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10kTruth.com
Web Letter - May 2002
Welcome new sign-ups this month for the 10kTruth Web Letter. Thanks
for your comments. We especially liked the one from the guy who said he
loved the site and admitted to wasting three full hours of a busy workday
when he found it! Have you come across good sports quotes lately? Pass
them on!
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"In the field of sports you are more or less accepted for what you do
rather than what you are." - Althea Gibson "Show me a guy who's afraid
to look bad, and I'll show you a guy you can beat every time." - Lou Brock
More Sports Quotes at: http://www.10ktruth.com/the_quotes/quotes.htm
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Thanks, Bosworth, for the Boston Marathon Race Report! 106th Boston Marathon
April 15, 2002 by Todd Bosworth - http://www.10ktruth.com/the_races/boston.htm
Monday morning at the Colonnade in Boston and I hook up with Mark Kalen
and his buddies and we take the bus to Hopkinton and arrive about 9:30am.
The strange thing is the bus ride was so long I just couldn't imagine
running all the way back to Boston. We hang out, eat bagels, drink and
wait for the noon start. 55 degrees and very humid. We walk to the start
past a long line of busses. A tall hedge becomes an impromptu toilet,
men on the street side women on the other. There's a punk kid in a driveway
with a guitar and amp, playing a Jimi Hendrix tune. Cool. The gun goes
off and we shuffle across the start line. I'm sweating like a pig by 3
miles. Not a good omen. I wanted to run 7:15s but we're cruising under
7:00s. At 7 miles I tell Mark and Angelo I'm slowing down and watched
them go. But the race is amazing. People lined up on either side of the
road the entire way. Rolling hills between little towns and parties on
the front lawns with beer and BBQs. Like a 26.2 mile long parade. Constant
cheering. At twelve miles Wellesley College and the girls are screaming
for a half mile. See Mark again at mile 18 or so. His hamstring was bugging
him. He'd get ahead of me up the hills and I'd pass him down the hills.
Last time I saw him was up Heartbreak Hill. Heartbreak Hill is a misnomer.
Slight incline for a half mile. Shelly and Weston (in the backpack) were
waiting at the top of Heartbreak, Boston College, 21 mile mark. I was
zoned out when I heard them yelling but decided to turn around and go
say "hi." After crossing over the yellow tape I got confused as to where
they were in the crowd. I finally found them up a little road walking
back to the train. Sweaty hug and some kisses. Back over the orange temporary
fence and I have 5 miles to go. South Boston and the crowds are now 5-10
people deep. Really loud. There's Fenway Park and I'm at 25. The sun breaks
through. Down Beacon, right turn, left turn, Boylston and there's the
finish. I tell myself I'm never running another marathon. What the Hell
was I thinking? I'm completely wasted but still running. People screaming.
Across the finish line and I walk to the VIP tent. They ask me if I want
anything? Yes, a chair, liquids and some quiet. There's Mark. He finished
a few minutes before me. "What do you think about New York this fall?"
- T.B.
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"My way of joking is to tell the truth. That's the funniest joke in the
world." - Muhammad Ali "Love is a net that catches hearts like a fish."
- Muhammad Ali "Silence is golden when you can't think of a good answer."
- Muhammad Ali More Ali quotes at http://www.10ktruth.com/the_quotes/ali.htm
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The May, 2002 issue of Runner's World has now anointed John "The Penguin"
Bingham "The New Prophet of Running." Give me a break. - http://www.10ktruth.com/the_rage/rage.htm
Penguin "The New Prophet of Running?" Oh Please...Fitness enthusiast:
Yes. Running prophet: No. Now, before you label me a Penguin hater, please...let's
put this guy into perspective. He has earned everyone's respect, including
mine...not by his running, but by the way he has turned his life around.
But please, let's not overdo it here...especially not at the risk of disrespecting
those runners who have come before him. These men and women established
the appropriate high standards for this incredibly difficult human endeavor
that give pause to anyone who has ever tried it to wonder how the heck
they do it. Does this mean that Bingham should be excommunicated from
RW? No. Just put what he does into it's own perspective, which is the
pursuit of healthy, active living. The choice of "running" as the medium
for his message is where I have the problem, especially when elevating
him to "prophet" status. What Bingham does is not run. At best, he jogs,
and I would correctly argue that a 45 minute 5k is not even jogging. He
has not achieved running status yet. Jeff Galloway's "Book On Running"
describes the evolution of a runner. By my own estimation, Bingham has
not yet completed the jogging stage described in Galloway's book. I admire
him for continuing to try...like I admire his many followers who had "the
courage to start." To illustrate my point: I golf, but I can't call myself
a golfer. I am one who plays golf. One look at my swing and you would
agree. I hope to one day be called a golfer, but not until I break 80
on a regular basis. Until then, I am one who plays golf. But I still enjoy
the game. Ever since I was 13 years old. I am 45 now, and still not a
golfer. I will continue to try to become one. The key problem I have with
Bingham in the context of running is that I don't see him interested in
testing the limits of what he as an individual can really physically do…what
it's like for Joe Average to really explore the boundaries of his comfort
zone once he has committed to put down the channel changer, the pack of
smokes and strayed more than 20 feet from the fridge. He overdoes "the
courage to start" thing to an extreme, almost as if a little anaerobic
breathing might scare someone right back onto the couch again. I wish
he would do more to encourage people to push themselves to another level.
I believe this is what the human spirit is all about...not about making
excuses like "...it was not comfortable, so I quit…" That was me, by the
way. I started running when I was 37. Yeah, me. The skinny, weak-looking
bald dude, who quit drinking and smoking at 35, didn't believe in himself
and didn't want his kids to see him that way (still working on the skinny,
weak-looking thing...transplants starting to take...). And I didn't hug
people I didn't know, tell them my life story or start bawling after a
5k, either. It was good enough just to hear my kids say "go dad" or Bruce
say "get back in the van. I can't even look at you right now." I believe
Bingham has an opportunity with the following he has attracted to make
some real change in our whiny, self-focused society with way too many
"excus-a-holics" looking for an easy way to avoid some good old fashioned
hard work to find out who they really are…or might be if they really tried.
And just might believe they too are afflicted with the latest, newly discovered
"anaerobic-phobic syndrome," or APS, which symptoms include heavy breathing,
sweating and (gasp) DISCOMFORT during exercise. If mediocrity is his thing,
fine. He can still encourage his followers to finish a marathon. Just
leave out the "run" part and I'm o.k. Just to set the record straight,
I didn't run my last marathon, either. I walked part of it. Of the six
I have completed, I have run four…but I am still proud of all six. And
I also admired every one of the people in the race, too. Runners, walkers...and
joggers. And that's The Truth. - Rage
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"If you train hard, you'll not only be hard, you'll be hard to beat."
- Herschel Walker More Training quotes at http://www.10ktruth.com/the_quotes/train.htm
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Q: My younger brother is a sophomore in High School. He just started running
for the track team 2 years ago in 8th grade. His first 2 years were spent
running 4x800m relays and the mile. For never having run track, he excelled
at the sport. In his second year (freshman year) he averaged a 5:15 in
the mile despite missing the first week of the season due to ...of all
things MONO. In Junior High Districts he ran a 5:03 in the 1600 that year.
Following that season he joined a summer track league and competed in
a few invitation meets. His times were similar. Then in the fall (sophomore
yr) he joined the varsity cross country team and ran in the 17-18 minute
range (5k). This season as a sophomore, my brother had big expectations
of cracking 5 minutes in the mile. Unfortunately, so far this season has
been a bust for him. His 1600m times have been 5:18 at best and his last
race was 5:26. He also runs the 4x800m relay and has posted times as poorly
as 2:17 (7 seconds off his norm). The 3200m he has posted times nearing
12 minutes (he ran an 11 flat this past summer). As he explains it to
me, "I just can't go any faster". He is beginning to believe he just isn't
good and is quite down on himself. He hasn't hit any unusual growth spurts,
he eats well, hydrates properly, etc. The only glaring difference I can
see is he didn't practice half this much the past 2 years. Is he over-training?
The track team practices EVERYDAY and he often says they run them ragged.
The other kids do not seem affected. He has brought his problem to the
attention of his coaches who tell him, "Don't worry, you'll be fine".
I am not a runner. I have no words of advice or words of wisdom for him.
I wish I could encourage him and tell him something besides, "Don't give
Up". Do you have any advice? - M.F., 4/19/02
A: Not having run track in high school, I asked our technical consultant,
Manciata, what he thought. I asked if he too experienced fatigue and a
drop in performance adjusting to the next level of training required for
a varsity high school cross country/track program. He said that it was
not until his senior year that he got "good." Then, it was on to college
where he enjoyed some really fast times. If you want to get better, patience
needs to be part of the hard work. One of the things he told me to pass
on was that if your brother was not training in the off-season, he is
bound to be tired. If he stepped up his training too quickly, he may have
a tough time adjusting to the rigorous workouts. Now, speaking from my
own experience, I can tell you that I have a difficult time with high
mileage programs. I am fast, but slightly built (5'7", 128 lbs soaking
wet). Strength and endurance is not what I am known for. If I were a coach
looking at me, the first thing I would do is put me on some hills and
build my strength. For endurance, I'd plan some longer, harder runs, with
some hills peppered in for good measure. I don't think it's any secret
why cross country season happens before track season. Trusting your coaching
is hard, especially when things are not going as well as you had planned.
I suspect the coach is probably thinking he's right on track for a sophomore,
and is not worried about a setback at this point, opting to get his body
accustomed to harder work. My guess is he's looking more at his junior
and senior years, not worried about his performance now, but more about
getting a solid base built from which to have your brother run times much
faster than 5:00. But that's awful hard to tell a sophomore who wants
to see some progress. Running hard every day, with no easy days or rest
built into the program, he's bound to have dead legs. You can't run fast
on dead legs. I wouldn't have had a major break through (for me, anyway)
in my running performance had I not listened to Manciata. Bruce told me
that I should be running a lot faster than I was. He said I was running
too many "junk miles" and prescribed hills and intervals. When I started
running hills and track workouts with Bruce, I had no idea what I was
getting into. My legs and lungs burned like they never had before. I was
completely spent after the workouts. At times, I wanted to quit, especially
when he would pass me on the real steep stuff. I stuck with it, even though
I didn't think I could show up for the next workout sometimes. Now, I
am glad I did. It took a couple of years, but my patience finally led
to a breakthrough. I improved all of my times significantly, including
a 4:56 mile. I took an incredible minute and a half off my 10k P.R. (35:59)
and ran probably the race of my life: a 1:20 half marathon. Now, I will
always wonder what I might have done if I had the guts to run track in
high school. I will never know. Your brother will. If he's patient, he'll
run times that he never thought he could. He certainly has the talent.
Hang in there. - The Rage
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- Order gift boxes of Washington grown apples and pears, also shipping
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Memorial Day - May 27 (Observed)
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"Truth is what stands the test of experience." - Albert Einstein "If you
are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor." - Albert
Einstein More Truth quotes at http://www.10ktruth.com/the_quotes/truth.htm
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Find out about a few upcoming races in the Northwest. See the 10kTruth
Race Schedule page with its links to other race calendar sites - http://www.10ktruth.com/the_races/schedule.htm
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Copyright 2002, Mike Logan, Bruce Manclark & Cory Eberhart. All Rights
Reserved.
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10k Truth - A Runner's Compendium For runners with the attitude to train
harder and smarter along with some really weird raging stuff! http://www.10ktruth.com
Goldendale, WA 98620
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