When I tell people I really enjoy running, they say
"Why??". When people find out that I ride endurance, I see the same look on
their face. How can anyone ride a horse for 25 or 50 miles? I usually leave it
at that, fearing that if I tell them 100 miles is the goal, they will try to
have me committed.
I quit getting all my horse magazines and started
picking up the Runner's World, Running and Tri-Athlete. Not because I know
everything I need to know about horses, but because I forgot what competing
alone (no horse) and goal setting for ones self was about. And, let's face it.
There is no magazine for endurance training like the human training magazines.
Why is that? So the running mags give me incentives for speed workouts, hill
work, LSD and those oh-so-important rest days. Both by foot and by
hoof.
But is competition really all it's cracked up to
be? I just read an article in Runner's World by John "The Penguin" Bingham. He
writes about a marathon that actually encourages runners to stop and enjoy the
day. Dancing at mile markers, runners in silly outfits, jugglers and
the people on the sidelines screaming and cheering them on. Of course the lead
runners aren't having that kind of fun, they are running hard and fast and miss
everything. They have clocks to beat, PR's to set and miles to count down. He
compares the front runners to stars, and everyone else are just extras, like on
a movie set. He says the extras run and walk the same course, meet and exceed
goals and push the limits, just as the stars. He says of the extras, "We
may not make headlines, but we do make headway.". Oh, so true! A mile is a mile,
no matter how you did it.
I guess I am more of an extra. That is not to say
that I haven't had my share of shinning moments both in running and riding. And
I certainly won't pretend I didn't enjoy those moments to the fullest. But like
the Penguin, I like taking the extra time to enjoy things. Late afternoon into
evenings at the beach, dinner with friends at our favorite restaurant, getting a
great massage! I get those same feelings from running and riding without the
competition factor. I can't wait for rides to come around so we can pack up and
spend the weekend camping and riding with friends and family. I look forward to
those long slow runs so I can come home and take an extra long, deep
REM, drooling on the pillow kind of nap. Now, that's what I call a
goal!
Goal setting, training, racing and doing well
at it certainly gives us all incentives and a feeling of accomplishment. But the
rest of it is the joy of life. Take the extra time to do it,
because you can.
