Weekly Running: Grateful for the Journey

 

The Complete Picture of Jogging and Gratitude for the Growth

My running schedule is nearing the end of the summer/fall session. This season I’ve been acting as a run lead for the 10 to 11 pace group. There are two of us. We take turns sending out the email on a weekly basis telling the others where to meet and sharing the route map. Mostly it’s been hot this year. We’re 3 weeks into October and we run consistently it weather above 70 degrees. For long runs this is tough. This late October season usually consists of cool mornings below 60 degrees. We’ve had maybe one or two weekends like that. That’s been the trickiest part to this late season, getting the hydration right.

In a lot of ways, warmer temperatures are wonderful for running. I love to wear tank tops when it’s warm. Those are the first things to go when it gets chilly. Figuring out the best way to dress in the winter is much tougher. Too many layers and you’ll sweat to death. Too few and you’ll be uncomfortably cold for the duration. I think the running schedule has a total of 4 more weeks before the end of the cycle. This one culminates in the Route 66 Marathon. Most of the participants sign up for this. It’s local and quite popular.

I’ve been going to Texas to do the Justice Run for 3 years in a row. The first two years, I did the full marathon. Last year I attempted the full and finished with a half. I ran out of steam near the midpoint and decided to call it early. The run is set up as an out and back for half marathoners, the full marathoners run the loop twice. It’s easy to bail if you feel sick or exhausted after the first loop.

This year I’m not even going to attempt the full marathon. I’m not ready. Frankly just the thought of doing such a grueling run in the heat makes me nauseous. Will it be warm in a week? If the previous few weeks are any indication, absolutely.

But to keep up the streak of consecutive runs, I’m still signed up and ready for a fourth year. I get to see my brother and his family anyway. Any distance is worth it. It’s like a little vacation anyway, and doing the run means I don’t miss any training.

As for this week, today was my last big  group run before my race and I was supposed to run 18 miles. I managed 12. This wasn’t a surprise, as I’ve been sick most of this week. Wednesday I went to La Fortune park for my usual 6 miles. After only a couple of miles I wanted to walk back to the car. 3 was my total and I barely got that in. After that rough start I decided to take the rest of the week off and let the allergies run their course. Considering the week, I’m fine with 12. I’ll do a few short ones this week before I leave for Texas however.

Everything in me wants to make excuses for why I’m not prepared to do a full marathon, but I feel like I’m at a plateau in my training. I’ve been on the same running plan for the last 4 years or so. I run more miles throughout the week than most people in my group. How do I know? I’ve asked them. One of the benefits of being in a group like this is comparing and contrasting your efforts to that of others. I’ve picked up advice about food and clothing, weather preparation and target heart rate. Jogging is thought of as a solo sport, but it can also be done in a community. It’s where growth happens.

In the interest of growth, I could add more miles to my weekly runs. But without waking up an hour earlier, I don’t have the time. There is an element of balance to everything in life and if I never run a full marathon at less than 4 and half hours, I can live with that. My purpose with jogging has been, from the beginning, to maintain a healthy lifestyle and keep the weight off. Races are a way to keep me accountable, but my race time doesn’t sum up my effort. I know how much I’ve improved. And when the progress stalls, or plateaus, I have to rest in that effort.

Excuses won’t get me closer to my goal of completing a marathon while running the whole distance. For now at least, I’ll take my wins where I can and be grateful that I can run at all and feel God’s presence whatever the weather. Little reminders of where we’ve come, whenever we feel stuck, can bring us out of a mental funk. Gratitude works to reset your mind and put order back into our daily lives. It’s true in running and it’s true in life.

 

Of Carbs and Cooking: More Spaghetti Please

 

Spaghetti Dinner for One: Best Meal of the Week

Had a full dinner tonight. 

Spaghetti remains a favorite meal for me. Of course there isn’t a lot of food I know how to cook. The issue I have with anything that needs to be cooked after work, is the lag time between preparation and eating. I’m hungry when I begin the prep. That leads to snacking, a lot. If the meal takes 30 minutes, I’m half full on whatever I munched on during the wait phase. It’s a problem of self control. I could force myself to wait for the food to cook and count the minutes before the water boiled. Then dig out the noodles to see if they’re soft enough to drain. And finally, wait for both noodles, sausage and sauce to simmer together for 5 minutes. I haven’t mastered patience yet.

The weekends are a little different however, I can cook before I’m really hungry and not have to fill up on crackers or potato chips.

But whether I’m making spaghetti on a work night or on an Sunday afternoon, most it will get polished off during the leftover phase. And yes, leftovers are just as good as a meal straight from the pan. I don’t make the garlic bread anymore unless I’m serving a handful of people. Not because of some no bread diet or anything, I just don’t crave it like I used to. Anyway, the consistency of reheated garlic bread is similar to a dishwashing glove--rubbery, chewy, tasteless. It’s completely unlike the noodles and sauce which warms up nicely and doesn’t surrender taste. Where does my love for spaghetti come from? It’s not like we used to eat a lot of it as kids. But then, I don’t know what a lot would be. Certainly not once a week, like with pizza.

Wherever my fondness for the classic Italian dish comes from, it hasn’t wore off yet. I’m as committed to having it once a week as am to getting in my miles when jogging. The carb heavy meal actually works well for work outs too. Carbohydrates are quick sources of energy because they turn into glucose quicker than do fats or proteins. The glucose is stored as glycogen for an efficient fuel source during a run. I didn’t need to hear that something I already enjoy is good for energy, but it certainly helped. Right about the time I found out about carb loading is about the time I started doing a spaghetti meal every week. Before that I had laid off making it quite so often. 

I’d burned out a little. Running brought me back.

Obviously I love homemade food but don’t have enough time to cook a lot of different meals. Tuesday through Friday are packed with events, men’s groups and training in the evenings. Mondays are typically free. On the weekends I like to relax. I realize I could cook more often on Saturday afternoons or Sunday evenings, but I like to lay around a little too. Plus, we’re in football season and I’ll always try to watch a few games on TV. I don’t watch it all day, but I’ll catch at least one NFL game and maybe a Saturday night one as well. I tend to doze off though. It’s a wonderful feeling to snooze for an hour or so just because you’re tired enough to do so.

For now at least I’ll keep my meals simple.

I should probably mention the biggest drawback to cooking, I’m not good at it. Even spaghetti is only “cooking” in the most basic sense. I doubt cooks would call it that. It’s closer to warming food up. It’s not like I’m making my own sauce or anything. I brown the sausage and add it to an already simmer pot of marinara (or meat sauce) from a jar. In recent years I’ve switched to the Rao’s brand. It’s more expensive but tastes better than the Prego I used to buy. I like the Johnsonville mild sausage instead of the ground chuck from the grocery store. Here I’m also not sure when this changed, but I prefer sausage. It also doesn’t render into a greasy pool in the frying pan like fatty beef either. Once the water boils I dump in the noodles. This part is tricky. Sometimes I put too many noodles in and have to save them for the next meal. It’s not easy to tell how much I’ll need though. Is a handful or two handfuls? Well, at least they’re cheap.

I probably cook my noodles slightly beyond the ‘Al dente’ standard because I can’t abide even a hint of crunch. And I always use the spaghetti noodles and not pasta penne or bowties or any other variety. Once it’s sticky it’s ready. Then comes the low heat marinade process. By then I’ve usually eaten handfuls of cashew pieces to take off the hunger urge. Once the pan cools, I sit down to eat.

 Cooking? Maybe not, but it’s close enough for now.