Goals: The reason we race isn't so much to beat each other, he understood, but to be with each other. - Christopher McDougall
I just finished the book "Born to Run: A hidden Tribe, Super athletes and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen." by Christopher McDougall. It was right in sync with my running mentality at the moment. Very inspirational and a quick read. The author entwines the story of a few big races with his own journey from an injury prone runner to a 50 to 100 mile ultra-marathoner and the whole time sprinkling scientific suggestions on why we were all born to run. If you are into running, you really should read this book.
I learned about the Tarahumara tribe of runners in New Mexico who inspire all with their love of running.
I learned that ultras are one sport where women commonly beat men.
I learned starting at age nineteen, runners get faster every year until they hit their peak at twenty-seven. After twenty-seven, they start to decline but don't have to regress to the speed they were when they were age nineteen until they are in their sixties. Yes you heard correct. A person in their early sixties could conceptually beat their nineteen year old self.
I learned that Ultra-marathoners are often vegetarians. By basing their diets on fruits, vegetables, and whole grans, they derive maximum nutrition from the lowest possible calories so the body isn't forced to carry or process any useless bulk. Vegetables, grains, and legumes contain all the amino acids necessary to build muscle from scratch.
I learned we are the only mammal that sweats from ouf skin and not ouf mouth and that is why we are the ultimate runners. We can outlast any mammal in running a distance race.
The book has me questioning my heel-to-toe ways and thinking of tackling minimalism again.
Some other passages from the book that I really enjoyed.
Something odd began to happen: as the runners got slower, the cheers got wilder. Every time a racer struggled to the finish ....they immediately turned around and began calling home the runners still out there.
"You were amazing," Scott said. "Yeah," I said "Amazingly slow.". It had taken me over twelve hours, meaning that Scott and Arnulfo could have run the course all over again and still beaten me. "That's what I'm saying," Scott insisted. "I've been there, man. I've been there a lot. It takes more guts than going fast".
but maybe (to paraphrase Bill Clinton) there was never anything wrong with Jenni that couldn't be fixed by what's right with Jenni.
If you don't have answers to your problems after a four hour run, you ain't getting them.
"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 smooth. You won't have to worry about the last one-- you get those three and you'll be fast" - Caballo
Lisa Smith-Batchen talks about exhaustion like it was a play pet. "I love the Beast," she says. "I actually look forward to the Beast showing up because every time he does I handle him better. I get him more under control." You can't hate the Beast and expect to beat it; the only way to truly conquer something, as every great philosopher and geneticist will tell you, is to love it.
She liked to tell them that running huge miles in the mountains was "very romantic." Gotcha. Grueling, grimy, muddy, bloody, lonely trail-running equals moonlight and champagne. But yeah, Ann insisted running was romantic and no of course her friends didn't get it because they'd never broken through. For them, running was a miserable two miles motivated solely by size 6 jeans; get on the scale, get depressed, get your headphones on, and get it over with. But you can't muscle through a five-hour run that way; you have to relax into it like easing your body into a hot bath, until it no longer resists the shock and begins to enjoy it.
Relax enough and your body becomes so familiar with the cradle-rocking rhythm that you almost forget you're moving. And once you break through to that soft half-levitating flow that's when the moonlight and champagne show up: "you have to be in tune with your body, and know when you can push it and when to back off," Ann would explain You have to listen closely to the sound of your own breathing; be aware of how much sweat is beading on your back, make sure to treat yourself to cool water and a salty snack and ask yourself, honestly and often, exactly how you feel. What could be more sensual than paying exquisite attention to your own body? Sensual counted as romantic, right?
Awaken: 08:00AM (Spring forward...Yuk)
Yesterday and Today's MIT: Getting out of the habit but still went to Karate and cleaned the cat litter.
Choices: Not so good: two bagels; Good: An orange for dinner.
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