Seven reasons why I will finish my first 100 miler

Well, technically it should be eight reasons with the first one being that I really enjoy running. Since it is to be expected that this pure in the moment joy will be greatly diminished  during the course of a 100 mile footrace, I want to focus on the seven additional reasons that will keep me going when all I really want to do is stop. All but two of my races to date went somewhat smootly. Both of my rougher experiences came at the 50 mile distance. One was due to a combination of mostly heat related factors such as chafing, stomach distress and overall fatigue and tightness. The other time I was just hosting a pity party for myself for no particular reason other than the fact that I didn't feel like running another 1 1/2 loops of the four loop 50 mile course just to prove that I can finish it. Although I did finish all of my races to date, I didn't always deal with adversity too well mentally. One might argue that picking an eight loop 100 mile course (the Lumberjack Endurance run in Port Gamble, Washington on April 8th) was not a smart idea with my dislike for looped courses, but then again ultrarunning is about overcoming adversity right?

So here are the seven reasons why I will finish the race and dare I say have fun doing it:

1. I will remind myself to be in the moment at the first sight of self pity and loathing. "Steady breath, shoulders relaxed, get out out of your head, notice your surroundings, smooth out your stride".

2. Speaking about smooth strides. The closest I ever came to having a mantra is: "Easy, light, smooth, fast" ... I adopted that one from Caballo Blanco of Born to Run fame.
The whole paragraph goes something like this:
“Think Easy, Light, Smooth, and Fast. You start with easy, because if that’s all you get, that’s not so bad. Then work on light. Make it effortless, like you don’t give a shit how high the hill is or how far you’ve got to go. When you’ve practiced that so long that you forget you’re practicing, you work on making it smooooooth. You won’t have to worry about the last one – you get those three, and you’ll be fast.”

3. I have been a fan of the sport of ultrarunning for a number of years now. The 100 mile race distance is made out to be this mythical beast of self discovery. I am finally ready to find that out for myself. A quote that very closely corresponds to this idea comes from William James who to the best of my knowledge was not an ultrarunner, but rather a 19th century American philosopher.

"Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own; sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction."

Wouldn't that be something?

4. More self talk. It will go something like this: "If I quit now it's back to the drawing board. It will take a lot of time and dedication to get back to being this close to finishing a 100 miler in the future. I did everything right to get myself to the startline healthy and fit enough to have a realistic chance at finishing the race and supposedly if you're not feeling like heck at one point or another during a 100 mile race, you're not doing it right."

5. I will also remind myself that I owe it to my family to take advantage of this opportunity. They supported me along the way and put up with this crazy hobby of mine. Plus, they granted me the time to come down here and run myself a race. I should honour their generosity by doing my absolute best.

6. I owe it to anyone who is injured and would love to be in my shoes if they could. I have a few running friends who have been sidelined by long injuries. I should honour them too by doing my absolute best.

7. I want that danged 100 mile finisher's belt buckle. Societal pressure is real. I'll likely never mount it on a belt, but that's not the point ... or is it?

Keep an eye out for my next post on this blog "x reasons why I did / didn't finish my first 100 mile foot race".

Actually. I'll finish. I'm strong. I got this. See what I'm doing here?

Here's the actual post: Lumberjack 100 miler race report

Happy Trails,

Marc

The Weight Gain Game

After my last post dealt mainly with running for the love of the game, today's post goes a bit in the opposite direction. What can I say? I do have an ambitious side to me in addition to an easy going side that is satisfied by just frolicking in the forest for the love of it. And it's that side that is responsible for the thoughts in this post.

I am aware that even though my weight keeps yo-yoing by about 10-15 lbs throughout the year, I am neither overweight, nor do I have body image issues.  I have just reached a point in my running where performance gains don't come all that easily anymore. The fact that I have been running consistently and somewhat ambitiously for about four years now has allowed me to gradually better my race results along the way. Eventually father time will have a word with me and I will be in the game of minimizing performance losses though. I shall then resign myself to checking any time goals at the door and running further or having the most fun possible in the process.

For now I will try to get a little leaner in the name of (relative) speed, but here is the problem. This ambition alone doesn't seem to motivate me enough to change my diet or restrict my calorie intake to achieve the desired weight loss.

There is an interesting Sweat Science blog post on our body's natural tendency to regulate our appetite, calorie intake and at keeping our weight in a healthy range, as long as we are not totally sedentary. I think the only reason why this (almost 60 year old) research might not be 100% valid today anymore is because all of today's addictive and processed junk food that is getting a lot of us to continually override the natural feeling of satiety.

When it comes to myself, I need to manage to make good clean eating choices and not eat out of boredom or simply because some yummy food happens to cross my path. If I manage to do that the number on the scale will take care of itself and so will the race results. Essentially I have to manage to eat consciously rather than mindlessly, which is always a good idea, but one that I don't always seem to remember. Apparently if I take care of listening to my body's signals, my body will in turn take care of everything else.

Have fun and be healthy.

Marc

Lessons from a Year of Running: Resisting FOMO, redefining FKT's

A few of my 2015 races kind of got away from me. In hindsight I would say I probably did too many of them too close together or at least my expectations were too high in too many of them. Looking back on my year in running, I had the most fun while just relaxing and being out for fun or to catch up with friends. Exploratory runs in the back country while trying to bag a peak or explore a new to me area rank equally high. There were occasions in the past where just relaxing and having low expectations actually produced excellent race results, but for some reason I was not able to reproduce that this year. I am mixing up two things here though. Running is fun or at least it should be and for me personally it is - most of the time. Setting goals and working towards accomplishing them can also be fun. Mostly because it is satisfying to achieve a goal that seemed out of reach and inch ever closer to ones' full potential as a runner. There are other times though when training can seem like a chore, even though running is still fun if that makes sense. I guess the idea is to make training feel like play time and have the results take care of themselves.

Racing = Kinda fun ... sometimes (Photo credit: Elaine Fung)

I think part of why I was trying to do too much in the past was the fear of missing out or FOMO and the fact that racing is being hyped and talked about a lot. "What races are you planning to do next year?" "Who's going to run -enter name of event here- next year?" or other questions are very frequent and can lead even the most even-keeled runner to feel like they should get on board and commit to more events.

 I had a couple of ankle sprains this year and as of late I also had to take some time away from running due to injury. Having said that, when I get out on the trails lately, I am having the best time ever. I am really enjoying each and every outing immensely. I have no immediate goals, I am signed up for zero races and I hardly ever wear a watch let alone a GPS these days. I just go out to play and have fun with or without company. I can not remember a time when I enjoyed myself more while running and  that's saying a lot.

It is the season for race registrations and goal setting again though and I have spent a good deal of time mapping out events that I am interested in for 2016 and beyond. A few of those races have opened their registration already. I am just not ready to jeopardize my carefree adventures in the forest by committing to a race.

Exploring: Usually lots of fun (Photo credit: Carlie Smith)

I will judge my year 2016 in running by how many smiles it brings to my face rather than by how many finish lines I cross. I will let the results come to me or not. I will have some great adventures and miss out on others without fretting. I am also going to borrow a term from my friend Andy and aim for setting as many Funnest Known Times (rather than Fastest Known Times) on the adventures I embark on as possible. I will race and I will have goals again soon. I just don't want them to own me along with my training and my mindset. I'm gonna own them this time. I will resist the urge to run a new longer distance this year, because if I am being honest with myself, I don't want to. Sometimes I am simply feeling like I should do certain things since it is a natural progression for many ultra runners. What it all comes down to is really that I will do what I want (which includes finding balance between adventures and family life) and not get sucked into things that I think I should be doing. It sounds shockingly simple, but at least for me, oftentimes it isn't.

Have fun. Run free.

Marc

Impostor no more - My Squamish 50 experience

By now I have about a dozen Ultras under my belt and although there was some chafing in the first one and some queasiness in quite a few of them, I couldn't help, but feel like an impostor. Why? I never experienced any of the Ultra running "rites of passage", like blisters, puking, debilitating cramping, lacerations and such.

That was about to change during this year's running of the Squamish 50 miler. This was to be my second 50 mile foot race. My first one, last year's Sun Mountain 50 miler in Winthrop Oregon (find my race report here), went shockingly well from start to finish without any issues whatsoever. Now, although there was no one single issue that slowed me down and made my plans go sideways at the Squamish 50, there were a few compounding issues that left me suffering in a fairly dark place for most of day.

Still having fun 20 k into the race (it's a smile not a grimace)

About half way through the race I developed some chafing on my thighs and later on in some other areas that shall not be further specified, but made the post race shower one of the least fun experiences of the day.

Furthermore my shins and calves were on the verge of cramping throughout the second half of the race. My shins on the uphills and my calves on the downhills, which had the added "bonus", that when I tried to stretch one of the areas the other one would immediately seize up.

Although I still didn't have to throw up I got to the point where outside of the aid stations I was hardly even able to tolerate water, leave alone food. Interestingly enough when stopping at the aid station (i.e. not moving) I was still able to take in some calories, although too much food at a time didn't work out so well either.

One other issue I dealt with were my lower abs which got really sore and hurt me quite a bit, especially on the downhills. Now this is an issue I have dealt with in the past, but never got quite as bad as in this race. This really upset me, because for the last 9 months I had been really consistent about adding some weekly strength and core work to my routine, which it seems did nothing to alleviate the problem.

Lastly my mental "fortitude" was such, that I was pretty much hosting an 8 hour pity party for myself. I got to the point where I was about 90 percent certain that I would drop at the 5th aid station about 53 k into the race. This was the biggest aid station of the day with lots of cheering friends and family. I continued mainly due to the volunteers doing a phenomenal job of pushing my sorry butt out of the aid station and back onto the trail. From this point forward there was a lot of hiking involved. My saving grace was that my friend Eric caught up to me at aid station six at around 62 k and we were commiserating for much of the remaining 18 kilometers. In the end I might have finished the race mainly, because I was too proud to ask for a car ride back to the finish line from any of the last 3 aid aid stations. In between aid stations there is not really a way to drop out anyway since you are in the middle of the forest. I violated the "beware the chair" rule and enjoyed a few minutes of chair time at each of the last two aid stations to "contemplate life", which seemed like a good idea at the time. I didn't have too much trouble getting back up either actually, so no regrets there.

Overall this was probably my worst race ever in terms of my finishing time vs my initial expectations. It is also the one I am most proud of though, since I managed to stick it out and not quit although my body begged me to. I shed my "ultra-impostor" label and am now able to move forward. I think I still have a ways to go in terms of improving on my mental fortitude. After finishing this race, I have a hard time imagining how people are able to finish -let alone excel in- events of even longer distances. Ultras are all about managing your body, which I thought I was getting pretty good at. It's back to the drawing board now though. I need to take stock of what happened and try to improve upon a few things in my training and preparation.

I suffered through a 50 mile footrace and all I got was this T-shirt :-)

If you are looking for a tough and beautiful 50 mile race with awesome support and course marking that makes getting lost near impossible, the Squamish 50 miler is for you. There are 50 k and 23 k options by the way, which now seem like incredibly appealing, more sane options to me. Co- Race Director Garry Robbins is known for designing  tough courses, but he really outdid himself on this one.

Happy running and racing,

Marc

Digging deep in the face of mediocrity

As part of revisiting my Gorge Waterfall 50 k race experience I had to concede that my mental fortitude -or lack thereof- might have been the biggest limiting factor to finishing stronger.

It seems to be easier for me to prepare physically for a race than it is to prepare mentally. I usually ask myself on race morning: "How much are you prepared to hurt and suffer today?" I think it is a good question to ask and it prepares you for the fact that there will inevitably be some discomfort involved while trying to race to the best of your abilities. Even if you are mentally prepared though some discomfort will sneak up on you during a race. How do you manage not to be dominated by the pain and exertion though? I suppose you also need to answer the question: "Why should I make myself hurt in the first place?" There are two types of physical discomfort during a race. One is the kind of pain that you are trying to avoid as much as possible such as blisters, bruises, chafing and such. Then there is self-inflicted pain which comes from pushing your limits and racing hard.

Having a time goal can be a good motivator, but this is somewhat tricky to establish a realistic finishing time on an unknown course especially if you are having issues early on in the race. I am not the kind of person to get super competitive with the racers around me either, if I don't know them that is. If I know them, the race is on.

Everybody loves stories about perseverance, but the vast majority of them seem to focus on contenders or champions even if they might be the underdog of the narrative. It's somewhat easy to imagine what drives athletes in these situations: Winning, earning prize money and qualifying for an event or competition among others. What about the rest of us though? The folks in the middle of the pack who punish themselves tremendously to finish 112th instead of 129th? What are we supposed to use for motivation? If you have ever volunteered as a course marshall or at an aid station in a race you might have also noticed that the slower the participants are the more fun they seem to have.

Even though my primary athletic pursuit is trail running, I am an avid reader of Bicycling Magazine. I remember now retired pro cycling veteran Jens Voigt writing about his relationship with pain and discomfort and claiming that he treats pain as his favourite enemy. He relishes the opportunity to get to know and control it better every time he encounters it. It's a great little article and you can just substitute "run" for "ride" as you see fit. The idea is the same. After re-reading the article I am wondering if I spend enough time getting acquainted with physical discomfort in training. Probably not. I am afraid I should though. It's the best thing I can think of in order to prepare for race day. On the plus side: It is generally accepted that training super hard all the time is not what you want to go for for best results as well as for staying injury free.  So luckily I don't have to face my newly crowned favourite enemy every day. Maybe a couple of times a week will suffice.

I re-discovered another article on pain and suffering which delves deeper into the science of things.  I enjoy the reference to former pro cyclist David Zabriskie's habit of adopting a superhero persona in his mind while competing in time trials (and quite successfully at that too). A good portion of the article deals with the thesis that a so called "central governor" in the brain is what determines how hard we can go. This governors' job is to tell us that we cannot possibly go any harder while preserving some reserves in order for us to not collapse on the spot. There are great reserves of strength and stamina to be found if we manage to override the impulse to back off that is sent out by the brain. If you feel motivated now to go out and run or ride yourself to pieces, don't blame it on me though please.

If you still haven't got enough of reading up on the subject, here are three more great articles on pain and perseverance from irunfar.com:

• Peak Performance and The Selfish Brain on irunfar.com
• Cramps and how to deal with them from irunfar.com
• Navigating the pain trail from irunfar.com Part 1/2
• Navigating the pain trail from irunfar.com Part 2/2

I especially like the concept put forth in one of the articles that our brain is like a board of directors which decides on the severity of a threat to our health and well-being and therefore lets us perceive the intensity of our pain signals accordingly.

After taking the time to look at the issue of digging deep, suffering and racing hard a little closer, these shall be my strategies to push myself hard and finish strong in future events:

Re-focus on form. This time I am not talking about the Caballo Blanco mantra of "Think easy, light, smooth, fast". That one works better for training rather than racing for me. Instead I will try to remember to tighten up my form when I start spending too much time in my own head or when I notice that I am getting sloppy.

Steady breathing, relaxed jaw and hands, arms pumping, cadence high, spine straight and long, shoulders back. Check, check, check and check.

As for developing an alter ego or super hero persona for races for myself, I think I will stick with trying to be the best version of myself. This might sound tacky, but I think it really touches on what will keep me going. There are a lot of people that are less fortunate than I am. They might be physically or mentally unable to pursue their passions. I am blessed to be able to run and live my life to the fullest for the time being and feel therefore obliged to not waste this opportunity. My mantra shall therefore be: Be the best you can be, always. This rule is great because it can be adapted to any situation. For example if you are racing hard and moving well, but you come across another athlete who is injured or in distress the logical consequence for me will always be to put my own ambitions on hold and and help out as needed. A good way to figure out what my best self would do is to ask myself how I would hope for my kids to react in the given situation. The idea is to try and see yourself from an onlookers perspective. This will usually help to make it easier to figure out how to act in a given situation.

The other day I happened to notice a runner on the seawall wearing a shirt that read: "Ride hard. Smile often." This reminded me of reading an article about the positive effect that smiling has on the brain. A lot more reading can be done on the subject. Go ahead and google it if you like, but it comes down to what is expressed in this quote by Thich Nhat Hanh:

"Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy."

Since my primary athletic pursuit is running my mantra shall henceforth be known to be:

Run hard. Smile often.

I will furthermore try to be aware that goals have to always be re-evaluated or adjusted. If the goal of finishing the race under a goal time fails the event doesn't have to be a write off all together. If that happens I shall not fret, but try to focus on finishing and having fun in the process instead.

Having devised this ingenious strategy I also have to say that racing to ones' full potential in terms of speed might not be for everyone and I respect anyone who emphasizes fun and camaraderie over pushing their limits. As for myself, I will test my boundaries for a little while longer and see how far I can take my fitness or how far my fitness can take me. I also see the need to plan adventure runs and other events and training runs that focus on connecting with fellow runners. As with everything else in life I am striving for the ever elusive balance.

See you out on the trails,

Marc

Accidental Inspiration

The other day on my morning run I bumped into a co-worker on the Quarry Rock trail. We stopped to chat for a few minutes and I remembered that I had just recommended this particular hike to him the previous week after he had told me he had never done it, despite having lived in the neighbourhood in the past. I like to believe that I had a part in him choosing this particular trail or even in inspiring him to get out for a hike at all that morning. As I continued my run I kept wondering about the things that influenced and inspired myself in the past. More often than not it seems that the events and situations that steer us in one direction or another are fairly random. It could be a conversation, an ad in a magazine or the decision of a friend or family member.

Even though inspiration may seem random and accidental at times, I think we do have a great deal of influence on them. It is our responsibility to make ourselves more "accident prone" by exposing ourselves to people and situations that have the potential to inspire us to become better versions of ourselves. We also need to keep an open mind and just take a leap of faith sometimes by trying new things or setting goals that might seem kinda big and scary at first.

The environment I created for myself helps me to stay on track and although I made a lot of conscious adjustments to my lifestyle and my surroundings, more often than not I still find myself being accidentally inspired.

Go out, have fun, have an open mind and get yourself involved in some inspirational accidents.

I am so happy Trail Running and its awesome people found me a few years ago.

Guest Post: Conquering North Shore Trails - beginner's perspective

This is a post written by my wife Angie and her thoughts on running our beautiful North Shore trails. Enjoy the read:

It's always a bit intimidating to get out there into the great unknown. So many reasons not to go for that run, I've tried them all.

But my partner is a serious runner and he offered to take me, so sheepishly I put my shoes on. I've had those "pearly zooms" runners for about a year now, but they still look brand new. Well, I guess it's time to get them a little bit dirty. Oh yeah! It's so happening! No more excuses.

On a trail now and so far so good. I'm keeping up, even hopping over some logs. Hey, I'm running and it feels good! Then the first incline comes, hmm, start feeling my lungs, then the next one. I'm trying real hard, but I'm not moving much. Marc runs circles around me, finally  he starts hiking next to me, as I'm still "running"! That's when you know it's bad, BAD! So I get a little angry:

"You do your fast intervals," I order my significant other, I'm walking this hill...and the next one, and when the trail finally evens out, because it just has to, then I'm gonna break into my stealth mode shuffle: the stride so short and the feet so close to the ground, you'll never know if I'm moving at all!

Made it home somehow. Suffice to say, it was a humbling experience. In my mind I run much faster, and so the reality check was a bit unnerving. And demotivating. Big time.

But then a sunny day came. And a sunny crisp day during wintertime in Vancouver is a treasure. I knew I had to spend it well, and the only way to accomplish that, I felt it in my heart, was to hit any of our rain forest trails and let my feet take me where they may.

Decision time: I'm not a fan of disappearing into the woods alone. Didn't work out so great for Red Riding Hood, why should I push my luck? Oh, but I really wanted to do something brave, and my rain forest guide, aka the owner of this blog, aka my husband had to work that day, so I resolved to go it alone.

The plan: stick to the trails you know, listen to your body. Ten minute climb, some shuffling on an even terrain, then pummel down the hill all the way home and feel good about yourself. Probably won't last longer than 30 minutes, so no need for snacks or water. Will take my cell phone though...because you never know.

OK, on a trail now looking for a turnoff. I know there is another path veering off to the left, but can't find it. I keep going on thinking it's further ahead. Oh, but it's getting steeper. Ten minutes into the run and I'm walking already. And I also realize that I'm way past the turnoff, but I'm just too stubborn to come down. I know I've been on this trail before and I want to find out where it goes.

I get kicked out on a road, which I cross looking for a continuation of my trail on the other side. Hey, there's a sign: Trail Permanently Closed, Do Not Use. I'm sorry, but that's the only trail I can see, so I'm taking it. Doesn't look too bad at all, and after I climb over a big log, I'm all of a sudden on a trail I do know, and I realize that I already did my "big" climb. Hey! Not too shabby. A rush of confidence enters my bloodstream: I can do this, and it will be longer than half an hour!

Once my breathing slows down and I settle into some sort of a rhythm, I finally start enjoying myself. It's almost always like that. Those first 15 to 20 minutes of my runs are always devoted to this tug of war between me and my body:
Body: "What are you doing to me?"
Me: "I want you to run."
Body: "The pace is too fast and terrain is too steep, I'm not trained for that."
Me:"Just do it."
Body:"Sorry, no can do."
Me:"OK, fine, what can you do?"
Body:"Let me get some oxygen in and we can negotiate."
An unspecified period of laboured breathing and not much moving passes.
Me:"How about now?"
Body:"Sure, but next time, don't take this multivitamin on an empty stomach before you go out. I'm gonna make you burp this for the rest of your run."
Me: "Duly noted."

And finally I'm running and it's not just one big discomfort. I'm starting to feel the inklings of joy, and I grasp the potential for happiness that exists in this free, light movement through nature. And there is so much to look at as the sun illuminates the forest: the cedars. the firs, mosses, ferns, bubbling creeks, roots and rocks. Yet at the same time the images before my eyes are so unobtrusive, not demanding my engagement, that it's possible to let the mind wander, well, after some automatic eye to brain to feet communication is established first of course. I relax, it's so peaceful here.

Thirty minutes into the run I take a picture of myself at a trail sign: to prove that I have made it this far, but also to help my husband guide me home in case I get lost on the way back and need directions. I do make it home no problem though. I mean, I trip over a root and barely save myself from falling flat on my face, and once I hit the road close to home, I lose all the grip on the black ice and have to really slow it down to remain upright, but none of this matters. I make it home in one piece, and it's been an hour.

I do a few stretches, because I'm just that motivated, drink some water, and I'm really looking forward to that hot shower. But before even the first drops hit my face, I'm already as happy as can be. Why? Because I "braved" it out there on a crisp wintry day, and that feels mighty fine.

Inspiring the next Generation of Trail Runners ... maybe

My daughter is in 4th grade in elementary school. Her teacher stumbled across this blog and asked me if I would like to come to school and share my passion for trail running with the class and maybe take them out for a little dash through the forest. I happily agreed and then it dawned on me that I should probably be able to share some of the reasons why trail running is awesome and why the children should get into it. The more I thought about my presentation the more I came to realize that the children's reasons for running are vastly different from my own. I personally didn't get seriously into trail running until a few years ago.The kids don't look at running as exercise. It's part of their everyday play along with doing monkey bars, squatting, hiding, bushwhacking, scooting and biking. Too often our adult exercise is highly structured, scheduled and more often then not measured and analyzed. It's the exact opposite of what kids do. Once you take the playful nature of their pursuit out of the equation and turn the run or hike into a structured activity the child's motivation will usually flat line. That's the thing though. If done right trail running can induce the feeling of freedom and playfulness. In essence it should feel like recess. Trail running is my moving meditation at times or my exploration at other times. It's my time to be with myself and work through my everyday issues or just to find the perspective to let go of them. Sometimes it's my time to socialize with friends, explore the mountains or push myself in a competition.

While looking for ways to communicate these feelings I remembered this video featuring Adam Campbell and it really sums up everything I could possibly try to explain to the kids. So I decided to share it along with some personal pictures to hopefully motivate the children to give exercising in nature a second look.

The kids were awesome actually and they were very involved in sharing stories about their favourite places in nature and we found out together that humans are pretty well equipped to run long distances due to the fact that we can cool off by sweating and we have big butts (glutes) to power our strides while running, although these muscles are pretty useless for walking. I would like to tell you that I converted the whole class into nature lovers and explorers, but I am not sure if I managed to reach that lofty goal. That's just the thing with parenting. You never know what will inspire your children and what's essentially just a waste of your time and effort. In the end the best I think I can do is to just keep exposing them to the things I think are worth pursuing and hope some of it sticks with them.

Here are a few of the pictures I shared with the kids with the subtitles indicating the comments to go with them:

I run because I am not very good at other sports.

I will visit the classroom one more time to actually take the children for a run or hike. Maybe that'll inspire a few more of them to choose spending time in nature over spending time in front of the TV or with other electronics.

And if all of this doesn't get them on board maybe the fact that burping and snot rockets are perfectly acceptable during trail runs will. You just never know.

Running Free-ish

I just finished reading Running Free by Richard Askwith. The author references the ages of running repeatedly throughout the book. Essentially these ages are tied to your motivation to run or exercise. Are you in it to stay healthy, shrink your butt, become faster or to enjoy the sheer joy of running and the connection with nature (the one outside the door as well as human nature). As I was reading the book I had to ask myself what motivates me and I have to say it has to be a combination of the above mentioned factors. There are usually a couple of races a year that I really train for in earnest. I like to pick a target race in spring, because it keeps me honest and focused through the rainy and dark month when hibernating seems oh so tempting. These are the times when training principles like specificity (tailor your training to the demands of the event you are training for) or the 10% rule (don't increase your weekly mileage by more than 10% over the previous week) are somewhere in the back of my head. I might not have a written training schedule, but I do try to follow some cycles of progressively increasing mileage week over week with easier weeks roughly every four weeks. I also want to believe that I have a chance of bettering some of my past race results before focusing entirely on other sources of motivation.

Through much of the summer my focus shifts. Between work, the kids being home from school and holidays I am happy to keep some kind of weekly regimen going. Often times the majority of my workouts will consist of running or biking to and from work. Whenever I do have more than just the odd hour for playing outside I will try and bag some peaks or have some adventures. I love these activities as they motivate me to go out and explore places that I otherwise might not try to get to. These outings offer a welcome change from my regular running routine. The terrain usually requires me to hop, pull, bushwhack, scramble my way to my destination. Split times and pace are pretty useless indicators of performance on those occasions and more often than not I end up with my upper body being sore the next day rather than my legs. The change of scenery and general spirit of adventure of these outing help to keep things fresh and interesting. I am signed up for my third consecutive Frosty Mountain Ultramarathon this September and I intend to keep up that streak. For me it's a great indicator of what kind of fitness my random long run adventure summer routine has left me with.

Another big motivator for me is to meet and share the trails with like-minded people. Especially those long and wet workouts seem to go by a lot faster if you have someone to share them with.

Coming back to the book, the author seems to have the ability to find beauty and joy in each and any of his runs and rambles around his home regardless how grey, cold or wet the conditions. This is one of the things I aim to get better at myself. I'd like to tell you that my regular weekday runs involve gliding along in a meditative state while being totally present and alert to my surroundings. More often than not I start my workout -which I have been looking forward to- just to then be preoccupied with chores, blogging, my next workout or a million other things that pop into my head.

I really want to work on being more in the moment on and off the trail. How so? For starters I will ditch my GPS watch whenever I can (unless I am training of course). I will also incorporate some conscious breathing into my day (you can call it meditation if you like, but for now that's too big of a word for me). Whenever I notice my attention wandering to all the wrong places during a workout I will acknowledge the thought and try to let it go. Now that sounds relatively easy. I don't know if you ever tried though. It sure doesn't come easy to me. The best starting point I can think of is actively focusing on my surroundings rather than the incessant stream of thoughts in my head.

What motivates you and how do you manage to stay present or get in the flow as they say?

Now if you would excuse me, I shall attempt to bag a peak before going to work.
Have fun out there,

Marc