising event.  Pass along to friends who enjoy all types of running.  Important details:

  • Saturday, February 17th
  • 545 pm tickets go on sale, 615 pm movie starts
  • Tickets at door only.  $10 per ticket.
  • Food provided, bring your own brews to share with the crowd, bring campchair also
  • Raffle Prizes available (see preliminary sponsors below), $5 per ticket, 5 for $20
  • Proceeds go to Lincoln Food Bank and LNS XC team (70/30 split)
  • If you want to bring kids, we will have a kids table set up for “distraction” (colors, pizza, etc)

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How do you share?

Photo credit: Brenda Orr/ Cindy Bailey

We are all on the starting line.  Together.  Different paths have brought us there.  Different goals and different motivations.  But none the less, there we are.  9pm on a gorgeous Saturday night in December.  Fifty of our brothers and sisters have been out on the course since 6am! Challenging themselves on the hills and in the woods of Hitchcock Nature Center neat Crescent, IA.

Photo credit: Brenda Orr/ Cindy Bailey

There is some debate on who said it, but the phrase “you are unique, just like everyone else” seems apt for a starting line.  We can all relate to each other, but each racer has had and will have a wildly individualistic experience.  One of the goals of this site is to share what my experiences are like to those who have never partaken in running.  Or for those that have, this is an effort to expose them to something new.  Maybe just inspire someone, somewhere.  I don’t know what kind of random traffic comes through this site.  But I hope you appreciate it and would love to hear your feedback.

Photo Credit: Daniela Obregón (Facebook)

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Will of Steel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes, I can’t decide what I want to write about.  Between lack of something to say and a busy life, it just doesn’t happen.  Common themes are joy of running, simple (likely unoriginal) observations of my own little experiences in the sport, race reports, my favorite things, essentially recording stuff for my friends to read or maybe even my kids to come across some day.  But a constant thread is what it is that gets people out and on the roads, tracks, and trails.

So what keeps you motivated?  Running is something that is so damn simple, yet so damn hard at times.  The easy answer is that the reasons people run are as numerous as the runners themselves.  On my end it is a time or race goal more often than not.  I am lucky enough to have some talent where I can earn some award recognition, which never sucks.  I really, really, just enjoy running.  Socially.  Solo Dawn Patrol.  Whatever.  I’ve met some of my closest friends via long runs.  The people I surround myself with or those who find their way on paths that intersect my own, provide endless amounts of inspiration.  Two of those are runners I’ve coached in my time at Lincoln North Star High School.  It’s been fourteen years there as a cross country coach.  We are the world at that school.  Nine nationalities represented this past season.  Really cool to get to be a part of that.  Even better are some of the stories and perspectives I get from the kids.  The story of Liem (above left) and Goanar (above right), two of our runners the last three years has been in mind through my recent training. Can’t make it up. Perspective.  Gritty. Inspiring.

JOURNAL STAR ARTICLE 

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