Practicing Body Scanning After a 40 Mile Month

     As previously stated in a more recent post, I have decided to revive the 2019 goal of running 500+ miles in this new year. The goal may be the same, but my approach to running has changed quite dramatically.

     I changed my thoughts about running as I became more in tune with my body and participated in a few different events over the past year.

     First, I'm not getting any younger, and my physical history is only going to make it harder to get better at running. After struggling with weight for several years and periods of general inactivity, I know that it will eventually come back to haunt me. Couple that with some lingering injuries, and really I'm running on borrowed time.

     Second, I know that I don't have the time to devote to running several 40+ mile months. Without the time to fully train, I know that I won't be challenging Kipchoge anytime soon.

     I made a list of a few things that I've thought about when revamping my approach to running.

      1. I have to run my own race, every single day.
     What I mean by this, is that if I'm not going out to challenge another person, and am instead challenging myself to be better than I was before, then there is no point in comparing myself to others. I have run just long enough to know that there's about 99% of the population that can run faster or farther than me. Some of the people I run with on occasion have an "injured pace" that is my normal pace, and the truth of the matter is is that now I'm okay with that. Those people have been running for the better part of 15 years and know more about the science and art of running than I will ever know. If I go out and run my own race, against my own wanting to stop, then maybe I won't be the best runner, but I'll still be a runner.

     2. Running isn't about changing a speed or a distance; it's about changing yourself.
     I was reading Peter Sagal's "The Incomplete Book of Running" and he makes a very solid point. Runners realize that the most important thing they're changing is themselves. Knowing that they have bent their will and tested their mettle against the pavement or trail and has come out the other side better for it. Unless you're in the top 1% of runners who make a career of running, you're really wanting to change something about yourself. For most runners, this is our therapy. Way cheaper, too.

     3. Body scanning, while traditionally used for yoga or meditation, works well for runners,           too.
     With body scanning, a person essentially focuses on how individual parts of the body feels. Depending on your goal, whether it's athletic or meditative, you should be able to pick up on things that feel healthy and parts of you that feel injured or otherwise impaired.

     This is where I have decided to focus much of my energy this month as I have run more this month than in any month prior.

     So, what do I notice when I do a body scan? I notice that sometimes my skin is dry, which is a major pet peeve. I notice that my fingers often feel stiff, what I would imagine arthritis feels like in the beginning, although I wouldn't know what it feels like. My lower back is constantly tight, has been for 10 years now, which makes me feel old to put it in writing. Next, I focus on my knees; these guys have been the biggest pain in my life since I was diagnosed with having out of place knee caps. The left one talks more than the right, and I often have to soak it after a long run. Then I move down to the feet and ankles; they pop, they hurt, and they get tight after almost every run.

     Other than looking like the perfect candidate for a nursing home, reading this makes me realize something. I could stop having a majority of these maladies if I did one simple thing: stop running. If I were to stop  running, I bet my knees wouldn't hurt so bad. I can imagine that my hands and face would not be subjected to cold or heat as much, helping my skin and the stiffness in my joints. If I stopped running, I might actually be able to enjoy a few more things without all the aches and pains.

     However, when I do a body scan, I also scan my own thoughts. My thoughts on running normally circle back to one or two key thoughts. The first, is that I am making myself healthier for my family. I want to be able to keep up with my two boys and not just be a spectator to their youth. As a matter of fact, I need to be able to keep up with them. The second thought is that this is my therapy. At just about any point in my adult life when things got stressful, messy, or painful, I would turn to running as a release. I can't afford therapy and am still stubborn enough to claim not to need it, but who knows. I am able to erase the day or clarify my thoughts on any multitude of things during a 30 minute trip around the block.

     So what's the point in all this? It's that a mind/body scan is one of the most important tools I have in my toolbox, and that it is ultimately tied to my running. If I hadn't started running, I would have most likely never really thought about doing a body scan. Running is my crystal clear pond that I look into to figure out who is looking back. Running has cleared my mind through family stress, work stress, miscarriage, and anger. It has been a place for me to commune with God or let my mind become a blank slate.

     The punchline to all of this is that 4 years ago I hated running and would find any excuse to not do it. What a change a few short years can make.

Best,


   

Political Participation & Me: A Love Story

     Most of you who read this know that I've taught US Government to juniors and seniors for the past 5 years at a school in southwest Ohio. Over that time I have attempted to teach what the state wants me to while also trying to convince my students to engage in the political process.

     I was able to pretend to my students that I was allowed to tell them that because I went and voted through every presidential and midterm election since I have been eligible to vote. I was so self-righteous in my ability to talk about politics because I was originally a registered independent and a self-proclaimed Libertarian.

     But something about 2020 just felt...different.

     I felt like I could no longer advocate for a Libertarian candidate if the Libertarian groups around the country were just going to keep pushing out semi-popular former politicians who met the prerequisites for becoming president. For once, I started reading about the candidates, digesting their thoughts, watching interviews, and following the debates. In the 10 years I have been an eligible voter, I feel that I have finally begun to engage in the political process.

      First, I have contributed to my first Presidential campaign, and for the first time I have put my belief into someone vying for the Democratic nomination. Andrew Yang is the first Presidential candidate that I have looked into that made me feel comfortable sending some money to and purchasing some swag from their online store. The laptop I'm writing on is proudly displaying its #YangGang sticker in bright red. Now, I've only donated a modest amount, somewhere in the range of $30-$40, but still, the only other organizations to really get any donations from me in my life has been my local public radio station and my church.

     Secondly, I have begun writing my representatives in earnest. I have contacted senators at the State and Federal level, my Secretary of State, and others. I may or may not have called one of them a coward for appearing to cast his impeachment vote in public weeks before the hearings had even begun. His poorly formatted form response e-mail was enough to make sure that my vote will at least be going to someone more tech savvy in the future.

     Finally, I feel that I have done my due diligence by sharing all of this with my students. In education, we like to throw around the phrase "lifelong learner", which is normally the justification for some professional development and not much else. I'm taking it a step further to try and prove to my students that you can become a lifelong participant in this government of ours. If we really want to live in a country that is made for participation instead of patronizing, then we have to model that for the next generation. My students very clearly know that I am throwing my individual weight behind a candidate. Heck, most of them know what my voting record has been in the last two presidential elections. (Don't freak out, I voted for Gary Johnson both times, I'm allowed to be disgruntled).

     So for those of you raising or educating children; let them see who you are and what you believe in. If you can't answer the why of how you participate in government when they ask, then maybe you need to reevaluate your positions.

     For those of you wanting to get involved in government; take the leap. Be heard. By not voting, you are casting your vote for apathy. You are effectively claiming that you are not bothered by what happens to you or anyone else and I don't believe any of us are privileged enough to have that view.

     And for those of you who participate with no education; I could care less who you vote for--Democrat, Republican, Harambe, but please...please educate yourself on the issues and the people that you are voting for. If you are going to do something so sanctimonious as voting, shouldn't you at least know what you're doing and supporting?

Best,

I Started A Running Club and Now I'm Nervous

     I've learned something about myself; the older I get, the less social I get. 

     When I was in college, I would go up and talk to random people in order to "wing-man" for friends at schools and at other various establishments. I worked in retail where I could talk to just about anybody from all walks of life and express myself pretty fluently. Slowly this willingness to reach out to others has gone away from me.

     I find myself reflecting pretty frequently why this might be?

     I think part of it is that I am now in a more insulated environment; I go to work where the people are the same, I come home to my family, I'm not in totally different places leading to new people everyday. I also don't have many reasons to reach out to new people because the time in my life where I'm in these situations has gone way down. I'm no longer in 5 new classes a semester with totally different people while also going out with friends to help them meet people. Instead, my life is on a more direct track.

     The thing of it is is that now I feel like I am disconnected from the communities I am a part of. Because I have become less willing to branch out, I have chosen to make myself unavailable to the community I serve through teaching, the community I live in, and my church community. So I've made it a goal of mine recently to change that. 

     I have quasi joined our church outreach team, which is responsible for reaching out to members of our community and setting up events at the church. I'm not a very organized person, but I figured this could give me a chance to meet some new people and create an impact in a community that I enjoy living in. I've been working with my school administrators to help reach out to some families who need more support for their students, which has also been a big step. However, I needed something more immediate.

     As I was considering different ways to build community, I wanted to explore it in terms of some of my passions. Most of my best friends have kids, so I didn't really feel a need to find a "parenting group" as it were, so that was out. I'm already involved with educators around me; most of more immediate friends are teachers now, so that wasn't really something I was worried about. 

But running...maybe running is the thing.

     It's on the running sub-reddit probably once a week; the benefits of joining a running club. I never ran in school on cross country or in track, so I've never really had to run in a group. I started running on my own as a way to get in shape that was also cost efficient. So I decided that this was the perfect opportunity. 

     I reached out to our HOA group on Facebook and asked who would be interested in joining a running group. In total, I had about 15 people express interest. So, I created a club on Strava and invited people to join. Suddenly, I have put myself in charge of a social situation to lead a club that is centered around something that I am not all that great at. I wanted to create a sense of community, I wanted to build something. 

This is my chance. 

     So, I'm nervous. Why? I have to meet new people, lead them in some sort of group activity, and keep the excitement going. I have yet to set a date for our first group run but I'm excited along with the nerves. I want to try to build something that will help other people. Obviously the purpose of this group won't be to create a Boston Marathon ready team; it will be to build other people up. 

     I think it's important that we not only create strong families, but that those families in turn create strong communities. I think it's something I have lost sight of in my changing experiences and I want to get it back. I want to be able to reach out to people that I have become involved with and find out what their goals and hopes are. How can I help others and how will this increased sense of community affect me? I want to grow myself to become someone that my children can grow to look up to. I want my sons to be involved in their community and be willing to reach out to those around them. 

     I want there to always be a community for my family to flourish in, and sometimes, that means creating one. You may think that a running club is a funny place to start, but it's one that makes sense to me at this moment. Who knows, could be a huge flop. Or it might start something great!

Best.

Reflections on the Past Year

Hello faithful reader (if such a thing exists for this blog anymore)!

It's been quite a few months since I posted last, and an even longer time since I had anything to write about.

2019 was a year, that I feel, was full of personal growth and new experiences. I set out into 2019 with some specific ideas, plans, and daresay resolutions and I'm writing today to put a bow on some of those and look forward to what the next 11 months of 2020 holds in store.

Let's take a look back and see what the 2019 goals were and how I stacked up against them;

What do I hope to build in 2019? Here's the list:

 1. Reach 175 lbs (by the end of 2019) and begin to erase the "dad-bod" that my sympathy eating so   graciously provided me.

 2. Take at least one more graduate level course to continue my Master's.

 3. Run at a 9:00 minute mile pace or less, on average.

 4. Run 500 miles over the course of the year, including at least one Half Marathon

We'll just go ahead and start at number 1 because tradition demands it:

1. Reach 175 lbs: I did it once in the spring time after a bout with a stomach bug and was able to hold on to it for about a week. Let's be real; I run so that I can eat, which is a poor excuse for not losing weight, but I enjoy food and running, so why can't the two live together in harmony?

2. Take at least one more grad class: I didn't do it. Plain and simple I had the money for it but I got super busy and has some other fiscal priorities during 2019, so I've decided to carry this one over into 2020.

3. Run a 9:00 minute mile pace on average: Honestly, I did not keep track of this statistic and forgot I had even written it down as a goal. I would hazard a guess and say that my pace averaged between 9:30-9:45 per mile over the course of the year, but who knows?

4. Run 500 miles and at least 1 Half Marathon: This was my big goal for the year and the one I kept my eye on the most. Sadly, I did not hit my 500 mile goal and it was all because of apathy late in the year. I did run my one Half Marathon and finished at around 2:10:00, which was somewhat close to my goal time of 2:00:00. I was really one a roll with running coming out of the summer and was gearing up for this half when the wheels fell off. I didn't train well for the half and then stopped running for over a month after the half. I just kind of fell out of love with running for a bit and needed to get back into the swing of things. If I had to put a number on it, I would say I finished with about 390 miles. Better than 2018, but not my goal. This one will also carry over to 2020.

So overall, I would set my accomplished goals somewhere around the 30% mark. This is an awfully low percentage, but for someone who has never even kept track of New Year's Resolutions in the past, I feel like I was able to keep my eyes forward and at least attempt most of these.

Moving forward into 2020, I will pretty much be focusing on the same things:

1. Personal and professional growth. This would include becoming more involved in my faith and taking that grad class.

2. Working to become a better parent. The biggest surprise of 2019 was the early arrival of our second son, who entered this world on 12/27/2019. With two boys and marriage to keep strong, I will continue to work towards being better and more present in my home.

3. Run 500+ miles. Self-explanatory. I didn't do it, but I'm going to.

4. Run an official 5k or more a month, including some 10ks and a half marathon.

As far as weight goes...if I can maintain, I'll be pretty thrilled, so it makes the honorable mentions list but not an official goal.

I hope your 2020 is prosperous and peaceful. I hope that you become who you want to be and celebrate the amazing person that you are today. I look forward to writing more and seeing more of you!

Best!