My desire is for this blog to help myself and anyone who keeps up with it to process extreme ideas and work them into the reality of everyday life.
Just a little history on my short running career. In 2006 I decided I would start running to stay in shape. I set a goal to run a marathon. 4 years later, after many failed attempts to mesh training with a hectic work schedule and a growing family, I ran my first marathon. The accomplishment was very rewarding, but I felt broke down physically and mentally. As I considered whether to continue running or move on to the next thing that caught my limited attention span (which is my common M.O.), I read Born to Run and my interest level in the many advantages of trail running was piqued. Soon after I took part in a training run with a group called TATUR. After just 1 run on the trails of Turkey Mountain, I was hooked.
Now reality sets in. One of the major advantages to running is the minimal set up time. You just walk out the front door and run. Whereas the gym requires 30 minutes to an 1 hour of drive time. Now my new love for trail running would require a 1 hour round trip to Turkey. With a limited amount of time to allocate to running, something would have to give. Less distance run or less distance to go run. For a new runaholic, running less distance was not an option.
Enter the Urban Trail Run.
Example: This weekend I was faced with a dilemma. I needed to get my final long run in before pacing 50K of Paul's 101K at FlatRock next weekend. My run needed to be a minimum of 20 miles with a significant level of difficulty (anybody who has run FlatRock knows what I mean). I also needed to do homework, prepare for a garage sale, clean the garage, plant flowers and a tree, attend KWERO fundraiser, spend quality time with my family, write this blog, and hopefully catch a few laps of NASCAR. This is the busy reality facing most of us these days.
Understanding one of the purposes of a long run is to train your body to find energy sources via burning extra fat reserves (which I religiously build up through my QT apple fritter diet), I knew I could accomplish some of this by just staying on my feet and keeping my heart rate up. I decided to start my training/running by moving a pile of bricks, which I needed to move from the garage to the backyard. In loads of 6-8 bricks per trip, I ran back and forth for 50 minutes. I quickly realized carrying 10-15 lbs. of bricks would translate well to running some hills. For the next 3 hours, I ran throughout Broken Arrow searching out new trails to include into my Broken Arrow Urban 50K I am working on. I spent only about 10-15% of this time on the pavement. I was even able to meet the family at Lowe's during the middle of my run. Point is: You can multi-task while running.
As I began to explore these new options, I was strangely swept back to my childhood. I remembered the days riding my bike and constantly looking for options to get off the road and into some more exciting action. I felt creative. I felt ALIVE!
Be Passionate. Be Creative. Get off the easy paved road and experience the trails less traveled, where life truly occurs. (Sorry for the misquote Mr. Frost)
Peace,
Jono
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