*synth* I WORKOUT

[JoshInKC]

That's one of my big problems* - My joints are all in terrible shape. Combined genetic predispositions and abuse/mileage has left me with one bone-on-bone knee (the other being halfway there), tattered/torn ligaments in my shoulders, and what I'm pretty sure is incipient arthritis in my left hip. I'd had a plan to get to an orthopedist in Fall/winter 2021, but the heart attack scotched that plan pretty badly so I'm finally going to get it done late this summer and see what they tell me about reconstructions/turning me into a terminator.
I know several people including my father, who've had joint replacement surgery in the past couple of years and every one of them has said they regretted not getting it done sooner and that both the surgery and rehab were easier than they had expected, so I'm pretty hopeful about that.

*The other big problem is that I just don't want to. I've never once gotten gotten anything like a runner's high, or even a feeling of accomplishment from exercise. At best it's been "Thank god that's over."

[G'day Mate]

Decided to volunteer today in lieu of racing, and was assigned to directing people where to go at a road crossing. Lots and lots of thanks from the runners, and I feel good about taking the opportunity to give back.

[SportWagon]

Well, I’ve had to pull out of the ultra, just 36 hours before the start. Here’s Weird Al to explain …

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=X8Ow1nlafOg

Ouch! Seems unlikely 600m of semi-impromptu climbing on the bicycle triggered it. (I had noticed that effort of yours, though).

[G'day Mate]

I did 600m on the bike? Anyway, it was walking around wearing my four year old son and five year old nephew as “shoes” on Wednesday night that did the damage I think. Got it the shower Thursday morning, looked down and … that ain’t right

[CudaMan]

*The other big problem is that I just don't want to. I've never once gotten gotten anything like a runner's high, or even a feeling of accomplishment from exercise. At best it's been "Thank god that's over."

I have a theory. I've felt similarly most of my life. (I was only ever in decent shape for a 5-6 year period in my 30s). My theory is, at least for me, below a certain threshold of general fitness, exercise sucks extra and I get no 'high' from it. It's really hard to get motivated to do it, and to stay doing it once I start. It's just miserable and I don't have the energy for it. Above this fitness threshold, things get easier. The effort of the exercise is still hard, but the doing it and the potential enjoyment from it is easier. I *hated* running until I crossed over this threshold and then I started to look forward to it.

I'm back out of shape (kinda happened suddenly a year ago, not sure why exactly, it was 2017 when I stopped running but I stayed in shape a few years after that) and currently trying to work my way back over this threshold, slowly but surely as and when I can muster the time/energy. See if my theory pans out. It's harder a) because I'm below this threshold, and b) running is what I really enjoyed but I'm super limited with that now.

Pretty sure if I can do yoga once or twice a week again my back will get better, too. Sucks my friend closed down her studio in 2020, I really liked her class format.

[Yw-slayer]

Try pilates?

[JSGeneral]

Decided to volunteer today in lieu of racing, and was assigned to directing people where to go at a road crossing. Lots and lots of thanks from the runners, and I feel good about taking the opportunity to give back.

I think this is one of the most inspiring quotes I've read in this thread for several years. After all that prep and work, the universe sidelined you--preventing you from the race you arduously and diligently trained for. In the face of that situation, you still make it into a positive experience and assist others in your endurance-athlete community.

Really, well done.

[JSGeneral]

I'm making a bit of a faux pas by sending out multiple messages but I wanted to respond to what someone wrote here earlier, as well as brag about myself a bit. Intead of combining the two, I'll hide the brag post here...

Next month, it will be 25 years since I ran my first marathon. A few months back I reflected on this moment. I don't think there are many things about me or what I have done over the course of my life that meet that qualification. Now, I haven't run them every year... and there was about 5 years in there where I was almost convinced I would never be able to run again. But today, I am. I'm still doing it. I'm still a marathoner. 25 years...

My first marathon attempt, was actually at an event that was attempting to host a marathon for the first time. The Inaugural Rock N Roll Marathon. Downtown San Diego. Promised to have 26 bands along the course playing various live music. It sounded like fun. So much so to a mid-twenties version of myself, that I decided to drive across the country, move from the east coast and try and live in San Diego in Spring of '98.

As a first time marathon host, the event did a LOT of things WRONG:

• June can be a hot month in San Diego, but there is something called "May Gray, and June Gloom"... a low fog due to the marine layer that can blanket the area and keeps the mornings actually quite cool. Cooler than April mornings, actually. It usually burns off around noon and then things heat up quickly. That Sunday morning, the weather decided not to cooperate.
• The event (obviously) had logistical hiccups. They didn't know what they didn't know. One of the things they didn't plan on was that there were an unexpected number of cars still parked on the course (it was a road race... I guess they didn't close off the streets early enough.) There were not enough tow trucks. The start time was delayed, but that was only announced 5 minutes before the gun was supposed to go off.
• It was an exciting event that many people signed up for. Over 18,000 runners went to the start line! With that many people, I got to my corral about 15 minutes before race start. Then we were all standing. Almost 40 minutes after the intended 6:30am race start, we were still standing in our corrals. I managed to take a break and find a spot on a curb to sit for awhile as we were waiting for the tow trucks to complete making the course safe. The announcer tried to keep us informed, but had little information... and a PA system doesn't always clearly reach such a large group.
• Before 7am, the clouds burned off early... and the bright sun shone down and wouldn't stop all day. The race finally started about 10 minutes after 7am... Some runners had been standing still for an hour waiting
• With the delay, it was never coordinated with the bands... so they started playing at their assigned times. By the time I (and many other runners) reached many of the stages along the course... they were taking a break. Still, I heard some live music... and it was awesome. Cool that it attracted spectators in those areas. Many of those spectators would cheer for runners passing them. I still remember the steel drum solo act jamming under a highway underpass... it sounded spectacular.
• Being such a large marathon event (I had years of prior experience cheering at other marathons as a spectator) this was the first one that I recalled having a large swath of participants who did fundrasing. They were specifically raising money for Lukemia research... which don't get me wrong--is a fantastic cause. Still, they each wore a purple singlet that said "Team In Training" on it. Every runner who wore won of these jerseys got tons of cheers from spectators. They were easy to spot, and had a logo written on their shirt that people could shout at. I... had nothing that made me stand out. After several miles, I attempted to distance myself away from anyone wearing a purple jersey... just so that I could be cheered for when I went by a spectator. It felt like if I was near a Team In Training runner... they would get all the shouts and cheers. I felt like my praise was stolen.
• At the pre-race expo they gave out Motrin for runners to take I guess during the run... probably not the best idea.
• Waterstops were not properly staffed. I heard tales that there were many runners in the middle of the pack that got NO water at several waterstops. The problem turned out to be that they didn't have enough people at each station to fill water cups and have a sufficient amount when the pack went through. They had enough water, but not enough people to get them into the hand of tired, thirsty runners who had been out in the unexpected sun for hours and also had been standing unnecessarily for upwards of an hour before the race could start.

As a first time marathon runner, there are some things I did WRONG as well:

• The day before the race, I stood outside in the sun for hours. That weekend, the ESPN Xgames were taking place for the first time in San Diego. I wasn't going to miss that! I watched a ton of events (including a snowboard jump event!) in a crowd, drinking a few beers. Not the recommended pre-race, downtime routine.
• I wore a brand new pair of shoes, eventhough I knew it's recommended to never do this for a long road race.
• I never really ran a whole lot of mileage during my months of training. I thought at the time that I had... but I wasn't experienced yet to know the distance that can be required for training for such an endurance event.

Nevertheless... I finished... and fairly well... and caught the bug. I was a marathoner from then on out and identified as one. I ran several more of these races over the years, and even ran the Rock N Roll a couple more times in those early years...

So a couple months ago, I thought... why not? I signed up and will run this year's Rock N Roll Marathon in San Diego next month. In three weeks, I look forward towards seeing how the experiences of the past 25 years have change me, and to this event that started it all.

[JSGeneral]

That's one of my big problems* - My joints are all in terrible shape. Combined genetic predispositions and abuse/mileage has left me with one bone-on-bone knee (the other being halfway there), tattered/torn ligaments in my shoulders, and what I'm pretty sure is incipient arthritis in my left hip. I'd had a plan to get to an orthopedist in Fall/winter 2021, but the heart attack scotched that plan pretty badly so I'm finally going to get it done late this summer and see what they tell me about reconstructions/turning me into a terminator.
I know several people including my father, who've had joint replacement surgery in the past couple of years and every one of them has said they regretted not getting it done sooner and that both the surgery and rehab were easier than they had expected, so I'm pretty hopeful about that.

*The other big problem is that I just don't want to. I've never once gotten gotten anything like a runner's high, or even a feeling of accomplishment from exercise. At best it's been "Thank god that's over."

I have a saying that I remind myself often, based on an old wives tale I that I have tweaked a bit. "Feed a cold. Starve a flu. Forgive a knee."

There are some things that are out of our control. I have found that if I "fight" a knee pain... it only gets worse. Eventually, my knees will give out... I think I have to accept that. But until then, I'll try to pamper them the best way I can.

That said, I'm going to contradict myself: I HAVE experienced the "runner's high", but also I think it's a bullshit idea. Let me explain. All the years of me running, yes there have been times when I felt like I could go on forever, or everything was just so easy, or everything was just so enjoyable. There wasn't really a formula to achieve it... it just sort of happened sporadically, and not really that often. But that was bound to happen. I identify as a runner, and would do so on a regular basis. It was bound to happen.

However the term "runner's high" should be wiped from the lexicon of anyone working out. This feeling I had while running... it's also EXACTLY as times where I or others would describe as being in "The Zone". An experience where for some reason, during a significant duration of time, you just cannot lose, and you KNOW it. You know the feeling...

• Like the time where you're shooting hoops outside with friend... and for a time... you just can't miss.
• Like rolling into work one day and everything goes your way.
• Like the time you're shooting billards at a bar with a buddy... and the two of you never lose the table all night.
• Like the time you go for a hike, reach the top of a summit and breath in the great air and scenery and don't want the moment to end.

So many more examples, but let me talk more about that last bullet point a bit more. Personally, I do NOT think that running is for everyone. Most benefits from ANY exercise come from being able to do it repeatedly... for LONG periods of time... for long durations. Do not despair though... because many of the EXACT same benefits can occur from just going for a half hour to an hour walk or hike. Most people can do that, and truth be told... most runners are just doing speedy walks. Many positive health benefits can happen if people are willing to slow down and try walking, and try a lot of it... before they ever take up running.

[JSGeneral]

Well everyone. I'm flying to San Diego today to run that marathon this weekend. I even dug up my 25-year old Finisher t-shirt from my first race that I'll wear at the Expo to check in... but I doubt anyone will notice. No reason to wish me luck, as I have a lot to be thankful for. Much of that gratitude is based on comparing many of your experiences you've all been open enough to share here. I'm going to the start line as an aged, grizzled runner... in good health and with fairly good joints.

When I'm out there on the long road, I'll think of you all. Thanks for that.