By Joe Nuss
Chances are that you really do have good reasons to NOT run a marathon, to NOT ride a century, to NOT tackle an Ironman, or to NOT participate in one of the growing number of endurance races outside the typical swim, bike, or run comfort zone. Races like the La Ruta de los Conquistadores mountain bike race in Costa Rica, the Ö till Ö island-to-island triathlon in Sweden, or the American Triple-T three-day triathlon at White Lake offer unique challenges in not just racing, but training. Getting to the starting line of one of these races takes a lot of time and commitment and the payoff in terms of better health may not be any better than if you just stayed home and worked out instead.
Likely, you really are too busy with work, you really are too busy with your children’s activities, and truthfully you really haven’t run in forever. From a perspective of health, why “go long” and devote so much of your life to a race your co-workers and sometimes family have never heard of, much less understand, when you can train for less and be just as healthy? No one will fault you for just hitting the gym and eating healthy in 2010.
So, go out and run 20 minutes on the treadmill. Lift weights. Do Yoga. Ride with the group Saturday morning. Swim. You’ll keep yourself healthy, not to mention free from the pressure of waking up early to get that long run in before work, or before your kid’s soccer practice, or before it gets really hot. Live a comfortable life with all your activities blocked off nice and neat on your calendar with start and end times on the hour.
Not me. I want to tackle a challenge that holds an end I cannot clearly see. I can see clearly the end of a 5K – it’s me gasping for air with my hands clasped over my head; people wondering why my face is so red. The end of a 10K is just like the 5K but I’m gasping harder, my face is redder and I’m likely laying down in the grass somewhere. Yet I can envision all of those finishes – all relatively short races where a good day or bad day is determined by a matter of a few seconds.
No, I want a little more drama.
I want to shoot for 3:30 in a marathon knowing that if I fail, I’ll struggle for 3:45 and quite possibly risk a four-hour finish – marathons can go wrong on you like that (I know, because it happened to me at the Suntrust Richmond Marathon this past November!). I want the serious internal dialogue at mile 20, or at the bottom of a Costa Rican volcano I have to ride up, or when I’m vomiting a few thousand yards from land in a Swedish sound, or at the beginning of a half iron triathlon after already racing a sprint and two Olympic distance triathlons the two days prior.
Endurance events pull you out of your comfort zone both physically and mentally. Compared to a comfortable chair in my pleasantly cool 72-degree office where I execute my job with mundane proficiency, the unknown of endurance events make me feel alive. And if that’s not enough, staring down the consequences of race day pain and exhaustion should I slack in training is certain to scare me out of bed for my long run while the rest of the world is sleeping.
I need to get outside and smell the damp pavement early in the morning. I need to clip my shoes in the pedals of my mountain bike and feel the surface of the trail change beneath me. I need to feel the sun on my back, the rain on my head and the wind in my face. I need to curse the weather when it’s hot and curse it again when it’s cold. I need to smell the lakes, the flowers, the car exhaust, the rain, the backyard barbecues, the trees, the road, the fast food restaurants, and all the other scents that make my training routes what they are while I ask myself the age old endurance athlete question: why am I doing this? Because really, I AM too busy at work. I AM too busy with my children’s activities. 26.2 miles IS a long way.
But I’m going to squeeze my training in anyway. Why? Because the answer to the question, ‘why do I do this’, is simple – I don’t just want to exist, I want to live! And, I want to brush shoulders with other people like me who have dedicated months of their life to the common goal that brings us together on race day. I’ve met so many great people and have experienced so many great moments in races that have lasted less than a half hour to races that lasted four days.
So, I’m going to build a race and training schedule filled with 5K’s and triathlons and off-road events and centuries. The inner resourcefulness and inner strength – those things you can’t buy in a store – that build within you as you march towards an event outside your comfort zone (be that a 5K or an Ironman) will make it all worth it. All you need is a list of races to make it possible and you have that in your hands right now – just turn the page. It doesn’t make a lot of sense now, but when you cross that finish line and throw your hands in the air once more it will all be clear.
