This past year I ran a 10k where I didn’t do as well as I had hoped.  I didn’t perform up to my potential.  There it is.  I said it.  I have no excuses.  I had done all of my training, I had set an attainable goal, I didn’t have any physical problems while training, I was properly prepared to achieve my goal, but I didn’t…by 20 seconds.

So what do 20 little seconds matter?  They don’t.  What matters is that I did not reach my goal.  Why?  Negative thinking.

This was a large race and I was running with a group of about 20 people; however, I was the only person in the group that was seeded and “racing” the race.  There were two groups meeting at one location, about 1.5 miles from the start line.  The second group was late to arrive.  We had to wait for them because they had the keys to the building that we were going to use the bathroom in before the race.  I ran down to the street corner of the street the race was on to find another solution.  I looked up and down the street and did not see a port-a-let (or any other viable solution).  I asked a police officer if he knew where a restroom was and he responded, “I’m looking for one myself.”  I was distraught and forced to wait.  I’ve learned from experience that I must use the bathroom before every race; but that is for another blog at another time (I really push myself in races).  The other group finally arrived and I used the bathroom.  I then ran through crowds of people (non-seeded runners so not in a hurry as well) and got to the start line with about 5 minutes to spare.  A little distraught but ready to run nonetheless.  I’m always ready to run.

Side note on being ready to run:  I had a buddy the other day say, “Bro, I can run a marathon right now without training.”  Knowing that he has been deployed overseas and hadn’t been running much at all I responded with, “Dude, I could run a half at all times but a marathon is far man.  You could do it without walking at all?”  He said in a matter-of-fact tone, “Dude, I didn’t say I would run it fast.”  To that I say:  “whateves bro.”  We’re both way too hip for our age.

Back to my 10k.  I started off the race great, staying with the group I was seeded with and passing a few as well.  After the first three miles I started to get a little tired.  I hadn’t realized that the first half of the course was mostly downhill and the second half of the course was uphill.  I had just moved to a new non-hilly area of town and hadn’t run as many hills as I probably should have.  Nonetheless I pushed on.  I also noticed I was running a phenomenal pace for the first half of the race but could hear myself start saying, “take it easy a bit, you’re way ahead of your time.”  That was the first sign my mind was starting to take a trip to negative town.  As the hills grew longer and the temperature rose I quickly became fatigued and my pace was slowing down.  I started thinking about how I was late to the race, how I had to run that extra 1.5 miles, that I should have run more hills, that I should have run some of my long runs with a faster paced running partner, and that I hadn’t done something as simple as the drive the course prior to the race.  I just wanted to get done with this race.

By mile 4.5 I had arrived at negative town.  I could not stop thinking about all of theses negative things.  People began to start passing me and I didn’t care.  I tried to stick with a couple people and draft off of them but they had obviously not started the race at too fast of a pace.  I began to think, “I have a good time, I’m over this, I’m just going to coast to the finish line.”  So I coasted, right across the finish line, 20 seconds after my goal time.  I didn’t know I had missed my goal when I finished because my chip time was different than the clock time and my watch time was pretty close to my goal time.  It was up to the chip now.  I was just glad it was over.

So why did I run so poorly?  The only reason was negative thinking.  I once heard someone say that running is 90% mental.  I agree.  You have to tell yourself you can go farther and run faster.  You have to believe that you can achieve the goals you have in front of you.  The most important thing I learned in college was in my undergrad psychology class:  “You can’t worry about things you can’t control.”  That is not saying you can’t learn from your mistakes.  For instance, next year I plan to drive myself to the race and get there with plenty of time.  But there is no reason for me to get upset at the temperature of the race or the hills.  Next time I can train on more hills and run in hotter weather; however, while there in the race you can’t change you training.  So deal with it, keep running, get past it, don’t think negatively, achieve the goals, and learn from your mistakes.  Too easy.

This blog wasn’t very funny.  I think I’m still upset about this race.  Oh yeah, and I also learned in psychology class, don’t dwell on the past.  But that was the third best thing I learned in college.  The second most important thing I learned from college psycology was to look the opposite sex directly in the eyes when flirting.  60% of the time it works all the time.

I like “being in the zone” just as much as anyone else, but we all need to challenge ourselves in order to learn and grow.  When I am “in the zone” you will usually find me on the basketball court, on the golf course, or maybe even conversing with someone of the opposite sex.   If you want to find me “zoning out” just look to my comfortable leather couch and no further.  I’m probably watching some pointless reality show; but enjoying it nonetheless.  So obviously there are many types of zones to be in but today I am challenging you to get out of a zone; your comfort zone?. Where is your comfort zone?  Check somewhere “inside the box.”

Every time I go for a run over 10 miles I try to run somewhere new.  Whether I am starting from my house or traveling by car to a trail-head, I try to experience a new environment on my run.  This weekend it only took 4 miles from my house to get out of my comfort zone.  I ran to a lower socioeconomic area of town early on a Sunday morning where I did not see one person that was the same race as I.  Being around people that don’t look like you is one way to get out of your comfort zone.  Here are some of the things that I noticed in this zone that I was not used to:  a quick handshake on a corner with the two parties retreating quickly in opposite directions, presumably an illegal transaction.  A makeshift soup-kitchen which consisted of a van, a couple of tables, and huge metal container of soup in an empty parking lot with a lot of people happily being served.  A man yelling at a woman walking behind him in a crosswalk saying, “I’m yelling at you because you won’t hurry up.  I’m late to go see my girl!”  She responded with, “I wouldn’t be walking this slow if you hadn’t gotten me pregnant, (explicit name)!”  She looked to be about 8 months pregnant so was understandably walking slowly.  So what does this mean?  It means that in order for us to grow and understand ourselves we must go out of our comfort zones and experience things we may not ever experience.

Running can take you out of your comfort zone.  Not necessarily by traveling to a different place than you are used to but the fact that you are constantly pushing yourself and challenging yourself to achieve new things you have never attempted.  Every time you think about slowing down but instead keep running is moving outside of your comfort zone.  People generally put a lot of effort into keeping their lives constant, but I challenge you to push closer to the edges of “your box.”  I’m always trying to stay edgy, that’s why I watch MTV sometimes to see what the kids are up to.  You have to make a conscious effort to break down your comfort walls.  Although I am a strict proponent of running, try starting with changing up your exercise routine with other activities other than running.  Better yet, try other exercises while still visiting seriousrunning.com and reading this blog daily!  Talk about edgy!

Just like we strive to diversify our investment portfolios (I’m risk-loving so I don’t adhere to this mantra) and our diets we need to diversify our exercise.  I know what you are thinking, ‘I run 5ks and marathons.  I diversify my work-outs.’  Sorry, that doesn’t count running man.  While running is great for the overall health of your body, it does puts stress on the same joints and builds particular muscles more than others.  That is why I recommend adding some other activities to your training.  Some suggestions are mountain biking, hiking, or kayaking to work out different muscles which will actually help to improve your running.  If you are an avid runner, I understand, try changing your running patterns by running on more trails or running steps.  Obviously, I think just by running a different route you are getting outside of you comfort zone so try that at the very least.  Exercising outside of your comfort zone prevent injuries (unless you fall off your mountain bike or something) and will leave your body more balanced.  Now you don’t have to drink as much V8!  Sweet!

Please stop being a square (box) and become a well rounded individual like our ancestors, the original “Renaissance People.”  No, I don’t mean showing your wealth by being rounded (fat) or eating so much that you throw up because you can afford to.  Don’t waste food, there’s soup kitchens in parking lots!

Trail Running is better.  There you have it.  I’m out!

Ok, even though my opinion is always correct, I am very open-minded and look at every question from all sides of the argument.  Therefore, I have decided that there are both pros and cons to trail running and road running.  Let’s start where most of us started running; on the road.  The pro to road running are the even surfaces and the determinable distances.  This makes the road a great place to run when following a strict training plan with little room for variation or miscalculations.  Road Running is also probably more convenient to most of us; unless your front door is off of a trail run, in which case you are probably too awesome to read this blog anyways.  I have found that the biggest negative to road running is that it consists of running on hard surfaces.  While asphalt is better than concrete, both surfaces are very hard and put a lot of strain on your joints.  Hard surfaces easily cause injuries such as shin splints and runner’s knee which develop over a long time and take a long time to heal.  The trail offers a softer surface that does not put as much stress on joints.

However, Trail Running is not exempt from eliciting injury.  If you are not an experienced Trail Runner you may be just as likely to get an injury due to falling or running into nature.  When running on a trail, runners must always pay attention to the surface they are running on to avoid these spills and falls.  You can’t zone out on the trail like you do on the road, so if you like to think while running, stay on the streets…but pay attention to the crosswalks.  Although training is difficult to standardize on the trail, the trail does offer a much different and better work out than running on the road.  On the trail, you are able to burn more calories mile for mile because of the uneven terrain and amount of steps you must take vs. the same distance on the road.  The uneven terrain is also great for working your leg muscles, giving your body a variation in movements.  Trail Running is also great for building endurance because of the mental aspect; you aren’t sure how far you have gone and how difficult the trail ahead is, you just keep running to find out.  No matter how tired you are.  What are you going to hitch a ride back to your start point?

Obviously both Trail Running and Road Running have their advantages and disadvantages but sometimes logistics make one more feasible than the other.  Trail Running gives you a better work out and is better for preventing long-term injuries so get out on the trail.  Also keep in mind that you should “train as you fight,” or in running terms, run on the surface you intend to race on.  Remember, all routes and running surfaces are not created equal.

He runs past churches, schools, taverns and grocery stores. Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Mendham) is running his campaign for governor of New Jersey; literally. Merkt runs through the town’s residential areas and downtowns to show the voters that he is working hard for them. To me running does not necessarily signify working hard, but rather shows a mental toughness that everyone should posses, especially our politicians. Merkt says, “I want to show people I’m hungry for the nomination.” I guess running is a better way to show your hunger than a pie eating contest or something else similar. Merkt has run in over 300 towns and 21 counties in the state. His goal is to run in every one of New Jersey’s 566 municipalities before next year’s primary.

Merkt obviously isn’t doing it to lose weight, he has only lost 4 pounds since he started!  So I started thinking about different causes people run for.  There are a plethora of road races that benefit different organizations.  What gets us out there running for a cause?  Throughout time there have been numerous people who have run long distances for social reasons.  What motivates these people?  Why is running the vehicle they chose to promote their beliefs?  I imagine it is two fold, running signifies staminia, a will to push yourself and always strive to go farther and faster, but I think more importantly it gives us time to think and process information.  I can see why this would be important in a mayoral race and I also think it is important for our everyday lives.  So whatever you believe in, keep running for it!