Fast/ Slow

   At some point when I began to plan running long distances I was a little at odds with the fact that what I really wanted to do was run short ones. I didn't want to set out at a slow trot, I wanted to turn on the jets. I didn't want to have to conserve energy, I wanted to burn it all up in seconds. What I wanted to do is run sprints.

What you DON'T see when you're driving around!

   The reality of this, though, is that we see runners out there all the time, almost everywhere we go there is someone pounding the pavement, water bottles, sweatbands and earphones on the go. What we don't see is someone hunched over a starting line, waiting for the crack of the gun. We don't see the explosion, the churning strides and the arms pumping. Twelve seconds after the run, we don't see total exhaustion.
   No, you can't just step out your door and start sprinting. Sprinting doesn't need a sidewalk, it needs a runway. It doesn't need curbs, driveways, leaves, dogs, puddles or snow drifts. All it needs is about a hundred meter stretch of level, unimpeded runway, where a kid on a bike isn't going to pull out in front of you at the last second and there are no potholes or tree branches.
   What it also needs is acceptability. It needs to seem like the norm, as jogging does. You don't even really notice joggers anymore, they're everywhere, they kind of blend in. You certainly don't stop and do a double-take when you see them. Which is what I think might happen if you ran across a sprinter somewhere, going through his or her paces.
   There is a small park just up the street which would be just about the right size to go to and run sprints. I would have gone there by now and done this if I didn't have the suspicion, at the same time, that people might stop and wonder what the heck I was doing. And maybe even, god forbid, watch. So I don't do this, which is not to say that I won't. One of the (few) benefits of getting old is that you really stop caring what people are thinking, so you never know...

   If you are thinking of taking up jogging or distance running and think that you might need to know some of the basics before you begin then you can do what I did--you can take on a clinic at the Running Room, if you so desire. It's pretty easy to do this, just find out when the next clinic is and go and sign up.
   Try and find a sprinting clinic. Ain't easy.
   At one of our Saturday morning Learn-to Run clinics, Kathryn (fearless leader) asked us what our running goals were. She asked us to go through our goals in terms of ranges--short, medium and long. I was a little embarrassed to admit that sprinting was one of them. It seemed to be a little out of place, I guess. Later on, however, Kathryn took me aside and gave me a suggestion as to who I might be able to contact in London if this was a direction I wanted to go in. I may still do this but right at the moment I am concentrating on the 5K distance.

Me someday...?

   I guess that, for the meantime, I will limit my short bursts of speed to the ball hockey floor. I am about five months away from my 60th birthday and I play with 20 and 30 year-olds and a handful of guys in their 40's. None of them really blow by me on any kind of regular basis. I've been playing since the early seventies and I've never even been the slowest guy on the team. I'm not the slowest guy on my team right now. I imagine that when I am the slowest guy I might call it a day finally (or find another team....?)
  

El Caballo Blanco/ Born To Run

   Along with my gift of a Learn-to-Run clinic, one of the things I received for Father's Day was a book called "Born To Run". Now you need to forget Springsteen, this was a whole different "Born To Run", it was written by Christopher McDougall and bears the subtitle "A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen".

El Caballo Blanco

   A simple question posed to his doctor a few years back started McDougall on the quest which resulted in him writing this book. The question was "Why does my foot hurt?" The answer sent him to Mexico in search of the Raramuri (also known as the Tarahumara) tribe, a race of super-runners who inhabit the almost impenetrable Copper Canyons. The one person who might be able to connect him with this tribe is the nearly mythical "El Caballo Blanco" (translated as "The White Horse"). McDougall eventually finds El Caballo (aka Micah True) (aka Michael Randall Hickman) and the adventure begins.

Christopher McDougall

   El Caballo hooks McDougall up with the Tarahumara and he is able to learn a little bit about their temperament, their lifestyle and their approach to running. Their approach is a joyful, uncomplicated and minimalist one. They run hundreds of miles in the highly dangerous Copper canyons in sandals, eschewing the high-tech running wear which is foisted upon us by way of modern advertising and expert opinion. The Tarahumara are also their own nutritionists, taking high energy from the land around them. One of the things that impresses McDougall the most, though, is the complete joy the Tarahumara get from running.
   Along the way, El Caballo gets the crazy idea of staging a race between the Tarahumara and the best ultra marathoners in North America. A large portion of the book is dedicated to his efforts in getting these runners together and competing against each other. It is a fascinating group of runners and it is hard to cheer for any one in particular. While reading the book, it occurred to me that it would make a wonderful movie, only to discover later on that a movie is already in the works.
   McDougall also goes to great lengths to take the physical act of running and give it its rightful place in the history of mankind. It is, after all, an activity that is ingrained in all of us, since birth. More than this, it is what has enabled us to both escape danger and hunt down food since the dawn of time. McDougal proposes that Neanderthal men were awesome physical specimens but eventually were replaced by a species of man that was far less strong and powerful. What this new type of man had that the Neanderthal lacked was the ability to run long distances. This, then, enabled them to hunt food simply by running it down! Assuredly, most prey was initially much quicker than the men chasing it but was not able to keep this up over long distances. As long as the hunters could keep the prey within sight, the prey would, in its fear, eventually drop dead of its own accord.
   Another focus of the book is how technology has done the human body more harm than good, when it comes to running. McDougall supplies medical statistics showing the increase in running-related injuries since the inception of the modern running shoe (read Nike). Once again, he points to the Tarahumara, who run miles in only sandals and are almost injury-free. The foot is described as the perfect running machine, giving you just the right amount of support as you walk and run. Modern technology, with all its arch support and cushioning has taken this away.
   All in all, it is a fascinating book to read and hard to put down. It serves well to re-acquaint one with the spirit of running and I found myself just wanting to get out there every night after I was done reading.

Micah True

   I do need to end this on somewhat of a sad note. After reading the book, I found myself Googling some of the main participants. In doing so, I discovered that El Caballo had actually passed away. Early in March of this year, he went out for a run in Mexico's Gila National Forest and never returned. The authorities and a whole collection of his friends went searching for him and eventually his body was discovered by a friend, lying near a creek bed. Apparently his heart simply gave out on him. He was legendary in a ghostly and reclusive sort of way and, at the same time, not keen on being in the spotlight. His was a fascinating character amongst a host of them.
   I have purposely tried to not tell you too much about the book. It seemed as though once or twice a night while I was reading it, I would go holy crap and would then need to grab Doralyn's attention so I could tell her about the most recent amazing thing I'd just found out about. I heartily recommend it, possibly even if you are not a runner but, most assuredly, if you are one!
      
  
  

A Subtle Change

   A couple of weeks ago, I was out on one of my regular runs and I pulled a calf muscle. I am not a hundred per cent sure just how I did this, I started to feel a little tug in the back of my calf about two minutes into the run but I thought it was just one of my normal aches and pains that would right itself after I ran a little more and warmed up. After running another half a kilometer, the pain intensified and eventually felt as though it was circling around to my shin. At this point I wised up and stopped running. Fortunately I was within easy walking distance of home.
   It was about this time, then, that I noticed a subtle change in myself. Any other time I've sprained an ankle, pulled a muscle, gotten a charley horse or been ill and not been able to run, the worst part about it was that it meant I wouldn't be able to play ball hockey. With this new injury, however, my first reaction was crap, I'm not going to be able to do my training runs!
   This seems like a fairly subtle change but it still took me by surprise. The other thing which has subtly taken me by surprise is the amount of looking forward I do to whenever my next run is. It wasn't exactly like this at the beginning of my learn-to-run experience, I had a fair amount of trepidation to our runs in the very early days, it seemed as though we would get to one comfortable level and then just get bumped up to the next, and tougher, level. It wasn't something I really looked forward to. As things progressed, however, I slowly found that I began to happily anticipate these regular runs. At this writing, I'll soon be headed out for my first post-injury run and I'm a little uptight as to the possible result. For one, I feel a little out of shape, not having run for almost two weeks. Secondly, I'm hoping the injury has totally healed. I will spend a little extra time stretching beforehand and then we'll see after that. Wish me luck!
    

Welcome to "Strides"!

Doralyn, the instigator, and I

   Hello everyone and welcome to "Strides"!
   I have been thinking for some time that I would like to start a second blog, something a little more specialized than "Neanderings". The problem I had was what to write about.
   "Neanderings" has satisfied my desire to write about whatever popped into my head whenever it popped in there. At the same time, I also wanted to perhaps concentrate on one area, aimed at one particular audience.
   Over a period of time, it occurred to me that it would be kind of cool to write about one of my new-found interests---running! If you've been following "Neanderings" recently you'll probably remember that Doralyn, as a Father's Day present, signed me up to a Learn-to-Run clinic at the downtown London Running Room store. Since early August I've been running three times a week, as part of the clinic. In early October I took part in my first "target race", the annual Gobbler Gallop here in London. The race was a success, simply because I survived!
   I've enjoyed the process even more than I thought I might. And now it seems as though I should write about it! So I'm going to!
   I doubt very much that the posts will fly as fast and furious with "Strides" as they have been with "Neanderings". There are a few subjects for posts I've had rolling around in my head for a while now so I might be busy for a bit. After a while, though, I'm sure things will slow down a touch. I'm sure the physical appearance of the blog will likely change as well as I experiment with the look and feel of it.
   Hopefully the new blog will be fun to read. I am not a "die-hard", seasoned runner. Far from it. So the tone of the blog will be low-key, possibly informative (as I learn) and hopefully at least a little humourous.
   Enjoy! (whenever I get started...)