26.2 Miles: Marathon Running and its Questionable Ends
Perfect weather. Fun course. Hundreds of thousands of spectators. Fall colors. I completed the Twin Cities Marathon at its finest on Sunday.
I’m glad I ran the race. In so doing, I proved to myself my first marathon wasn’t a fluke. But, honestly, this one was also incredibly painful, vastly time-consuming, and perhaps not fully worth the trouble.
Folks say I’m supposed to be on cloud nine for days after completing a marathon, but I’m just not feeling it. Or, rather, I’m feeling something else. Let me explain.
After my first marathon, I felt an enormous sense of accomplishment. Before running, I wasn’t totally sure I could finish. I had only run a few half marathons before, and 26.2 miles seemed like an eternity. But I finished (pretty slowly, 4:57), and I could claim I had run a marathon. That newness, proving to myself and the world that I could do it, was a huge motivator.
At the Twin Cities, though, I didn’t have quite as much of a drive. The novelty had worn off. I knew I could finish, and barring huge complications I’d do so faster than before. I did want to run. There wasn’t any question about my intentions (partly because 2.5 years ago I had planned on the Twin Cities being my first marathon, but the Sunday schedule had made that difficult). But intentions aren’t everything, so though I was glad to be doing it, I found I lacked the competitive-streak that many runners have.
I had a goal time (which I barely missed, at 4:31), but I’m not too upset about it. The most annoying part, actually, was that for the last five miles I was so nauseated I could barely run. I wish I could have made myself throw up, but I wasn’t in control of my body enough even to manage that! At the finish, after calmly collecting my medal and T-shirt and meeting my kind fans, I had to lie down for 20 minutes or so. Every limb went numb for a while. Every position, sitting or lying down, was agony. I was hurting, bad, real bad. (Megan was concerned, real concerned.)
My body doesn’t like marathons. I can get through them. I could run many more. But they feel far from marking health and wholeness. After 20 miles or so, it just gets silly.
As best as I can tell, I trained for the Twin Cities by running around 350 miles in preparation. That’s a lot of Saturday long runs, a lot of time away from Megan, a lot of NPR listening. I’m glad I did it — I can say I’ve run two marathons now — but I think the cost-benefit analysis has flipped for me. I never got the high from this second one that I did with the first. I’m not much concerned with beating my 4:31 time. I don’t see the wisdom of investing the time and complications for training.
I love running. It keeps me healthy and sane, and serves as a great spiritual practice. But I plan to retire from marathon running. Half marathons, 10Ks, etc. are lovely. Who knows, maybe I’ll do a sprint Triathlon one day. But, marathons just make me sore.
Eugene Peterson: Pastor, Prolific Author, & RUNNER
A Gathering Voices Post
Upon a good friend’s recommendation, I recently picked up Eugene Peterson’s memoir creatively titled The Pastor: A Memoir. OK, no points for creativity, but Peterson makes it all up with the prose.
If your familiar with the venerable pastor Peterson’s other work (books I’ve read include Under the Unpredictable Plant, Working the Angles, and of course Peterson’s Biblical translation The Message), the memoir won’t upend your view of him, but it should fill in the picture of Peterson’s pastoral life in helpful ways. Peterson’s reflections, though at times clearly from another era, are first-rate, wise, and well worth reading.
His main pastoral experiences occurred when he started a new Presbyterian congregation in Bel Air, Maryland. So, as a new faith community leader guy myself, I particularly appreciated his reflections on the joys and challenges of a new church development call.
So, yeah. It’s a good book. I recommend. But one chapter particularly caught my attention as I train for the Twin Cities Marathon this October. Peterson is a runner. A big-time runner. A marathoner — and a fast one at that. He qualified for Boston!
In college, Peterson ran for 
the track team but he did not continue running in grad school or when he became a pastor. This all changed, however, when he found himself in the “badland years” of his ministry, a time when “the color had drained out of both vocation and congregation, and [he] didn’t know what to make of it.” In these troubled times, he took up running again.
He subscribed to Runner’s World, bought a pair of shoes, and started running again in the neighborhood. He did this most afternoons, building up to five miles, and appreciated “the meditative dimension to long-distance running: the uninterrupted quiet, the metronomic repetitiveness, the sensual immersion in the fragrance of trees and flowering bushes and rain, the springiness of the soil on park trails, the Zenlike emptying of the mind that felt like a freedom to be simply present, not having to do or say anything.”
That’s maybe a bit rich for me, but on the whole, I get it. Yes. Indeed. Running helped Peterson out of his “badlands,” his vocational funk. Plus, the congregational leaders at his church supported and sustained Peterson’s running pursuits even insisting once that he skip a Sunday leading worship to run the Philadelphia Marathon.
The life of a pastor can be awfully rough sometimes. It’s comforting to know Eugene Peterson, in all his wisdom and new church development skills, struggled significantly at points. And it’s a comfort to know something as straightforward as running helped him outpace tough emotional times.
I’m not going to write as many books as Eugene Peterson. I’m not going to translate the entire Bible in conversational English or qualify for the Boston Marathon. But I know I will face tough times as a pastor, and with my other support networks, I pray that running might help me through.
Review of the best running radio: iPod Nano 6th Generation
Also posted at RunRevRun.net
I’ve used and broken many a running radio over the years. And, finally, I’ve found one that I’m completely happy with — and it’s not even, primarily, a radio.
The 6th Generation iPod Nano is tiny, works well as a radio, and is also much more. There’s your usual cool iPod perks — iTunes, pictures, pedometer, even live pause for the radio — but, really, I just use the radio 90% of the time. The other 10% is mostly for podcasts.
This little guy is little. Tiny. And when I clip it to the collar of my shirt I don’t notice it’s there. While some friends run with iPhones on their arms, I find that bulky (and my HTC Droid Incredible has a difficult time consistently accessing radio signals in Grand Forks). Almost always, I listen to NPR while running, and one might think it’s total overkill to have purchased an iPod mainly to listen to the radio. But, I’ve sweated through many a running radio over the years, and I purchased two recently that just didn’t work well enough to keep. The MPR signal in Grand Forks is pretty weak (it’s coming from a long way away) and the iPod Nano is clearer than many a dedicated radio I tried.
That said, there’s a few downsides to the iPod Nano. It has no external speakers, so you can only listen with headphones (which also function as the antenna). The touch screen takes a little getting used to, but it’s worth it to have such a small device with crisp screen as well. Finally, in 2011 iTunes should update podcasts wirelessly — I mean, come on! But, otherwise, it’s pretty solid.
Is it ridiculous to spend $135 dollars on something I use mainly as a radio? Well, maybe so. Quite possibly so. On the other hand, I challenge some company — any company — to make a smaller and better one. Until then, I’ll enjoy my iPod nano.
RunRevRun: Keeping Fit, Keeping Faith
A cool new website launched last week, RunRevRun.net. For some time pastors have used the hashtag #runrevrun on Twitter to comment on running, health, and exercise. Thanks to my buddy Adam Walker Cleaveland and some friends, #RunRevRun now has its own website.
When I began seminary, I hated running. Though I had grown up watching my father, a pastor, run several times a week I never took to it myself. In fact, running was definitely the part of my high school soccer training that I disliked the most. In seminary, after some cajoling (and on a night when certain beverages had been consumed), I did agree to join a group of friends on the Cooper River Bridge 10K during my second year of seminary. That 6.2 miles was the longest I had run, and though it was tough it wasn’t totally unenjoyable. We did the Hal Higdon beginner 10K training program together (which I recommend), and I definitely relished in the communal aspect of the training.
After surviving the 10K, I put my running shoes in the back of the closet. I was happy enough saying, “I ran a 10K” but I also was pretty certain running was not for me. I would not be a “running Rev.” Or so I thought.
Then I went on my yearlong internship as an Assistant Minister at a church in Scotland. I got into the regular schedule of a pastor — including the easy eating habits of cookies in people’s houses and quick not-so-healthy suppers before meetings — and, well, I got into the worst physical shape of my life. After only nine months of so of pastoral internship, I had put on more than ten pounds and just didn’t feel very fit at all. And so, I did the only thing I knew to do: I started running again.
I didn’t run any races in Scotland, but when I got back to the states I checked out the Atlanta race schedule and found dozens of options. A ran a few more 10Ks and eventually several half marathons and a marathon. After a year or so, I found I actually enjoyed running. I felt healthier because of it, more in touch with my body, even more connected to God.
I won’t bore you with any more running exploits in this post. (In fact, I don’t blog on running all that much actually.) But I do really recommend the RunRevRun.net site. Check it out, and “like” us on Facebook too. It looks to be a great community, and if you’d like to submit a post, there’s even a Contact option in the About section. RunRevRun: Keeping Fit, Keeping Faith!
The Craziness is FINISHed: I ran a marathon
26.2 miles is a long way. A very long way. A very very long way. But I suppose I can now say that I ran that far. Not quickly, not prettily, not without some pain, but I got to that darn finish line. I ran a marathon.
The weather for the race was pretty good: chilly, partly cloudy, and not too much wind. The Siouxland Marathon in Sioux City is a smaller race — about 800 participated one way or another, I think — but that comes with a bit more intimacy and midwestern charm. The race expo consisted of getting your race packet, getting a cup of water, and that’s about it — no vendors peddling their wears, no last minute gel pack offers. But that was fine. My goal was to run a marathon, and after the Twin Cities Marathon didn’t work out schedule-wise, the Siouxland would do just fine.
The course was well marked and scenic. The first six miles were on asphalt trails (in the dark at that point) in South Sioux City, Nebraska. After crossing the bridge back into Iowa, the trail continued alongside the river for a good long way. It reminded me a lot of running the Greenway in Grand Forks, actually, but the Greenway is prettier as it’s more open and not so close to an interstate.
I ran the first six miles about right, slightly over 10-minute miles. I was at 2:14 at the halfway point. Perfect, I thought. I’ll just keep this up a and come in under 4:30. Boy was I wrong.
I did manage the next several miles about the same time, I think, but by 17 or 18 I was struggling. (Typical for first timers, I hear.) Of course, this is also when the only noticeable hills on the course started showing their ugly selves. This summer I trained in the mountains which would make these hills look like pathetic, but running for two months in Grand Forks made me weak. I started walking quickly at points.
The last six miles were pretty painful, I’ll be honest. Okay, pretty darn painful. My energy level was shot, but at the same time I knew I would finish and the euphoria of that realization kept me going. Also — and I wouldn’t have guessed this — seeing other folks struggle over the last few miles was really helpful. I’m sure this will make a sermon illustration one day, but the race was also runnable by teams of five runners who ran a relay. So by the end, there were some of us who had been running for four hours at the same point in the course with folks who had been running for four minutes. I might have coveted some of their energy and bounce, once or twice. But you could also pick out those of us who had run the full marathon ourselves. Watching those folks struggle those last miles, encouraging each other as we passed, was a great comfort and kept me going.
At about mile 20, I realized my time wasn’t going to be pretty. Every book and person I talked to while training said, with your first marathon, don’t worry about time. It’s a freaking marathon, the goal is to just FINISH. But still, I had run a half marathon in 2:06 and didn’t want to run a full too terribly much more than double that. So, when after a few calculations at mile 20 I realized I might not even make it under 5 hours, I kicked it into high gear. Hmm, well, I did in my head at least. I think my legs maybe moved a tiny bit faster.
The course ends in downtown Sioux City, and about three miles from the finish you can see the skyline of downtown. It looked like it was really far away. Too far. But taking one step at a time, it got closer and closer even though the running wasn’t much fun at that point — back and forth across annoying pedestrian bridges, up and down levees and the like.
Finally, though, I got to the streets of downtown. After I saw the sign for mile 25, I could taste the pizza at the finish and wanted so much to get there. I glanced down at my watch and saw, if I just kept going fairly smoothly, I’d make it under 5 hours. So I just kept it up. And, finally, I made the turn onto 4th Street to see the Finish Line. I had made it. Finished. 4:57:54.
The rest of the day was fairly painful. After the pizza and beer at the bar near the finish, six hours riding in the car back to Grand Forks. Frozen peas for my knees. Gatorade and frequent rest stops. It wasn’t until that night that I saw a bruised toe nail and realized it might just fall off before too long. But the pain — and even the lost nail — is part of the package, really. Running a marathon is an absolutely crazy idea, so it ought to be a bit painful.
Ask me now if I’d run another, and the answer is a clear, “no.” Half marathons are much more enjoyable for me (and my body), and training time is much more reasonable for a busy schedule. That said, I’m very glad, even proud, to have run a full marathon. Call me crazy, but call me a “marathoner” as well.
Marathon Training Update: Change of Plans
Ok, here’s a quick update on operation run-a-marathon / prove-my-nuttiness campaign this October. As you might remember, back in April I registered for the Twin Cities Marathon that will be run next Sunday, Oct 4. My training was hampered a bit a few weeks back when I developed runners’ knee, but overall it’s been coming along fairly well. (And my knee is feeling much better, thanks.)
But back in April when I registered, I did not know that Oct 4th would be only my third Sunday leading worship in a new call. So, since there’s no way I’m taking off a Sunday in my first month, I’ve reset my sights on another marathon (still 26.2 miles, I’m afraid).
On Saturday, Oct 17th I’ll be running the Siouxland Lewis and Clark Marathon in Sioux City, Iowa (well, it actually starts in Nebraska, technically). It will be a totally different marathon experience as there are over 10,000 running in the Twin Cities and less than 500 running in Iowa. The Siouxland course includes several paved trails and the cities marathon is very urban. But, I’m making the best of it and determined to finish — very slowly, yes, but finish.
Which leads me to admit another crazy thing this marathon goal made me do this morning. I was getting a bit sick of long runs, so I did today’s a bit differently. I ran the Fall Frolic 10K (put on by Red River Runners) three times. (I guess that’d be 30K.) I ran one time before for the race. One time as the race (I came in 35th out of no more than 40, I’m sure). And another time afterwards. Some quick math says that’s 18.6 miles, and an enjoyable way to do it.
Now back to icing and wanting a nap…
Connect Online
An opinion piece of mine went up at MPR News online today. In it, I try to set some ground rules for debating the marriage amendment that will be on Minnesota’s ballot come November. An excerpt of the article is below. I hope you go to the MPR site to read the full piece, share it, comment, lash out at me, praise its brilliance, etc.
Let’s have some ground rules for debating the marriage amendment
Adam J. Copeland
“My parents’ neighbor was confused. Four years ago the citizens of Florida were preparing to vote ona constitutional amendment similar to the marriage amendment slated for Minnesota’s November ballot. My father, a Presbyterian pastor in Florida, put up a yard sign urging citizens to “vote no” on the amendment.
The day after the sign went up, a neighbor came by the house. In his quiet way, the neighbor kindly told my father that he must be confused about what a “yes” or “no” vote meant regarding the amendment. Our neighbor, knowing my father was a pastor, wanted to spare him the embarrassment of having put up the wrong sign.
My father smiled and thanked him even as he explained that the yard sign was no mistake. In fact, it was my family’s Christian convictions that demanded they speak out against the amendment. The ensuing conversation may not have changed any votes, but it certainly deepened the neighbors’ understanding of one another.
The story speaks to some assumptions regarding the marriage amendment debate — that all Christian pastors would support the amendment, for one. As Minnesota nears its own time of yard signs and neighborly banter over a proposed marriage amendment, I suggest the following five ground rules for the debate.
Let all Minnesotans remember that:
There is no one Christian position. Some, like the state’s Catholic bishops, advocate for the amendment on Christian grounds. Others, like the majority of delegates at the recent Minneapolis Synod Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, oppose the amendment. As a Christian pastor myself I would be the last to say that one’s religious convictions should not influence choices at the voting booth — anything but. However, it should be noted that Christians hold varied and complex positions on the amendment. We cannot be seen as one voting bloc…..” [to read the full piece go to MPR News]