Another Race, This One with Epic Oedipal Implications

My relationship with son #1 has been significantly defined by competition.  Starting with Ken Griffey Jr.'s Homerun on the SNES, we've really enjoyed playing games against each other.  Faithful readers of this blog will recall several posts about this, like when he first beat me at chess (here), when he first beat me running a mile (here), and when I beat him in the first annual CrossFit triathlon--though not out of superior athletic ability (here).  Well, today was the next significant installment of our father-son rivalry at the Grand Rapids Half-Marathon.

I've written before that I have substantially changed from running as my primary form of exercise to CrossFit.  That actually led to my best result in a half marathon last June (recounted here).  So, the plan was to continue that training through the summer and see what it might lead to in a full marathon this fall.  Well, I discovered that it was more difficult for a regimen of pull-ups, burpees, and kettlebell swings to prepare you for 26.2 miles.  I did start building up to some longer runs on the weekends, and two weeks ago thought I might still give the full marathon a try because I ran a pretty good 16 miler.  But son #1 convinced me to stick with the half marathon because he had been doing a little running at college this fall and he wanted to race me.

My good wife had also been preparing for the half, so the three of us got up at 4:30 this morning and drove the two hours up to Grand Rapids.  We've run this several times in previous years, and it is a very well done event.  It was a bit on the brisk side at 8:00am (39 degrees), but it was gorgeous running as the sun rose and shined through the fog on the colorful trees along the river.  My son and I decided to go out with the 8 minute mile group (identified with Billy Baldwin), in order to keep our pace under control at the beginning.  But I was pretty sure that I wouldn't be able to out-kick him at the end if we were still together, so I thought I'd better push the pace during the middle miles.  So after five miles of 7:45 - 7:55 minutes, I surged and put down several in the 7:20s.  At the time, Casey appeared to be sticking with me just fine, though later he admitted that he was dying and only his loathing of losing to me kept him going.  If I had known that, I might have pushed a little harder, because I felt pretty good... until mile 10.  Then the pace took its toll on me.  We were still together at mile marker 12, but that last mile I could only run a 7:35 while he had a 7:20 left in him.  As he started leaving me behind that last mile, my only hope was that he might take a wrong turn somewhere.  No such luck for me this time.  Youth beats experience.

It was really an epic race.  I'm sure that neither of us would have run close to the times we did on our own.  I was trying hard to beat him, but unlike his feelings on the matter, I don't really mind losing to him all that much.  I feel a certain amount of pride at seeing him win.  I suppose that's the non-symmetric nature of a father-son relationship that gives rise to things like the Oedipus complex.

Speaking of the third member of the Oedipal triangle (though I can't really see how the complex fits here), my aforementioned good wife completed her fifth half-marathon.  She wasn't thrilled with her time, and probably should have stayed with the Oprah pace group rather trying the P-Diddy group (they define their pace groups by celebrities who have run a marathon at that pace).  But she made it, and we're very proud of
her.  Now it is time to eat some ice cream.

CrossFit for Runners

On Wednesday last week I decided to run the half-marathon in the Sunburst race this weekend in South Bend.  It's a fun race, with about 1500 runners starting at the College Football Hall of Fame downtown and finishing on the 50 yard line of the Notre Dame football field.  Originally I thought I was going to be out of town for son #2's soccer tournament in Indianapolis, but when the schedule came out, it turned out that we didn't need to leave our northern latitude until after noon.  So on Wednesday I went out to run 10 miles to see if I might be ready for a 13.1 mile race.  It felt OK, so I anted up the $65 fee, not really knowing how it would go.  As it turned out, I ran the fastest half-marathon of my life, finishing 12th out of 91 runners in my age group.

Now, this is interesting.  I'm not an elite athlete.  I ran cross country in high school and was nothing spectacular on mediocre teams.  I was an occasional runner for most of my adult years, but then about four or five years ago I started running more seriously as a way to fend off middle age.  I've finished two marathons (crashing pretty bad at the end of both), but I've started training for six of them.  In the other four, my body didn't hold up through the training.  Which brings me to my main topic for the day.  Last October I got injured two weeks before the marathon I had signed up for.  It was a calf injury that came on after a twenty miler, and I had to bail out of the marathon.  In the wake of that experience, I joined the group of guys at Bethel doing CrossFit.  Since then, I've been pretty faithful at doing CrossFit workouts (3 or 4 days per week) and not as faithful running (only 1 or 2 days per week).  I was curious to see how that would affect my running fitness.  Seems to have affected it pretty well.

Three years ago, I ran this same Sunburst half-marathon course in 1:43:03.  According to my running log (which I keep meticulously), in the six weeks leading up to that race, I had run 117 miles, including five runs of 8 miles or more (including two 10s and a 12).  This year I ran the course in 1:39:24, and in the six weeks leading up to it I ran only 71 miles, including only two above 8 miles.  But evidently the CrossFit workouts add something.  These are typically short (less than 15 minutes) workouts at a very high intensity.  There are lots of pushups, pullups, burpees (remember this post), box jumps, and medicine ball tosses (as well as a bunch of screwy things).  And we do Olympic lifts like dead lifts, clean and jerks, and snatches.  The overall philosophy is to emphasize core strength and overall body fitness.  We occasionally do some running as part of the workouts, but it is usually 400m intervals or less.  We did do a 5k a couple of weeks ago, which I gutted out in 21:30 on a fairly hilly course.

I think the core strength and overall fitness helped.  There is probably some benefit in these workouts similar to doing sprints, because we are always in anaerobic territory.  But I suspect that another big benefit has been the practice at pushing myself.  I am a solo runner, but CrossFit is done in community.  That encourages good-natured competition, and pride can often keep you going so that your comrades don't see you quit.  That sort of attitude helps develop the mental side of running.  In the race yesterday, I very consciously kept an easier pace at the beginning because I wanted to be able to push it at the end.  So my first few miles were at 7:50 pace.  But by midway I started pushing a bit more and just kept going.  Mile 13 was my fastest mile at 6:58.  Fun stuff.

There is one other possibility that could account for the good run: my music playlist.  My family thinks it is (more than) a little funny that I often listen to lectures while I run.  But for this one I decided to put together a custom playlist.  It worked pretty well.  I pulled some songs that had a running-themed message, and some worship songs, and some that were just audio assaults that made my legs keep moving.  Here's the list:

Awake my Soul - Mumford and Sons
Here is our King - David Crowder Band
Forget and not Slow Down - Relient K
Farther Along - Josh Garrels
Run for the Prize - Petra
Afterlife - Switchfoot
Carousel - Paper Route
Rawkfist - Thousand Foot Krutch
Alive - P.O.D.
Meant to Live - Switchfoot
Other Side of the World - KT Tunstall
Names that Fell - Zach Williams
Magnificent - U2
O Praise Him - David Crowder Band
Your Love is a Song - Switchfoot
The Cave - Mumford and Sons
Viva la Vida - Coldplay
Mysterious Ways - U2
Smack Down - Thousand Foot Krutch
Comatose - Skillet
Second Wind - Petra
Fire it Up - Thousand Foot Krutch
Rebirthing - Skillet
The Messenjah - P.O.D.
You are my Joy - David Crowder Band
American Dream - Switchfoot

It played out pretty well.  I finished during the second to last song.

I'm already registered for a marathon in October because I was able to defer my entry from last year.  We'll see if this CrossFit and music combination can carry me twice the distance.

Running the Race (and watching it)

We like running in our family.  I've been a runner of some sort since junior high, and have made it a significant part of my lifestyle for the last several years.  My wife started running as an adult, and now has three half-marathons to her credit (and closing in on number four).  Our oldest son has been a cross country runner since sixth grade and is now in his senior season.  This Saturday is the famous (infamous to some) New Prairie invitational, which is the largest high school sporting event in the state. It's a lot of fun to run and a lot of fun to watch.

One of the things about running is that it gives you time to sort out your thoughts.  One day this last week while running, my wife was thinking about this sport--the people who run and the people who support them.  When she got back, she put words to page in a particularly eloquent apologia for runners and running fans.  I quote it here in its entirety.

"I’m a fan of runners.  Runners are a different breed.  They rise in the early morning to put in mile after mile of training.  Telling their bodies it’s normal to do this, get used to it. Get stronger.  And when race day comes, again they are rising early. Warming up those muscles, reminding them, this is what you were made for, this is what you’ve trained for.   You’ve done this before. Remember the miles you’ve put in. Remember those hours upon hours of lonely runs through neighborhoods which were still asleep. Their day hasn’t begun yet.  You refuse to stay in bed.

 During a race, some fans line the course. Maybe a favorite runner is seen once, or twice on the course if you’re lucky and don’t mind doing a little running yourself to get a brief peek as the pack rolls by.  Football or basketball crowds can number into the hundreds or even thousands.  There aren’t nearly that many here.  But there are a few parents, friends, and families who’ve seen the day to day challenge of being a runner.  They’ve witnessed at least a part of what it means for a runner to discipline her mind and body in order to subject it to things way beyond what’s comfortable or easy.  They understand that a runner has chosen to do something hard.  

And certainly not for the glory that awaits them at the end of it.  No roar of a large crowd likely awaits them at the end of a race.  No being hoisted onto anyone’s shoulders. No basking in the ongoing recognition by those around them of their sweet success.  And for most runners, no award awaits them for taking a first or second place. They were never close to the front.  They don’t run for that. They run because somehow it has become part of them.

So, what does await them then?  Simply, the satisfaction that comes from pushing yourself toward a difficult goal and eventually reaching it.  To run.  Yes, in virtual anonymity, but to run and to finish with your head held high. 

Do we as a culture really understand what it means to support this kind of athleticism?

We’re a culture that loves “winners”. We love celebrating the victories that are so straightforward in various team sports.  The team with the most points at the end wins. Congratulations to them!  But let’s not forget these other athletes that don’t have the benefit of the hundreds or thousands of cheering voices when they compete. They don’t have the benefit of daily recognition and encouragement during training that often comes for those athletes participating in certain higher profile sports. And no, they often don’t get to experience what it feels like to place first or second or even third in a race.  But I have to tip my hat to these athletes.  Whether it’s my son or daughter or yours, I applaud them. And I’m there at races yelling my head off for their success. To be honest, I’m often there with tears in my eyes as I contemplate their commitment and the sacrifices it took to get them to this point. 

I applaud the high school runner and the retiree runner who lives in my neighborhood.  I applaud the “jogging-stroller” runner who carves out time to run while raising a little one.  I applaud the middle-aged runner who needs a fresh start, a new goal, and is out there pounding the pavement.  These people have chosen over and over again amidst the myriad of choices we must make each day to accomplish something difficult. Very difficult.  To run.  And in the end, we should all be proud. Runners are a different breed, and so are the fans that support them. We cheer where there’s no scoreboard or bright lights.  Are you one of us?"

Running the Race

Last night was the Living Waters 5k at Oxbow County Park.  One of Casey's friends from school was in charge of it, raising money for drinking water in Africa.  The whole Stump crew decided to go over to Elkhart last evening for the event.  It is also the cross country course where our high school team runs a couple of meets per year, so I thought it would be fun to see the course from the runner's perspective.  (And it is the same park where I ran high school cross country sectionals and regionals many moons ago, but the course has changed.)

Trevor and I did some warm up jogging along one of the parts of the course, and after doing so I was nervous that my projected finishing time of sub 22 minutes was a bit optimistic.  The course is much more winding with small rolling hills than is apparent from the spectator's perspective.  And running in long grass is not as easy as running on asphalt.  Then, almost right at the opening gun, the weather turned bad.  Very dark clouds, high winds, spitting rain.  The weather sirens went during the whole race.  Well, all that to say that I didn't get the time I was hoping for.  The clock read 22:54 when I crossed the finish.  Disappointment and resolutions to do better next time are part and parcel of running.  Still, the event was fun and a job well done by its organizers.

Over the past several years, running has been a significant spiritual discipline for me.  You can see my shameless self-promotion on the sidebar under "Sound Body" where the running workouts from my Running Ahead accountdump into this page.  It has become a part of my life.  I'm convinced that the discipline of consistently running translates into improved discipline in other areas of life.  Was Paul just giving a culturally relevant metaphor in 1 Cor 9:24-27?  I think it was that, but it is hard to dispute positive effects of physical exercise.  "I beat my body and make it my slave" is given a Platonic or gnostic interpretation by some.  But it could just as easily be translated, "I discipline my body so it serves me."

We are physical creatures.  Philosophers and theologians debate what the "me" is in this conglomeration of blood and guts and bones and neurons.  Whatever it is, in my case it is served well by running.

500

I started running more regularly last June, and that's when I started keeping a running log. With today's six mile run, I went over the 500 mile mark.

It also makes two days and twenty-one hours worth of running in the past year. Physical exercise is certainly a spiritual discipline for me (part of that whole "beating my body and making it my slave" thing). I wonder, though, if I've prayed for two days and twenty-hours in the past year?

Something seems wrong to me about keeping a prayer log in terms of the number of minutes prayed per day. Lots of people keep a prayer journal, though. Is that the same sort of thing? More qualitative than quantitative, I suppose.

Can we push the comparison further? One of the big things in getting more effective in running is just logging lots of miles. It doesn't really matter how fast; your body "remembers" the miles and benefits from them when you try to run more seriously. I pray the Lord's prayer just about every day. Does that do anything analogous? Does the regular habit of praying somehow make my prayers more effective?

Another running blog

I ran at lunchtime today at the Bethel track. When I got back to my office afterwards, I had this email message waiting for me from a Bethel employee:


Jim,

I’d appreciate it if you’d kindly refrain from running around the track while I’m sitting in my car near the fence trying to eat my Cheesy Gordita Crunch and Caramel Apple Empanada. I feel like I’m being preached at. This shameless display of “wellness evangelism” is interfering with my enjoyment of hybrid pseudo-Mexican food and undermines the college’s focus toward diversity. Perhaps you could just go down to the other end of the track and run in place behind the fence. I’ll honk when I’m finished.


I ain’t heavy – I’m your overstuffed brother.

tim

Today IS that day...

So I have these three boys--here posing at a Wal-Mart in Wisconsin during a recent vacation (yes, we vacation at Wal-Marts). Like most boys, they're pretty competitive and there is some Oedipal thing where they'd like to beat their dad. I talk a lot of smack with them, trying to demonstrate that their dad is tough and manly. One of my favorite lines is to paraphrase Aragon in Return of the King when he is rallying the troops before the black gate. We'll get wrestling together and I'll announce: "The day will come when you boys will be able to take your father. But that day is not this day!"

Truth be told, there are several events at which I can't keep up with my boys any more. I've given up trying in video games. The controllers have just become too complicated (my video game neuro-circuitry was formed on the Atari joystick). And in board games we play pretty straight-up with each other (Connor won Monopoly last night). I've held on to physical dominance, though. In wrestling, I can still take all three at once--but now it hurts my body pretty bad. Basketball in the driveway is getting closer, but the advantage still goes to the old guy.

Today, Casey (age 14.5) asked to go to the track and race me in a mile. He's in track right now and works very hard and diligently at running. But I've been running too. He broke 6 minutes for the first time this past week. I haven't run a mile all-out in quite some time, but have done some speed work as part of my runs. So I figured it was time to give him a shot. Well, it turns out that today is the day that junior beats senior. It was very windy at the track, and I kept pace for a six minute mile for the first two laps, but on the third, turning into the wind coming down the home stretch... I died (I thought literally so for a bit). He pulled ahead and stretched it out on the last lap to a 12 second victory.

Oh well, at least I still have chess.

Running and Pharisees

We had a little mini-vacation last weekend, and one of the stops was at an outlet mall. I took a couple of the boys to an arcade and gave them each two dollars to blow while Chris did a bit of shopping. Then I sauntered over to the Nike outlet store (because there weren't any bookstores) and stumbled into a whole bunch of nice running gear for cheap.


I promise not to turn this into a running blog, but will venture one more for now:
Two things that have been interesting motivating factors for me during this last 8 months' renaissance of running in my life: good running gear (nice shoes, hi-tech moisture wisking shirts, etc.) and an on-line running log. The log, which as I mentioned is linked to the sidebar of this blog, has been particularly important. I really like keeping track of how far I've run and how long it took me. This particular log has the capability of during a google map of your routes that show distance and elevation (from our house to the river, there is a 175ft drop in elevation). You can track how many miles a particular pair of running shoes has on them, what the temperature was during your run, your weight and heart rate, etc. It is to the point that until I log a run and then check the various graphs that can be generated to see totals and comparisons and so on, it doesn't really count as a run.



I suppose that I lean pretty heavily toward performance and results. I can't help but see where a particular run stacks up with the other runs of that particular course (even if I'm not trying to run for speed). I just like to know. Does that make me a competitive person? I probably would have made a pretty good Pharisee.

Running and Mind

So, in the new book I talked about last time, there are some pretty interesting essays. Some don't really have a lot to do with running, but just use running to illustrate some other favorite idea (like the one by my benefactor about dualism). Others, though are quite interesting and insightful pieces about running. One of them in particular, "Phenomenology and Running" was very nice.

Throughout the twentieth century there were, broadly speaking, two dominant camps of philosophical thought: analytical and continental. Analytical philosophy emphasized logic and scientific method and rigorous argumentation; in my less charitable moments I describe continental philosophy as "touchy - feeling" or "fuzzy". In some of my past philosophy classes I used to do something that was probably unfair to continental philosophy: I'd bring my copy of Heidegger's Being and Time and open randomly and read a paragraph and ask students if they understood anything. Of course no one did. I'd say, "See, these continental folks are just spouting words and trying to create impressions without really analyzing their concepts." (One could just as easily do the same with analytic texts like Principia Mathematica, but I'd not mention that).

Anyway, this running article was on phenomenology--usually a topic of interest to continental types. But I really enjoyed it. It was a discussion based on Merleau-Ponty (a continental philosopher of whom I don't think I've ever read a word) about how becoming a runner changes the way you perceive the world, the way things appear to you to be (which is what phenomenology is all about). There are some obvious things like how runners can tend to view the world in miles and minutes and pace when they didn't before. The really interesting discussion was how focusing on running makes it harder, but when you occupy your mind with something else (like listening to lectures, as I often do), the body sort of runs on autopilot.

The author (I've forgotten his name now and the book is two flights up) was concerned that this spoke in favor of separate mind and body substances when his hero Merleau-Ponty wanted to say something like "our bodies are the expression of mind in the world; they are the way we experience the world." I'm going to toy around with this a bit, because it fits my theory that I had started to propound back in an entry during my first blogging stint.

Running and Philosophy

For those of you reading this on the blog site, you'll notice on the side bar my there is a feed from the running log that I keep. I was a high school cross country runner, and as an adult have been an occasional road runner. A dean at my college and I flirted with ramping up for a possible marathon run last winter (in a tropical climate), but neither of us made it. My cute wife (see the picture (in a tropical climate) on the sidebar) and I did do the Columbus Half-Marathon last October (see results here). That was a lot of fun.

Last week, was our annual Bethel Philosophy Lectures; the speaker was Charles Taliaferro. At supper I learned that he had been a contributor to the book, Running & Philosophy (Blackwell, 2007). He sent me a copy of the book this week. Thanks Charles! I'll do some reading in it this weekend as the Stumps go away and report back.