Tim Tays, the Interview

Tim Tays sat down and wrote an unflinching look at his running life, Wannabe Distance God: The Thirst, Angst, and Passion of Running in the Chase Pack. Covering his evolution as a school boy phenom, to his years as a Kansas Jayhawk, and beyond, to the injury that derailed his hopes of cracking that last upper elite, Wannabe Distance God touches poignantly on the desire, disappointment, and acceptance of young man's struggle to match his own expectations.

After reading his book, I wanted to sit down and talk with Tim. I reached out to Tim and he graciously agreed to be interviewed. Distance presented a problem, the internet provides the solution, and we did the interview by email. (I love technology when it works.)


Paul  I love the title of your book, “Wannabe Distance God.” I know that some great runners - Bill Rodgers, for example – have read your book and been favorable. How are the more everyday runners reacting? Are you getting some feedback from them and what kind? A lot of us are wannabes, too. . .

Tim Tays - I got feedback from everyday runners as well as elite runners. Because this was my first published book (and my first attempt at marketing a book), I learned that distance runners are not a homogeneous population. While writing WDG I thought anyone who ran would want to read about the running experience. But I discovered that weight-cutting joggers are very different from mileage-piling distance runners, who are very different from time-dropping competitive distance runners, who are very different from T&F News-reading distance running fanatics. I guess I thought everyone who ran was a distance running fanatic like me.

So to directly answer your question, it wasn't name dropping elite runners from the Golden Era that resonates the most with everyday runners. It wasn't even how fast I was or was not. It was about my personal psychodynamics that led me to hardcore distance running the everyday runner enjoyed the most. They also enjoyed our shared experiences regardless of the level we eventually attained or how badly we wanted it. It was about the shared struggle, the shared feelings. I also wanted to give the chase-pack runner a voice, because I certainly couldn't write from the perspective of an elite runner.

I researched the market, and took stock of what I wanted to write about, and decided that the voice of a chase-pack runner was missing. Everyday runners are somewhat aghast at the commitment, work, and struggle involved to try to become elite. Elite runners enjoyed the interpersonal camaraderie and rivalries we all experience on a team and in races.

Paul - In Chapter 16, War Paint, you talk about Alberto Salazar – mostly favorably – but you take him to task a bit for his comment “It certainly wasn’t due to physical talent . . .” A lot of runners will agree with you that talent is inbred. You were a worker, and also talk about his other point, that running well is incredibly hard work, long before you hit the track. How frustrated did you, or do you, get when you see people with true talent that won’t do the work? Has that attitude changed over the years? 

 Tim Tays - When I strove for distance god status I saw many people more talented than me who wasted it by getting distracted or lazy. I liked it. It meant I had a chance to outwork them and maybe beat them. After my running career ended and I became a high school coach, I continued to see very talented runners, some of whom wasted their gift. All I could do was pull them aside and inform them about the consequences of their action (or inaction). Some boys did what I recommended and their times dropped. Other boys did not make the commitment and their performances reflected that. But being in my 30's by then, I knew the life lessons they learned were more important than how fast they ran in high school.

Paul I joke that writing and publishing a book is like parading down Main Street naked, that the best authors strip themselves bare emotionally. In Wannabe Distance God, you’ve done exactly that. How painful was that and what part was the hardest to open up about?

Tim Tays - It was not a painful process for me at all, despite my "nakedness." It was joyous. I loved revisiting my years on the track and roads. I mean, sure, I felt loss and grief remembering my limits, failures, mistakes, and losses, but emotional trauma is treated by going through it again. On the other side of the telling it feels just a bit better.

Tim Tays (Left Kansas racer) and Paul Schultz (right)

Tim Tays (Left Kansas racer) and Paul Schultz (right)

Also, keep in mind that I got to relive the wonderfulness of the whole running scene. To have people enjoy and empathize with my journey is very validating, something most people don't get to have because they don't write memoir. Some of the hardest things to tell about were my youthful mistakes (e.g., pissing in an elevator, abusing alcohol, holding grudges, overly competitive, etc.). But I decided that the only original story I had to offer was my unique story, to include the victories and defeats, the awesomeness and the stupidity. If I was less than authentic readers would see right through it and set it down.

An advantage I had as a clinical psychologist was I knew it was our vulnerability that endears us, that bonds us, that builds trust. So I took a risk to tell the truth so that my readers would trust me. Only one person—out of the hundreds who have read my story thus far—has attacked me for telling my truth. I like those odds enough to write another book.

(Virtual interruption from Paul – Please do!)

 

Paul - The stories today about performance enhancing drugs are nearly non-stop. During your most competitive years, did you ever have to worry about your competitors having an unfair advantage?

Tim Tays - I worried about it, sure. Back in the 1970's and '80's we worried that blood doping would put us at a disadvantage, but I never knew anybody that did it. In fact, my impression of distance runners was scrupulous honesty around everything regarding training and racing. Maybe I was naive or just lucky, but I never knew any cheaters. Me? I always took pride in my integrity as a distance runner, and I perhaps projected that onto my teammates and competition. Didn't we all love distance running and would never do anything to hurt our sport or spoil our effort? Today when I hear about runners (usually sprinters) using PEDs my blood boils. How dare they?!

Paul - You explain at length about your early OCD behavior. I found it interesting that you use the experience to assist in helping others in your practice. Normally, when the general public considers true OCD behavior patterns, it is with a very strong negative connotation. What other areas have you noticed that it helps in, where it might serve a positive purpose?

Tim Tays - Everyone has anxiety because that's what's normal for humans. However, when we have too much anxiety it may take the form of an anxiety disorder such as OCD. In my case I channeled my compulsiveness (holding my breath, stretching my mouth, etc.) into something more socially acceptable and productive (i.e., distance running). Lots of people do that. Maybe it manifests as straight A's in graduate school, or a super clean house.

The problem is the person is not in control, the OCD is. In my case it led to lots of mileage, but with occasions of over training and injury. A better approach would've been to train smarter, not just more and harder.

I no longer suffer from OCD, but I still need to be vigilant. One of the best things about my past struggle with OCD was not only getting more high-mileage weeks in, but today in my practice I understand on a gut level what my clients are going through—how crazy it is but you still need to do it—and I know there's a way through it. 

Paul - You took a year off from Kansas after the tragedy of losing your mother. You worked at a metals supplier and ran in the mountains. Do you think that the year off from structured competition helped you gain perspective on the relationship you had with her? With running?

Tim Tays - This was a very difficult question for me to answer. In fact, I skipped it and left it for last. I had to think about it. Hmm.... Thirty-four years has given me perspective, but you ask about a single year, 1980, the year of her death, when I was twenty. I was devastated. I was liberated. I adored my mother. I left home at seventeen to escape her. She gave me God and my world view...and then she took it away when she became a martyr. So no, I guess in the year she died I gained zero perspective, I just ran my ass off as usual. In the decades after, yeah, I've had to decide what my personal world view is, how it is different from hers, how disappointed she would be that I am not a Christian Scientist, and how proud she would be of how I've found my own healthy path in life. 

Paul - Tim Gundy, a friend of mine, a heck of a runner, and an even nicer person, was a teammate of yours at Kansas during your senior year when you held the captaincy and considers you one of his running idols, someone for whom he has tremendous respect for. He wasn’t aware of the issues you bring out in your book. How important was it to you to keep the focus on the team and not on yourself? Was that part of your recovery process, even if you didn’t realize it?  

Tim Tays - I didn't realize I hid myself. I just wanted to kick ass. Cross country and track were such individualized sports that, as a young man, I generally lost sight of what the team did. I wanted to do well, and if the team also did well that was great, but the absolute minimum was me whupping bags of Big 8 butt. My attitude was the better I ran the better it was for the team, so I focused on myself.

Tim Tays, racing indoors at Kansas, date unknown.

Tim Tays, racing indoors at Kansas, date unknown.

That said, I was too self-centered and could've been a much better captain than I was. I didn't receive much guidance as a kid, and so I assumed others didn't expect it from me. I led by example. I showed up, tried to lead the workout, and went to the library to study. It was simple in college, right?

In retrospect I should've reached out to the younger runners, encouraged them. But I feared other runners would beat me and prevent my success. I was afraid that I wouldn't be somebody. I wish I had been more mature, but I've mostly forgiven myself for my immaturity as a late-adolescent. Also, realistically, in a hyper-macho environment like DI athletics I shared very few of my vulnerabilities.

Certainly today, I'd let in someone safe like Tim Gundy, but at the time, I felt intimidated and competitive. Gundy would end up a sub-4 miler, which could easily have bumped me from the mile lineup or off a relay. I'd enjoy my teammates and the experience more if I could do it over again. As a coach I encouraged my runners to enjoy each other and the short shelf-life of high school and collegiate distance running careers. 

 

Paul - After the tale of the All Military Track and Field Championships and your injury, you flash forward to the 49 year-old version of you. The intervening years you didn’t run. When you started to run again, was the running this time more precious because you hadn’t been run for so long?

Tim Tays - Oh, yes, I savored it. I thought I would never run again. But as I rounded into shape, "Timmy Two-Mile" returned, just as immature and driven as before. I so enjoyed racing again and returning to the Boston Marathon. I learned that putting me back in a similar situation I responded as I had 25 years before because that part of me hadn't grown. That part of me still wanted to kick ass and take names, to be a distance god. So I reevaluated my expectations and learned to enjoy being a distance runner even if I'd never be a distance god.

 

Paul - You’re a wannabe distance god. Which distance god did you wannabe? (For me, it’s Emil Zatopek, btw)

Tim Tays - That's such an easy question for me: Jim Ryun. I guess he's technically a middle-distance god, but he was a distance runner to me because I became aware of him in junior high and high school, when running the mile was considered a long way to run. I went to Kansas University to be like Ryun and train under Coach Bob Timmons. It was a dream come true for me at seventeen years old. Thirty-five years later I sent a promotional copy of my book to Ryun, which he read but told me he could not endorse it and hoped I would understand. I'm sure he had good reasons, but still I was crushed.

So even well into my fifties I'm still getting reality checks. It's probably good for me. It's probably building my character in some way I don't even know that I need. Anyway, nowadays my answer is still Jim Ryun, but I need to add Billy Mills, whose graciousness blows me away, and Bill Rodgers, the most ego-less celebrity I've ever met (online). They are incredible ambassadors for distance running. 

 

Paul - Last question: You have a metaphysical hotline to young Timmie Two-Mile and a lifetime of perspective to share with him. What could you say to him that he might listen to? Would you?

Tim Tays

Tim Tays - Listen up, Timmy Two-Mile, you don't need to run to be a good person. That said, if you choose to run, then run smart. Keep the drive and the passion, but rest when you should, eat a healthy diet, find a running club for support (the lone wolf thing is too hard), invest in friendly relationships, draft more instead of impulsively moving to the front, and enjoy the ride.

Would Timmy Two-Mile listen to me? He would probably listen respectfully, nodding and smiling, and then surge to the front of a hot race, try to burn and bury runners way better than him, get into oxygen debt, fade, finish in the chase pack, get pissed off, up his weekly mileage, and then do it all over again next week in another city.


My thanks to Tim Tays for the opportunity to interview him. The book cover image at the top will take you to Amazon to purchase the book - though I expect you can find it elsewhere, too. My thanks to Tim Gundy for pointing out the book to me - as runners turned writers, we don't have big publisher marketing budgets. A lot happens by word of mouth, so when you're done with Wannabe Distance God, I'm sure that Tim Tays would appreciate you passing on the word.

Thanks everybody. Run gently out there.

Paul Duffau

Paul is the author of two fictional tales of runners: Finishing Kick (recognized by Running Times in their Summer Reading list July, 2014); and his newest novel, Trail of Second Chances. He blogs on the running life and interviews people that he finds interesting.

News Updates

The World Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships kick off in Eugene on the 22nd. Teams from around the world are sending contingents.

 This is a nice article on 14 year-old runner Brain Hastings of Oroville who will be competing in the 1500m and 3000m. His PR’s of 4:25 and 9:50 qualified him.

I caught this on the Alice Springs Running & Walking Club Facebook page. Courtney Geraghty will be travelling a heck of long way to compete in the hurdles. If you’re building a club, you need to check out the Alice club. They do a great job of reaching out to their community. Everything they put out is a positive testament to their club and sport. I also like the fact they include walkers. We could learn a few things.

OregonLive has an article with a ton of links, well worth perusing. This headline amused me. Kenya is out to conquer the U.S. in Oregon. That’s not news, folks – that’s the status quo. We’ve been getting our butts kicked for a while.

Wonder how the English team is getting ready? Like this. . . .

Men’s and Women’s All-USA prep teams have been announced. I know most of the distance folks but it’s nice to see the other events. I’ll have to do some reading up . . .

That’s it for today. If you’re running in my neck of the woods, mind the smoke of the fire. Slow down and make it an easy day. Tomorrow, I plan on heading up to Giant White Pine campground and running the trail to the Bald Mountain Lookout. I’ll take some pics along the way. It’s a pretty trail, a mite challenging. This will be the first time I’ve used my GPS on it so I’ll finally get an idea of the total elevation gain.

Tuesday will be an interview with former Kansas standout and author of Wannabe Distance God, Tim Tays.

Tim was gracious enough to answer questions that I had after reading his book. You can find him on Twitter (@timothytays) if you want to follow him.

Run gently, friends.

 

Freshmen Girls and Senior Women

freshman girls

I was doing the write-up for the Undeberg Invitational this past April when it dawned on me - of the top ten finishers in the women's 1600m, seven were freshmen. One was a sophomore.

The opposite held true in the men's 1600m which was dominated by the upperclassmen.

I was standing next to one of the coaches at the end of the women's race and complimented him on the way his runner finished. She ran hard and shows tremendous upside. I commented on this, too.

He shrugged, almost apologetically. "She's running great . . . but she's a freshman. We'll have to see  . . . "

And there lies a big question that confronts every young female runner, one that the guys will never need to deal with to the same extent. My youngest daughter had her fastest season and showed the most progress as a freshman. That partly was due to injuries that she got in the weight room, but also because she grew. Already 5'9" as a freshman, she kept growing to a slender 6' woman. Along the way, she put on about 25 extra pounds. Some of it was muscle, but most of it was necessary fat for a healthy female.

And there lays the issue for young female runners. In many cases, their bodies haven't yet finished developing. Until they do, there is no way to definitively determine their ceiling in racing (not running!) a given distance. Hence the uncertainty from the coach.

It's not just a series of physiological changes that take place. Many of these women have invested enormous effort and emotion in getting to the upper ranks of the running hierarchy. To them, the weight gains, the widening of the hips, and other changes can almost seem a betrayal of their bodies against them.

Runners are consistent. I constantly reminder the youngsters that I coach that most runner's injuries come from three primary causes - too much distance, too much speed, too much stretching. To the list for women, you can add too much diet modification. The psychological need to perform well can trigger behavior issues that parents and coaches can be slow to catch but should be alert to, among them, eating disorders and amenorrhea (a lack of a regular period, often due to low body fat.)

This isn't a new problem or evenly newly noticed. The Seattle Times ran an article (Growing Pains . . . ) about this same issue in 1998. The Washington Post did a similar one in 2006.

As parents and coaches, we fight a battle to let our kids know that the effort is more important than the finish order. One thing I insisted on with my daughters was that they give me their best effort and support their teammates. I ask the same of the junior high kids I help coach.

I exchanged emails with one young lady I know who has the potential to be a very good runner except . . . yeah, she's young and we simply don't know how things will work out. In the conversation we had, I pointed out that she and her friend would have done well in that group of freshmen girls. Then I add this advice:

". . . things change over time and both of you ladies may as well. It may make you faster, it may make you slower. Ya do the best ya can with what ya got. So, focus on the process, have as much fun as you can squeeze out of the running, and let the results take care of themselves."

We can't change biology - if we could, I'd be six inches shorter and a heck of a lot faster. It's more pronounced with the women. There is some resignation there. I recall listening to one girl who just got beat by a freshman at the State Championship during her junior campaign state, "Yeah, just wait 'til you grow some boobs."

The girls around her nodded. They're not stupid - they know the score even if they can't change it.  Most of them accept it, even if it's a bit reluctantly.

I would love to watch all these ladies go on to be top-notch runners but here is a truth - I'll be cheering for them, and their teammates, and the young men regardless of how fast they are or where they finish. So will their parents and their friends.

I also have a perspective that these young women don't have, not yet. They see themselves getting slower instead of faster, at the same time the sport is getting faster at the top end. The perspective I have is watching these young ladies come back to running, post-high school, and running as well as ever, and with the stress of competition gone, enjoying it more than ever, too.

I know that their best years are almost certainly ahead of them if they will just trust the process. Now we have to make them believe that. 

A Peachtree Recap

Nope, I did not trek to Atlanta, I did not run the Peachtree 10K with thousands of others. I pretty much swore off races with thousands of others after my second Rock n Roll Marathon in San Diego.

These folks, however, were there.

Lauren Fleshman, "In the Mini I raced scared. I let the top pack go right away, and hid in the safety of splits I felt confident I could hit without dying." II think everybody has had those types of moments. She fixed her problem with a major assist from Davila Linden. Read the article to see how a champion responds to adversity - and how a champion makes those around her better.

What, you thought you were the only one who suffered from indecision? Elite runner Tyler Pennel puts words to page and discussed ditching his plan midway through the race. Read to the end where he talks about the advice he got from a sports psychologist. Then ponder what it might mean for you.

And a report from a mere mortal (if you consider a guy that can knock out the Ulmstead 100 miler) who has a case of nerves at the start. Doubts or not, Brian put it on the line, then shared. Great report.

Enough. Run gently, friends.

More Important than a Relay? Grandbabies . . .

I've run about three of the Spokane to Sandpoint relays. It's been a hoot each time, thanks to a great bunch of teammates. We went by the team name of Velocity Deficit Disorder. While most of us were in the pokey, we're-here-to-have-fun group, a couple of the folks on the team could zip off some pretty quick miles to compensate. We were at least semi-competitive.

I'm missing this year, despite the fact that I'm finally getting back up to speed. I usually have a spot on the team because, at 3AM, I can still calculate the splits accurately. We're old-school and still do it on pen-and-paper. Pencil, actually. At 3AM, goofs can happen.

S2S 2011 Velocity Deficit Disorder Team

Like the exchange at a school in the middle of the night. - The teenager who was taking the next leg from me woke up about the time I hit the exchange point, flew out of the van shedding gear, grabbed the wristband, and promptly exited the parking lot - and into the woods because he was headed in completely the wrong direction 'out' of the parking lot. He did better after we got him turned around and made sure he was completely awake.

Anyhow, I won't be there this year, though I might show up for the start if there's some high school teams running. I'd love to interview them. Scott, the race director, said he'll keep me posted.

I can't commit to the whole thing, though. I have a pair of daughters, both former teammates (and hopefully again) who are both pregnant and both due in the same week. On the same day, actually.

It's bad form for the grandpa to abandon the daughters when they go into labor. We don't do much more than fetch coffee and pace hallways but we're supposed to be there. And given a choice between the two, my daughters, the new grandson, granddaughter win hands down.

I'll throw up a blog post on race day, night, day, and have the comments open. I'm not sure anybody's ever tried to live blog a relay. Might be fun to try.

It's Tuesday, in July, and it's hot.

What, you thought there might be actual content here today?

Fine. Cutting a check for the Lewis Clark Animal Shelter for their share of the sales of A Walk with Rose. Actually, cutting a bigger check. The shelter can use the funds and the story hasn't sold as well as I hoped. Slightly bummed about that.

More. Okay, How about the US Mountain Running Championships in Lincoln, New Hampshire over the weekend? The race was the Loon Mountain Race, rated by Runners World as one of the toughest in the country with an insane 2200' of climb in 5.5 miles. Friends and former running buddies Ashley and Ross Krause took the line as members of their respective teams. Ashley runs with the ladies on Western Mass Distance Project while Ross is part of the Central Mass Striders. Both teams took first place in the Overall Divisions. Very pleased for my friends. BTW, here's the USATF page for the race. Fortunately, others actually thought people would like to know how things turned out. Here's some links that have news about the athletes. Here, here, and results. A nice blog post with photos is here.

The local running club, the Seaport Striders, are putting on a race on August 8th in Asotin. It's the Striders Benefit Run, and the proceeds get divvied up between the participating local schools - Asotin, Clarkson, and Lewiston. When? Friday, August 8 @ 7 p.m.  Here's the entry form.

If you're running with your dog, it's supposed to be hitting triple digits most of this week and next. Here's a post I wrote about keeping your best friend safe.

Don't forget to keep yourselves safe out there.

Personally, I Blame Testosterone

I only got as far at the headline at Runner's World, but it didn't seem like this was a tough question. Why Are Men So Bad at Marathon Pacing? I've always joked I run like a girl. Works.

“It’s really fun, and it’s the best job in the world,” said Jordan Hasay. Loved watching her compete at the Trials in Eugene a couple of years ago.

 

Gotta go run. I'll add another post later today with some new articles that are fun.

 

 

 

Rainy Day Reading

It's raining outside which is great for the morning run with the cross country kids, not that I can keep up with them. My garden is enjoying the extra water. Living in a desert makes gardening slightly more difficult. Today, I don't have to worry about it.

After that, the reasons to appreciate the rain drop off. I'll admit I've never been a fan of grayness. Seattle would be a disaster for me ten months of the year. Beautiful city, like visiting, happy to leave again. I like light, lots of light, the brighter the better.

So, on dreary days, I chill and look for stuff that looks interesting to read.

Runner's World has an article on Exercise and Weight Loss: As Good for Women as Men. Kind of strikes me as one of those 'well, duh' items but the first line caught my attention and sucked me in. "The popular literature sometimes tells women that weight-loss is harder for them, especially exercise-induced weight loss."  As you might expect, a food fight is breaking out in the comments section.

Running Times has a couple of fun photo essays. The first, on building balance, had me chuckling. Here is the article: Better Balance in Four Minutes. I chuckled because I help coach junior high - they're all knees and elbows. We're happy if we can keep them vertical after a growth spurt.

The other one, Attainable Dream: Training In Kenya, was interesting. I'm planning a trip to Kenya for one, maybe two books. While I intend on living there for at least a couple of months, I doubt I'll spend time in the hotels. My training might well take a hit as I find a way to contribute while I'm there, plus taking the time to learn how their society is arranged. One thing I've discovered about my writing is I can't put down a word if I'm not in the head of my characters. I don't understand Kenyans enough yet to write them in depth and authentically. Still, the photos are vey motivating.

Have a great day out there and run gently.

If you want to follow me on Facebook, just click over.

Are you reading Lauren Fleshman's Blog?

Lauren Fleshman is absolutely one of my favorite athletes, not because of what she does on the track or roads, but by her integrity. The lady tells it straight, often with a huge dollop of humor.

A case in point for integrity. This article, Why A Convicted Doper as the USA Team Coach is a Bad Idea.

Money quote:

Zero Tolerance was a big deal to me. It indicated that my governing body cared about restoring our image. It sent a strong message to an impressionable, high achieving me, and influenced my decisions to remain clean. I am part of a generation that has been tested a zillion times more than any group before me. It’s been a pain in the ass but worth it. People would still cheat, but now it would be harder and the world knew it. USATF would out you, even if you were our biggest star, and they backed it up with actions. Should I be lucky enough to win an Olympic Medal, I wanted the chance to do so without the global assumption that I was dirty and USATF was covering up for me. It meant that anyone who represented the USA would be under a microscope. That, for the sake of all of our reputations, we would not be put side to side with cheaters and look guilty by association. As a clean athlete, this meant everything to me.

Go read the whole article. Then read her blog, often.

And for fun, track down the Runner's World column she wrote on the 5K versus the marathon. It's funny, with a dash of truth.

Stepping to the line

This post will go live at 8AM on Saturday morning, the same time that I step to the line for my first marathon in seven years.

A lot has changed in the intervening years. Then, I was trying to qualify for Boston. I just missed at Portland that year but set a PR that included a beer stop at mile 23 and Haagen Dazs ice cream at the end. I ran a 3:28.

This race, the Turkey Track Trail Run, is going to be my slowest.

I’m okay with that.

I could make a lot of excuses on why it will be that way. I’m horribly undertrained which is going to hit me hard, probably around mile 16. The race starts at 8200′ of elevation – I live near sea level. Trails are almost always slower than roads. None of that matters.

What matters is that I’m here, race number pinned to my shorts. A year ago I wasn’t sure I would be able to run again. I have gout and I know it’s a popular game to blame people for their health issues, but I’ve had it since adolescence. It’s genetics and, for all the parts of the genetic lottery that I won, this one was a loser.

I also have an immune system that rejects most medications so, other than diet, I didn’t have a way to control the gout. It’s a progressive disease so gradually all my joints were affected. I worked with my doctor, a wonderful and very patient lady, while we got the immune system to react normally, and then she suggested a course of treatment that might work.

Good new, it might work. The bad news was that it could trigger crippling attacks for up to two years even if it did work. By crippling, I mean that when I wasn’t working, I was prone. The doc gave me hydros for the pain at night so I could sleep. They had the opposite effect- once I wasn’t hurting, my natural energy levels soared and I couldn’t sleep. So I stopped taking them except when I needed to get through work and then as rarely as possible. Mostly, I gutted it out.

While I wasn’t working, I wrote, Most of my first novel, Finishing Kick was put on paper during this stretch. Meanwhile, I watched and cheered the local kids racing and gave thumbs up to the weekend joggers covering ground along the river and ached to be able to run again.

Six months into the regimen, the doctor calls. Stop taking the meds, we’ve got questions on kidney and liver function – which is one of the potential side effects.

I don’t think I’ve ever been more depressed. It takes a different kind of willpower to swallow a pill twice a day that you know will be bringing you pain. I had been gutting out the pain with the mental promise to myself that it would be worth it once I could run again. Now that promise was in jeopardy.

A month later, system stabilized again, they put me back on the meds, and, in June of last year, I tried my first run. Half a mile and I was exhausted. But it was a run. Then next one didn’t go any better, nor did the next one. Then I got to a mile, and  two.

Now, a year later with only a few longish runs under my belt and minimal weekly mileage, I’m be attempting a marathon. I mentioned this to a client several weeks ago, an artist who’s moving. She used to run until her body gave out. We talked of that golden feeling, the high,  when you’re working just hard enough that your consciousness feels free to expand to the horizon. Her most creative ideas would visit her on the runs, when her mind was freed. She had tears in her eyes at the memory – and her loss.

The gun should be going off any second now if the race starts on time. I’ll have a little trepidation at the start but that will settle early as the body gets moving.

I’ll also be feeling incredibly lucky and grateful to be stepping to the line, to rejoin my place in the running community, a little further back in the pack than I was. When the race gets hard, and I know that it will, I can remember that ache I had, an artist’s tears, and the joy that comes from such a simple act as running.

Run gently, friends. I’ll see you at the finish. I might be a while but I’m on my way.

Exercise more often, not longer, for bigger benefits? Blog Post from the NY Times

For some time, scientists have been intrigued by the idea that breaking up exercise into repeated, short sessions might be as beneficial as longer workouts, and most related experiments to date have been encouraging. In a 2012 study of people with symptoms of hypertension, for instance, volunteers controlled their blood pressure better throughout the day if they completed three 10-minute walks rather than one 30-minute stroll.

From the NY Times. Fitness is more generally correlated with frequency of exercise rather than duration. Intensity plays it's part but, for health, it looks like just getting out the door more often will deliver a bigger jump. Go read the whole thing.. .

4 Tips to Avoid Running Dry

Hot weather is back. Yay! No more layering on sixteen articles of clothing on the upper body and six on the legs to fight off winter. To celebrate, I went our on the North Asotin Creek trail in just shorts and a singlet, plus a two bottle hydration pack, and picked up a nice bit of tan on the shoulders. Since we're finally hitting the warm weather, I planned out my water needs. You should, too, even if going for a short run. I know, I know, you don't need to 'hydrate' for a short run, all the articles say so. Humor me.

You plan for water (and electrolytes) for all your runs - and your other activities. I've seen more than a few runners head out to suffer through a fifteen miler because they did a three miler the night before - with the Hash House Harriers, where beer-drinking replaces water intake.

So, four tips.

1. Make sure you start out hydrated. Drink appropriately  before your run - indeed, throughout your day. That way when you hit the roads or trails, you're tanked up and ready. Before you head out for the run, drink 8-10 ounces of water. Also start with your electrolytes charged up. Include high potassium and magnesium foods in your diet.

2. Carry water with you or have planned water stops. Since I trail run a lot, I have a Nathan hydration pack with a pair of 20 oz. bottles, plus some handhelds, plus a Camelbak. When I run on pavement, I plan out the spots where I can get water - I don't have to stop but it's important to have that dialed in ahead of time.

3. Drink frequently. Provide your body with a steady source of water in small doses so it has time to process. Sloshing while you run is unpleasant. Also, drinking too much water is potentially dangerous as you can severely dilute your electrolyte balance. There is a great article at active.com that covers this (and caffeine use, as well).

4. Self-monitor. You can do everything apparently right and still end up in a bind. That's what happened to me on the trail run up the creek. At the ten-mile point, I was down to a few ounces of water - and I had stopped sweating. No bueno. I generally need about 4oz per mile. Took 40oz with me after drinking at the start, began drinking at mile 2 - and ran out because my intake was higher than planned by 25 percent. Because I was paying attention to the signals my body sent me, I knew that I was in potential trouble and took the (for me) appropriate action.

That's when I started walking. Could I have finished the run? Yeah, probably. Could I have finished without hitting heat exhaustion? Maybe. But the next several days of training could have been disrupted. Better to take it slow and give my body time to adapt to the heat.

And the advice not to hydrate for short runs? Drink sensibly (applies to water as well!) to make sure that you are not consistently dehydrated. In 100 degree heat, I lose 6 ounces of water per mile. If I don't replace that water, even for a series of short runs, I'll soon be perpetually dehydrated.

So, hydrate - not until you are bloat but enough that you don't often feel thirsty.

 

A Day for Odds, Ends, and a Long Run

Before I roll out for a run up North Asotin Creek with my new GPS watch (so I can see how slow I really go), here's a few articles that caught my attention. First up, sent over by the Asotin JHS xc coach, an article from Runner's World on footstrike. From the blurb that the article offers, there really isn't enough information to make a call either way. I'd like to see all the data on the types of injuries experienced, types of shoes, experience of the runners, mileage between groups, etc. They don't mention a whole lot about controlling for all other factors which would be necessary to move it out of the junk science category. Also, given the forefoot strikers were faster, does that imply that they were able to exert more force creating the injuries and would their rates drop if they slowed down. I'm betting that when all the details come out, the issue still won't be definitive.

For those who would like to keep up with events on the world stage, RunBlogRun is a great aggregator of news.

And I wish I still lived in San Diego - it would take a PR effort for me to hang, but Meb Keflezighi is pacing the 1:30 half-marathoners at Rock 'n Roll on June 1st. It wouldn't take that much of a PR, either. . .  on a side note, my first marathon was the Rock 'n Roll in San Diego in 2000. It hurt so bad, I moved up to ultras a year later, clocking 65.61 miles in 12 hours.

And last up, a blog post by author Hugh Howey on goals and dreams. Go, read it, set some challenging goals - but don't forget to dream of greatness, either.

We had a gentle rain out here last night that will help my little vegetable garden grow and soften the trails. It's play time.

Run gently, friends.