The subtitle to Tyler Hamilton's book, The Secret Race, is Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France. It makes for a sexy bit of marketing - look, see the underbelly of the most celebrated bicycle race in the world - but it isn't accurate. It wasn't just the Tour de France, it was in every race for a decade and probably still goes on today.
Runners and writers share similar traits, many of which qualify as self-inflicted abuse. "Write until your fingers bleed" is analogous to "I lost another toenail." Personally, I count those as badges of merit.
One affliction that both have that I wish could be banished is the idea that we can achieve perfection. I'm reading Kris Rusch's The Pursuit of Perfection: And How It Harms Writers (among five or six other books I'm also reading concurrently.) I hit a part that reminded me of this last cross country season and a young lady who wants to be perfect.
She's a talented runner, outstanding student, and a nervous wreck at the start line. A lot of kids are, which I really didn't get until recently. I'm more of a "pre-worrier" in that I get all of the angst out of my system days before a race. Once the number gets pinned on, my focus shifts to the work at hand.
It finally dawned on me, slow that I am, that she was worrying about the results of the race, not the race itself.
This, by the way, is not a 'girl' thing - some of the guys fight through the same issue.
Writers go through the same process, worrying about their books or stories long after the work is done and sent off, or in many cases today, indie published. Kris recounts a tale of a blogger who stated that a writer should use the one-star reviews to help re-edit a published work.
Sounds insane to me, though Kris was kinder. I have received bad reviews - one publicly, a few privately. The public one (you can find it at Goodreads if you're so inclined) I did pay attention to - she mentioned typos in the finished product, among her other complaints. Those I went looking for, because production errors aren't acceptable. In 126 cases of you're and 133 of your, I couldn't find the ones she said were done incorrectly - neither could my editor.
But I didn't contemplate rewriting the entire novel to her satisfaction. Am I disappointed she didn't like it? Yes. I also know, from the feedback from others that loved the book, that the parts she didn't like were the most popular with others.
Runners fall into the same trap. We get so wrapped up in what others do - they had a killer workout, or a PR race - that we forget to take care of our own business. Worse, we forget that we can only control one thing - our effort.
If the weather is lousy, it's lousy. The course is hilly, well, everybody else faces the same hill. The race is loaded with Kenyans who will be finished before you reach the halfway point, c'est la vie. Their race is not my race.
In the young runner's case, I made a deal with her at the start of her last race - go out and run in front of her closet competitor. My young lady had worked hard in the summer, came in fit and ready, but kept following a Pullman girl into the chute. So I told her to run in front, and to count on her courage to fight to the end of the race. I also told her that I believed that she could do it - and, if it turned out I gave her bad race advice, she was welcome to run me over with a car when she got her license. But until the race was over, I wanted her best effort.
I got a smile about the car joke and then the race started. She ran like a dream, focused on the competition at hand instead of the finish, and for the first time all season, finished with a smile.
You can't create a work of art, whether a book or a race, if you worry about the final result more than the effort to get there. The energy and courage to put yourself to the test is the forge for the art, and the love and the passion you bring to it shapes it in the heat of the moment. Greatness happens in those moments.
Some of these very cool shirts are available for sale - contact me or Tim Gundy for details.
The Mayans still aren't right - the world hasn't ended. In fact, race weather was in the 50's so all the kids and some of the adults ran in shorts and a tee shirt. Hardly December-like. More like, say, San Diego, minus the crowd, pollution, and the highways that will be backed up until the second of January.
Not a huge turnout - I think maybe the race is too close to Christmas and a lot of folks have left town. Still, the Asotin XC folks appreciate everyone who did come and hope to see the rest of you at a race or run soon.
Run gently, friends, and enjoy the great running weather we've got.
Running, unlike the 'big' sports which pay employees, runs on volunteers at nearly every level. Almost all the workers at local XC meets are volunteers, as are the ones at most marathons. Even the high school coaches work nearly free - certainly under minimum wage given the hours they keep.
One exception is the Snake River Half-Marathon (filling fast, so enter soon!) which has been very generous in paying the Asotin XC teams to man the water stations at the 4- and 6-mile marks.
Generally, I figure that a race averages one volunteer per one hundred runners. Small local races actually have an easier time gathering volunteers as the spouses or parents of younger athletes jump in. I think bigger races come with a presumption that everything is paid for, so volunteers are less necessary. Certainly, the relays I've run have put their collective feet down and part of the entry is to provide two volunteers or cash to hire someone.
In Asotin, we have a core group that shows up to help and we've come to depend on them. But every race could use more help. The gentleman who does all the starting for the local HS track and cross country events has been doing it for nearly three decades.
The same thing happens at the club level. The same core of people tend to manage the group and the events year after year.
They could use a smidge of help, so I have a favor to ask of you. If you're a parent of an athlete, can you volunteer one time next year to help out the program? If you are in a running club, can you help with one race instead of running?
It doesn't take much but your fellow runners will appreciate it and, if my experiences are any indication, you will, too.
Time out on timing this summer to lick a granddaughter's popsicle. It was her first 5K.
I did a workout years ago with a friend as we prepped for the Portland Marathon. He was supposed to be pacing me on a marathon paced run. Unfortunately, he's loads faster than I am (he ran a a sub-3:00 marathon to my 3:28) and the pace gradually drifted up to the point where I couldn't breathe.
Not that I entered oxygen debt. I mean it more in the literal sense - I have exercise-induced asthma, the temperatures were in the low 30's, and the pace all combined to trigger an attack.
Since I have my own little issues with breathing, I think it's important to pass on the knowledge to the junior high school kids I coach. Not the asthma part, the breathing part.
Every year, I lead them through some exercises on breathing. Depending on how long the kids have been with me, we'll experiment with different things. This year, I had two runners that had been with us since the sixth grade and the rest were new to the sport. So I co-opted Thing 1 and Thing 2 to help the younger kids.
First, at very low speeds we sent them around the Chief Looking Glass park with instructions to count how many steps they took per breath. A breath was a full cycle of inhalation and exhalation.
Then we sent them out to do it again, because combining activities for junior high kids leads to mass confusion - most of them lost count. And their form fell apart because they're not to the point where they can do two things at once - run and count - without one of them getting a little sideways.
At idling speed, Thing 1 (Carmen) was taking six strides per breath and Thing 2 (Maia) was taking eight. This was consistent with their training levels - Maia has been training hard for two years while Carmen is just starting to transition from running with sisters to training for races.
The younger runners reported an average of four strides per cycle with a couple at six.
We repeated the drill at several different speeds so they could get a feel for how their breathing changes at given paces. For a lot of them, it was an eye-opener. Natalie, one of the sixth-graders who also does martial arts, adapted the fastest.
This comes to mind because I came across a book, Running on Air, that proposes to teach a runner how to breathe to maximize speed and endurance. Obviously, I've ordered it and it's on the way. I'll do a review once I read it.
The part that caught my attention was a proposition that the way we breathe and run is incorrect. Specifically, the use of even numbers which means that we always begin a breathing cycle on the same foot. Since belly-breathing loosens the core during an inhalation, this creates an imbalance that taxes the leg/side that begins the breathing cycle.
Interesting idea, hence the ordering of the book.
The other claim that was interesting was that the average runner uses about 60 percent of their lung capacity. Since breathing is always my limiting factor, it's an area where I have the greatest potential for improvement. I suspect that this is true of the kids I coach.
The downside is that I don't think I can fully teach the ideas to the kids in the short junior high season. I can, however, introduce it to them and start the process.
I'm in the midst of writing a couple of different novels. One, The Lonesome Mile, I had planned to set in Colorado. One of the underlying themes of the story was the struggle that an aging miler faced with his own professional demise - and the allure of PED's to extend that life.
The coach in the story is a piece of work, a do-anything-to-beat-the-Kenyans type of guy. I don't know anyone like that, but that's why I write fiction.
Unfortunately, that whole story line blew up in the last month. First came the stunning announcement that Rita Jeptoo tested positive on her A sample. Then, the implosion of the Russian Federation athletes' doping scandal.
In a reprise of cold war rhetoric, Russian Athletic Federation president Valentin Balakhnichev said, “The federation believe the documentary was a provocation aimed at discrediting Russian sport.”
So, national events have overtaken the basis for my novel. I can't claim to be surprised. I wrote about different aspects of the doping problem in This System Fails Kids. I also hinted at it in a more recent article, Here's how to get more media coverage for running - if you dare.
What I have to figure out now is whether this is still a story worth writing. My first guess is 'yes' but I'll have to do some modifications of the plot and perhaps shorten it to a long short story instead.
I do expect an avalanche of non-fiction to hit the shelves in short order. They'll give us the why's and how's, but I wonder how deeply they'll look at the emotional motivations of the cheaters and the systemic abuse of trust by the coaches of those athletes. If they don't, I probably will.
In the meantime, I'm working on a story that a pair of young ladies from Mead High School have asked for.
And we'll see. I really wish my story idea had stayed the stuff of imagination and fiction, not tawdry headlines, tarnished reputations, and tainted accomplishments.
Well, it seems a natural fit. The Palouse Road Runners, along with the Beer Chasers, have a book club that meets, I think, monthly. A while back I saw that they were tackling "Once a Runner" by John L. Parker. This month, the book is "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running" by Haruki Mirukami.
I'm reasonably sure that this is the first time that I have heard of a book club affiliated with a running group. That is a bit of surprise, because most of the runners that I know are also readers. (Yep, I know, anecdotal evidence and a small sample size.)
I read a lot of running books - this one has been on my list, so I should pick it up and perhaps join some other folks with aligned interests.
Anyone else's running group have a book club? And, if you want to join in on the PRR club, they're meeting at The Daily Grind in Pullman on January 19th at 7PM - everyone is welcome.
'Tis the season and all that jazz. The End of the World run, which started with the Mayan prediction of a gloomy Christmas in 2012, is back. Saturday, December 20th at 10 AM. You have a choice of 2 and 5 miles. Click here for race entry forms. The race benefits Asotin Cross Country.
Yours truly will be handling timing duties. I may or may not have an assistant.
We usually have some prizes, too.
I'll be on HuffPost Live at 9:30 AM this morning, yakking about stress and the holidays.
If you have time, I hope that you can tune in.
Long ago, in a body quicker and more nimble, I went out one Sunday for a long run. I got exactly as far as the front porch before hitting the ground.
Clearly I wasn't still living in SoCal where a 'winter' run involved a long sleeve shirt. Bruised ribs weren't going to stop me from getting my run in, though, so I took off from my house in Moscow, ran across town and the University of Idaho campus.
I picked up the Chipman Trail at the edge of town and headed for Pullman. Hah! Nothing stops a determined runner.
Two more hard falls on the trail and I came to the stunning realization that I just wasn't that frickin' dedicated. I called my wife from the Chevrom in Pullman and she kindly fetched me from near-certain injury. As it was, it took a week for everything to heal.
Fortunately, nothing was broken. A friend of mine, Lance, wasn't as lucky and finished with a concussion on his run.
Running on ice is more than tricky - it can be downright hazardous. So, a couple of thoughts from a guy with memories of bruises.
First, decide if there might not be another way to get the run in. We runners are creatures of habit. If the long run is supposed to happen on Sunday morning at 7am, by golly, we're going to make it happen. Consider that at 1PM, the ice might have melted. Opt for changing your schedule instead of trusting to your luck.
If you do have to go at 7AM, try running in Yak Trax. I've never used them but friends that have say they work well in crappy conditions. All the sporting goods stores have them this time of year or you can snag them on Amazon.
The last, and least desirable option, is the treadmill. Given that 15 minutes feel interminable on the 'dreadmill' for me, all I can do is wish you good luck. I forget which US marathoner (from Alaska, I think, and female) did all her long run training for Boston on a treadmill about a decade ago. It can be done.
If all else fails, skip the run. Sacrilege! But a better option than breaking an ankle, a hip, or our noggin.
Good Luck, run gently, fall more gently if you happen to go down.
I made an interesting discovery while in the Portland area. They have an aerospace museum. More accurately, McMinnville hosts the Evergreen Aerospace Museum.
A short digression - the museum sits next to the waterpark. The entire gang, minus me, went and all the kids had an absolute blast. Dozens of slides and pools. Four of the slides start in the body of a 747 set on the roof. The youngest ground-mobile granddaughter floated the wave pool while a pair of nieces went dare-deviling all over the place.
Why didn't I go? Opted for a trip to the Portland Running Company. Love those folks and, since I don't have a running store close, I try to make an effort to swing into PRC when I'm in town. Left with new gear to replace some of my older (more than a decade older) stuff.
Back to the museum. From the instant you enter, the Spruce Goose dominates the rather large hall.
For scale, look at the people on the gangway. The windows that you see along the fuselage are passenger observation windows. The actual cockpit sit on top of that - see the little windows waaaay up there?
Inside, it feels like a whale swallowed you and your companions in one gulp, except maybe a little roomier. Though the ribbing appears to be metal, the majority of the airframe was constructed of wood. Birch, not spruce but I can't think of any birds that rhyme with birch and I guess neither could the original reporters. An amazing piece of engineering.
The exhibits left plenty of maneuvering room and it never felt crowded. Most exhibits had signage with historical information about the pieces.
I loved that my grandson, Jeffrey, got intrigued enough to look over the boards. A first-grader, the verbiage was a touch of his head, but the combination of pictures got him to stop and assess. Very smooth production by the museum.
Over course, the big kids lingered too. Two of my sons-in-law were there and, at various points, we would scatter like quail, each heading for a different part of the exhibit.
I found a little aircraft, built from a kit by a Moses Lake man, that stood scarcely taller than an average Duffau grandchild. I'm now lobbying Jeffrey's dad to build an airplane for the kids. The four of us, three adults and one child, decided it would be a 'good' thing, educational even. I'm betting I can get a couple of granddaughters on board. The wives might take a little persuading. . . .
I found a P-38, a World War II aircraft that has always been my favorite for reasons I can't explain. They also had an engine for one, a V-12 brute. Apparently, the engines came in right and left rotations to reduce the torque on the airframe. Interesting stuff to the nerds among us.
The Evergreen Aerospace Museum also owns a DeHaviland DH-4 that still holds an airworthiness certificate. These aircraft started as single-engine bombers in WWI and were adopted by the US Post Office for the original Air Mail service. I'm guessing that when I'm pushing a hundred years old, I won't be nearly as able to fly high. Of course, the DH-4 is seeing much better maintenance.
We hit the theater - they have multiple shows every day - for a documentary on D-Day. I think Peter Jennings narrated but didn't catch the credits. The show was well-done and in 3-D.
We only covered one building of the exhibit as Jeffrey started to wear down, plus we had to get back for a surprise birthday party. We didn't get to look at the more modern planes, some arranged on the exterior, F-16's, F-18's, an F-4. Inside the other building where we ate a reasonably priced lunch, were drones, including one that I think, if I am recalling my old comic books correctly, was a V-2 rocket.
On the way out, Will noticed that not only do they have a tank exhibit outside but you get to climb in. Gonna have to come back.
