Base Camp

I haven't posted much the past few days due for time. Time seems to be my enemy these days and not having enough of it! I am sure that I am not alone in this but I thought I would write about it anyway. 

I have been running and working out a lot and it finally caught up to me.  My body finally said enough!  It started slow with the thighs taking a half mile then a mile and then two miles to warm up to “feel good”.  This is when I decided to pull back and go back to base camp or in other word spend time with my family. 

 

Why do I call my family base camp?  Great question!  I am a firm believer in the Hal Higdon idea (at least that’s where I traced it back to!) that a marathon is a horizontal Everest.  When you climb Everest there are a series of small climbs and then returns to a base camp to re-acclimate and recover.  Well in all of vigor to run Boston I forgot the importance of rest and recovery, not only physically but also mentally.

I have found I love to run because it is my time alone with my own thought and most of the time nothingness.  I am a runner that usually has a blank mind and tries to put thinking aside when I run.  Sure sometimes I will think of a great idea like baby tic tacs (most babies have horrible breathe!) or Under Armour should have an exchange program for people that lose weight wearing their products but most of the time I am blank!  Lately though lots of thoughts had begun to creep into my runs about all the things I wasn’t doing because I was running.  Top on that list was all the general “honey do” items I needed to get done before the impending winter and how I hadn’t spent a fun morning with my kids in a long time.  So finally last week I decided that I need to return to my base camp.  So this weekend I woke up late if you call 6 or 7 am late, got 90% of the “honey do” list done and spent wonderful mornings with my family. 

A return to base camp though does not mean a complete void in exercise.  It means thinking about exercise differently!  I fit in some yoga, which will be another post just for comic relief, a little cross training in the form or yard work and a lot of walking some with a 50 pound person on my back.  While for most this would not have been a refreshing weekend I think it’s exactly what my batteries needed.  Now on to the next base camp and getting a little further up the mountain!

 

First DFMC Team Meeting

Yesterday was my first team meeting for the DFMC and I have to say I was impressed with the organization and leadership of the team but more impressed with my fellow teammates.  It was amazing seeing close to 100-150 people out of the 500 or so on the team in one room.  The excitement and energy was tangible.  I was relieved to see so many newcomers like myself who were not only running for DFMC for the first time but also in their first marathons.  The best part of the night was going to Boston Beer Works for a few pints after the meeting.  It was great to hear all the stories and reasons why people are running as well from people that had been part of the team before.  I can’t wait to go on the long team runs and hopefully can make some of the Thursday night runs as well.

Some quotes that I think resonated with me from last night are:

·         You thought you signed up for a race but you really signed up to fundraise.

·         The marathon is a celebration not a final exam!

·         Anyone’s goal should be to finish anything else is just bonus.

·         A marathon is a horizontal Everest