Where ever you are in your exercise plan is where you are suppose to be. There is no right or wrong there is just you.
One of the nice things about just being yourself (I repeat this to myself a lot so it is positive re-enforcement for me to write it as well) is that you do not have to rely on what others think or about what the voice in your head thinks about you. You have the freedom to be you, whatever you chose. Sometimes I have let the voice in my head tell me to do things because of what other will think. More often lately I have been breaking out and discovering a lot of nice things about the world including meeting people that I would normally not talk to.
My co-worker Stephanie introduced me to getting me beyond the barrier of just running and not being social. I sue to run by myself until I started running with Stephanie. Running and talking is actually fun. Now when I run I always seek out a group and I love to talk. Now for a woman talking in a crowd may not be a challenge, but for me it is. Remember everyone has a challenge of some sort and they are not the same.
I am training for Bandera 100k Trail Race in January so this is why I am running this race in Palo Duro. I have been preparing for endurance running since last year. Currently my longest run is 20.36 miles. When I was in my forum the leader, Steve Zaffron was 70 years old and he was doing 100 mile runs in the Rockies. His goal was to be the strongest man for his age. This really inspired me.
I had stopped running in my early thirties because of knee injuries. I am 56 years old now. I had been telling myself that I could not run. So after Landmark Education training I started creating some possibilities and my life was being transformed. There were several areas that Landmark provided me with tools to make my life fulfilling. I transformed relationships at work, home and with my children, but I wanted more. I wanted to really challenge myself to do something that I had no way of figuring out how to do it except that I was going to take a big leap of faith and say that I wanted to do it. My goal is to run 100 miles.
When I started running again in February 2005 I did not have the idea that I would want to run. I actually got involved with an exercise program at work through the Cancer Association Active For Life. HT got a RunTex coach to come on campus to help several faculty and staff prepare for a 5k race that would benefit HT. I was planning on walking the event. What happened in the next few months was amazing, I got a pair of shoes and with the coaches help I started running.
My co-worker Stephanie Bond-Huie and I started running during lunch last year. She was training for this 50 mile trail race. At the time I could barely keep up with her on a four mile run. She was very encouraging with me and told me that I would love trail running if I would only try it. I thought she was nuts but I was inspired by her determination to run 50 miles. Well this year I signed up for the Rouge Running Trail 101 class. The prerequisite was to be able to run 6 miles without stopping. I spent the winter running loops around LBJ lake so I was very comfortable in running 10 miles without stopping. After running on a trail for the first time I was so excited that I could not contain myself. I thought to myself that I have gone all of my life walking on hiking trails and I never thought once to run on them.
I entered my first 10k trail race called The Saint and I ran it in 1 hour. I placed 102 out of 232 10k runners. I entered my second 10k race, a road race the Nike Human Race which I finished in 53 minutes. At the start of this year I made a goal to run 1,000 miles in one year. Currently I am at mile 767.27.
Now I am in a trail training class to run 100k at Bandera. When I signed up for the class I could not imagine how I would run 62 miles. I have never even run a Marathon of 26 miles. Once again I am using Landmark tools to create a gap or breakdown and then work towards creating a bridge to get across it. Along the way I am meeting new friends and getting a lot of knowledge about how my body works. One thing that I know is that when you hang out with people that say you cannot do something and you also tell yourself that you cannot do it then you most likely will have a tough time doing it. When you hang out with people who are doing amazing things and they encourage you to do amazing things then you will have an easier time accomplishing whatever you want. I am running with men and women of all shapes and sizes and they have one thing in common, they love endurance running. My trail coach is 55 years old and his wife is about 50. They both have run several 100 mile races.
So on Friday October 17 my wife and I will hit the road in our Dodge Cumins diesel and haul our 5th wheel Grand Junction to Palo Duro before. We plan to arrive dark and enjoy the pre race pasta dinner. I will start my run at 7 AM on Saturday. The course will be open for 7 hours. I am running 2 12.5 mile laps and one 6 mile lap. I run about 10 minute miles for 10 miles so I may average 13-15 minutes for the 30 miles. Stephanie tells me that the race crowd is pretty laid back. The canyon is beautiful so I will see the floor of the canyon for 30 miles on Saturday. We will hang out on Sunday and start back to Austin on Monday.
May 10, 2008 I rode in the Armadillo Hill Country Classic and it was the first time that I rode my bike over 100 miles in one day in Texas. I have not ridden a 100 mile ride, or century ride in about 8 years. My last century ride was in Oregon. I rode 105.5 miles in 7.5 hours and I averaged 14.2 MPH. I rode the first 30 miles in 1.5 hours and got to mile 42 in 2 hours.
So what make a person ride 100 miles? Well for me there are several reasons. One of the main reasons that I did thsi ride is because I wanted to reinforce my power to create reality with my words. I have ridden 100 miles several times in the past but for some reason I had this voice in my head that kept telling me that I would never ride 100 miles again. The voice is always there telling me stuff, some of it is positive but a lot of it is negative. We all have this voice and being aware of the voice is key to breaking the control that it has over your future reality. So this ride was a way to create a breakthrough in my cycling endurance in the Texas heat.
I am not in the same shape I was 8 yeas ago when I was riding 200 to 300 miles a week. This year I have been running more that I have been cycling. In fact I have only ridden my road bike on rides over 20 miles three times this year before thsi century ride. I knew that I could ride 100 miles so I created the possibility for a 100 mile ride. I told everyone that I came in contcat with that I was going to ride 100 miles. I prepared for the ride by riding 62 miles the weekend before the 100 mile ride. I took 4 Power Bars and Emergen-C Hydro in my pack. I did 100+ miles.
The first 50 miles was a piece of cake for me. The day started with completely overcast skys and it was perfect for riding. I kept pace with the speedsters for about 5 miles and then the pack of about 100 riders started to spread out. I started the ride in the front of the pack with the other 100 milers. I did not stop at the first three rest stops because I wanted to get to the Dillo Door before 10:30 AM. After 10:30 AM they would not let anyone pass through to the 105 mile option. I rode as fast as I could for 30 miles.
The second 50 miles was not easy for me. Riding the back roads of Burnett County in the heat of the Texas afternoon is difficult and not for the faint of heart. I have a mental block about bad roads and herky jerky hills , but that is what challenges me about this ride. At mile 60 I hit the wall and ran out of energy. I had just left the Lake Victor rest stop and rode 5 miles into 20 MPH head winds. I normally have never stopped on a ride unless I was at a rest stop or had a flat, but this time I knew I needed a Power Bar. I stopped under a tree next to a stop sign and ate it. I got back on my bike and kept riding. It took about 30 minutes before I really felt like riding again.
One of the nice things that I get from endurance riding is that fatigue really frees you mind. As I was riding I was so tired at times that I was able to just be with the road, the rocks, the pot-holes, the cows and the goats. I listen to my breathing, I watched my chain ring, I looked at the grass bend over in the 20 MPH wind, I felt the heat coming off the asphalt. Only one thing can keep me cranking and that is that voice in my head that says, Shut Up and Ride!
I have never been a person to make New Year’s resolutions. This year is different and I am starting the year by creating the possibility of being a runner. I have set similar goals for bike riding in the past. One year I had the goal that I would ride my bike to work more miles than I drove and I did it. I rode almost 5,000 miles that year. In one month I rode 1,000 miles.
Today I ran 10 miles around Lady Bird Johnson Lake in Austin. this was the first run of the year. My last run of 2007 was a 2.5 hour run along the beach in Port Aransas, Texas. So in order to make my goal I will have to run about 20 miles a week for 52 weeks.
Well I am starting the New Year married for the second time. I married my long time girlfriend Sylvia McCormick on December 27, 2007 in Port Aransas, Texas. We invited our close family and friends and surprised them with a dinner wedding ceremony at a the Lisabellas Bistro in Port Aransas, Texas.
Sylvia and I created the possibility of Romantic Adventures and that is what we are living into. Mike Rhinehart performed the cermony that included traditional wedding vows mixed with Landmark Education references to relationships. Sylvia and I are committed to creating our future together each day and we are including our family in our possibilities for the New Year and beyond.