Ugh...Why Would You Do That? by Mike Roberts

“Ugh…Why Would You Do That?”

Tips for Aspiring Ultra-Marathoners

So when I tell people that I run ultra-marathons (any race that is greater than 26.2 miles), their response is usually something along the lines of “Ugh…why would you do that?”

I used to laugh it off, primarily due to the fact that I pretty much get that same response whenever I tell people that I teach middle school.

But the more I’ve thought about it over the years, the more I’ve come to realize that I shouldn’t laugh it off. In fact, the question shouldn’t be why would I run ultras, but rather why wouldn’t I run them.

So in an attempt to get more of my teacher peeps out for a 50k, 50 mile, or even a 100-mile race, here are the top five reasons why being an ultra-marathoner rules.

1. You instantly become super-hero like to all your couch potato friends.  Lazy people are generally pretty easy to impress, so even casually mentioning the fact that you have a 50-mile race the next day puts you into Batman territory.
2. It’s not much more training than you do for a marathon.

Seriously. If you add an extra 10-15 miles per week to your marathon training, you can finish a 50k. The first one won’t be pretty, but you’ll finish.

3. You don’t have to run fast…you just have to run all day.

In fact, since most ultras take place in the mountains (involving climbing and single-track running), you will actually do a ton of walking during an ultra. But don’t tell your friends this…it might jeopardize the super-hero rep.

4. The aid stations are way better than marathons.

Don’t believe me? A typical ultra aid station comes complete with potato chips, Oreos, gummy bears, Coke, fruit, M&Ms, and, if you’re really lucky, popsicles. Sure beats a sippy cup of Gatorade, eh?

5. Black/Missing toenails are a badge of honor.

Embarrassed by your feet? Not at an ultra! Take pride in those sorry looking dogs! The more mangled, the better.

There you have it…the top five reasons why being an ultra-marathoner rules. And yes, there are other reasons (health benefits, challenging yourself, getting into nature, camaraderie with the other runner, etc.), but none of that stuff is nearly as cool as the junk mentioned above.

Still not convinced? Then I suggest checking out a few of my favorite ultra websites for inspiration…

http://www.irunfar.com/
http://antonkrupicka.blogspot.com/
http://footfeathers.blogspot.com/

And being an English teacher and all, here are a few books on the subject. You could even download them and listen to them while running. I know…I just blew your mind!

Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
Eat and Run by Scott Jurek
Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner by Dean Karnazes

Finally, in all seriousness, if you have any questions about running ultras, please feel free to email me at thebaldenglishteacher@gmail.com.  While I’m far from an expert, I can usually at least point you in the direction of someone much smarter than I am (which really isn’t that hard).

Now get out there and go for a run!

The Fragility of the Life-Run Balance by Gill Hunter

The Fragility of the Life-Run Balance

by Gill Hunter

Several years ago, I quit running because I started writing. I was in graduate school at Purdue University (Boiler Up!) and starting my dissertation. I had been running off and on for several years, never really seriously, and mostly as a brief diversion from the hours of reading required by a doctorate in literature. I reached my breaking point, though, when I started the dissertation. Every mile made me flinch as I thought, “that’s another page I could have written.” So I backed off, then quit altogether.

The good news is that the writing continued: I finished the dissertation and have the tenure track job teaching college English that we all wanted. But that something gained was unfortunately added to: thirty pounds I hadn’t had before, points on my cholesterol score (come to find out cholesterol’s like golf – the lower your score the better). The something lost – fitness, health, work-life balance – nagged at me. The dissertation-forced break from running became prolonged. I settled in. I was (and still am) very happily married, with two stepdaughters who kept (and keep) me active and filled with joy. For three years I stayed settled in that way.

In other ways I was unsettled, though, and on Christmas Day 2009 I started running again. Just like in every story you’ve heard about starting running, or returning to running, I started slow and kept it short. I wanted to go farther, but really couldn’t. I wanted to go faster – and I think I used to – but couldn’t, and pretty much still can’t. But I ran. I know why I did it, and I’m proud of why I did it, and I know the difference it’s made, to me and, surprisingly, to others. And that difference it’s made is the story I love to share.

First of all, I run because God told me to. Just before Christmas Day 2009, the preacher at my church – my wife’s brother – resigned in order to move and plant a new church. As we struggled to accept his decision, I felt a pull to start a “movement ministry” at our church. I wanted to include – and create – runners and walkers, and I convinced several to join me for some Saturday morning jaunts, a couple charity walks, and a few 5k races. But most of these folks didn’t share my call to run, and I found myself showing up for races and going out for runs alone. So my impetus shifted slightly, and I began to look for ways to build community at races, and among racers, and between friends who didn’t go to my church but were inspired to run. Four half marathons (with a fifth coming at the end of March), a handful of 10k’s, countless 5k’s, a Warrior Dash and a Tough Mudder later, both my community and my motivation are strong.

The rest of that story, then, is the impact running has had on the rest of my life, including, importantly, my teaching. It took very little time to discover that I’m not a talented, or even a good, runner. But I have no trouble now, after three years of mostly productive and always-inspired running, describing myself as committed. The same can be said of my teaching. I’m in my seventeenth year. I’ve followed a winding road that has included a jail, two high schools, and three college campuses, and that has always entertained and along which I’ve strengthened myself through determined perseverance rather than sheer brilliance. Early in every semester I stand before my students and declare to them that I’m no expert. I let them know, instead, that I’m just really interested in the content of a class, in how learning happens, and in them as individuals. This is probably not the stance college professors ordinarily take, as a doctorate might suggest expertise, and classes, maybe stereotypically, indifference. I’m not sure whether running caused my mindset or not, and I don’t know if it’s humility or what, but I much prefer to sit beside my students, to work with them, to understand how they think, what they prefer, how they’re growing and how they see themselves, to standing up in front of a class and acting like I have all the information they want. We slog through the tough stuff together and celebrate when we reach the finish line.

Some of my favorite moments are those few minutes before a class begins, when a small number of students have arrived and we’re waiting for the rest to trickle in. I know what these students do for fun, because I ask them. One reason I ask, I admit, is for the quid-pro-quo of it, so that I can tell them about a race I just ran or have coming up, or explain why one day’s hill repeats make me sorry the next day’s class meets on the fourth floor, or marvel at the way the sun broke through the clouds at exactly the moment I set out for my run the day before. I know some of my students run, too, and sometimes I’ll see them at a race, or hear about their time spent on the track, or check out their new shoes. For these students, and eventually the rest, running becomes a shared metaphor: the semester is a marathon not a sprint; there will be hurdles to be overcome; we spend a lot more time training than we do racing; we have to stretch ourselves in order to get stronger.

I love my job. I mostly teach British and Irish literature and classes for pre-service teachers. The content of these courses – Dickens, Yeats, Woolf, Joyce, Heaney and others in the literature; pedagogy, writing instruction, assessment, reflection, even the Common Core in the classes for education majors – is stuff I love to talk about and the kind of reading I do for pleasure, not just work. Similarly, I love to run. I love that I can run, and I enjoy thinking about it, reading about it and, because I can’t help it, talking about it (which is why I have to often insist to my wife, my most available audience, that I’m not obsessed). My running is best when I approach it the same way I do my job, as an academic and a physical thing. I run or cross-train nearly every day. I stretch most days. I eat way, way better than I used to. And my bookshelves are growing crowded. Arthur Lydiard and Jack Daniels (a little tough to explain to college students exactly who he is) deserve spots next to Virginia Woolf and James Joyce. Each author helps me understand how to push myself, how to embrace difficulty, and how to get the most out of life. In the same way, Born to Run and Running with the Kenyans and What I Talk about When I Talk About Running belong with Wondrous Words and In The Middle and Write Beside Them. They all rely on rich experiences, include unforgettable stories, connect to the mystical, and blend the highest of theory with the most practical of application. So, they do what teachers do.

Maybe there’s a class in there somewhere. But I’m no expert.

Teacher-Runner Shannon Clark

Originally posted on Shannon's blog: I Run Read Teach

Follow her on twitter @shannonclark7

On facebook: Reading is Thinking

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Oh, boy! What can I say? It was one of the biggest accomplishments in my life. A very EMOTIONAL event. 

Yes, I’m talking about the Disney Princess Half Marathon on February 24th.

Last weekend of February 2012: 1st 5k race after completing the Couch25k program-39:52

Last weekend of February 2013: 1st half marathon after running for the past year-3:10:57

It’s been a long and fulfilling journey. Picture this-December 2011-I first told my family that my goal was to be able to run a 5k in 2012. My husband LAUGHED at me and said I was too old and too out of shape. Can we say “dagger eyes”????? It was on after that! 

I started running with the couch25k program weighing in at 163 lbs. 5’1.

A little bit over a year later I’m weighing in around 132-133 lbs. 5’1.

Now on to the Princess Half Marathon recap. I was feeling a little like superwoman when I signed up for this race. Well, A LOT like superwoman. The closer it got to race weekend I started getting REAL discouraged. I only have myself to blame. I DID NOT train like I was supposed to!! At all. 

My longest run was a 9 mile run 1 time about 4 weeks before the race. My other runs were 6 miles and below. Mostly below. 

The Monday before the race I got sick with a stomach virus. Really. I’m not making that up!!

So Friday the 22nd my husband and I headed down to Orlando. Yes, he took off from work to go with me. And believe me he is a workaholic so this was special! After driving 500 miles from Alabama to Orlando (me) and not having slept in over 24 hours (him) we (the Grumpycats) finally arrived at our resort. THEN we left to go eat. BIG MISTAKE! We got lost!! 1 1/2 hours of lostness. Enough said about Friday.

Moving on to Saturday. I went to the Race Expo to meet up with Amy at Juice Boxes and Crayolas. She is soooooo sweet. Loved meeting her and her sister-in-law and hanging with them for awhile! Hubby texted me a little after 12 noon to see if I was ok.  In other words-he was bored. I got back to resort, we got ready and went out to eat. He was in SUCH A BAD MOOD!! Here’s some background on my hubby. He loves to farm. Loves animals. Loves working. Does not love Disney World or any place that might offer a little bit of entertainment or fun.  :) Seriously. He should have been born Amish OR back in the 1800s!

Finally, Sunday morning 2am wakeup time arrived. I was soooo nervous. I ate 1/2 a banana while I got ready and then got on the shuttle to head toward my doom race. Had to hang out until 6:30 am since I was in the last corral to start. My stomach was GROWLING before I started running! 

They shot fireworks everytime a corral started running. It was exciting AND nervewracking!

This was around mile 5.5. I saw that castle and almost got choked up. Talk about a good feeling!

That’s the last pic I took until a whole day after the race. Yeah, I had to rest up. 

Here’s a pic of my mile splits:

And here’s a short summary of them:

Felt good (I’m talking PUMPED) until mile 6. Then started feeling tired. Started hurting a teensy bit around mile 8. Mile 11 I almost started crying because I didn’t know if I was going to be able to keep on.  Miles 11-13 HURT!! And who in the world wanted to ever add that .1???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Finished in 3:10:57.

I thought I was going to die after the race. Really die. And my hubby transformed into the sweetest human being EVER. He took such good care of me ALL day Sunday!! Thank you, Joe. I’ll love you forever for that!  I mean I would have loved you anyway but…

Here we are Sunday afternoon at the AMC dine in theater. Those things are sooo cool-anything where I get to eat AND watch a movie is #1 in my book! See how I’m leaning toward him? I was REALLY trying to hold myself up. 

It was a GREAT and FANTASTIC time in my life that I’ll NEVER forget!

And not even a week later I have already signed up for my next half marathon. Am I crazy or what? The Zooma Women’s Race Series in August in Chicago! I’ll be running that one with Susan over at BRB. Well, she will be waiting for me at the finish line! 

I don’t have any pics of me at the race-yeah, I bombed on that! I’ll probably purchase a couple from marathonfoto in the next couple of weeks.

 Bling Bling!!

To sum it up:

A once in a lifetime experience that made me feel like I was on top of the world!

What is yours????

Guest Post Week!

This week we'll be featuring several members of our #runteacherrun community who wanted to share with you about their running experiences!

Monday:  

Disney Princess Half Marathon Recap by Shannon Clark

Shannon is a 5th & 6th grade English/History teacher.  She's also a mom, a wife, a coach and loves all things relating to reading and teaching.  She has been running for a little over a year and has lost 30 pounds, run several 5Ks, and 1 1/2 Marathon.  She blogs at http://www.irunreadteach.wordpress.com

Connect with Shannon on Twitter:  @shannonclark7
 

Tuesday: 

The Fragility of the Life-Run Balance by Gill Hunter

Gill Hunter is an English professor at Eastern Kentucky University and co-director of the EKU Writing Project. Finishing his 17th year as a teacher, he plans on thirty more. He lives in Berea, KY with his wife, a middle school principal, their two girls and two dogs. He runs the streets of Berea most afternoons, usually pretty slowly, and welcomes any company any time.

Connect with Gill on Twitter:  @gillhunter_eku

Wednesday:   

Ugh...Why Would You Do That? Tips for Aspiring Ultra-Marathoners by Mike Roberts


Mike Roberts has taught eighth grade English in Salt Lake City for the past fourteen years. In an attempt to drop some weight, he started running six years ago. After a couple dozen half and full marathons, he fell in love with ultra marathons, and now primarily runs on the trails. He is currently training for his next challenge - a 450 mile run from Salt Lake to Las Vegas (in late June...just to make it more fun!)  

Connect with Mike on twitter: @baldroberts

How about you?  Would you like to share a story about your journey into running?  A race experience?  Favorite run ever?  Sign up to guest blog in the form below:


 

When you've lost that loving feeling...

Let me go ahead and get this out in the open:

I fell off the running wagon after my first marathon.

Seriously.

How does that happen?  I trained for 16  whole weeks to run 26.2 miles.  I had an amazing race.

And then...

Check out my February stats:

5 runs?  5?

Pretty dismal...especially when you consider I ran the marathon January 19.  I knew I'd take a good week off after the marathon to give my body some time to recover.  I didn't realize the return to running would be so slow.  I wasn't sore, but my body certainly didn't want to run at a decent pace.  I ended up taking 2 full weeks off after the race.  The runs I did in February when I got back to it were slow and steady.  The 12 days of no running in February really have no reason except for not making running a priority.  I got lazy.

Maybe you've experienced this before.  You come home from school and decide you'll wait a bit to run.  There are papers to grade, supper to prepare, dishes to wash...and when it's finally time to run you're just exhausted and end up falling asleep on the couch.  That was me in February.  The cycle was vicious.  I'd come home from school and decide that I'd rest my eyes for just a minute, wake up even more exhausted and then take care of my family's needs.  I made excuses.  I'd run tomorrow.  But I didn't.  Winter has never been my favorite season, but without running I seem to get the winter blues.  The only cure for them that I've found is running.  The difficult part is taking that first step and making the effort to run.  It's much easier to grab a blanket, sit on the couch, read, and nap.

March hit and I decided it was high time to get back to running.  I felt awful because I wasn't running.  I didn't have any energy because I wasn't exercising.  I got back to my treadmill in the basement and began to log miles again.  I'm happy to report that as of today, March 10, I've run the same amount of miles in ten days that I ran all last month:  25 miles.  

My best run so far for the month was today.  It was unseasonably warm.  Even though I had ran yesterday (4.5 miles) and I don't usually run on Sundays, I laced up and headed out to enjoy the 67 degree weather.  

I ran 6 miles down my favorite road and included a half mile trail run (which is really 4 laps around a small but beautiful cemetery).  My time outside lifted my spirits and chased the winter blues away.  I hope they're gone for good.  I need spring weather, time outside, and to RUN!  Our spring break is in a few weeks and I'm really looking forward to running in the Florida sunshine. 

If you've taken some time away from running...I understand.  But stop making excuses and get back to it.  You'll feel better.  Get back that loving feeling!  It's really not gone, you just have to rediscover it.

Happy running!