Only you can change your attitude

Day 27 -- Labor Day, Sept. 3, 2012

Today I'm 193 pounds of rolling thunder.

Rolling Jell-O might be more accurate, but rolling thunder sounds much more ominous.

The Runner's World Kick in the Butt Quote of the Day comes from Olympic and Paralympic runner Oscar Pistorius, and today I'm feeling the love for the so-called "Blade Runner."

"The only disability in life is having a bad attitude," he is quoted as saying.

Today I'm having a little bit of a bad attitude. Not about running, but about watching running.

I ran fine yesterday. Rolling Thunder got in his 45 minutes of me-time over lunch break in high humidity and 90-plus degree temps.

No, today's bad attitude is directed at the gods of scheduling. More than a week ago I volunteered to pick up a Labor Day shift at work and given the option, I chose the early morning start instead of the late-night slog. At that point, Labor Day was wide open, so it made perfect sense.

Then came Isaac. Tropical Storm Isaac. Hurricane Isaac. Tropical Depression Isaac. Rain-maker Isaac.

We woke early Saturday thinking it would be the first cross country race of the season. Isaac had brought his special brand of rain to our area starting around noon on Friday and had been dropping a steady rainfall for more than 12 hours.

Isaac's rain was a welcome respite for an area that hadn't seen significant rainfall in months. But Isaac was not a friend to high school runners. An email informed us that the meet was canceled, so we took it to mean have a good holiday weekend.

Rumors about a Labor Day meet started to arise late Saturday afternoon and by midnight we had the email. The meet was on for Monday. 

At that point I was committed to word and would have to miss the first meet of the year. With all due respect to today's Kick in the Butt, this had my butt kicked. I had a bad attitude about missing the event.

And as it turns out, Mr. Pistorius might just have a little bit of a vulnerable side, too. On Sunday at the Paralympic Games, he was on his way to a third consecutive 200-meter gold medal when he was beaten at the line by another double amputee. 

Pistorius criticized the winner, claiming he used longer carbon fiber prosthesis than allowed. The Blade Runner drew immediate criticism of his own for his comments after the race. But then he quickly recovered with an apology.

“I would never want to detract from another athlete’s moment of triumph and I want to apologize for the timing of my comments,” he said.

So, it just goes to show even the best of us can have a lapse in attitude. The most important thing is that you are in control of that attitude, so change it and have a good day .... working, or not working.

Sometime this Labor Day you'll find the world's slowest human out on the streets, so give me a wave.

Today it's steak knives and Lancer Day

Day 24 -- Aug. 31, 2012

Today I'm 193.4 pounds of rolling thunder. 

I've got to give a tip of the hat to the Runner's World butt kick of the day. 

"With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable." 

-- Sir Thomas Foxwell Buxton, British philanthropist and politician

I'm not sure about all things, but many, many, many things are attainable if you have the ability to just keep your focus. Sometimes it's just a matter of outlasting and out-wanting your opponent.

Today is Lancer Day for the boys' school. On one level it's an excuse to escape the bonds of school an hour early on the Friday before Labor Day, and on another it's a great way to build camaraderie in the ranks as the teams and clubs join in a big parade.

Sometimes, it's all about the try. Tomorrow we'll find out how far our two intrepid runners have come in their careers. It's the first meet of the year and often times a scorcher. This year, however, Isaac promises to drop some much-needed rain in the area and hopefully keep the temperatures mild.

Last year, our older son ran 21:33.6 for the 5K on a fairly warm day on a mostly flat track. This is a 5-minute improvement over his time as a freshman two years earlier. Our younger son got his first taste of running competition and finished in more than 30 minutes. 

A year ago, the fastest junior varsity runner on the team finished the course in 19:31. While that's a lot of our older son to chop off from his 20:01 in last week's time trial, it's a within that attainable window. At least it's within the range of setting as a reasonable goal.

As parents we're glad that they're out there moving and having fun with their friends. Knocking down times is fun, but learning the passion for a life-long sport that will keep them fit, healthy and help relieve stress is the most important thing.

Our older son is definitely wired to set goals and obtain them. Although he may never admit it, earning his way into the top 20 on the team is a big deal. Beating down his times will be icing on the cake.

Oh, my run yesterday? Nothing special, except I found two steak knives along the side of the road. Who loses steak knives? Who runs with steak knives? Not me.

I just pound the pavement and pray for rain. Or listen to the radio to find out how bad the local teams will be this year.

It's Friday, so if you catch the slowest human out wrestling with Isaac in the rain today, give me a wave.

 

I Don't Need A Stinking Odometer

Day 23 -- Aug. 30, 2012

Today I'm 193 pounds of rolling thunder.

Sometimes a run is a run is a run. It's like when bikers go out and pile on miles just to say they've gone out for the day. Enjoyable? No. Necessary? Maybe. But at the end of the summer their little plastic odometers read 3,000 or 5,000 or 10,000 miles.

Maybe that's just one of those goals I was talking about yesterday. Maybe that's the kind of low-key motivator we all need floating in the back of our head to remind us that we need to get out and put in the miles.

I'd like to think my running was more of a matter of routine than goal setting. I've never really logged the miles. It didn't seem all that important. The time on the road and the process of being able to think through challenges and problems through the flap, flap, flap of running shoes on pavement seemed to be more important than keeping score.

Besides, there wasn't a day gone by that I didn't see someone out on the road that I didn't feel those pangs of guilt about not being out there grinding through the miles.

But the one thing about running, unlike biking I can roll through an hour out on the road and feel the same amount of conditioning that it would have taken me three or four hours to achieve on a bike. Now biking is still great, but when you're limited on time, a good 45-minute run can be a lot easier to work in than a three-hour bike ride.

But yesterday, a run was just a run. It was supposed to be a long day but hot weather and heavy legs cut that short. I slogged up the hills on my usual long route, but my legs and lungs just didn't want to answer the call. And the heat was back up in the mid-90s, so I cut myself a break; got my 5 miles in and allowed myself the luxury of being done for the day and not worry about grinding through more miles.

I keep a running log where I write a few things down like weight and workout, but I never stress about it unless the weight number starts climbing. I've gone down the road of logging my food intake, but about all that does is restrict my eating so I don't have to write so much. Which I guess is good because you lose weight, but it's also easy to abandon.

I don't, however, have a little plastic odometer to record my running distance. It's just what I do. It's part of my routine.

So if you see the world's slowest human out in the sweltering heat today, give me a wave.

It's All About Isaac In The Long Run

Day 21

Today I'm 194.4 pounds of rolling thunder.

Of course not as thunderous as the hurricane that is currently taking aim at the Gulf Coast, but a rolling blob with ground-shaking abilities nonetheless.

Yesterday was a long day, both on the road and at the computer screen. 

I foolishly told my bosses that if anyone needed help with hurricane coverage, I was their guy. By morning there was a note, and I was in play. In play until 1 a.m.

Out on the road things were heating up. After a respite from the heat over the weekend, the burner was back on so my run was not as easy as it had been last week.

I walked and ran up the starter hill and then rounded the turn into the first downhill. Usually somewhere around this point I know if it's going to be a strong day or a weak day. If I roll down the hill with relative ease and then take the long, slow rise in the next block without trouble, I'm usually good for the day.

This time I labored through the rise but did not walk. But the big hill that followed involved considerable walking through the steep part.

I found my way fairly well through most of the first 3 miles, until I gave in to my nemesis long hill and walk/ran the rest of the way to the top. 

Usually, the 4.5-mile mark is where my legs start feeling the added distance. This is where I tell myself to push on through. I can cut the route and make a shorter day of it, but it almost always comes with a guilty feeling. 

So I pushed on allowing myself to walk on parts of the final steep hill. With the distance and the heat, I was OK with it.

By the time I logged on to start hurricane coverage the waiting game had begun. My work calls for me to help two TV stations that are directly in the path of the storm. Their editors were nervous and for good reason.

Everyone involved could remember the path of destruction that Katrina brought that way. It was sort of an eerie feeling to think that the giant storm hit the area almost seven years ago to the day that Isaac was expected to make landfall.

The good thing this time was people were taking the storm serious. They were getting their homes ready and making exit plans. Politicians both locally and nationally were focused on making things as safe as possible. 

Round one of my long day stretched well into the night as we prepared people with information about the upcoming storm. With the storm reaching hurricane status today, I'm sure my working long run will take on additional urgency but again stretch into the night.

So today, if you see a rather sleepy looking slowest human making the rounds, give me a wave -- and some caffeine.