Dreams Come Alive

Size 12. Yes that’s right. That’s the size of the shoes that I will be wearing in my Sahara Race.

Arguably the most important part of our body, our feet are also the most neglected. In the process of researching the right pair of shoes to fit my running gait and foot type, terms like overpronation, motion control and flat arches found their way into my lexicon and I developed a new found appreciation of my foot design and running manner. It is this understanding that is crucial in choosing our footwear model.

Ever since my first marathon two years ago I have been very conscious about selecting the appropriate shoe for my running needs, eschewing the fashionable streetwear brands in favour of those designed for the ‘serious runner’. Developing an affinity for ASICS shoes, I have used them assiduously and so you can imagine my astonishment when I discovered that I have been wearing shoes that are one size too small.

This is where going to the right place to get the correct advice is so vital. For as long as I can remember I have been wearing a size 7.5 and the occasional 8 for some dress shoes. My running shoes, meanwhile, were a size 9; seemingly a little large, but they fit snugly and the sales people in the stores were of the same opinion.

Big mistake.

If you ever intend to take on a sport, regardless of whether you are serious about it or simply trying it out, your gear is of utmost importance. Wear or use the wrong things and you could end up with a lousy time or even worse, put your safety in jeopardy and get hurt. It pays to get expert advice and be kitted out appropriately, both for safety reasons and for an enjoyable experience.

The good news is that in Singapore there are more specialist shops with staff who actually play those sports and who can provide expert advice. If you need a trekking rucksack, speak with someone who treks. If you are looking for running shoes, speak to a runner. You will not find such experienced people in the general sports shop in the shopping malls. The sales assistants you see there are more likely to be part-timers with inactive lifestyles with little or no experience in your chosen sport.

For running, I find the folks at the Running Lab to be invaluable. Runners themselves, they provide foot diagnostics and are trained to advise you appropriately according to your needs. It was here that I was properly measured and discovered that my feet had grown in recent years (which is normal for those who run a lot) and that the correct size was actually a 10. I promptly bought a pair of new shoes and after several weeks of running, am happy to observe that I do not experience any of the shin splints that used to plague me.

Further research and recommendations have advised that I wear shoes that are 1-2 sizes larger as the combination of heat, pressure and taping in the Sahara Race will cause my feet to swell. I may look like Ronald MacDonald in my spanking new size 12’s but am willing to look like a clown to stay comfortable and protected in the desert. Or risk appearing in a Bangles video.      

Whipped out for a midnight half marathon last night and had a pleasurable couple of hours. Achieved and maintained an almost hypnotic pace and rhythm and everything just seemed to flow. Mind you, it wasn’t easy to get started. Returning home from work a little before 10pm, my body’s circadian rhythm was sending me sleep signals and I vacillated between lacing up and lying down. The temptation to do the latter was strong but by visualising and allowing my senses to fully experience the benefits of working out, the pull of the jog emerged victorious.

I derive enormous benefits from working out. I am in a generally better mood and a much happier person. I look younger, I sleep better, I feel stronger, I think clearer, I eat fuller and I smile wider. I am a whole lot more refreshed and invigorated and as a result work becomes more efficient and relationships improve. I get a lot done and my life is more organised. Even my libido gets a massive boost. I thrive.   

Thus by focusing on the benefits, going for a run becomes a choice and not an obligation. This seemingly subtle difference between a ‘want to’ and a ‘have to’ is a salient and significant one. Having to do something induces pressure and as human beings our self preservation instincts cause us to push when pushed. This creates resistance and leads ultimately to a futile and fatigued struggle that accomplishes nothing.

Energy is better put to use when we choose to do something in full awareness of the benefits that our decisions bring. This acceptance of circumstances, ownership of actions and subsequent responsibility of results creates more energy and gives us greater control of our lives. We become in charge of our lives and we just can’t wait to go out and make things happen. At least this is the case for me and certainly that of most happy and successful people I personally know or know of.

Choose your life.

Had an excellent weekend, just the recipe to fire up another promising week. Returned to running on Saturday for a relatively short 2.5 hours but with a heavier pack in the scorching heat. Am pleased at how well I held up although the heat was providing some cause for concern. Resisting the temptation to take in any cold fluids or pop the odd ice cube into my mouth because I won’t have that kind of luxury in the Sahara and need to condition my body. I intend to try out the new hat that was graciously sponsored by KayakAsia next time.

Followed up the jog with gymnastics class. Missed the previous week’s lesson and it told. My front tuck was pretty rubbish and I felt pain shooting up my left shin following a couple of awkward landings. Not funny. On the bright side I am slowing becoming aware of my body as all the abdominal conditioning begins to reap rewards.

As a result of my exertions I had a full night’s sleep on Saturday which put me in pretty high spirits for Sunday. Real rest and recovery. Ready to take on the world again.

It has been an unsettling 10 days. Following my previous post I had decided to take a week off running to offer my body some respite from all the exertion I had been putting it through.

Unfortunately it did not turn out quite as I had expected. My visions of a week of blissful relaxation have been rocked first by pains in my knees and then by interrupted sleep. Instead of feeling rested and raring to go, for the last several days I have been on edge, easily irritated and greatly agitated. I put it down to my body reacting to the lack of exercise but even as I try to get back into the groove my body is grumbling again. Today it’s my tight hamstrings and achy soles.   

My solution is to put to use what I read in The Corporate Athlete, and that is to make little improvements everyday and work at being better by 1%. My chosen actions are to take baby steps by having an extra serving of fruit and practising rigour in my writing. Today’s workshop has also given me an additional boost. The opportunity to focus out and grow others is invigorating and energising.

Tomorrow I am going for a longish run before gymnastics class. Some bouncing and tumbling should help get me out of my funk. That and more positive self talk and affirmations.

The Sundown Ultra Marathon back in May exposed several physical weaknesses, chiefly my core muscles and leg strength. To work on these areas and also to inject some variety into my training, I joined a gymnastics club about a month ago. The sessions are really tough but I manage to grunt my way through and already I can feel myself making progress under the guidance of How the instructor. Tightness and control is the name of the game and I feel like a little child just learning to understand how my body works.

Cross training helps take the monotony out of the usual running sessions while working specific muscle groups so I may be taking it a step further with some ballet training. Behind the elegance and fluidity of ballet lies tremendous strength in core muscles and I’m hoping the finer details of steel abs and powerful legs may give me an added edge. So it was my good fortune to meet a talented ballerina at a friend’s BBQ who agreed to train me in her craft in return for some coaching in running. Sounds like a fair deal and I’m rather excited at the great fun (and quite possibly the aches and pains) I have no doubt we will have. I’m also inspired by her to get into the pool for some low resistance work out so will look into my schedule to fit that in.

It’s all getting so very exciting!!

Just received word that our national carrier, Singapore Airlines, has offered to contribute a return ticket to Cairo in support of my desert endeavour in October. Thank you, thank you, thank you! This excellent piece of news has given me an additional booster as I ramp up my fundraising and training efforts for the big run.

This whole adventure is now taking centre stage in my daily life as I practise the kind of rigour and commitment necessary to pull it off. The pressure is mounting, both for me to complete the run in one piece and to raise the declared donations for the School Pocket Money Fund.

Matt’s question a week ago – how many people do you reckon are attempting this on the back of just two marathons? – was asked in jest and we had a good laugh about it, but I can’t deny that the occasional trace of doubt does seep in through my almost bullet proof positive mindset. Still, it more often heightens my sense of determination and steels my will for the challenge ahead. I guess the more audacious the adventure, the bigger the goose bumps when we tell our kids “if Thaddeus was able to do all that, so can you!”  

We’ve only just begun…

I am reading and completely gripped by Dean Karnazes’ Ultra Marathon Man: Confessions of an All Night Runner. The book peers into the mind of an ultra endurance athlete and his attitude toward upping the ante. His vivid description of his experience in the Western States 100 was sublime, even tear jerking. At one point a Native American volunteer at a checkpoint offered this pearl of wisdom: “Pain is the body’s way of ridding itself of weakness.” Hmmm…I am still wrapping my head around that one. I do understand it on an intellectual level, but am attempting to comprehend it on an experience level.

It brings to mind my thought strategy during my previous marathon. Pain is only undesirable if we perceive it to be ‘bad’ and unwelcome. As long as we see it from that angle, our automatic position is that of avoidance. And when encountered, we focus our energies on discarding it, which simply increases our attention on it, hence amplifying our agony.

So at the marathon I approached the aches and pains as a sign that I was doing something right, a validation of my choices. In fact I was perverse enough to welcome it, to embrace the pain as my comfort zone. So did it work? Well it did not make the pain go away, but neither was the hurt a problem or an anomaly either. It just was …my body’s way of ridding itself of weakness?

To some, such running is madness, lunacy, psychotic and irrational. Others are fabulously fascinated; mega moved; super spurred and infinitely inspired to put on a pair of running shoes and pop out the door for a run.

And that was exactly what I did. Throwing together a pair of boxing gloves (for bulk), two old Economics textbooks (reordering of resource allocation), a snickers bar and 4.5 litres of water into a rucksack, I popped out for a half marathon. And never did feel better.

While the city was beginning to quieten down and people were retiring for the night, I was just getting started, taking in the night sky, slicing through the still air, feeling alive.

Om.

What a phenomenal day yesterday – work; race; BBQ dinner; work; second dinner.

First, work. Thoroughly enjoyed the two individual sessions with Rachel and Helena; I thought they went terrifically well and both students achieved a great deal of learning and insights. Am truly proud of them.

In between I managed to squeeze in time to pop down to East Coast for my running leg of the OSIM triathlon relay, in a team with Matt Sullivan and DQ. This was a last minute arrangement and came about because the original runner had broken his leg barely a week ago. And during a work retreat at Wendy’s home with the wonderful people of Wand Inspiration, Matt asked if I would step in.

In typical spontaneous fashion, I pondered for all of 37 nanoseconds before saying yes. Always up for a challenge, and partly because I did not want to let the team down, I also felt that I could use this as a training run, albeit only 10km of it. My only concern was that I have been focusing on distance training, and an event that calls for speed may just trip me up.

So I found myself at the transition area in the midday sun, drained and debilitated by the scorching heat and the seemingly endless waiting – for the event to start and for the swimming and cycling legs to be over with. Watching Matt and David set admirable and blistering paces in their respective legs was both daunting and invigorating. Daunting because I wanted to fulfil my end of the bargain and do an equally fantastic job. And invigorating because I wanted to fulfil my end of the bargain and do an equally fantastic job. After all, the point of participating in a race is not to simply pronounce that ‘I’ve done it’; it is to give everything I’ve got as if my life depended on it. That is what racing is about. That is what life is about.

After what seemed like an eternity I finally got my chance to put it all into action. Shrugging off the nervous coughing and tight limbs, I set off on the run, a silly smile plastered on my face and my blazing eyes set on the couple of runners ahead of me.

The run itself was uneventful but blissful. Yes, blissful. Weekends at East Coast sees the many faces of Singapore come together. Families gather to relax; high powered executives learn to unwind; students group for team bonding activities; couples romance each other on skates; girly girls giggle and gossip; macho boys flash their six packs; tourists stroll along the sea front; little children learn to ride bicycles. And such a convivial atmosphere cannot but set you at ease.

The first lap was comfortable and I quickly settled into a rhythmic tempo. Preferring extraversion under the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, I am energised around people and my spirits lifted at stretches where exuberant volunteers and race marshals (thank you all – you are the most under-celebrated group of people but for me at least, you are certainly one of the most important) cheered us on and at the turn around point where lively spectators shout their approval for our nuttiness.

I particularly look forward to the last couple of kilometres of a race and a characteristic of my strategy is to set a target number of people to overtake. Then I pick up my pace and start picking them off one at a time. I draw strength from each person I pass and this accumulates to the ultimate section where I draft off the competitor in front of me and then right at the appropriate time when the course straightens out for the final stretch, turn on the afterburners and blow past every single person in front of me, feeding off the roars from the spectators and the emcee. This manoeuvre always reminds me of Formula One racing and it is a joy to watch and even more fun to perform.    

It is exhilarating. It is glorious. It is beautiful. And I love it!

So what works for me in a race?

For one, smiling and encouraging other competitors and the volunteers. Yes, smiling in a gruelling run. The mere act of smiling releases endorphins and helps reduce pain. And over time it helps you stay young too! Check out an article I wrote about this: http://mindbodyfitness.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_stay_young_healthy_and_energetic

And yes, encouraging the volunteers too. The smiles I get in return when I show my appreciation is priceless. And in a course which requires more than one lap, I like to think that I receive a little more encouragement, a little additional enthusiasm, a little extra spray of water, a little more eagerness in that offer of drinks, and a whole lot more love, when I come around the second time. Lesson: You get what you want in larger quantities when you give it out first.

Having an appropriate pace setter also works. Running with such a person establishes a rhythmic stride and a moving target which keeps me running in a disciplined rate. And I find the same in my daily life. Having someone whom I can model speeds up my learning and growth. Better still, having a few in different areas of life gives me the diversity and breadth of learning.

So Matt, thank you for inviting me to be on this team and for giving me the opportunity to learn and to build on yet another success. Next stop: Sahara desert.