Old-Timer's Manifesto

Welcome to the desert of the real.  

                --Morpheus, The Matrix (1999)

I can’t tell you how excited I am about this Ragnar thing!

I come to this thing from the opposite side of the running spectrum from Rebecca.  I don’t think I know every one of you, but if I’m not the “old timer” of the group, running-wise, I must be close.   I’ve been running and race walking steadily since 1992.   During that time, I’ve taken a week or even two off every now and then, but NEVER as much as a month.   I’m almost up to 12,000 miles of running and walking, and have competed in over 80 races including 3 marathons and the Bataan Death March (only 25 miles, but awful!).  

And yet…I’m just as new to the Ragnar as Rebecca, and I wonder how much my racing experience will actually help me for such a strange event?   I’ve done a few “team” events (l’ve been a running specialist in the running legs of biathlons and triathlons), but nothing approaching the scale and weirdness of this Ragnar (although I’m thinking it’s going to remind me of the time I followed Patricia Terry around in a van all day as she did an Ironman).   The thing that is probably going to screw with me the most, though, is doing three separate legs of this race.   On all those other races I’ve done, I’ve always been able to carefully prepare beforehand for one hard push,  I lay it all out there after the gun sounds, then I limp home and take it easy afterwards, and heal up.   This one is going to be very different.   I have no idea what the 2^nd and 3^rd legs of this evil “race” are going to be like, after just doing one or two legs a few hours or half a day before, and after being more-or-less sleep deprived!  It will be a challenge for me, that is for sure.  

Perhaps my greatest weakness as a runner is that my joints are fragile and easily injured, and that’s the scariest thing for me about contemplating doing essentially three races in two days.  My fragile knees are a big reason why I’ve done more race walking than running…race walking may look silly, but it is much easier on my knees than running.   By the way, ask me about race walking sometime.  One of my missions in life is to raise people’s awareness of this underrated activity.  Still, I want to RUN  this crazy Ragnar thing, for at least two reasons…one, because like everybody else, I run a lot faster than I walk, and I want to help out the team.  Two, because race walking at a crazy event like this is probably akin to waltzing in a mosh pit.   Just not done.   

How to prepare for such a thing?  Well, no point in getting too excited until about June, but  I plan to eventually start doing two-a-days and even three-a-days, and maybe do a few late night runs.   The important thing for such an event, I think, is to convince yourself you have done what you can to prepare.  Psychological preparation is probably more important than the physical, once you’ve done enough training to get you down the road.   I don’t think science has much to offer when you ask the question “how best to train for running three races of approximately 10 to 15K in 36 hours?”  This is terra incognita, people.   My only prediction….if you go out too hard on that first leg, you WILL regret it!

To finish this rant, I want to follow up on Rebecca’s discussion of why she runs.  I was impressed by her thoughtfulness, because I’ve also given this a lot of thought over a longer time period, and cannot articulate my reasons nearly so well.  But that’s not stopped me before.  Here goes:  

Of course it’s complicated.   But running is really a big part of my (Biology-oriented) worldview.   I believe that our bodies evolved to do a lot of running-type work on a nearly continuous basis, and that good health demands that you use your body for what it has evolved to do.   There’s no question that regular intense aerobic activity changes your body (and mind, of course…that’s your body, too)  in both profound and subtle ways…not only muscle tone and bone density, but hormone titers and capillary architecture and mitochondrial density and enzyme function.   What “you” are doing when you run is only a small part of what’s going on.  Your body is responding on levels you don’t even know exist.

Of course, we also run for our mental health, right?  When I was younger, running helped me deal with anger…now it helps me deal with anxiety.  Then, the challenges of running itself, in deciding to run somewhere, and then doing it, are some of its best rewards, too.   Running’s importance to our ancestors may also explain why running is psychologically so fulfilling.   It’s one of those activities that reminds you that you really are an ANIMAL, and not just in a metaphorical sense.   People have argued that running made us human, too.   By planning way ahead, by putting off short-term gratification for a long-term goal, running helped us to acquire resources not previously available (like an antelope, for example).   Why else do we still refer to a PhD as a “marathon”?  Because we are still running those long races that made our ancestors human.   

Yes, then there’s the races.   Sure, they motivate you to train hard, and to keep running, but why are so many attracted to running specifically, when there’s so many other ways to compete?  Well, first of all, no challenge can exceed running for being open-ended.  No matter how fast you are, you could go faster, and somebody else already is.  Running is also a great equalizer.  You don’t gain much advantage in running by being rich, or powerful, or popular, or eloquent, or a good bluffer, or even being super intelligent.  It’s so simple, that’s why it’s so difficult: No matter who you are, you are really competing against physical laws and your own biological limitations.  And there’s no way around those.   The challenge is so clear cut because the limits are universal and brutally unforgiving.  If your body is not prepared to run a certain distance in a certain time, then heaven and earth and positive thinking and Oprah Winfrey cannot help you (let’s assume you’re not shooting up on testosterone, ok?).  Thus, when you do something in running, it’s REAL.  What else are we looking for when we look for a challenge?   An encounter with the universe, an encounter with THE REAL.    Bring it, Ragnar.