A Race for Everyone

A Race for Everyone

Convincing people to participate in the worlds greatest race (for example, Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon) is surprisingly complex.  Have you ever tried to convince someone to join in the fun?  I assume everyone wants to join in the fun, but they feel it is not for them for whatever reasons and then they opt out.  That is what I am guessing at least.

For me, it is extremely challenging to convince people to race.  It is always up to the person themselves to go.  However, I could say that I proudly was able to convince some people who otherwise would have never considered participating.

There are some common barriers that may or may not apply in which people do not come out.  I'd like to share some common barriers that I have encountered, maybe you could agree or not, but at least reinforce that everyone should experience at least one race.

The Projection Dreamers

Runners are dreamers while they train, how else can they achieve so much and stay motivated?  It isn't the dreaming that blocks people from participating in a race.  It is how people dream that may condition exclusivity.

There are two main types of dreamers that may block participation in a race:

• The Dream Gamers
  Dream gamers have a desire to include as many people as they could that would fit their dream model.  They needed to know the who, the where, the when and the what of every single person and if they are celebrities, what a better fit.  With that information, one could puzzle together what would fit into their dream world.  Dream gaming is a great way to interact with people and it provides a sense of friendliness that resonates the complex dream gaming landscape. 
  The only fallacy of dream gamers is the dependency on others to participate in their own dreams.  They set expectations on the participation of others and often feel let down if their counterparts do not meet what may fit their dreams.
• Dream Crashing
  On the other side of the coin is dream crashing in which one is aware of the dream gaming enactment.  It is in their best interest to ensure they are not part of any dreams that do not align with their own models.   They spend a lot of their time focusing on other targets and making sure they are completely antagonistic to those dreams.

Both dream gamers and dream crashing spend an exuberant amount of time focused on other people.  Which is absolutely great!  The only misinterpretation with that time exhausted is that it is always future focused based upon sand castles that are no longer in construction.  It is the disassociation between the past and the future where each of these two types of dreams are not able to focus on the present.

A race most likely does not align with a dream, mostly due to the nature of it's momentous impact, anything can go wrong.    Runners dream in their training all the way up to the race, but on race day, dreams become a confronted reality.  The purpose of dreaming is for possibilities and confronting that chance may bear elusiveness.  To hash away externalized actors in the dream is a very scary place, nevertheless, the atmosphere of a race buffers with numbers.  The more the people, the better, which is why projection dreamers need to show themselves.

Race day helps dreams come true!

The Smokers

It is expected that if I tell you that I am a smoker, you know just to walk away, to not ever invite me.  That walking away hurts the smokers, because even though they want to create the luminosity that they are proven veterans of their personal fire, that does not mean they do not also yearn affection.  

There are two types of smokers that may feel there may be a blocker to participate:

• The Cage Breakers
  These types of smokers consistently break themselves out of any given cages.   There are numerous studies which show that the affect on cage size and the frequency of reward responses on a subject increases adverse effects of aging, illness and negative behaviors.  People that are veteran smokers have the ability to break out of those cages so that those stress factors have less impact on their livelihood.  This is a great ritual to manage stress, but of course we know of the consequences using commercialized synthetic chemical induced products on our organic states.
• The Einstein
  No, this is not a new dance move.  There was a smartie pants named Albert Einstein who took great pride in enjoying a cigar succeeding every milestone he reached in his work.  He smoked as a way to take a moment and appreciate life and his achievements.   These are the best types of smokers.   Whenever a friend asks me for advice on how to quit smoking, I always give them the same response:  "if you enjoy smoking, then why quit?".  Now, the cage breaking smokers never understand what this means and they keep on smoking thinking they are doing the Einstein, but the Einstein smokers know very well what I am talking about.  If they want to quit, they just quit knowing there is always something out there in life that can be used as a token of appreciation.

If you know what type of smoker you are dealing with, it makes it easier to approach them.  It just takes you showing them how they can create for themselves that personal fire.   The Einstein runners are easy, just let them know they can enjoy a nice smoke once they complete their race. 

As for the cage breakers, just ask them this simple question... Why are they in a cage in the first place?  If they see the worlds greatest race (for example, Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon) without a cage, they are convinced and will join.

A race is a token of appreciation!

The Sedentary

Sedentary people are everyone, I am one of these people.  No matter what I do in my life, no matter how hard I try, there is always something sedentary.  Whether it is managing education, managing career, managing health, managing expectations of others, managing others expectations of me, managing my carbon footprint, managing finances, managing stress, managing time... there is always something out of balance that needs attention.  There requires so much energy to start up something that has been lacking attention for so long.

The sedentary people are the most important people to participate since it is those very people who reflect what life is all about on race day.   Life is all about engagement and balance and attention and patiently seeing things through to the finish line, no matter what pace, what style, no matter how it is done.

As for the common blocker for sedentary people to join a race.  They feel they are expected to compete and race out of the realms of their own limited capability.  However, it is very common with runners or walkers to pace themselves in a race and ensure they do not push beyond their limits.   So then, why do sedentary people feel they must push themselves beyond their limits any different from every other single competitor in the race.  Convincing a sedentary person to participate is quite easy.

They just have to know that their pace is their race.

The Scrooge

A scrooge can be visited by the ghost of the past or the ghost of the present and they will not ever change their mood.  They tell you about all the qualms of the race, that it costs money, they never show up and support the runners, they make noise about road closures or the injuries or the weather.  When they scrooge the race, they scrooge everything and everybody.

There is no need for convincing scrooges, let them be for the moment.  When they are visited by the ghost of the future, they return from that experience supporting every other runner in the race, and complete the race with smiles, bearing great gifts for all.

Why a Race is for Everyone

Why is a race for everyone?  The more people who participate in a race, the more likely the race represents the people who are in the race.  The more people who support the race, the more likely the race represents that community and charities supporting the race. When one opts out of participating in a race prevents a great experience for everyone.  What makes a great race is more and more people.  A race is where you see happy, supportive, appreciative people where:

• Race day helps dreams come true!  
• A race is a token of appreciation!
• Everyone's own pace is their race!  
• A race bears gifts for all!

Marathon Sub Stance

Marathon Sub Stance

Ottawa Marathon Leaders 2014

I am blogging about my sub 3 hour marathon which gets way more notice then better amazing stuff.  For example, a lot of amateur runners can get down to 2:30 or 2:40 in a marathon and that is amazing.  However, the sub 3 hour wall gets all the appeal.  Mainly because anyone can do it and popularity always revolves around the most likely.

For the next few sections, I'll talk about my first trial race, then the fail race, then I'll review the Ottawa Marathon where I, along with many other runners, nailed that 3 hour mark.

Toronto Yonge St. 10K

A target race requires two test races.  A push race and a the upset race.  Either or can be sequenced.

I put the push race first to set the tone for my confidence.

This was the Toronto Yonge St 10 k which is a huge competitive affair consisting of a moderate downhill component.  

I ended up with a time of 37:23 (mm:ss).  

From that finishing value, I went to the RoadWarriorRunning Race Calculator to find that the predictor for the marathon was calculated to 3 hours and 52 second.   That was way past my goal which was a great confidence builder.  Mind you, as said, this was mostly a downhill course.  The marathon did not have a downhill.

Sporting Life 10K

This was my upset race since all confidence building carries with it ego manifestations. Everything ready for the final race, including twelve 30 kilometer training runs. I needed an my ego smashed so that I didn't go out too fast as I always do.  Shattering my ego and picking up the pieces really helps to get it right for the final competition, being more aware of the limitations thought gained through the training regime.  Plus, training to smash my ego scares me so I put more investment to prepare.

I needed to purposely sabotage myself and deal with the challenges, meaning going out faster, finishing way too fast and hurting!  All that hurting and pain made me slow down and helped me remember why racing is not all what appears to be.

From that train wreck, I ended up with 38:22 (mm:ss).  This hurt and set me back a minute from my last race on the same course.  

This was worse than the time that I raced a few weeks before, which set the tone as the upset race.  Which helped to set the focus for the marathon as I wasn't super fragalistic to go superman through the entire 42 k - I had significant limits to take note.

Ottawa Marathon

This was the target race, which meant that either everything would matter or all would shatter.

The first 5 k of the marathon was smooth, the course was perfectly flat and there was more than enough supporters cheering on the sides of the road.

Luckily the sun shadowed by a rolling crisp cool fog which contained the marathon for the next 30 km.  This was too good to be true.

I kept up a consistent pace up to the half marathon since the rolling fog followed us.  Once I hit the half marathon, I did a full check.  I still felt strong, my breathing was consistent, I took water or Gatorade at every station, my feet and legs were somewhat fine, a little tenderized.

Staying relaxed I noticed that I was having a tough time keeping my intended race pace, deviating a bit.  This did increase the pressure for the sub 3 hour but managed to stay relaxed.

Once I reached 30 k, I did another full calibration of all systems.  Since I was told the last 10 k of the race is where it all starts, I was very cautious and scared.

When I reached the 36 kilometer mark, I searched for that usual discouragement in me, but since I did train so diligently, I couldn't find it.  Usually, in a race, I experience a point where I just want to quit. Not this race, no way.

Eventually I reached the 40 kilometer mark.  There was the very minor few runners who stopped in their tracks whom I had no way to help, while the majority of the participants in my sequence were staying strong.  This cluster of runners helped me maintain.  All I could do was watch the runners in front of me and mimic their strength. Eventually, I arm pumped forever to get to the finish line.

Motivation

Substance

What was the motivation to get me from out of nowhere to suddenly achieve a sub 3 hour marathon?

Let`s start with the two main cognitive motivators for goal reaching:

• Substance Achievement
• to posit through that achievement that one exists as a whole distinguishable from it's properties. In these cases, I want to differentiate myself from the social vices and norms.  Creating a standalone definition of myself.
• Emergence Achievement
• a higher-level aggregate demonstration of skill and accomplishment composed by it's properties. In these cases, I find motivation to conform to a distinct group or sub-culture, sharing the resources within that group.

For the most favorable outcome of a race, the strategy is to combine both motivators through race competition and running clubs/community.   

There has to be huge passion to be selfish to create substance, while at the same time, immerse in a sub-culture or group and contribute (emergence).  It is the mix of both motivating factors which helped me to achieve even greater accomplishments then what alone could be possible.   

Breaking Into Reality

Breaking Into Reality

Breaking the marathon 3 hour barrier is like breaking into reality.   I broke the 3 hour barrier a few months ago and would like to tell you about it.  I thought a lot about it and the more I wanted to share the experience, the more I realized everyone already does this without even realizing it.  So, I switched from wanting the share the experience of the marathon 3 hour barrier, reviewing my training and all the elemental contributions with the premise of breaking into reality.

Consciousness is unreal

What a bold statement, to suggest consciousness is unreal.  No individual standalone entity wants to hear that.  Everyone wants to feel they exist independent of the dependencies of the earth, sun, water and air.  Yet if you really try to grasp the moment, there may be some bumps that stir your sense of reality.  You attempt to control by finding that balance, pushing yourself to get to that equilibrium. Then you check yourself not realizing, that moment you tried to grasp is over.  For the next moment, you tell yourself that the homeostasic sensory systems are in check, you've established yourself and feel a part of the reality around you and then invest into the very next few moments ahead of you.  At a greater extent, you feel comfort in that investment of the next moments ahead, and even more ahead of that.  You then brace your entire consciousness to tangle all moments ahead, your entire reality into the future, forever and ever.  All the while, not realizing, you are already setting your consciousness to an unreal state because you cannot forge yourself into any given moment since it is a continual balancing act.

Do you agree?  Let us please test this out to validate.  For the next few moments, let's see if your consciousness is unreal.  Are you ready for it?  okay great!  So, all you have to do is one single activity... RUN.

Get it?  Run?  See, try it, just go out there and run.  That very activity challenges your complacent consciousness in more ways than needed to describe.  The idea is exposed, I put it forth, and if you don't know what I am talking about, then let's explore it through feelings.

The Feel of Running

Why do you enjoy running?  To stay in good shape, to maintain health, to get faster, strong, more efficient...  Those all are great advantages however, none of them explain the enjoyment in the moment whilst.   It has been suggested that endorphins plays an important role in the experiential enjoyment of running.  Did you realize that endorphins, being inhibitory, play a role in a sense of depersonalization and derealization?

Quite possibly that sense of depersonalization and derealization may force your you to re-evaluate and appropriate to a new pattern, which may mimic the pattern you thought you were aware of in a previous state.  If you are well acquainted with the new pattern and not impose any stress reactions, then you integrate yourself seamlessly.  You feel that the previous state of consciousness and the new state of consciousness are the same since it is independently aligned with all of your faculties.  That alignment of your faculties is essentially the value of great training to understand how to handle yourself upon establishing your new sense of reality post the derealization phase.

In other words, if you develop the capability of breaking into reality seamlessly during intense moments that simulate a race, then you can achieve the same capability to push your limits for your race competitions.

The Sub-Three Hour Catalyst

For a moment, we can step away from the concept of breaking into reality.  Rather, let's explore reactions and the observable results.  This helps us realize all of the possibilities that are out there beyond our known conscious capabilities.  Starting off with acknowledging what the catalyst will be that will help you attain the favorable result.  It is then the catalyst that is the additional substance which increases the rate of a reaction that we feel will allow us to maintain our sense of reality.  So you would think the catalyst is something you add at the end?  For a marathon, and more so, for a sub-three hour marathon, adding that magic touch or special trick to get your through doesn't fly so well.  Therefore, the catalyst for a marathon is most likely the worst to search for and maintaining your sense of reality is at risk.  However, your feeling after running is much better than before you started, in most cases, if you took it safe and with care.

It is the complete acceptance of the training which is required.  And finding motivation to endure that training is key.  So without a catalyst, all we are left with is ourselves.  And with our own self, we need to endure a training plan and lead ourselves to a state in which we are able to control ourselves in a very demanding activity to the extent of completing the challenge in a timely fashion.

We all know training is key.  But I am taking this a step through another pathway to suggest that the training and the commitment also provides something noumenal.  Explained through the concept of breaking into reality or another way said, the connection between conscious states broken by the derealization phase experienced during running.

This blog entry has delivered the introduction to this concept and I will continue to write a continuation blog which will further explore my training and engagement to break the 3 hour marathon.   I won't bore you with the training, but rather share a very deep insight into the human psyche to which I feel everyone is capable to leverage to achieve.

For the next few blog posts, I will explore this through my training and race experiences.

The next blog "Training Entertainment"