Welcome to Real Running!

I can’t help feeling a bit inadequate as I read advice from professional coaches and reports of sub-three hour marathoners. Didn’t I see something recently about a guy who raced over 50 marathons while pushing his toddler in a stroller? Wow. Now I’m a bad runner because I don’t have perfect abs and a bad parent, too, because I could never get my kids to sit still in one of those things.

On a recent run, one of my worst in memory, I yelled out to no one in particular (mostly because no one else was stupid enough to be running through the local park at dusk on a weeknight like me) “Why don’t they write about runs like THIS in the magazines!?”

Why not indeed? Welcome to Real Running. The things no one ever told you about running.

For the first installment,  I simply want to give you a few little pieces of advice to get started.

Be sure to check out my monthly column in Northwest Runner Magazine starting with the March 2010 issue, and come back each week for a new blog entry.

FIVE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT RUNNING

1. Running is silly and no one should do it. But you’ve come this far, so clearly you’ve decided that silliness-be-damned, you’re going to get out there and log some miles. Ok. But be warned, the vast majority of our family members and colleagues think running without being chased is just plain stupid. And you won’t do much to change their minds when you leave work at 5:30, during a snowstorm, in tights, a skull cap, $150 shoes, and a GPS wristwatch. I figure that most of those of those who consider themselves runners are used to being outcasts for one reason or another. But this is just a theory I’m working on...
   
   
2. Running is hard. It really is. And the thing is that it doesn’t really get easier or less painful, because the better you get, the farther and faster you go. So the net result is that at the end of the run, you hurt. You can call it a “good pain” all you want, but you know it isn’t. It just hurts.
   
   
3. Quitting is cool! You need to tell yourself this over and over again so that when you come to a stoplight one day and the more reasonable forces inside of your head tell you to turn around and go home you won’t feel like a total loser. Here’s a hint to make it easier on you: those people in the cars at that intersection and the other pedestrians around you don’t know that that very corner isn’t the destination of your run. I like to holler “I did it!” and raise my arms in triumph before turning to limp home. Hint: if you wear one, turn off your GPS watch at this point and claim that it ran out of batteries “about half way through” the run. In all seriousness, my two worst injuries – a broken foot and a torn calf muscle – both happened because I was too stupid to abort a run that was clearly going poorly. You need to know when quitting isn’t just cool, it’s the only way you’re going to be able to keep running beyond today.
    
4. The Better the Run, the Less People Will Care. I call this the NASCAR effect. People watch NASCAR for the crashes, and their interest in your running is likely the same. If you didn’t crash and burn, hit a wall, fall on your face, pull a muscle, or vomit, they won’t care much. That blissful run down a tree-lined sidewalk with the sun rising behind you, with every muscle in your body feeling loose and happy, with your pace right on target? That run that makes you feel like you could keep going forever? Best to keep those to yourselves. Total collapse is far more interesting to your “support” network.
    
5. Distance doesn’t matter. People like to ask two well-meaning questions about your runs: “How far did you run?” and “How fast did you run?” Unless you are racing, neither of those things matter (and actually, if you are racing, the distance question is rather silly, isn’t it? How long was that 10k you ran?) Anyway, when you are putting together your running plans for a week or just for the day, teach yourself to plan in terms of time, not miles. I like to do out-and-back runs this way. I’ll head one way for 30 minutes and then try to make it back to the car in 30 minutes or less. The training benefits are the same as counting miles. Honest. No really, it’s true.  I’ve prepared a little one-act play for you to help drive this point home:

WELL-MEANING FRIEND: Oh, I see you’re going running despite the fact that we had plans today. How far are you planning to go?

YOU THE RUNNER: We had plans?

WMF: Yes. But if you don’t remember it obviously isn’t important. Anyway, how far are you running?

YtR: I’ll be back in an hour. (Counts on fingers trying to figure how many miles can be covered in 60 minutes).

WMF: Whatever. Are those new shoes? I thought you didn’t have any money and that’s why I had to buy dinner last week?

YtR: See ya! (Pushes button on GPS watch, which responds with a loud “beep”)

 end scene

THIS WEEK'S RUN REPORT
I'm just getting started on the serious mileage build up for the Vancouver Marathon on May 2nd, and while I think spring marathons are a cruel joke because you are forced to log a lot of miles in the worst weather of the year (forgetting for a second that it is dark by 4:30 in the afternoon in the dead of winter), there is a benefit to training this time of year:

I get the Burke Gilman Trail to myself!

There is little worse than running on the BGT in the spring and summer, when the cyclists are in high gear and families stroll 4 abreast down the pavement. Don't get me wrong, I want everyone to use the Burke Gilman and all of the other Rail-to-Trail routes in the northwest so we can have more of them. But come high season, I don't go anywhere near the trail if I can help it. Getting run down by a car in my neighborhood is one thing, but something about being hit by a peloton of jersey-wearing cyclists is especially troubling to me.

So this week I indulged myself with a nice, flat, safe cruise on The Burke Gilman Trail. (Ok, ok, the section I ran is officially the Sammamish River Trail...let's not kid ourselves: it's the Burke Gilman from Ballard to Redmond).

I started at Tracy Owen Station Park in Kenmore (which everyone calls "Log Boom Park") and made my way east toward Bothell. This section of the trail is mostly new, replaced along with the road construction on SR 522. The best addition? Two underpasses at the major intersections, which means uninterrupted running from Lake Forest Park to Lake Sammamish should you have the legs for it.

To keep this from being nothing more than a dreaded "out and back" run, I added my own little Bothell loop to the east end of the run: After passing the Wayne Golf Course and passing through the underpass tunnel for Waynita Drive, stay straight ahead and cross the bridge into Blythe Park. Stay on the trail as it passes the park and heads northeast toward Bothell. You are paralleling the actual trail, and this little spur gives you a section of even less crowded running. (If you have run the Super Jock and Jill Half Marathon, you will recognize this stretch as part of the course).

The spur trail ends at 102nd Ave. Turn left and then left again into the dirt parking lot just before the bridge. Pick up the trail again and head back toward Kenmore.

The run totals 6.7 miles and is mostly flat. If you're on the north end, it makes a good evening run.
Bonus: a total of three possible bathroom stops: Log Boom Park, Blythe Park, and Bothell Landing Park. Now that's something to take note of!

Do you have a run you would like me to feature here? Send me a description of the route at gregsrealrunning@gmail.com.