A Check Mark for the Bucket List

A Check Mark for the Bucket List

     Knocking things off the bucket list is always fun.  Many people don't really think about their bucket list in their late 20's or early 30's, but considering a few of the items on my list are dangerous or semi-risky, I figure I need a head start in case I don't make it to the early 40's, 50's, or 60's!

     This past Sunday I knocked another item off my bucket list - running an endurance race.  Specifically a half marathon.  Anyone that has trained with me or has talked to me at any length about health and fitness knows one thing - I. Hate. Running.  That's an understatement (that's also the reason a HALF marathon is on the list and not a full marathon).  Know when I enjoy running?  When I'm furious about something.  When I'm so mad that I just need to punish my body physically in such a way that my mind can't muster the strength to focus on anything aside from calf cramps and burning lungs.  That's when I like running. I get that angry maybe once every 5 years.  Maybe.

     Since once every 5 years is not the regularly prescribed training regimen for a first race, I decided I'd have to dig deeper for motivation.  I did some research to see what kind of training a guy in decent shape would need to do in order to do better than crawling across the finish line.  12-20 weeks and runs gradually increasing to 11-12 miles seemed to be the most common prescriptions out there.   11-12 mile practice runs?  PRACTICE?  We gon' talk about practice?  Not...not a race...but practice?  Practice?  PRACTICE!?!? (if you don't get the reference, apologies from this Philadelphia transplant)

     Looking at the training I was supposed to do, only one thing came to mind.  After all, I just started a new job.....

     As it turns out, training longer & harder, and maintaining a diet that didn't consist primarily of Del Taco and Sausage McMuffins probably would have been a better route to go, because I didn't crawl across the finish line, but I sure wanted to.  But, I did it. 

     For my race, I chose the Stairway to Heaven trail run in Santee, CA (A little to the east of San Diego at Mission Trails Regional Park).  It was hot (90 degrees by 9am).  It was hilly (so, so, so, SO hilly), and the trail was rocky.  This probably sounds like a bad thing, but those aren't complaints.  It's exactly what I hoped for - the misery of rolling my ankles on loose rocks, and the feeling of dehydration kept my mind busy and away from the fact that I.  Hate.  Running.  Passing other runners, and then being passed by other runners, and thinking "oh hell no" and passing them again definitely made some miles move faster.

     Afterward, I had a weird mix of emotions that I've never felt before -a simultaneous sense of accomplishment and a strong yearning for the free burritos and beer I was promised at the finish line.  Really, they could have kept their medal, and they could have even kept the tee shirt.  But the beer & burritos?  I might've run another mile or 2 for those.

     So apparently the Stairway to Heaven trail run is not one to take lightly, and it's not something I'd really recommend doing without training, but it was a heck of an experience.  Afterward, more than 1 experienced runner was overhead saying "that was the toughest race I've ever done".  The guy who finished behind me, and became a pacing buddy along the way, told me "a few months ago I ran a 50K, and I've run plenty of marathons....and this was a whole lot tougher".  It felt good hearing those things.  

     And ya know what?  As much as I.  Hate.  Running., I'm a little curious now to see what kind of time I could get on a flat road course.  And what time could I get in next year's Stairway to Heaven run if I train and diet properly between now & then?  Are there crazier, more difficult courses than Stairway to Heaven out there that I can try?  How fast could I actually get?

I guess there's only one way to find out.