Someday doesn't exist but Supermen do

"Someday doesn't exist. Never has and never will. There is only right now"

"Real supermen don't leap over buildings in a single bound- they take small determined steps, consistently over time."

My two favorite lines from the this inspirational running video from the Salt Lake City Marathon Facebook page (did I mention that's my spring marathon?) Take the next 2:32 and watch the video now! (Seriously, do it!)

Alright, if you haven't already laced up your running shoes and left for a run- then please finish reading, since, well, you're here anyway.

How many of us have had a fitness or life goal and said "someday I will..."? I know I have, but after the year I had last year I vowed that I would never say "someday" again. I love my job and strive to be a great teacher- but I refuse to sacrifice my health and happiness to get there. I refuse to push off marathon training, or an epic hiking trip for "someday."  If I wish to remain healthy and happy (both make me a better teacher, btw) then I need to run, hike and be active now!

But what about Superman? As my 15-20 faithful readers know, I have an awesome and adorable son, William. Now like most dads, I often wonder what he thinks of me or what he will think as he gets older. I viewed, or maybe still do view, my dad as the perfect mix of Einstein, Superman, and Plato.  What will William think?  I may never be able to "leap over a building in a single bound," but I can set a great example of the importance of being fit and working extremely hard to achieve your goals. If I can impart these two things William will be well on his way to being a great young man.

What do you want to do NOW?! Not someday, but now! Leave a comment on the goals you want to achieve.

Here's the 411 on today's run:

Keep Moving Forward

 I recently came across an inspiring blog post on the Salt Lake City Marathon Facebook page on the 10 things running teaches you. It is a must for all runners or anyone thinking about running, as it had me nodding my head in agreement while reading each point. I kept thinking about the post during my run on Friday and I knew there was a "lesson" I had to add, because it's the #1 lesson running has taught me.

Keep moving forward! It's my running and life mantra.

Whether its training for a marathon or dealing with a any major issue, there is only one way to get through: Keep moving forward.

Let's look at the options when we face adversity-

We could try and go back, but what good would that do? As my father once said, "those would haves could haves or should haves are all gone." We can't change the past. Nor can we try and go back to the "way it was." The past is the past and needs to stay there.  We can only control where we go from here, so keep moving forward.

We could also stop when faced with a challenge, but we remain where we are and the problem (or number of miles) isn't going to get any smaller. Stopping allows our mind to race, the problem to build, while the situation seems worse. Pain, sadness, and fear can be debilitating, but to overcome the problems we face we must "keep moving forward."

If we move forward we are able to put definite actions in place to overcome whatever we are facing. We can move past troubles in our past, fix flaws, or deal with any disappointment life throws in our way. Moving forward (literally running) helps us defeat anxiety, stress, and depression, while freeing our minds to think of positive solutions or paths that our lives can take to help us become better versions of ourselves.

In your toughest times go for a run and Keep moving forward.

Here is the 411 from today's run:

Running on Ice

This is one of my favorite Billy Joel songs and it totally ran through my mind during my run tonight. Ellie and I put in 4.5 miles while trying to dodge the ice patches and avoid a serious or just seriously embarrassing spill. Ice has been my mortal enemy since sixth grade when I slipped and fell during a game of SPUD before school. After my broken clavicle it was Ice-1 Brian- 0. Happy to report no major spills this evening and I felt great that for one night I evened the score with my enemy.

Here is my run according to the almighty garmin:

First OKC training run 1/11/2011

First time trying to load my run from connect.garmin.com... It was a little on the slower side, but a great run none the less.
First OKC training run by jbmason75 at Garmin Connect - Details

The Plan

Training for the OKC marathon starts on Monday and I think I have a pretty good plan that will help me improve my fitness and time. This will be my third marathon and I have learned a few things in training for my first two. 1)  I am not a runner that can use a "run less, run faster" system for a variety of reasons (mostly lack of cross training) 2) I need to make sure I focus on long runs and use those to set up better for the race. 3) I need a plan with flexibility as I have a 7 month old son at home and family obligations to meet.

So, I developed a plan that focuses on increasing my mileage, better and more long runs, while still allowing me to have the flexibility I need for my family. You can see the plan below, but in summary, it starts with a base of around 25 miles per week (mpw) and peaks at around 50 mpw, and has me running four days a week. And if all goes well over the next 16 weeks I will have logged a total 550 miles, not counting the marathon itself. During each week I will have hill days, easy days, and tempo runs, along with the long runs, which should all help increase speed, strength, and VO2 capacity.  Based on research from experts and the advice from fellow runners in the forums at Runners World.com, if I keep to the plan and train smart I will crush my PR and move closer to the sub four hour marathon I have been dreaming about.

Each week I will post the goals for the week in the hopes that by making them public there will be increased incentive to stick to the plan. And then during the week, I will give reports on my progress with a summary at the end of the weekly cycle.

The plan is listed below. Let me know what you think!

New Shoes

"The Davis Place Boys"

Do you remember when you were a kid and you and your friends got new sneakers? Remember when you raced to see if they made you faster? And you were sure they did! Well,  The Davis Place crew (which consisted of me, Jason, my brother, and our other buddy Rob) had those races every fall and spring when our parents bought us our new kicks. And low and behold, we were always faster with the new shoes than we were with the old ones just the day before ( at least by our ever so accurate timing). Were we really faster? Did it just feel that way?

The Davis Place crew and those "races"  were running through my mind as I laced up the new Brooks I had received as a Christmas gift from my amazing wife. Knowing I would be getting back in training shape for my spring marathon  I began to reminisce about the Davis Places races. Would my new shoes have the same effect? Probably not... But as I went for my first run in those shoes I did feel something. Maybe it was the cushion of the Brooks or maybe it was the excitement of the goal ahead, but whatever it was it gave me that same thrill I had as a kid when I was "faster" because of my new sneaks.

So the training season begins in earnest on January, 10th, but I feel my new shoes and training plan will surely make me faster for my 26.2 miles on May 1st.

Good luck to all my fellow runners who are or will be training for spring races.

So why do I marathon?

It may seem like a question I should have answered before my first 26.2, but I don't know if I ever put my reasons into a coherent answer. So let me answer the question: why do I marathon?

I think most boys want to be athletes and I was one of those boys. I played football in my backyard and imagined I was Joe Montana and played catch with my brother imagining I was Dave Winfield saving a home run at Yankee stadium. Problem was, that my talent wasn't really good enough to take me out of my backyard. Sure, I played soccer when I was really young, and I gave it my all, but I think the only reason why I played as much as I did is because it was an "everyone plays" league. While I never admitted it to anyone, I wanted to be an athlete. And I may have been a brain jock in M.U.N., debate and a state champion and in marching band (go Marching Spartans!) it just wasn't the same.

Fast forward a number of years and a couple of average stints on intramural basketball teams later  and I still didn't feel like an athlete. Then in the Spring of 2009 I was sitting on my couch and watching the Biggest Loser- season whatever- and I saw the contestants run a marathon. Sitting there I thought, "well, if they can do this then I should be able to." And so the training began.

Looking back I had no idea what I was doing while I was training for Rochester in the fall of '09, but something began to happen. As I did my training runs and a few smaller races I began to think, "Faster, I know if I train just a bit harder I can go just a bit faster." And that thought turned in to, " How fast can I go in the long run?" For the first time in my life I began to think like a competitive athlete.

Jump slightly ahead to the fall of 2010 and mile 11 of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon... The week before I had run The Montgomery County Parks Half at an "easy pace" and finished in  2:15:xx. As I was crossing the finish I thought, "next week I will go fast(er)!" And a week later I was going fast when I hit mile 11, but then I got tired, and my body hurt, but I pushed on. And you know what, mile 11 was my fastest mile of the day. The non athlete Brian would have slowed down or even walked, but now I pushed  through and finished with a 2:01:58. Now I was an athlete!

And that made me think what can I do in Philly? Could I break 4:30:00? Was there a sub 4:00:00 marathon in my future? I didn't break 4:30:00 yet, but I know I am an athlete because the passion burns to reach both of those goals.

So why do I marathon? Because in the marathon I am an athlete with all of the great things that has brought to my life. But those great things are another post for another day!