Where has October gone?! Halloweekend is fast approaching,
and I have bright red contact lenses, small cosmetic fangs, and elf ears ready
to go. I’m going to be a blood elf, which only seems appropriate since I take
blood for a living. It will be nice to cut loose and have a little bit of fun.
This past Saturday I woke up ready to set off on another
race, the Great Pumpkin Challenge 10k. I was still getting back into the swing
of run training the week leading up to it, and just getting over the knee pain.
With nearly 3 weeks since my last long run and very little high intensity
training in the same period, I knew I wasn’t in tip-top condition, but I felt
good and was ambitious. How could I not be, since I had been win, place, or
show at all three of the other running races I had been in this fall? I was
humbled to find myself crossing the finish line in 8th place
overall, in a time of 39:57. I guess I should have seen it coming, given the
low volume and low intensity of my training through injury, but it was really a
big wakeup call. The half-marathon I’m training for is on December 1st,
and this certainly is not the time to be slugging!
Monday rolled around, and I was lucky enough to have the day
off from work. I considered getting back on track with my running, but then
made alternative plans. On impulse, I decided to wake up at the crack of dawn,
pack up my bike and cycling gear and take a trip to Lake Placid. I know cycling
fitness is a low priority right now, but sometimes you just have to enjoy the
last bit of fair weather before the snowfall begins! My plan was to do one loop
of the Ironman course, plus the climb up Whiteface, totally 75 miles and 8000
feet of climbing. This was not a training ride in the traditional sense, but
more of a pleasure ride, where lots of picture breaks are taken (the
Adirondacks are beautiful this time of year!).
The top of Whiteface was an experience of a lifetime. The
road to the top is technically closed this time of year, but since I passed by
a couple of maintenance vehicles and smiled and waved, I guess they don’t care
if cyclists use it. This meant that I had the entire mountain to myself. Not a
soul was on the road, and there wasn’t any snow yet for the skiers on the other
face. I took the road as far as possible (up to 4,610 feet). When I got to the
rough walking path, I set my bike aside and climbed my way up the rocks for the
remaining 200 feet. Standing at 4,865 feet and taking in views as far as
Vermont and Canada on a clear day like today, I let out a roar which echoed
seemingly for minutes, and then a gust of wind slammed into me as I held my
arms open and took it all in.
I don’t want to turn this blog into a place for debate of
any sort, but I am going to go out on a limb here and tell you that I felt God
in that moment. How I feel about organized religions is irrelevant. Just a
couple of weeks ago I found myself in a really dark place, and I confided in a
friend that the world is such a terrible place that God either does not exist
or just doesn’t care enough to fix it. At the top of Whiteface I realized that
in order to see God, you have to get yourself away from everything else. God
doesn’t act in the hustle and bustle of city life, or even in the long hard
training days when you feel alone. He is there when you close your eyes and get
in touch with the world he has created, the things beyond humanity. When I
really stopped to think about this I realized, it’s not that God doesn’t care,
he just would rather we find greatness in ourselves instead. He’s not the
parent who raises you and teaches you right from wrong. He is the parent who
watches what you turn yourself into and either shakes his head and shrugs his
shoulders, or takes pride in what you have become. Either way he loves you, but
he makes you want to be the best version of yourself you can be.
I won’t rant anymore about my existential experience on top
of the mountain, but I will say that being alone makes you think deeper, and
the longer you sit alone with your thoughts, the deeper the rabbit hole gets.
Today during a 2 hour 16 mile long run, I thought about my goals for next
summer and what I want to be. I thought about what the upper limits of my own
performance could be, and concluded that there are no limits but the ones we
imagine. With this conclusion in mind, I have decided that being top three in
my age group is a good goal, but I could dream bigger. Winning my age group and
breaking 10 hours is a better goal, but implies that I just want to beat those
around my age.
In 2010, I saw Logan Franks, 23 at the time, win the amateur
race at Ironman Lake Placid and set the course record with a time of 9:20.
There is no reason why I can’t do the same. The bar has been raised once again,
and in 2013, I want to break the amateur course record with a time of 9:19 or
better. Call me ambitious, and I will reply with a “thank you.” The slogan of
Ironman is “Anything is Possible,” and I want to prove it. I am going to
continue running hard this Fall to set myself up with a strong foundation for
Winter training and Spring training/racing. I’m going in for the kill next
summer. I will be the best version of myself I have ever been. See you out on
the roads, happy training, be afraid.
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