Train Hard, Race Hard.

"Passion is pushing myself when no one else is around"

Someone printed this Ryan Shay quote on Dean K's blog this week and I loved it so much I wanted to write about it. I get such a rush out of training hard, I mean don't get me wrong, I enjoy a nice easy run once in a while also, but the reason I run is because of the challenge. Running wouldn't be the same for me if I wasn't continuously challenging myself.
I've done 26.2 on a treadmill, I've done 20 miles on a HS track, and I've done 50 miles in the Mountains, and I love all of them because I'm pushing myself each time.
When you follow the schedules of people like Dean Karnazes, Phil McCarthy, and Jamie Donaldson, some of these numbers I've run are nothing compared to what they've accomplished, but if I pretend like they don't exist for a minute I am very impressed with myself. Lol Just kidding, without these people, especially Dean, I probably woudnt be pushing myself at all in this sport. I follow these people for a reason, one is that I really love this sport, and two is that I have found these people to be good, kind hearted people, who are amazing at what they do. They are the kind of people that set the bar, and would love for nothing else than for you to achieve the same, or even better success than they have had.
They are awesome!
Ok, back to Me! .....me,me,me! :o)

I definitely prefer to be outside running, especially in the trails, but as long as I'm running somewhere I'm happy. Mixing it up is good for me, it keeps it interesting.
When I crossed the finish line in my first 50 miler last year, only 19 people finished the race out of 86 starters and I came in 18th place, 10 minutes under the 13 hour cut off.
I first said to myself. "You idiot, you picked the hardest race on the East Coast to run for your first 50" but then I realized, I'd rather it be that way. Everything on my body hurt for weeks after that! I mean, muscles, bones, joints, everything. It hurt when I peed, and my teeth even hurt for some reason. For the 2 weeks leading up to that race I had a really bad cough, and didn't think I was going to be able to run it. I decided to do it anyway, and I felt amazing. I coughed through the whole race, but my legs kept on going. I actually took some oxygen from the medic tent after the race because I had a hard time regulating my breathing afterwards. My wife and my mom were at the finish and didn't like it very much.
3 weeks later I went out and ran a marathon just because I felt like I needed to "get back on the horse again". I limped for the last 5 miles but I finished it.
It's the challenge, it's how much punishment my body is willing to let me afflict on it. I figure it will let me know when it's too much. I try to push myself as hard in training as I do on race day, that way there are no suprises. I've run 30 races now and do not have a DNF yet. Only 13 of them were over 20 miles though, so lets see if I can keep the streak going now that I'm adding longer harder races to my schedule.
Besides all the regular Marathons I've run in the last 2 years (10) I'm running a couple more 50 milers this year, and then in 2010 I'm going for the 100 mile distance.
I'm not sure what race I want to be my first 100 miler, but someone recommended Umstead to me. They told me it's a good race to make it your first. When I heard that I started looking elsewhere. I'm sure it's a great race, and really if you think about it, any 100 mile race is TOUGH, but I'm gonna pick something that's tough even for a veteran. That way I know I'm really testing myself. I'm looking at The Vermont 100 now.
The harder the race the harder I will push myself in training.
Let's keep pushing hard and see how far we can go.