I am...therefore I run...a years reflection...

Well, I'm back after a crazy month of August with work and camping with the family, etc.

Today's post is getting back to my journey to good health. As many of you know last year about this time I was in Ethiopia getting ready to come home from my last international trip with World Vision. In fact it was 1 year ago tomorrow that I went for my last "training run" in Addis. I remember at the start of the trip in Kuala Lumpur Gary and I had been working out in the gym in the hotel almost every night. TALK ABOUT DUMB!!! Here it had been years since I had done any sort of meaningful workouts (yes off and on commitments but no real consistency) and I was going to work out every day. Needless to say by the time I got to Addis I was probably in pretty bad shape physically but I was going to train no matter what...Well I went downstairs to the gym and decided to start my "run"...Now remember Addis is at about 800o ft elevation so no small feat for a guy my size who is out of shape to get air at that elevation. So off I start walking until I am warmed up and then I start to run and within about 5 minutes I am gasping for air (I wasn't doing this in KL, what is wrong I think)...So I jump off of the treadmill and because there is no one in the gym I walk upstairs to the front desk "GASPING" for breath...the poor girl at the front desk is all concerned "Are you ok sir, do you need an ambulance?" and I'm trying to tell her I'm ok but I just need to get my breath and make sure someone was around because there was no one in the gym (OK yeah I was a little freaked out at this point). After a minute or so my breathing gets back to semi-normal and I tell her I'm fine it's just the elevation (and years of not exercising and being obese!...OK I didn't say that part to her...), So off I go downstairs and instead of running I walk the remainder of my 45 minutes at a speed that quite frankly made me mad. Because of my "over-training" I ended up in Physio-Therapy for 2 months with achilles issues. When I finally got back to good health I re-committed myself (after some words from my son but you can read that in an earlier post), but ironically almost a year later that lesson about listening to your body and not pushing things has stuck with me. There have been days over the past year where I have been tired, not feeling so well, coming off of a long run within the previous 2 days and it would be easy to just stay home and not go for a run but I remember that it is better to workout at a lesser intensity for a shorter period of time then to do nothing at all.

Just this past Tuesday I went out for my normal Tuesday morning short run. On Sunday afternoon I did an 11 mile run and while I was feeling really good by Tuesday morning it was raining and I was a little tired and so I thought as I started to run that instead of pushing for a fast time today like I normally would I was just going to "take it easy" and do a comfortable run watching to keep my heart rate in a specific zone lower then I normally run at. What a difference a year makes. 8 months of training in 2010 (starting on January 3rd.) and one half-marathon down later, my easy run on Tuesday resulted in me running a faster pace for 4 miles that at any point or distance (including my short 1.89 mile run)during the four months of training I did for the Eugene half-marathon. How could this be? Well it could be because repetition and commitment will always result in success achieving better health and fitness. Last night I ran 6 miles in just a little over an hour. 4 months ago my goal was to run 5 miles in an hour. A year ago I would have been so proud of myself to be able to run 10 minutes at 5.5 miles an hour speed, yesterday I ran 5.7+ mph for 6 miles.

Today less than 13 hours after finishing a 6 mile run I am going out for my normal Friday morning run (4 miles). It is not what I want to do on a normal basis (I am a morning runner now and last night's run ideally would have happened in the morning), but it is what I have to do in order to get in today's run. The difference now, I have no fear about doing it, it is only a 4 mile run (when did 4 miles become "only"?) and if I am not feeling it I know that I can give myself permission to "take it easy" and just run to how I feel. Why? Because I now know that I am...therefore I run...and nothing is going to stop me now!

So whether you have been working out or not, running or not, walking or not. It is never to late to start. I have now last over 25lbs since I left World Vision last fall. I have not gone on any "meal plan" or "crash diet" I have simply decided to run...to run half-marathons, to run/walk at times but mostly just to get out there and move. God has given me the benefit of a second chance to rediscover the athlete in me, it may have taken 25 years, I may be a lot slower than I used to be, I may be over 100lbs heavier than I was then, but I'm healthier today then I have been at any time over the past 25 years and in the next year I plan on getting even more so. My next race is the Bellingham Bay Half-Marathon on September 26th, 2010. I am going to be running that with my wife and my former assistant (and still friend!) from World Vision. Cheryll is doing her first half-marathon and she started out with a goal of "walking" the race, over the past few weeks walking has just been too slow for my very a-type wife and she has now started running and walking. Megan is 15+years younger than me and she is much fitter and so I expect that even though this is her first half-marathon she will do it no problem and will more than likely finish well ahead of me. In May in Eugene I ran the race in 2 hours and 53 minutes. My goal for Bellingham is to finish in under 2 hours and 33 minutes (yes that's right a 20 minute improvement). At this point I am feeling pretty good about my training and that if I don't experience any unforseen complications during the race (can you say muscle cramps!) then I should be able to achieve that goal. But through it all I keep reminding both Cheryll and Megs that the goal for the race is to finish...No matter what the time...

So "Team Mike" as I have started to think of the three of us (I know it's a little self-absorbed but hey I'm the one who got them to commit to the race) is a cross-section of what running is all about. It is not about how big or small or fast or slow you are, it's about, as Nike would say, "Just Doing It!" A year ago, I was all pumped up because I wanted to lose weight and do something BIG...8 months ago, it was about running a race (weight-loss was no longer a motivation, just an assumed by-product)...2.5 months ago, it was about not losing momentum and keeping my commitment to myself to better health...Today, it is about who I am. I am a runner now, I am someone who has the power to show others that it's never too late to start exercising/running and that no matter how small (or BIG) you are it is something you can do. I have a dream that in the next year I can have at least 12 other people join "Team Mike" in doing something they would never have thought possible, but I realise through all of this that the reason people will join the movement is not because I talk a good talk, it is because I walk the walk. And in that I thank God for teaching me that it's like my faith in him. I can't just talk the talk, I need to walk the walk, that is how people will come to know the joy and love I have in God. It is only in that way that you truly can be a testimony to him.

So let God be your example that all things are possible through him. John Bingham in his book "Running for Mortals" talks about the day he became "a runner". It happened one morning where he finally decided to go out and just do it. He ran as hard as he could as fast as he could as he headed out of his driveway and lasted...8 seconds...but then after catching his breath he stood back up and continued his "run" as far as he could. How did he know he was a runner? Because he decided to be one and kept going...plus once he got back to his house he hopped in his car to measure how far he went (can you say runners mind). And just so you get the picture of what it is to "be a runner" he went a grand total of...one-quarter of a mile...yes, that's right 1/4 mile, 4/10th's of a kilometer. But he did it, and he hasn't stopped since then. He has run marathons in Greece (the original course), New York, Chicago and many other places but it all started with an 8 second commitment...

So if you haven't done it recently, get out there and walk (or run) and if you feel like you can't do it, you can, I know you can...why? because I did and I will guarantee you if a guy who started this journey at 300lb+ can do it so can you. Oh and if you want to join "Team Mike" then I would love to know about your commitment to yourself. I will continue to post the races I am going to do and I hope that you will be able to join me on one of them, but even if you can't run the race I am doing you can run your own.

Well I need to sign-off now because I have a run to do.

Til Next Time...

Mike