Never satisfied

I am getting ready to head over to the Boulder Road Runner track meet.  These meets have been occurring for nearly as long as I can remember being here in the Boulder area.  For years, the cost of doing an event was 2 bucks.  Now it is 7 bucks for non-BRR members and 5 for members.  It is still a great buy.

The BRR Summer Track Meet results site is fun to look at … there are results there going back to 2004!  And I can look at those results in many cases I can remember the specific race … and not just my races, but the races of guys like Hegelbach, Denning, Ames, Geldean, Funke, Durden … I mean I can still visualize and remember those races they ran. 

Looking at the results from way back, I am struck by few things … first I am sort of stunned at how good some of these performances are.   There are races where dudes are running 8:30 and change for 3k.  But more than that … on top of that … I see performances that I sort of shrugged as unimpressive or even may have had some ego in looking down at that I hold in with a very different perspective now – and those are the performances of the masters guys.  Yes, seeing late 40 something year olds breaking five for the mile or a 41 year old Andy Ames running 16 flat for 5k … I’ll admit I have a hugely different appreciation for that.

Finally, when I look at my results from back then I have to sort of laugh.  I used to do the 1500 (or mile as they alternate) and 800 double.  The events are usually about 15 minutes apart so the 800 was always pretty tough.  Here are some results from a night in 2004.  

I remember being dissatisfied to some degree with the result in the 1500 and thus signing back up for some level of punishment in the 800.  Ah, good old days that I can both smile and shake my head at (as a reference I ran 16:28 for 5k in another meet that summer). 

I hold my dissatisfaction as both a strength and a weakness.  I don’t want to be satisfied because it can lead to lethargy, an ease and a contentment with being good enough … and with that you are closer to death.  I want to be satisfied with it enough to know that I did what I could and I have earned what I have earned. 

Off to the track …

Tuesday 07JUN2016

AM – 50 minutes, including about 15 minutes with TZ to start.  The mornings are beautiful now.  I do need to get back into the habit of starting the day with the run, simply because it will soon be stupid hot to run for any length mid day, it is much nicer in the AM, and it is a great way to kick start the day. 

The Achilles was a bit irked this AM so I upped the heel wedge back to the three insoles. 

Local runner Todd Straka just ran 4:20 for the mile.  He is 49 years old.  Damn son.




News stuff:

• McDonaldlization of process.
• The Berian v. Nike case is interesting.  Reduction clauses, ugh.
• Mario’s “Morning Shakeout” is a good read.
• Good read on basic tests or checks for runners.

Afternoon – got out with Bob, Boog, Jack and JZ for what might have been one of the best runs I have ever had with Jack in what was not a race.  We trailered the burros over to the washed out road off Dillon, and ran on the trails from there.  They performed excellently.

Monday 28DEC2015

AM  - did the AM dawn walk with TZ and then got over to the off season practice with the boy over at the HS.  Single digit temps, but a good crew out.  I jogged with Greg, discussed doping (as that is what every runner talks about these days), and then did some strides in the parking lot with the kids.  The boy decided to buzz by me on the strides and told me that my days of giving him a lead were done, but he’d be okay with giving me one now.  I added on some miles once I got back to the house.  10.3 miles.

Today is the last day KZ is 17.  Yeah, that went fast.  In many regards it is clear how she is an adult now, but also very much a kid and a still figuring some pretty basic stuff out.  I wonder if I will feel that way about 40 year olds when I am 70.  Anyway, we have been having a LOT of conversations about her next steps … college, which one, how much, gap year, scholarships, looking at information on the web (collegedata.com for example).  It is a project. 

JZ is keeping us busy too with his new endeavor.  The college conversations seem logical to me.  This activity however … this makes me feel real old real quick. 

Nah.  It ain’t so bad.  Maybe it is less so this second time around.  He has a bit more of a spirit to buzz the car, but he seems to have a healthy respect of it as a death machine too. 

The ads are annoying but there is a good video in here regarding body weight exercises.

I started eyeballing my annual stats from 15 compared to 14.  Nearly the same about of miles and hours.  About 50k more vertical this year.  Distributed pretty differently though.  I think I really need to get away from thinking about the log that way altogether and weigh my weeks instead on the success of my workouts versus my miles.

End of an era … Balch Field House.  My 1500 PR came at Balch in one of those efforts that felt almost effortless … I almost thought I had miscounted the laps.  I recall doing a few dozen workouts there, including one about 15 or so years ago where I met Marty K the day after Christmas.  We had the whole thing to ourselves and were doing 400s indoors on the day after Christmas when there was a foot of new snow outside.  Nutty.

I ran a 600 meter race there once in 1:29.  I went out in the first 100 in 13.x.  I was rigging so bad in the last 100 …  I remember a guy stuck his face into the lane as I was tying up and he said “relaz yo’ face man.”  It was funny.  Later on I heard him talking to one of his college team mates.  His team mate got smoked in one of the heats and this guy said, “yuz were seeing nuthin’ but ass cheeks in that heat.”  It was a crack up.

Evening … snuck up to Fairplay.

I get this a lot.