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Bring it

Bring it

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In my previous post, the one that apparently took me the entire summer to write, I quickly stated that I wasn’t sure what my NYC plans were–what magic I wanted to run for my marathon #18, and on my birthday, no less–but I think I finally got the motivation I needed to a) be real with myself, b) admit aloud what I’ve been marinating over for several months and c) just say f-it and go balls to the walls.

My plan? Have nearly as good a race in NYC as I did in April, and go for a 3:35-3:40.

My training has been strong, my speedwork solid, my races good, and right now anyway, the weather looks favorable.  It appears that I’ll be missing Frankenstorm, though I might get rained on a lil on marathon Sunday.

As you might recall, April’s Christie Clinic Marathon brought me a 3:34, a new PR (by about three minutes, one that apparently took four years and a pregnancy to shatter), as well as my fifth BQ.  Urbana-Champaign was a relatively flat course, with just some periodic rollers, so it was leaps and bounds different from what I’ll be experiencing in NYC… or so I’ve been told.

My thinking for shooting for a 3:35-3:40 in NYC is that lowballing myself a lil will prepare me to really go after that which I’m seeking most in 2013… and this is what I’ve grappled with admitting for a while.

I’m gonna break 3:30 in 2013. 

Perhaps in Houston in January.

Or maybe at Eugene in April.

Possibly at an as-yet-to-be-decided fall marthon.

But it’s gonna happen.

Any reasonable predictors (technological or personnel, haha) say that I’m capable of it.

I’m ready to see it through, and NYC–a hard course, with a ton of people, with conditions that will probably be more stressful to me than any other course I’ve run in a while–will be a good stepping-stone to it.

What initially get me fired up about this was Matt’s post over at NoMeatAthlete, basically about how if we don’t balls-up (excuse the crude and vulgar language; it’s mine, not his) and really go after what we’re shooting for– really, in a word, to make ourselves vulnerable by telling ourselves AND OTHERS what we want to achieve– we’re shortchanging ourselves and in a way, setting ourselves up for failure.

For whatever reasons that I don’t entirely know or understand right now, Matt’s post really resonated with me.

Perhaps because I wrote about something similar, back in 2010, just a few weeks shy of my third Chicago marathon–the one I ran 10-12 weeks pregnant–when I was still hedging a bit about finally trying to go for 3:35.

In fact, after reading Matt’s post, I arrived home from teaching and put it all out there for my final speedwork session prior to NYC: 10×800 (with an average split of about a 3:23, if memory serves).

And later that night, when I decided to admit to C what I was thinking, he gave me hell because he said it was like I was delivering a sermon or a motivational speech because of how fired up (yet intentional) I was with my delivery.

I’ll post a pre- and post-race vlog on my YT channel, so check it out in the days immediately preceding and after the marathon because chances are, it’ll take me a while to write a decent recap.

Good things are yet to come.  Better things, I should say.

Scott Jurek’s _Eat & Run_

Scott Jurek’s _Eat & Run_

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Anyone who knows me mildly well knows that I’m a strict vegetarian, and more often than not, people just describe me as being vegan because it’s easier to plan meals and restaurant outings that way.  Knowing that, it should be no surprise that I totally dig Scott Jurek, not only because he’s such a kick-ass athlete, but also because he is an incredibly accomplished ultrarunner, holds (or has held) a ton of records, and really launched his career once he went vegan.

When I heard that Scott (ha, we’re on a first-name basis here) wrote an autobiography, _Eat & Run_, that talked about his familial upbringing (one that did not necessarily easily lend itself to his becoming vegan, mind you), his ultra training, and his veganism, I pre-ordered it on Amazon so I could get it as soon as it came out… and apparently, the gods and the stars aligned because it came out right before I went on vacation to an off-the-grid island in NC.

Score.

(Last time I was there, pre-A, I read five books in seven days.  I figured the kiddo wouldn’t let me read that much this time around, but I figured one book in seven days was doable).

I read _Born to Run_ a few years back, right when it had come out as well, and I really liked it for several reasons.  Like _BTR_, _E&R_ also left me feeling inspired to run an ultra, a goal that I have flirted with for the past several years but just haven’t gotten around to doing for one reason or another (and to be fair, it’s usually a timing thing… like all the local ultras fall at bad times in my marathon training).  In fact, _E&R_ reminded me a lot of _BTR_ in a lot of other ways as well, like how Jurek and McDougall both seamlessly wove stories of the ultrarunning community and its acclaimed races (Western States, Badwater, etc.) into the prose, though a major (obvious) difference was Jurek’s inclusion of his familial upbringing.

As someone who is about 95% vegan these days (I’m just ovo-veg at this point), I also really liked, and appreciated, how accessible and non-pretentious Jurek made veganism for his reader.  At the end of each chapter, he includes a recipe that seemed pretty manageable, and because of who he is, the recipes he provided sounded amazing AND healthy.  Score.  Once we get through this move and I get my kitchen out of boxes, I will definitely try out many of his recipes, if not all of them, in time.

I found myself really wrapped up into reading about Scott’s life that the hardest chapter for me to read was “Lost,” for obvious reasons that I won’t spoil here.  My heart and soul ached for him as I made it through those pages, and I kept hoping that there would soon be a flip-side that would manifest, since I hated reading what was going on in his life in that period.  (Ed. note: I realize this is a horrible paragraph to include, given how few lack of details I’m including, but I really don’t want to spoil anything.  Just read the book!).

_Eat & Run_ is a fast read, totally inspiring for any runner (or for anyone who appreciates a good sports story, I’d say), and a great read to get you psyched up about running–whether you’re taking your first step, running your first race, or even taking the plunge and going into the ultra community.  I have a feeling this will be a book that I won’t donate in a month and one that I’ll return to time and again.  I only wish that I would have been able to meet Scott when he was in Chicago a few weeks ago because it would have been totally awesome to have him sign my copy.

One last thing: he also begins each of his chapters with an inspirational quote.  Some of my favorites:

“You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.” -Anonymous (beg. of chapter 3, “For My Own Good”)

“The more you know, the less you need.” -Yvon Chouinard (beg. of chapter 6, “The Wisdom of Hippie Dan”)

“Always do what you are afraid to do.” -George Bernard Shaw (beg. of chapter 7, “‘Let the Pain Go Out Your Ears'”)

“Strength does not come from physical capacity.  It comes from an indomitable will.” -Mahatma Gandhi (beg. of chapter 8, “Attack of the Big Birds”)

“All it takes is all you got.” -Marc Davis (beg. of chapter 16, “The Central Governor”)

“There is a crack, a crack in everything.  That’s how the light gets in.” -Leonard Cohen (beg. of chapter 19, “Lost”)

“Let the beauty we love be what we do.” -Rumi (beg. of chapter 21, “Back to my Roots”)

“Sometimes the best journeys aren’t necessarily from east to west, or from ground to summit, but from heart to head.  Between them we find our voice.” -Jeremy Collins (beg. of Epilogue)

Ok, so that’s about half of the quotes he includes; what can I say?  He has good taste.