Pick Your Poison
Take me to Church
One of my followers left a comment on Instagram after I posted the results from the Triple Lakes Trail Race, “I cannot imagine running 40 miles! What’s that like?” I love interacting with people, so I provided my answer and he thought that it was a similar way that running makes him feel. So, I decided to try and write a post about it and see if I can articulate what it’s like to run 40 miles, or any distance that really challenges me.
One of the main reasons that I run, is because as the miles increase, it really strips away all of the things in my life that are just not very important. This is why, I believe, that you hear so many runners say that running “clears” their head. At a certain point, I get so focused on putting one foot in front of the other and my breathing, that all of the little worries in life just kind of melt away. And, what’s left is the “real” me.
What I mean by this, is that once all of the minor crap is gone, I am left with what I believe is important, and those things tie directly back to my values. In this way, I am exposing, to myself, what I value and what I believe. It can be quite eye opening. The further I run, the more exposed I get. When I am really hurting and I still need to run nine more miles, the reasons that I run and what is truly motivating me come straight to the surface.
As an example, I ALWAYS think of my wife when I am in the pain cave. “If you can knock out the next 10 km’s, you’ll be that much closer to seeing Mary at the finish.” I tell myself. I think of my brother-in-law and how if he can wake up with the pain he has from his accident and function every day, then I certainly can keep going. No excuses. If I am running for a cause, like the Disabled American Veterans, I think about how these men and women sacrificed and how what I am doing is just a sport that I chose to do.
As the pain and the tiredness set in, I start to search my soul for the strength to push forward. I hear that little voice in my head “Don’t quit, show your children that anything is possible. Be an example. Lead other people and improve the world a little today. Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. You are a machine. You are a beast. Persevere and learn another life lesson. Cleanse your soul.”
That last part, is it in a nutshell. Running these long distances is like going to church for me. I open myself up completely, I feel that I have somehow cleansed my soul, and when it’s over and I can still feel the pain and taste the sweat, I am looking for the next one because I want more…
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All I do is Win! But You Were 17th?
What Goes Through Your Mind?
Before I get in to what one thinks about the night before a 40-mile race, I just want to remind everyone that we are still short of our goal in regard to raising money for the Disabled American Veterans. Click here to donate, anything will help our heroes who have sacrificed so much for all of us. Thank you for your generosity in advance! Peace Joe the Runner
It is approximately 7pm the night before race day, and I will try and answer, the best that I can, what is going through my mind. I kept myself busy today, preparing my drop bags, reviewing the course map, and driving out to the starting line and finally packet pick up. And now, I am alone with my thoughts. What I am feeling is a sense of confidence with humility. I’ll even call it a state of mind. So, what does it mean?
I am confident. I am confident because I trust the process and I stuck to it. I’ve run 1560 miles, climbed 95300 feet, and spent countless hours on the trails. I woke up early to run, I went out and ran in the dark, I ran when I was home, and I ran when I travelled. My diet has been very clean, no alcohol, not a lot of refined sugars, lots of vegetables and lean meat/fish. My taper has been excellent and I have been getting quality sleep. I have done my part and executed what I could control. All of this gives me confidence.
I am humble. You absolutely MUST respect the distance. What I love about this sport, is that the challenge is between you and the course and you and yourself. 40 miles on technical trails with temps climbing to 76 degrees will challenge the best of us, especially as we push to move as fast as we can without blowing up. A distance like this, you can twist an ankle, take a hard fall, bonk and vomit, dehydrate, or simply just fall apart. It has no compassion, it is what it is. It’s a canvas for us to try and paint our best picture on and it doesn’t care how beautiful or how ugly that picture is. And as the artist, while you may have a clear idea of what you are trying to paint, you will need to be flexible and adjust, because some days the course simply won’t give you what you expect. The picture you paint may ultimately look very different from the one that was in your head.
Tomorrow there will be sweat, blood, pain, tears, and vomit. But there will also be triumph, comradery, love, joy, and accomplishment. So, I’ll leave you with this. You all know I love me some Rocky, so I’ll let his timeless words take us out. “Cause I was thinkin’, it really don’t matter if I lose this fight. ‘Cause all I wanna do is go the distance. And if I can go that distance, you see, and that bell rings and I’m still standin’, I’m gonna know for the first time in my life, see, that I weren’t just another bum from the neighborhood.”
I hope that this post and this blog helps! To receive new post notifications, newsletters, and post previews, please SUBSCRIBE!
For behind the scenes photos and comments on my training and personal life, follow me on Instagram: joe_the_runner Strava: Joe Randene YouTube: Joe Runner
Questions, comments, feedback? Please leave them in the comments section BELOW and we can have a discussion!
Triple Lakes Final Update VLOG9
Fundraising for the Disabled American Veterans
3 Reasons that Drama is Not My Mama
“You have to want your dreams more than you want your drama.” – Jen Sincero
When you write and share your message with people, there are times when you have to write something and then leave it alone to fester. You need to let time do its work and see if when you revisit it, if it is valid and relevant or if you just wrote something that ultimately isn’t useful and should just be left alone. Sometimes it’s simply because you’re scared that what you wrote is not high quality or that it will get a negative reaction. THIS is one of those posts. I actually wrote this on May 2, 2017 and its been sitting there ever since.
After reading it again, I realized that I left it because I didn’t want to offend anyone. But, ultimately, if you are going to help people, then you are going to have make yourself, and those people uncomfortable from time to time. Well, this is one of those times.
So, before you read this, I want to say in advance, this is my opinion and I do not mean to offend anyone, but I do feel strongly that this can help some people. If you read it and your good, awesome! If you read this and you get to thinking, even better.
I was reading a book by Jen Sincero, You are a Badass at Making Money, and I came across this quote of hers: “You have to want your dreams more than your drama.” I instantly thought of this post that I had just been letting sit. You can apply this to your running goals AND your life goals. So, I am going to roll the dice and publish my thoughts around one of the biggest hurdles to success for anyone, including myself. Drama…
Time
Time is the only true commodity that you cannot buy more of. When you leave this earth, it’s over, and no one can be sure when that time will come. Knowing that I only have a limited amount of it, I work very hard to keep the drama in my life to a minimum. It reasons that if I only have a limited amount of time, and I want to spend it doing awesome stuff that is productive, rewarding, and fulfilling, I can’t fill it with petty arguments and dealing with situations that are usually completely avoidable. I’m too busy trying to kick ass to worry about petty bullshit. This means that I minimize my exposure to people who create or participate in any drama as well, because if you get sucked in, the outcome is the same… NEGATIVE.
Stress
Have you ever been around someone who always seems to have bad stuff going on, or is always talking bad about other people? It’s a bummer, and it is downright stressful. Everything that I have read about stress, is that it is possible that it’s worse than smoking or being obese! Think about that for a minute. Being stressed can do more damage to your body physically then something that causes cancer or diabetes! Think about that the next time you are going to overreact to a comment someone made, or you are getting ready to hang out with that friend who always seems to have crazy things going on in their life!
Predetermines Failure
This is a hard one to swallow. Other than the Kardashian’s, I have not met anyone who has a ton of drama going on in their life that becomes successful. In my job as a leader, I have terminated numerous people for being chronically late to work, and they all say the same thing the day they are terminated. It usually goes something like this: Me “Employee A, we are terminating your employment today because you were late to work for the 7th time in the last 12 months.” Employee A “You’re firing me because I had a flat tire, that’s not fair!” At this point, I try and explain to the person that we are not firing them for the flat tire they had today, it’s because of the other six incidents AND the flat tire today. How does someone show up to work late so frequently? Drama. They are not taking care of their crap and it ends up biting them in the rear.
It’s really that simple, drama is a drain on your time, money, energy, and well-being. If you don’t believe me, think about the drama that you are creating in your own life and take control of it for a few days. Make sure that you get to bed early, that you pay your bills, try not to overreact to other people that upset you, etc. Next, think really hard about the people you are spending time with that love to drum up drama and always seem to have a problem, and then cut them out of your schedule for a few days. Don’t talk with them, visit with them, or look at text messages and social media. Simply collect yourself for a few days. If you really do this, tell me that you don’t suddenly have more time, more energy, and less stress in your life!
Trust me, if you stop letting drama run your day, you’ll be a lot more productive and that is always a good thing.
I hope that this post and this blog helps! To receive new post notifications, newsletters, and post previews, please SUBSCRIBE!
For behind the scenes photos and comments on my training and personal life, follow me on Instagram: joe_the_runner Strava: Joe Randene YouTube: Joe Runner
Questions, comments, feedback? Please leave them in the comments section BELOW and we can have a discussion!
Triple Lakes 40 Mile Trail Race Update 2 VLOG7
Be a Running Monk
While I was perusing Instagram the other day, I came across a funny video that Elisa Kurylowicz (@elisakurylowicz) posted, of two running monks that she came across on one of her runs. These were two monks that were in their robes and sandals running and smiling. In fact, one of them had his hands in the air and was waving them like he just didn’t care, while he was running! Probably because he didn’t. My initial reaction was; FUNNY!
However, while I was running, I started to think about this some more and it hit me like a brick; this is badassery at its highest level! I mean, these guys are monks, and you would think that they would be off doing monk stuff somewhere, but they want to run. They didn’t have running shoes and moisture wicking clothing, they had robes and sandals! But they wanted to run, so they ran.
They didn’t paint themselves in to a box and say, “Well, we are monks, so that means we cannot do anything else.” No, they became running-monks! How frickin awesome is that? So, that got me thinking about how so many people limit themselves and create their own boxes. “I’m a (parent, full time worker, full time student, etc.), so I cannot be a (runner, painter, blogger, badass, etc.) BS! Every day I hear people say “I wish I could run 10 miles. I wish I had more money.” When I hear this, what I really hear is “I am not willing to do what it takes to run 10 miles. I am not willing to do what it takes to make more money.”
You can do anything that you want to do if you really want to do it! You want to open up a bakery, but you are a busy parent, sit down and figure it out. Become the best damn parent-bakery owner in the world. Don’t make excuses, make plans. One of your lifetime goals is to run a marathon, but you work 50 to 60 hours a week. Guess what? At every single marathon, there are finishers who have full time jobs and are parents, just like you. Don’t paint yourself in to that box! Go be a running-monk.
I understand that this is an oversimplified explanation, BUT, it is what many people, including myself really do. My life is just as hectic as the next guys. I am married, I work full-time, I have a family, AND I run 50 to 70 miles every week to prepare for my races. Not to mention working on this blog! I realized that I am a running-monk. And you know what? That’s just frickin awesome!
I hope that this post and this blog helps you achieve your dreams! To receive new post notifications, newsletters, and post previews, please SUBSCRIBE!
For behind the scenes photos and comments on my training and personal life, follow me on Instagram: joe_the_runner Strava: Joe Randene YouTube: Joe Runner
Questions, comments, feedback? Please leave them in the comments section BELOW and we can have a discussion!