Dress For Success

The changing of the seasons is a tricky time for outdoor activities of almost any kind.  It’s difficult to know what to wear when the weather is so unpredictable.  Temperatures can swing 20-30 degrees in one day.  It’s especially hard to know how to dress for running in this weather because your body will warm-up so quickly while running.  I have found that if I warm-up and stretch inside I can more easily decided what is the best gear for that day. 

A five minute walk on the treadmill followed by five minutes of stretching and I’m warmed-up.  Then I can step outside briefly and if I’m slightly cool then I know I’m dressed correctly.  If I’m comfortable, then I’m over-dressed and if I’m freezing, I need another layer.  It may take a little trial and error to find the exact combinations of shorts, Tees, long-sleeves and jackets, but just pay attention and make notes.  Eventually you’ll face all types of weather and you’ll be able to look back at what you wore in those conditions last time.  That takes the guesswork out of it and you’ll be able to dress for success.

Marathon Deaths Raise Many Questions

By now you have probably heard the tragic news of the three runners that collapsed and died during the Detroit Marathon Sunday.  That has been the talk of sports call-in shows, newspaper articles and running blogs not only here in Detroit but around the country.  Everyone feels bad for those runners and their families but there are many questions about what happened.  For example, had they trained properly?  Did they change something on race day that they didn’t try in training?  Would this have happened to these men if they hadn’t run that day?  Did they have medical exams before they entered a marathon?  Obviously, we may never learn the answers to some of these questions.  But we can learn a few things from this tragedy.  As the experts say “listen to your body”, meaning if something feels wrong stop and get it investigated.  That’s not to imply that these runners did not do that.  We don’t know. Also, train properly and know your limits.  Build up your base slowly and if you train at an 8 minute mile don’t think you can race a marathon at 6 minute miles.  Don’t be a “weekend warrior” of running.  You can’t eat junk, ignore doctors and then go jump into a strenuous activity like running a marathon and be surprised if something goes wrong.  Again, we don’t know what happened in the Detroit race and maybe those three men did everything correctly.  That may be the other lesson.  You can do everything right and when your time is up that’s it.  So the other lesson is, know where you’re going after that final race is over.  And the way to know is to know Jesus Christ.   If you don’t, then start now.

The Defining Moment

6:00AM. Dark outside. Windy outside. Thermomator reads 42 degrees outside. Bed is warm. What do you do?  Don’t even think, just put your feet on the floor and grab your gear.  You are a runner!

It’s those moments that define your dedication. If you are a runner, you run.  I run.