The Challenge Of Being Uncomfortable

   I'm not exactly sure where it comes from? But I remember that it started way back when I was a little boy. I just didn't wake up one day with this restlessness inside me. It grew over time and thankfully I discovered running along the way somewhere in there. Running is an excellent outlet for this particular brand of crazy. You can go running anywhere there's a road or trail and that satisfies my wandering. You can obsess about your speed, your cadence, your mile splits, your distance along with many other numbers and stats, that satisfies my restlessness. 

   If you really want to drive yourself even more crazy you can start running races too. All the non-runners don't see a point in running them even when we know that we probably won't win it, or even take first in our age group. But when I line up on that start line I could care less who's on either side of me. I'm more interested in beating that defeatist asshole that lives inside me whispering that I should give up even before I start. I've always been really hard on myself. I'm not really like that with my friends and family. So I don't know why I am with myself. More than one person has told me that they'd hate to be with such a slave driver behind the wheel. 

   But that narcissistic prick has gotten me to run some really fast races. It's those previous versions  of myself that I'm interested in beating. Over 13 years I've run over 70 different races and broken tons of my own personal records along the way. Take that you inner asshole! But there were years when that didn't happen. As I look back now I realize that those mediocre years weren't due to decline. I think that the belief that after a certain number of years running runners stop setting PR's and begin to decline is absolute bullshit! But I do think that I got a little complacent and too comfortable. To those non-runners it sounds ridiculous that running a marathon can be comfortable. But if you run enough of them, you do get good at them. Good enough that you don't really have to put a lot of effort into your training. Some years I did the training, ran the race, got my medal and that was that. I was still calming that restlessness, but only barely. 

   The shift happened when I decided to do the 366 Project. That initial crazy goal to try to run a mile a day for 366 consecutive days was just crazy enough to scare the shit out of me. I'd never run that much and to make it even harder I still planned on doing my "comfortable" marathon at the end of the year too! I ran, I discovered, I endured. I knocked the initial Project out of the stinkin park! I even nailed another marathon PR that year! The end of that 366th day marked the discovery of an absolute truth for me, you can only do epic shit when your outside of your comfort zone.  

   The following year I ran even further outside that comfort zone and decided to train for two 50K's (a distance that I've never done before), continue the running streak and I had a deferment for the Rochester Marathon that I had to use or loose, so I planned on that too! Then the shitty back injury brought the whole shebang to a grinding halt. The streak ended at 609 days and I had to drop out of all my races. To say that I was disappointed is an understatement. My injury wasn't due to running too much or setting unrealistic goals. It was just bad luck and my stubbornness to rip apart a 10 foot garden circle all by myself. 

   Now that my comeback race in Rochester has been run I feel like I'm back again. I didn't meet my personal goal. But I've never felt stronger, restarted my running streak, developed an incredible friendship with my Coach and learned that I need to be nicer to my back when pretending to be a one man landscape crew! Have a couple more shorter races on the books for the rest of the year and we're gonna make a damn good run at breaking some really old PR's.   

   But what about next year? What scary as shit goals can I dream up? I think that I'd really like to take another crack at kicking that hometown marathon's ass, that's for sure! No ultra-distance races, though. 50K, you and me have a big score to settle! But not right now. Since I'm feeling so good and being driven by a Coach who really knows me and her stuff instead of my inner asshole, I thought why not some more challenging racing? Hey, remember my sponsor G & G Fitness? They wanted to help me race next year and they've come through in a huge way! In a matter of minutes and a few mouse clicks I filled up next year's race calendar just like that! 2016's scariness will now include the following: 

• Continue the 610 Project-Streaking has become part of who I am. It's not going anywhere and I'm not settling until I reach day 610! 

• Four Season's Challenge-Three half-marathons, one in the Winter, Spring and Summer followed by the Rochester Marathon in the Fall. This will be the most number of 13.1's that I've ever run in a year followed by a 26.2! Lot's of training all year long and the best part is that I'll be running for G & G on their team, G & G-REV! They covered the ENTIRE race fee! They're just awesome and you'll definitely be hearing more about them! 

• Run a Boston Qualifying Time-Now this one may take more than next year to complete. I may never complete this one. I'm going to have to get faster than I've ever been before and shed more than a half-hour off my marathon PR. But Coach Judy is my secret weapon!

    So it's going to be scary. It's going to hurt a little and challenge me like I've never been before. There won't be any more "easy" things in my near future and that's OK. From where I'm standing, that comfort zone thingy looks way too boring!