Gear

Today, I bought the shoes I am going to run the Houston Marathon in.

Really the only two things I, and you, need to know about these racers is that I purchased them for $30 and on the bottom, in print you have to search to find, inscribed is "LICKETY SPLIT!"

But What Am I Going To Wear?

With less than 9 days until the race, I realize, I need a uniform. I have my TEAM tri uni, but in the Ironmans I am not racing with TNT.

I can swim, bike, and run all I want, but it means nothing if you don't look good doing it.

I need a headband that lets people know as I pass them to perhaps be aware of a karate chop, and I need spandex for speed and agility, and I need neon.

Faded denim never looked so good crossing the finish line.

I need to do all Ironman races in vintage Agassi wear. eBay Agassi Challenge Court searchers beware, there is a new sniper online.

Pre Lives

I recently bought an old school track jacket, written on the back is "Pre Lives."

Steve Prefontaine was a crazy runner with a great 'stache who said, "To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the Gift." Here is the only thing you really need to know about Pre from Wikipedia:

Prefontaine was an aggressive runner, insisting on going out hard and not relinquishing leads, a tactic that his fans and fellow competitors admired. He was quoted as saying, "No one will ever win a 5,000 meter by running an easy two miles. Not against me." He would later state, "I am going to work so that it's a pure guts race. In the end, if it is, I'm the only one that can win it."

It is sad when greats die young, though as the jacket says, "Pre Lives."

Breakfast of Champions

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. With a half-Ironman race a little over two weeks away, and a distance that is farther than any other I have completed to date, this feels like what I should be eating.

It is a familiar feeling, I feel unprepared. Nails for breakfast seems like the only thing that might toughen me up in the little time I have before I stand in the water with hundreds others. Though it is fun for me, because I haven't done this distance before, and ultimately when I am done honing the weapon, this distance will seem short of a warm up.

Still, I feel unprepared because I haven't trained in the distances I should have, with the disciplines together as they will be on race day, because I could get pulled off the course for not making a time cut, and I might be a little concerned one of these distances is too much.

I've heard 50% of training is getting on the starting line healthy. I'm just unsure which 50% this breakfast is going to help.

Run Humans Run

One of the coolest races I have ever participated in was the one in which I saw only one other runner on the course. The course, planet earth.

The Nike+ Human Race 10K was billed as the day the world stopped to run. The race had 25 official races around the world. And, you could participate anywhere in the world with Nike+. Of course I had all the gear, my Nike+ shoes, SportBand (the most ingenious invention, but that doesn't work - reviews don't lie), and official race jersey. (Again, ingenious. Each shirt is personalized with an individualized bib number.)

I ran the race early in the morning in the hills of the Rocky Mountains. I didn't expect to see anyone but was having a good time in my official race jersey knowing, the world out there, others were running too. Then, about 30 minutes in a girl passed me in the opposite direction listening to an iPod in her official race jersey. We both smiled and I'm pretty sure I started running faster. I think I beat her.

Proof positive that the SportBand doesn't work: I don't remember that gravitation pull my pace line is experiencing in my uploaded run. It also recorded my time at 56'02" HA, what a faulty piece of equipment, wait, what?, that was my actual time, probably still is broken though.

 

The worst part about having a microchip record your race distance? Oh I guess coming up .01K short of the actual imaginary Nike+ Human Race 10K finish line.

Longing for Season 5?

One thing I find interesting is thinking about everyone you know and then imagining everyone on a island. Who would love the setting, survive and flourish, who would hate the situation, act irrational, and self destruct. The most intriguing piece about this scenario is that some would do well based on their mental capacities, others drawn from experiences, and some just on physical strength. I imagine this and think about the Ironman, because an Ironman race would claim anyone who didn't excel in all three.

Distance - My Benzoylmethyl Ecgonin

I think, for me, I love to race not for the competition, but for my body. We have all been given a very sharp, intelligent instrument and it is interesting to see others and how they choose to use it. I think that is part of the fun of watching the Olympics, because you get to witness a human machine trained to do a specific task better than anyone else in the world. A gold medal means out of 6.692 billion people, you are the best of all.

One thing I find curious about myself, and am finding out now, is I don't think racing a previous distance is exciting. I am training for my 3rd marathon, I am a bit bored, though not because I find the challenge easy. I will run the 26.2 miles and hopefully, as is the goal with every race I enter, I will finish. I haven't finished either marathon in less than 4 hours. It is a goal this time around, but really, I just find myself wondering how much farther I could go, if any. Time and PRs seem like footnotes.

The prospect that only distance is consequential to me is a bit frightening. I pretty much want to do as many races as I can and I currently only want to know the title of "Ironman," though what if I do finish? The idea that I would want to do more is sickening, even to me. I can't imagine it now, and in less than 30 days I will get a good taste of half.