Competitive distance runners can be reduced to two basic categories.  First are those who train and race regularly and are addicted to and giddy from the rush they feel from running.  The other group is the incurably miserable “walking wounded” who are eager to tell any unsuspecting stranger just how much pain they are in from their running-related injury and how much life sucks because of it.   I found myself somewhere in the twilight zone between these two worlds recently, and that is the inspiration for this entry.

Until recently, I had never sustained a running-related injury in my 30-year competitive distance runing career, and was always happy to boast about that reality.  But that unblemished track record developed a big “pimple” at the end of May – a severe inflammation of the sacroiliac joint in my lower back, which caused excruciating pain to radiate from my lower back to my hip, groin, and knee, and also caused me to lose coordination in my left leg.  Forget about running – I could barely walk.   I struggled to find a comfortable position while sleeping, and even sitting was relentlessly uncomfortable.   I was miserable.  It appeared that I would be taking up residence in the “hating life” camp described above for an indefinite period.  To add insult to the injury that this condition caused me, the prognosis was slow recovery, with likely recurrence.  Great.  Just shoot me now.   The rock band “The Who” and their legendary mantra, “Hope I die before I get old,” has a distance runner’s twist on this sentiment :  “Hope I die before I get injured.”

People around me almost seemed to derive some sadistic pleasure in seeing my training get derailed.   My son, Alek, said that the injury indicated that I needed to improve my lousy running form, expand my virtually non-existent stretching regimen, and lose my gut and do some ab work to take unnecessary strain away from my back.   Why not tell me that I’m a waste of human life while you’re at it, Captain Tough Love?  One of my uncles, whose Boston-qualifying dreams imploded when he blew out his knee many years ago, had these comforting words for me upon learning of my injury:  “How old are you now?”   To which I replied, “47.”  And his response was, “What did you expect?”  Call me crazy, but I think I would have preferred a warm embrace with a gentle and understanding whisper in my ear telling that everything would be all right.   Nah.  Smack me around some more, please!   I would love to add a few more names to the (ever-lengthening) list of people who laugh at or doubt with all their heart my plan to run the “holy grail” time of 3:30 for my age group to get back to Boston.  What’s life without having an uncompromising purpose to conquer an impossible dream, right?  Maybe I should stop watching Don Quixote re-runs.

But with just over four months remaining in my training for the Philadelphia Marathon on November 20, this injury was the best thing that could have happened to me.  I never thought I would say such a thing, but it’s true.  In every crisis, there is an opportunity, right?    There are two basic reasons why this injury was a blessing.  First, it forced me to rest, which is something I’m apparently incapable of doing on my own accord.  I work around the clock in my career and in my training – always have and always will – and that’s simply not sustainable.  I was logging my highest mileage in more than a decade, month after month of 100+ miles in 2010 and 2011, topping out at 150 miles in May.  And I was reaping some encouraging rewards from those efforts in my race results.  But here’s the problem:  logging higher mileage is playing with fire when you are my age and my size.  You must proceed with caution and be sensitive to your body’s needs.  “Caution” and “sensitive” aren’t in my vocabulary when it comes to training, howver – it’s just push, push, push.   And that unsustainable approach to training finally caught up with me with a nagging lower back injury that first appeared in April the week before I ran the Jacksonville Symphony 4-miler.  It was a loud and clear wake-up call to slow down.  Not surprisingly, I ignored that wake-up call and continued to train hard (with lots of punishing training on concrete bridges) throughout April and May.  Shortly thereafter, while bending down to pick up something in the end of May, I stood back up and felt Sir Lancelot’s sword in my lower back.  I turned around and didn’t see Sir Lancelot, however.

I now had my first running related-injury and had succeeded in stabbing myself in the back by not being more cautious and sensitive with my training.  So, rest I would take, whether I liked it and not.  I expected the mandatory sentence of rest to last no more than a week, but I was wrong.  The pain waxed and waned but didn’t start to consistently improve until the end of June.  I had rested an entire month from the date of the injury and had only run 8 miles in June– my lowest mileage month ever.  But when I did finally feel liberated from this pain, I felt like a thoroughbred bucking to break through the stable door – my running was exhilarating and effortless, and my runner’s euphoria was back.

Second, and more significantly, my injury prompted a significant lifestyle change.  As of June 1, I transitioned to a vegetarian diet as a way to fight back against the loss of control I felt from my injury.  It was something I had considered for many years and somehow this situation seemed like the best time to give it a serious try.  I also have vowed to eliminate, or at least significantly reduce, my consumption of coffee.  I’ve succeeded in both undertakings and it was much easier than I anticipated.  I plan to consume fish about once a week, but I have eliminated everything else – beef, pork, lamb, veal, and poultry.  I have only had one cup of coffee since June 1.  Eliminating coffee has significant co-benefits, too — fewer Dunkin’ Donuts cups in landfills and fewer massively caloric donuts in my belly.  The biggest advantage of the vegetarian/no coffee lifestyle for my running career, however, is the weight loss.  Eating smarter was all I needed to do to be able to shed pounds effortlessly.  I dropped 10 pounds in June.  And I didn’t feel hungry and didn’t crave meat or coffee.

So, I’m back — injury free, pain free, lean and mean, and ready for action.  I registered for the Philadelphia Marathon today.  Yo, Adrian — cue up the theme song to Rocky.  I can hear my Boston Qualifier destiny beckoning.

Find more blogs at: http://bostonorbust330.wordpress.com/

Read it below:

Everyone Needs a Running Coach

By Vanessa Wells

I saw Life in a Day last night (http://www.youtube.com/user/lifeinaday). This is an extraordinary movie and one of historical significance. In publishing and in advertising, we constantly hear the buzz phrase “user generated content.” As customers become advertisers and as ordinary people increasingly become the focal point of extraordinary stories, the field of broadcasting is leveled so to speak. All of these thoughts swirled in my mind as I experienced Life in a Day last night.

For those who don’t know, here is the premise of Life in a Day. National Geographic and YouTube present a film directed by Kevin McDonald and produced by Ridley Scott. Life in a Day is the story of one day on earth. The thing about the film that’s so revolutionary is that it is filmed by you. User generated content has hit the big screen in an unprecedented manner.

So how do you digest a nonlinear film by the universal collective? It’s delivered in snippets, it’s disjointed, it’s uncanny but it works. As I sat in the movie theater alone watching everyone, it was a feeling I had never really experienced before. As human beings, we tend to think of ourselves as center stage with the world happening around us. This movie flips that. We’re in the dark theater; everyone else is on screen. The film is linear on some levels in that it covers a day from start to finish; it also grapples with life and death – birth in the morning and end of life toward dusk. I think violence and war are covered sometime around six o’clock in the evening; right around the time we settle in for the evening news. Throughout the movie, the pulse of humanity is almost rhythmic – this idea that in some ways our routines are automatic, primal and the stuff of mammals.

clink here to finish reading: http://beson4media.com/blog/everyone-needs-a-running-coach/

The schedule for Sunday is:

12:30 ~ Clinic Opens, mingling, vendor display, paperwork,
~ We provide water, light snacks
1:00 ~ Introduction/Opening comments
1:15 ~ Keith Brantly~ Staying motivated and goal setting
1:45/50 ~ Break
2:00 ~ Core class with BRETT from Timed Exercise
2:30 ~ Latest and greatest Summer running clothing/tech
2:50 ~ Break
3:00 ~ Powerbar Rep to discuss latest updates to sports nutrition line
3:30 ~ Rachel Perez to discuss the latest on running form and injury prevention.
4:00 ~ Break
4:10 ~ Stride/Form Drills
4:45 ~ Gender focused discussion groups on nutrition from Keith Brantly and Kim Pawelek
5:15 ~ Closing remarks
5:30 ~ Small social with wine, beer, food

Please spread the word about this awesome and informative event.  We can’t wait to see you there!

That one mistake resulted in my not being able to complete my goal of finishing the Try To Be Tough Challenge and attempting my first marathon in Spring.  I take pride in my ability to achieve my goals so “failing” was difficult for me. I did my first half with the Marine Corps in October but ended up just doing 6K at the Outback and was a spectator at Jax Bank, giving my number to a friend – everytime I get the brightroom photo emails I giggle as he looks nothing like me.  Friends and Coach told me, “There is always next year.”  Unfortunately not a lot of solace in that.

Oh I tried to keep running and pretending that there was no problem with my hamstring, until I had no choice but to take a break because the pain was ridiculous.  That was a hard lesson to learn and I will try to not make that mistake again.  I took about 2 months off from running and in the beginning of my hiatus did some spin classes and the arc trainer at the gym but it didn’t give me the same feeling as running and so I just stopped going.  Sleeping in was great!  I had my afternoons free and Saturday morning became a totally different experience.

Whoops…..I started back sometime in February and the first run was a Saturday group run at Town Center/UNF.  It was acually not bad!  I did 8 miles and it was a little hard but I thought that I had somehow escaped the dreaded slip that comes from not training.  Flash forward 5 months to today and I am sad to say my moment of glee was rapidly replaced with reality.  I am still not back to my former self - not in pace, endurance or motivation and it really stinks.  I had a fleeting moment of personal greatness when I ran 6 times one week and then the next struggled to do 2 runs.  Presently averaging about 4 runs a week, I am nowhere near the 35-40 miles I used to run, closer to 15-20 and boy do I feel it. 

Now the alarm goes off sometime between 4:15 and 5:30am and whereas before I would get up and get the running shoes on and make the hour drive from Palm Coast to meet people to run, now I live 5-15 minutes away from most of our routes and I can’t get my sorry butt up – “Oh I’ll run this afternoon!” I tell myself and pull the covers up over my head.  Of course something inevitably comes up and I miss yet another run.  My legs feel like I am in quicksand and my lungs hurt, new pains appear in my knees and my right ankle and wait…is that a shin splint?  I never get shin splints – what the heck!  Did I mention it is freaking hot outside and there are a crazy amount of biting bugs and and and and – I’m sure there are plenty of other excuses out there.

Truth is, I am scared.  Scared that I will continue this backslide into sloth and demotivation and then have to go up a size in clothes, or worse, have to answer questions from people about how the running is going (shudder). 

The other truth is that even though I am not where I was at the time of the injury, I am nowhere near where I was when I started in January 2010 and I take comfort in that.  I CAN go out and run 6 miles if I want to…the key is wanting to (which I do…in principle) AND making myself do it.

A plus is that there are a bunch of new people in the running group and it is really motivating to see their achievements and successes and although I am back at the back of the pack, the new peeps are great and I am truly enjoying getting to know them and cheering them on at track and at races.

I know the key is consistency and that I just need to keep getting out there and I will start to see improvement in my endurance and pace soon.  I also know that I can’t beat myself up when I slip up, it is going to happen and is part of the process.

Just keeping it real.

Dear Paul,

As promised a while ago, here is your free advertising in Tanzania.
Have you received any communications from Tanzania?  

The first photo is an action photo from the second day, as we climbed
through the forest and heath zone, from about 8500 feet to our camp at
11,500'.

Jeff Funderburk

McRae explains, “Our clients have asked for additional options in training and instruction that only Keith and I can offer.  Our team approach to coaching and development gives our clients the enhanced knowledge they need to improve the quality of their performances, both in day-to-day training and challenging races.”

“Paul and I have very similar and complimentary coaching styles.  Our combined depth of coaching and service to the running community, as well as our national and international racing experience, gives us the opportunity improve the training and racing experience for runners of all ages and abilities.  By combining our efforts, a Personal Running Solutions Client will receive an unmatched level of coaching and mentorship leading to improved enjoyment and performance in their running.” Brantly stated.

Keith will direct the Personal Running Solutions presence in St Johns and Flaggler Counties. He and Coach Paul strive to provide a better individual coaching experience to all of the athletes they coach. The merger represents Personal Running Solutions’ goal of building solid connections and ensuring all Personal Running Solutions athletes have access to the best network of running related experts.

About Keith Brantly:

With a running career spanning three decades, many experts consider Keith Brantly to be one of the most successful Long Distance Runners in United States distance running history.  Keith has enjoyed successes in national and international competitions at distances from the mile to the marathon.  His accomplishments include:

• 1996 United States Olympic Team Member, Marathon.
• Five-time U.S. Olympic Trials participant for 5K, 10K and marathon, competing in a total of seven event trials.
• Twelve-time member of United States National track, road racing and cross-country teams.
• Eight-time United States National Roadracing Champion in the 10K, 20K, 25K and marathon.
• Lifetime personal bests include: Marathon 2:12:31, Fifteen kilometers 42:50, Ten kilometers 28:02, Five kilometers 13:36, 1500 meters 3:40.7 (3:58 mile)

Keith conducts inspirational and entertaining motivational seminars for corporations and special interest groups on topics related to health and fitness.  As a successful specialist in healthcare sales, Keith inspires sales teams and organizations with meaningful and practical formulas for success drawn from his years of successful athletic competition.  He especially enjoys speaking to children and young adults, encouraging them to start and stay involved with sports and recreational activities and stressing the importance of strong leadership practices.

Keith’s volunteer service includes a term as President of Florida Track Club, volunteer coach for Best Buddies and motivational speaker for the American Heart Association.  Twice he has appeared on the cover of Runner’s World magazine.  He is also a member of United States Olympic Team Mentoring program.  Keith is also a proud board member of the National Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer, 26.2 with Donna.

In 2005, Keith was inducted in the Road Runners Club of America, Hall of Fame; in 2004 he was inducted in the University of Florida Athletics Hall of Fame.

I am always amazed at our amazing bodies in which we live! We are given only one throughout our lifetime, and throughout this lifetime we put it through many trials and tribulations. 99% of the time we do not even need to think how our body works, but occasionally we are put in situations where we learn all too easy about how fragile our bodies acutally are.

Many of you may have heard about the earthquake in Christchurch New Zealand just recently. Just now the death toll has risen to 145 people from over 20 different nationalities, with more than 200 people still missing. In Christchurch which is New Zealand’s second largest city the number of rescue and aid workers working around the clock against time to save people still stuck under the many demolished buildings has risen to over 3200 people. One of my friends who moved to Christchurch lost her house in the tragedy, but as she says – it could have been worse off, me or my daughter could have died. Officials say that the death toll will reach over 300, very sad indeed.

Out of tragedies of this magnitude there always rise stories of human strength and courage. Out of devastation of this scale the true goodness in people, groups, neighbours, and foreign countries shine in the support of help in all shape and form. Although there are many stories worth mentioning, I thought I would pick one as it is related to the true epitomy of the sport I love so much.

Tonight in Wellington our best runner Nick Willis should have recieved his 2008 Beijing Olympic Silver Medal after a drug scandal to the first place recipient at the Christchurch International Track meet, one of our best track and field meets in the country. This track meet of course was cancelled, however Nick Willis has pulled all of this top competition to a makeshift meet in Wellington in an attempt to raise money for Christchurch. Nick Willis recieved his medal, won his Mile race in 3mins and 58s, and apparently raised over 15,000 New Zealand dollars (approx 75,000kr). The sign of a true champion is not only what one does on the track but during all aspects of their daily life. So Nick you deserve that silver medal, you deserve all the success and support because you have a heart of Gold…

By the way – I know Lisa has written about me in the past, so I wanted to add a special post for her also, remember to smile while you go about your days, because we live in a wonderful world.

Run Happy