Lately I’ve been feeling like something has been clicking with training. That is, until last week where nothing seemed to have clicked, and I’ll get to that in a bit. But, as far as the clicking portion is concerned, I’ll say it has a lot to do with the Ultra Ordinary Running Podcast.
When the UOR podcast started running back in December, I knew I’d be writing about it at some point. Even though I’ve mentioned specific episodes in a few blog posts, I haven’t fully written any specific details on the origins of the show itself. Both my co-hosts Melissa and Angela, have written up wonderful extensive pieces about it, and I would highly recommend checking those out here and here because they’re great and I’m not sure I can even remotely do it any justice.
I firmly believe the Universe works in magical ways of bringing people into your life for a reason — whatever that reason or reasons may be — Melissa and Angela are no doubt a true testament to that. It’s funny thinking back when I signed up on Twitter, so many moons ago, and being very cautious and aware of people. I guess in a way, I still am. Regardless of what many people may think or feel, social media can be a scary place to be. You never know who you’re going to get following you, and you always hear those horror stories of people “meeting online.” I mean, I totally got that engrained. However, it can also be a wondrous and inspiring place, and I’ve “met” a few fun and amazing people through the Twitterverse — at least as far as I can tell based on my interactions with them.
To say the Ultra Ordinary Running Podcast has been an entertaining and nerve-wracking experience, is an understatement. Did I say nerve-wracking? Why yes I did. Even though we’ve recorded 11 episodes (as of me writing up this post), I still get nervous just before Melissa hits the record button. It’s sort of like the day before, or moments before a race, and all those jittery butterflies start swirling up. That’s me. But I have to say that most of all, it’s a been a great learning experience in personal development. Not just about myself as a person, but as a runner.
Recently, we interviewed a friend of mine whom I’ve known for a number of years through our club the L.A. LEGGERS (Episode 9: Journey to Javelina Jundred with Jim Doyle). It was an interview two months in the making, because schedules just didn’t mesh up well during that time. Finally, the planets aligned and it worked out. I can honestly say I learned something quite significant based on one particular thing he said:
“I don’t want easy.”
I absolutely loved his interview, not because I know the guy, because aside from seeing him on Saturday mornings during our club season, I didn’t know his story. I found it so genuine (because he is) and thought provoking in how I’ve approached my own training and running, and I felt like something immediately clicked right when he said that. I don’t want easy. There were so many things Doyle said which shifted my perspective, but that one in particular, stuck to me hard.
A couple of weekends ago, I ran some trails with my friend Fernanda. It was so much fun and I always enjoy running with her because she doesn’t make me forget why I do this. She’ll be a great ultra runner once she signs up for one. *Nudge, nudge*
For the most part, the run went great. Even though I had planned how long I was to be out there, the task still felt daunting. Doyle’s words filtered in and out of my head throughout the run, especially towards the end of it.
When Fernanda and I came to a point where we could’ve taken two different trails back. I asked her, do we want to take the “easier” more gradual climb back up, or do we want the more challenging steeper climb? She immediately says, “the challenging one!” Ahh, that’s why I love that girl. Thanks Fernanda! In my head and heart, I knew she chose the best one.
I don’t want easy.
I feel like this statement completely marries well with something Angela said in Episode 8: What Not To Do. Here, we took a roundabout way of offering tips of what you shouldn’t do in an ultra or trail race, and while I thought I knew most of it, Angela came up with this gem:
“Make all your training runs perfect and pain-free. Only run in perfect conditions.”
I’ll just say this one resonated strongly with me, even if it was a tongue-in-cheek comment. She wasn’t serious, you know. In fact, our tips were meant to be helpful if you did the exact opposite. There have certainly been times I’ve waited until I felt great to head out for a run. You know, when I wasn’t tired or sleepy, or hungry, or hot, or cold.
Hot weather running? Blech.
Rain? Nah. And here is where I had bit of a dilemma this past weekend.
Saturday morning I tried out a new trail that I wanted to try since seeing a friend post photos of it recently. Initially, I meant to run the Bulldog loop out at Malibu Creek, but when this opportunity came along to run a new trail, I couldn’t resist. Plus, considering how I felt so tired all week, and my lack of training, I didn’t think I would’ve survived Bulldog. Deep down I made the right choice because the trails were absolutely gorgeous, and whenever I try new trails, I like having other people around, so this worked out perfectly.
The area was so lush and green and while the elevation lacked of what I needed, compared to the Bulldog loop, the trails were filled with rolling hills! Throughout the run I kept imagining this must be what it’s like running in parts of Ireland or the English countryside. In fact, someone who happened to be from England said the same exact thing! She felt like she was at home.
Going into this run, I didn’t feel strong and even after a couple of miles warming up before the rest of the group got there, I felt tired and out of breath.
When Melissa pitched (I know, such a Hollywood term), the idea of the “Impostor Syndrome” (Episode 10), I didn’t quite understand how that played out in running. An impostor pretends to be someone else in a deceptive manner in order to manipulate for his, or her, own fraudulent gain. This didn’t sound like any of us, but I understood where she was coming from, and the concept from which she was getting at.
It was during this run, I felt so disoriented trudging along, and I started to berate myself for not keeping my training appointments this week, and it started to shake up my confidence. I didn’t make training a priority. I didn’t fight through the exhaustion like I know a lot of runners do. Some people I started running with, started to run on up ahead and then I thought to myself, run my own run. If I lag behind so be it. It’d be a different story if I decided to not come out at all, but I’m here now. This is a new trail for me and I need to be cautious anyways, so just run my own run.
Since this was a looped course, I was really tempted to head on out for a second loop, but then decided not to. Yes, I was verrrry tempted. But I figured there was to be another trail run the next day. Well…
Late Saturday night, the rain kicked up and didn’t let up. I was really hoping for it to hold off any severe downpours until after my run was over, but that didn’t happen. Early Sunday morning the rain was still very much coming down and I couldn’t decide whether to head out or not.
Why couldn’t I just be one of those people who doesn’t give trudging through muddy trails with complete disregard for the potential risk of slipping and sliding and injuring myself a second thought?
Feeling the dilemma I posted out to the Twitterverse and in the end, I decided to scratch the trail run. One friend told me she wasn’t going to run, and I don’t blame her. When I nixed it, I messaged another friend who was already on his way to meet me, but quickly turned around and went to a different trail for a bit.
I certainly didn’t earn any badassery merits this day, but I want to get through my training season without injury so if I have to scratch a rainy run now and then, I will. The weather was pretty bad during the morning and I figured I’ll go out later for a shorter run, but that didn’t happen. Yeah, I was starting to beat myself up over that one too, but I was so tired. Exhausted was more like it. Not sure exactly what’s going on, but my sleep has been so whacked lately. This week my training just didn’t click and it was disheartening. Maybe I’m waiting for those perfect conditions to get my run going.
One thing I wanted to offer when we started the Ultra Ordinary Running Podcast was a possibility for someone to learn something new, and I certainly have throughout this whole journey so far. Now, I’m not sure sure if I’ll ever get over those pre-recording jittery nerves, but I’m still learning.
Thanks for reading and Happy Running!