The plan called for a three mile pace run today. Easy, right? I thought so too. I cannot tell you how many three mile runs I have completed over the years. Three miles easy. Three miles fast. Three miles sore. Three miles on the ice and in the snow. Three miles.
My first steps out of the driveway were stiff and awkward. Halfway up the hill, and halfway to my first turn, I passed some grounds keepers for the golf course that I live near. They watched me with what I perceived to be sympathetic eyes chosen to hide derision.
"What the hell is he doing," I imagined one of them saying as I lumbered past them.
The seemingly endless first mile...ended. I was 26 seconds off my pace. Not too shabby. I didn't feel good yet, however. I usually start to feel good at about this point in a run. Not today.
My friend Schuey told me before the race in Traverse City that every race, and sometimes in a training run, there comes a time when a runner has to defeat his mind and let his body take over (or something like that...he swore a lot too.) That point happened today at the 1.46 mile point of this three mile run. I neared the halfway point and I was struggling. I told myself I couldn't do it. Not today. I was just gonna run easy and call it good. Almost immediately, I told myself to shut up and run and simply concentrated on getting to the top of the gentle slope I was climbing at the time. I got angry with myself. I ran.
During the last three quarters of a mile the grounds crew I had passed earlier was riding toward me on golf carts. I passed each cart with a wave and glanced, pleased, at my Garmin which suggested that I was running at an 8:30 pace, if just for the moment. This time I didn't give a rat's behind what they thought of me.
I knew that I had to finish in under 30 minutes to hit my pace goal for the day. I chugged down the homestretch, hit stop on the Garmin, and was pleased to see that I had completed 3.08 miles in 30:35 (9:56 per mile). Honestly, I wish had finished closer to 9:30 than I did, still I was right where I needed to be.
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~John Collins, Ironman founder~
I'm that guy
- todd
- Just another runner...probably below average to slow...but still a runner nonetheless. Well, I did do a triathlon once. Um, I am working on my doctorate too. But that's it.
Sisu
Sisu is a Finnish term that could be roughly translated into English as strength of will, determination, perseverance, and acting rationally in the face of adversity. The equivalent in English is "to have guts", and indeed, the word derives from sisus, which means something inner or interior. However, sisu has a long-term element in it; it is not momentary courage, but the ability to sustain the same. Depending on context, "sisu" can refer to spunk, attitude, self-confidence, and so on. However, sisu is not bravery, nor strength, and needs to be distinguished from courage, especially when talking about the military. In contrast, sisu is an ability to finish the task and get things done.
"The credit belongs to those people who are actually in the arena...who know the great enthusiams, the great devotions to a worthy cause; who at best, know the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, fail while daring greatly, so that their place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
- Theodore Roosevelt
- Theodore Roosevelt
"Bid me run and I will strive with things impossible." - Shakespeare, Julius Ceasar
1 comment:
Keep it up, Todd. You are an inspiration!
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