Adventures in Running: The Conclusion

Well, it has been about a month now after the Flying Pig Marathon.  And I needed about that much time to process the whole thing.  

It started out way too early on the morning of Sunday, May 2.  First of all, I really could not sleep all that much the night before.  I made a play list for my I-pod.  And I just couldn't stop thinking about the big event in the morning.  I met up with a bunch of others to carpool to downtown.  Once we got down there, we find our parking spot and huddled together in a little office area for the parking attendants, or I should say WITH the parking attendants!  We didn't rush to get to the starting line just yet because it was poring down rain with occasional thunder and lightening! I found out that very few of my race buddies didn't get much sleep the night before either. Needless to say I was wondering what the heck I just got myself into.  I assumed that the head honchos of the race would push off the start to see if the rain would pass.  Obviously, I thought wrong.  The starting time was getting close so we hiked it down to the starting line.  As we were approaching the start, my shoes were already soaked.  And then the giant wave of people started off before we even got in the line.  But that turned out not to be a problem because everyone has a computer chip on one of their shoes and it picks up your time when you cross the start and finish line.  I thought that was pretty cool.  

Well, about the first mile or two of the race we were drenched.  So all my clothes are soaked straight through.  But after a while the rain stopped and it ended up being a fairly nice rest-of-the-day for a race.  Everything seemed to start out well.  When you are in a crowd of thousands of people it is not like you can go off on an adrenaline rush and sprint ahead of everyone.  You are packed in pretty tight with a crowd at least for the first 3 to 4 miles.  Crossing over into Kentucky was interesting as you cross a large bridge with hundreds of thousands of feet pounding on it all at the same time.  You could feel the pavement vibrate.  Then as we made our way back into Ohio we hit the dreaded Mile 5.  For the next 3 miles it would be an uphill climb.  It was tough.  Even though the last 5 miles were relatively flat, the hill sucked out a lot of my energy.  Thankfully I had those chewy energy things that I was popping like a drug addict all throughout the race.  I was hoping that the last 5 miles would be an easy coast to the finish but it ended up being harder than I thought.  Thankfully Stacey staid with me the whole way and pushed me hard when my brain wanted to give up.  Yes, my brain, not my body.  So much of this race is mental and that was the hardest thing for me to overcome.

There was another thing that was hard to overcome throughout the race.  It was the plague of the shirtless men.  Of course there are two very, very distinct types.  The first type is the guy that all the rest of us guys only wish we looked like.  Pecs, abs, biceps and triceps.  It was just enough to make you want to trip him really bad in order to see if his perfect body bleeds . . . profusely.  But then there was the other type of shirtless guy.  This is the one who has absolutely no business taking off his shirt for any reason whatsoever.  Some strange testosterone thing must be going on in his brain convincing him that he would be cool with no shirt.  Maybe because his entire torso is covered in enough hair to make a Grizzly bear jealous.  Or maybe it is because someone convinced him that love handles flapping in the wind draws in the chicks.  Well, in Kentucky they may have a case there, but that is only for a few miles in the race.  

The other thing that kept on going through my mind was, "How the HECK does a person do this many miles twice in one race?!?!  Mentally, the full marathon would have destroyed me.  13 miles seemed long enough.  That was a huge accomplishment for me.  But to train in order to achieve 13 miles x 2!  The more I ran the half marathon, the crazier I thought the "full marathon" people were, especially after the 3 mile hill!

As we came within two miles to the finish line it was getting harder to push to the end.  But when I finally made the last turn and I could see the finish line, I found a new burst of energy.  I crossed the finish line and completed my first race since high school!  And 13 miles long too, not just a measly 3.1!  Much to my surprise and delight, after you cross the finish line you continue through a maze of stations on both sides of you giving out FREE FOOD!  Now, had I known this during the race I might have run a little faster with fewer stops to walk!  I got bananas and (my personal favorite) Mandarin oranges and snacks and drinks of all sorts.  It felt like Christmas for a little while.  So many kind people giving me free food.  It was a beautiful thing.  But the adventure does not stop here!

Throughout the race I saw people from the church and I saw my family at the 11 mile marker.  It was always exciting to all of a sudden hear people yelling out your name and cheering you on.  As I was enjoying all my free food, Shelly calls me and expresses concern that she can not find her way out of Cincinnati.  This seemed like no big deal to me as I typically just drive in any direction and eventually find a highway somewhere, especially in downtown Cincinnati.  The worst that could happen is that you cross a bridge and accidentally find yourself in Kentucky somehow.  The cloud of cigarette smoke that consumes you usually tips you off that you crossed the Ohio State boarder and went over into Kentucky!  I jest!  Anyhow, Shelly senses my casual attitude to her situation and then proceeds to tell me she is WALKING the streets, not driving!  And not only that, but she has found herself in a part of town where strange men are approaching my daughters and asking them for money!  So the search for Shelly began.  We finally figured out were she and the kids were at and managed to meet up with them.  Then we had to search for the van.  They couldn't quite remember where they parked but as we drove around it finally came to them and we found the van and went home!

 

 It felt so good to get home and relax.  I was on a serotonin high for 2 days.  It was quite honestly the most relaxing, natural high ever.  You have to be a runner to appreciate what I am saying here.  I got the commemorative poster of the Flying Pig Marathon and a metal for finishing!  I am sure of course that this is the metal that everyone gets just for crossing the finish line.  But it was a metal none the less!  I was very proud.  


And in conclusion, I really enjoyed the opportunity to run with a team of people for a great cause.  Jake is making great progress through his chemotherapy.  It looks very positive that he will beat this cancer.  In the picture above you see me running with my partner Stacey.  This picture struck me as odd because it looks as if I am laughing and enjoying myself!  So at some point during the race I must have had moments of sanity and fun.  Will I do it again?  I think so.  Will I go the whole distance and complete a full marathon?  I would like to try so I can say I did one at least.  I heard that the Columbus marathon is relatively flat for the whole course.  That sounds doable to me.  Cincinnati is very hilly.  I would like flat for my first marathon.  But we will see.  Anyone want to run together in the Columbus marathon???  I still run but I keep to shorter distances, about 2-5 miles depending on if I am going to do any other type of workout.  So I try to run a couple times a week as a warm up or as a whole workout.  

As far as my official results go, I finished at 2:11:57. I placed 271 out of 467 in my division of 40-44 year old men!  I placed 1881 out of 3469 out of all guys.  And overall I placed 3,247 out of a total of 9,423!  There were a couple of women who beat me.  Just a few though!  Actually there were a whole lot of all types of people who beat me!  But I felt very, very good that I finished! And it was all worth it.

Well, thanks for reading my "running blogs" and maybe there will be some new ones in the near future!  But now with the Summer comes vacations, music festivals and mission trips!  So look for those reports coming soon!

Adventures In Running III

Well it has been quite a ride getting ready for this marathon.  A lot has happened in my adventures in training! One Saturday morning I met up with Stacey and Tom to run.  We welcomed a new runner with us.  I discovered quickly that this was a mom of one of my teenagers in youth group!  As we got to talking she mentioned that she may not be able to keep up with us due to the fact that she is still healing from a recent foot surgery.  Well, needless to say, not only did she manage to keep up with us but she also just casually mentions that she and her husband are thinking of biking 100 freaking miles on bikes AFTER we run 10 miles!  WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? What kind of culture am I falling into?  I tried to matter-of-factly comment that I was thinking of putting in 20 miles and cool off with a 2 mile swim.  Unfortunately this caused mild laughter in between huffs-and-puffs!  Well, as I came off of that run I was feeling pretty good as I drove home.  But little did I know of the grave mistake I made that morning!  As I pulled into the driveway and walked into the house, my family was gathered in the living room eating breakfast and watching Saturday morning TV.  But once I walked in the door there was a sudden gasp as I stood looking at my family.  The girls looked at me mortified!  And then they blurted out loudly, "YOU ARE WEARING CHEERLEADING SOCKS!"  These are just normal white socks with the word "Loveland" printed along the top. No big deal. Nothing that screams "girly socks".  So the girls got a roll of my eyes and a big "Whatever!".


Then on a different day I was running by myself.  I did the long loop around town.  As I turned the corner heading up the hill by Whippy Dip there was a guy walking towards me.  He made eye contact with me like he wanted to say something.  So I popped out my headphones and gave him my attention.  That is, until I realized that he was asking me for a cigarette!  Now I will admit I did have a 3 year relationship with Marlboro Lights while in college.  But that didn't matter.  This guy is asking me for a cigarette.  DO I LOOK LIKE SOMEONE WHO WOULD JUST HAPPEN TO HAVE A FREAKIN' PACK ON ME!?! REALLY?  Then I thought, I must not look like a serious runner if I am being stopped in my tracks and being asked for some smokes!  


Then on the Saturday before the race Stacey lined up the big long run for us.  Here is the issue. I had a huge Friday night sleepover at the church because it was Confirmation weekend. It was a busy night for me with about 20 junior high boys who would not go to sleep until 2AM. If that weren't bad enough, I could not fall asleep at least an hour after that!  Then we were all up at 7AM for donuts and coffee.  At 8AM we had our rehearsal for the church services.  During this whole time the weather was supposed to be bad.  Lots of rain in the forecast.  So as we are going through the rehearsal I couldn't help but to look outside and pray for the rain to start pouring.  But it chose not to.  Sure enough, Stacey should up and we got together with some others and we ran, and ran, and ran, and ran.  It actually ended up being a great run.  Even with the lack of sleep I felt really good and we were able to do well.  We covered about 13 miles or so we thought.  Later on the next day I got a call from Stacey.  She mapped out the run that we did and much to her surprise, we actually ran 15 miles!This was huge psychologically for me.   Up till this point, I mentally struggled with the thought of 13 miles.  But after this run, I knew I could nail this half-marathon easy.  So it was a really good morning.  Then came Monday!


On Monday afternoon I am having a serious father-son talk with my oldest boy.  I am sitting in a wooden chair just talking with him when I begin to feel something slip out of joint and throw my entire back out.  I couldn't bend over without pain.  Standing or sitting was okay but going from one to the other was not! I instantly got a hold of the local chiropractor and went in to see him.  The short of the story is that he worked on it for 3 days and I am good to go now!  


Today is the day before the race and what a day!  We had a dedication of the entire team at church tonight.  Our pastor did a great job of tying in the Team Jake effort into his sermon.  In case, you haven't read the previous blogs, there are over 90 people in our church and community participating in this race to raise money for a boy at our church who is suffering with cancer.  After the service we had a big carb-fest at the local park.  We were all down there eating up lasagna wearing our Team Jake shirts.  Then we had a big raffle with prizes that were donated for the team.  There were a lot of great prizes.  The one I had my eyes on though was 2 tickets to the Browns vs. Bengals game in Cleveland!  God only knows how bad I wanted it!  But someone else's name was called and the long hard sigh came out of me.  Bummer.  The last two prizes were one week vacations in a condo at Hilton Head. But I have already resigned myself to being the guy who never wins anything.  Wouldn't you know it, Jake pulls out the ticket and I FREAKIN' WON!  I was in shock!  I am so excited right now!  It has been a long time since we have done a family vacation with just us.  This really couldn't be perfect timing!  This is a great Summer for us to get away for a week and just enjoy some quality/quantity family time in a beautiful location!  

So now I am watching the Cavs playing against the Celtics and I am too excited to go to bed!  I have never been an early-to-bed person.  But here we go.  My first race since high school and I am actually really looking forward to it!  I still need to make my playlist for my I-Pod and the Cavs finally caught up and are winning.  So now I want to watch the 4th quarter!  I will write a post-race blog so stay tuned!

Adventures in Running II

Well, I just did something I haven’t done in a real long time. I ran with some other people.  I have turned into a lone runner over the years because I like the time to think, pray, and listen to my I-Pod which I usually listen to sermons or classic rock to take my mind off of running.  But this past Friday was different.  I was invited to run with Stacey and Tom.  In fact, I began feeling like I had to run because Stacey sent me threatening texts about bailing out on them.  There was a slight twinge of that when I woke up and discovered that it was a rainy, drizzly Saturday morning.  But I was determined to not let my runner buddies down.  So I showed up at the Runner’s Spot by the running trail ready to go.  Now the nice thing about the local running trail is that it used to be the train path through town.  So this is a nice, flat, safe and easy route to run.  But we only did a half mile on the bike path until we went off the path and onto the country roads.  Here is the big difference: country roads have a lot of ups and downs! Oh the hills! And if that isn’t difficult enough, Stacey would use psychological mind games by saying things like “What goes down, must come up!”  And without the I-pod blaring in my ears it was all too easy to concentrate way to much mental energy in thinking about what I was doing.  And it is just not a good thing to think too hard about running while you are running.  A mental argument starts up where one voice says, “You can do this!” while the other voice is saying, “Oh my gosh, look at this freakin’ hill coming up? Why am I doing this?!? I’m gonna die!”

Now I know that I set some goals in my previous blog but I am going to have to scale back a little bit.  I stated the importance of beating Stacey.  Well, now that I have run 10 miles with her I think I can say with humble assurance that I will not beat her.  Not even close.  And Tom, being slightly older than me, I think he too will be way ahead of me.  No hope in beating either one of them.  So here is my revised goal: Beat everyone from my church except Stacey and Tom.  So look out Dave, Scott, and the others of Team Jake! I got you in my sights!

But more interesting things have been happening from my runs.  And this is not through the other runners but from girls in my youth group!  After running one day I received a text message from one of my Junior High girls.  She commented on the fact that she saw what I was wearing when I was running.  Now I know that there is a lot of funky clothing available for runners.  But I was only wearing a very normal pair of shorts and a loose white t-shirt with a Superman print on the front of it.  No big deal.  So I texted this teen back and questioned her comment.  She told me Superman wasn’t working for me! 

And then when I was running by the Whippy Dip I was lost in my I-pod but I did notice a group of girls who were standing close to the sidewalk and when I ran past them there was the sound of laughter.  I wasn’t sure what that was about and if it was directed at me so I just kept on going.  But I spent a lot of mental energy convincing myself that these random girls were not just laughing at me! Scary thing though is I really think they were, and I can’t figure out why?!?

And if this wasn’t awkward enough, I had another Senior High girl comment on my Facebook that she saw me running the day after my run.  And when I entered into the conversation she said I run like a girl!  RUN LIKE A GIRL?!?!?! What exactly is that? Running is running!  I did not realized there was a “guy way” and a “girl way” of running.  So I asked her to clarify what she means.  She said I run with my hands out front like a prissy girl!  At this point she was excommunicated from the youth group and her eternal salvation seriously questioned.  I have no idea where she saw me running so yes going down a hill I might be picking up speed and moving my arms a little more than usual or if I am going up a hill I might be running just fast enough to keep up with a snail.  But I can assure the world of one thing: I most certainly DO NOT run like a girl!

What is this?!? A conspiracy against the middle-age youth pastor!? I try to run a race for a great cause, and to take control of my heath and my youth group beats me down!  I will have NONE OF THIS!  So I decided to buy a full body lycra suit to run in.  By doing this I completely erase my identity!  No one will recognize me.  They will just see the strange green guy running by.  And it just might have enough weirdness factor that they will heed the warning to not make fun of their youth pastor when ALL HE IS DOING IS TRYING TO STAY HEALTHY SO I CAN BE YOUR YOUTH PASTOR FOR A VERY LONG TIME!  But NOOOOO! Mock my shirt. Laugh at me when I run past you. And worst of all, just say that I run like a girl.  This comes from the reality TV junkie of our youth group! She used to be an athlete but now has become and expert in reality TV programs! 

So I just want to go on record because I am feeling a little hurt!  I am doing something for me for once.  I have done a lot for my family and my youth group but now I just want to achieve this one thing: run a half marathon!  So if you want to give me some fashion tips on runner apparel, then FINE!  You want to run 10 miles with me and see what your arms do when the rest of your body is starting to convulse from the miles you’ve just ran?!?  Come on! I dare you! Run with me!  No more talk!  Let’s see you spectators get off your chair of judgment and join the team of running awesomeness!  

Until next week.

Scott

Adventures in Running

It is now coming up on over 5 years that I have been living in Cincinnati.  And every Spring the Flying Pig Marathon comes up and I think, "Hey, I would love to try and do that".  But being that the race is on the first weekend of May, if you really want to do the race, you need to be training throughout the Winter.  Unfortunately, my body tends to slip into a hibernation mode during the Winter and when Spring hits I am just beginning to try and get outside to exercise.   But then the Flying Pig comes and goes and I have a twinge of regret that I did not have the courage and fortitude to at least TRY and get involved.   But this year is different!  I am running and running a lot.  I have been working out throughout the Winter doing intense workouts that have helped to keep my endurance strong.  I have also been doing the insane running in frigid weather.  It actually is kind of fun battling the elements, even though in the past I usually had the temptation to run these types of people off the road.  I also have discovered the blessing of Under Armor even though it makes me look quite unsavory once I put it on.  Having a full keg of abs doesn’t look as good as a six-pack.  

And now it is beginning to feel like Spring outside.  It feels so good to run without 10 pounds of layered clothes on.  I actually went out in a t-shirt and shorts and ran 7 miles the other day.  So I am right on track to actually attempt the Flying Pig!  Here's the thing though. Since this is my first race since high school, I decided that I am going to do the half marathon this year.

As the weather is getting nicer people are starting to come out a little bit more and make my jogging experience more interesting.  The other day I was coming down a hill that bottoms out at the entrance to our local Kroger store.  As I was picking up some speed at the bottom of the hill I noticed a pick up truck waiting to turn on to the main road.  Now I know that it is the better part of wisdom to run around the back of the vehicle but I was already lost in my “runner’s high”.  That is when a combination of adrenaline and serotonin give your brain a rush and your eyes role back into your head and you lose yourself in the run.  So without thinking much I ran in front of this truck.  All of a sudden I noticed that the truck started moving as if it was going to turn quickly onto the road.  I immediately reacted as the image of me being bounced into the middle of the intersection flashed in my mind, and I slammed my hand down on the hood of the truck rapidly as I was trying to assess if I needed to jump quickly onto the hood!  Luckily the truck came to an abrupt halt as I tried to casually go back to running, hoping for no confrontation.  That is when I heard in a loud and panicked voice, “GOD, YOU SCARED ME!”  Without making any eye contact I just hollered over my left shoulder “YOU SCARED ME!”  (As you may have noticed, I did not refer to him as “God” although I felt pretty important that he called me by that name!) As I quickly kept running down the sidewalk, I was trying to subtly watch to see if the truck driver was going to double around and continue our friendly conversation.  But thankfully, he must have realized that we were both even and it’s time to move on.

As I was catching a wave of adrenaline from that near-death experience I rounded the next major intersection and came upon one of the oddest landmarks of Loveland which is called the “Whippy Dip”.  This is one of those sugar shacks that pump out substandard ice cream.  The strange thing is that Loveland people are crazy about this place!  They flock to it the moment it is opened and there are huge crowds there all the time.  I simply do not get it because we have Graeter’s Ice Cream and United Dairy Farmer’s Ice Cream that is a thousand times superior to the Whippy Dip slop.  Yet this place consistently draws the people in with their tractor-beam of sugary goodness.

Well, as I was coming up to Whippy Dip I just happened to notice that one of my Junior High girls was just getting an ice cream cone and turning to face her friends who were waiting for her.  I did a sprint right towards her and she did not notice me until I was about two steps in front of her.  With the speed of the surprise I was able to get a massive reaction from this Junior Higher who instantly screamed before she recognized me.  I felt bad just a little bit though because the friends that were with her did not act in her defense but collapsed in hysteria from this strange guy charging their friend.  I then just continued on my run with a smirk on my face as I heard behind me a familiar voice say, “SCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTT!”   Mission accomplished!

So here’s the deal.  If I am going to do this I need to set some goals.  So here it is:

1.  I need to run consistently at least 3 times a week. I would like to add some upper-body, core workouts at least once or twice a week just for something different.

2.  I just really want to cross the finish line.  I don’t know what a good time goal is since I have never done this before but I suppose that it would be good to try and finish the half-marathon in say 2-3 hours? . . . Ok, I’m back.  I just did a web search for last years’ results and the best time for 13 miles was 1:09!  A little over one hour!!! If you can pull off 13 miles in one hour why not just do the whole freakin’ thing!?! No, it must feel better to run past middle-aged men like me and smoke everyone in less time.  I swear I will trip you if you run past me!

3.  I have to beat all the guys in my church who are my age or older.  This goal has its roots back to the days when I ran in high school.  I was in cross country when I was a Freshman and a Sophomore.  So at that stage of life, those teens who were older than me had the advantage of more experience, training and mental and physical development.  The completely AWESOME thing at this stage of life is that people older than me have a distinct disadvantage because their age is more of a detriment than a blessing!  So I must beat them.

4.  I really want to beat all the women that are in my church too.  And I do mean all.  But most importantly I need to outpace Stacey.  Now before you label me a sexist let me explain.  See, once again this goes back to past insecurities as a young high school runner.  Back when I was in cross country there was no distinction between the sexes when it came to race day.  The guys and girls all lined up on the same starting line and ran together.  This lead to the demoralizing experience right around the 2 mile mark when girls would start flying past me.  No other sport had guys and girls mixed for competition!  In fact, it would seem that once I graduated, then the girls had their own races separated from the guys!  Now, the deal with Stacey is that her name is the same as the first girlfriend I had in Junior High who broke up with me because she said I was too immature.  This was a cataclysmic event in my 7^th grade life.  I was so impacted by this first break-up that I think that I just stopped maturing from that point on.  Stacey left deep, deep scars.  So now I am running with this other Stacey whom I never even knew when I was in Junior High but simply having the same name as the first girl who absolutely smashed my heart to freakin’ pieces is just too much to bear.  I will have victory over all Stacey’s in this race!

5.  I want to try to complete the race without walking.  The temptation is always there but no matter how slow I am going I want to keep it somewhere between a slow jog and a sprint.  Maybe if I just need a quick break I can throw on some wheelies for a mile or two and just glide for a while. 

6.  And then finally, in all seriousness, I am running with a bunch of people from my church for a very good cause.  We have one of our students at our church who is currently battling cancer.  His name is Jake and he is in 6^th grade.  He is currently going through an intense regimen of Chemotherapy.  You can learn more about him by going to www.watchwhatjakedoes.com  or check his status by joining www.carepages.com and searching “jakeferrell”. We all are trying to raise money for the family to help supplement their medical bills and expenses during this difficult time.  So if you would like to support me in the Flying Pig marathon you can find my cause on Facebook or send in your support to Epiphany UMC ATTN: Scott Russ (race for Jake Ferrell), 6635 Loveland-Miamiville Road, Loveland, OH 45140.  I appreciate your prayers and support for the Ferrell family and that I make it through race day with my team! 
Who knows what this race will do!  Maybe next year I will attempt the full marathon and then the next year it will be the Iron Man Race!  Only in my dreams!  Thanks for checking out the blog and considering supporting me in this race as I run for one of my pre-teens!

The Airborn Sow

Well, I have been trying really hard to maintain a work out routine doing a lot of sit ups, jump rope, weight lifting and kettle bell.  It is a tough work out but it has been hard to be consistent and to keep up with it 3 times a week.  I also did some running up until it got cold outside.  The cold tends to put me in a hibernation mode from going outside to run.  But here is the deal. Every year our great city puts on a marathon with the coolest name ever: The Flying Pig.  Every year I want to participate in this great event.  Every year we have a bunch of people from my church who sign up for this race.  And even last year I had one of my teenagers in the youth group sign up and run the half-marathon!  But here is the clincher that prevents me from signing up.  The race is on the first Sunday of May. So that means if you are serious about this race you NEED to train and run through the Winter.  And my attitude about those who I see running in the dead of winter has always been sarcastic to the point of being borderline violent.  Just as all Christians know that there are "crazies" within our own religion, I consider myself a runner but I look at those who run in frigid temperatures as the "crazies" of the running world.  I want to veer my car towards them to spray them with a wave of slushy snow.  Their dedication drives me crazy.  Instead of letting them inspire me I want to degrade them.  Mock them!  Demoralize them!  Of course this approach never worked real well with Christian "crazies" so I only let this negative energy stay within my mind and feel prideful in my ability to stay warm and comfortable.  

So I do crazy-hard workouts in my garage but here is where the other big issue lies.  Every time I go to see my doctor my blood pressure has been going up and up.  And I am one of those people that every single time they strap that thing around my arm and pump it up I can feel myself get all worked up inside.  I can not relax and stay cool, calm and collected.  I get tense and irritated like I want to gnaw this thing off of my arm and then bite the doctor.  Then he does the concerned look and lets me know it is up a little more from last time.  I know it's up!  I don't like the freakin' blood pressure squeeze machine to begin with!

Now that the holidays are over the Flying Pig advertisements are coming out.  I drive by the local running store frequently and I noticed that they have a sign out for information on how to train for the Flying Pig.  So now the war begins within my mind:

Concerned Scott: You know, running is a healthy aerobic exercise that will help to naturally bring down your blood pressure.

Slug Scott: Running on the bike trail during the Spring and Summer is amazing and inspiring, but the Winter is for couch potato pleasures like reading, Xbox, Wii, LOST and 24. 

Concerned Scott: I do not want to go on any medication if I don't have to.  If there is a reasonable way to manage my blood pressure then why not?

Slug Scott: The Winter Olympics for February and then March Madness.  I would rather sit and watch people exercise at what they do best.

Concerned Scott: THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!

Slug Scott: (projectile green vomit spewed at Concerned Scott).

So just a couple of days ago I drove by the local running store again.  The Runner's Spot had a sign out for information on training for the Flying Pig.  I thought I would sneak in and see what they got just for curiosity's sake.  I walked in and looked around at the latest running stuff and found the pig training brochure.  Then I was confronted by one of the workers.  He was a nice Asian-American man of whom you could tell by his build he was a "crazy" runner.  He is already cranking out miles on the road even in sub-zero temperatures.  But then a strange thing happened.  My hardened heart began to soften just a bit and I felt like I could ask this guy some personal questions.  He reminded me of the Dali Lama.  I sat at the feet of a great one dying to ask the deep questions of life.  So I finally did it.  I blurted out "I have always wanted to train for the Flying Pig but I just can't run when it is this cold outside.  So how do you do it? Is there a way? A trick? A method? Right type of clothes, shoes, what?!?!?!?!"  And he answered me in a Yoda-like way that spoke deep into my heart when he said, "You just have to get out there and do it."  This resonated with me. I grew up in the 80's. I am familiar with this advice. JUST DO IT!  That's it! Just sheer will power!  I always seem to have a ton of that when it is warm and sunny but not in the Winter.  Yet his words struck a chord with me.  He also gave me advice to wear under armor-like clothing first and then layer up.  Wear a hat and gloves.  And get other people to run with so you have accountability. 

I walked out of there really mulling over what the "spiritual guide of all things running" told me.  I felt encouraged. I felt a glowing ray of something within.  I felt like maybe, just maybe, I could do this.  So on Monday I did my regular workout routine in the garage but I woke up this morning knowing that I was going to shake up my workout routine.  I actually came home, spent about half an hour hunting down my under armour shirt, looking for my winter hat and gloves, suited up, got my I-pod on a Rob Bell sermon and lunged myself out into the arctic world of cold, snowy death outside.  As is typical with most runs, the first mile is a battle within my mind but now the cold is a factor too.  So here goes this conversation:

Slug Scott: Are you freakin' crazy? Quick turn around and get back inside where it is warm!

Concerned Scott: You can do this.  You can do this!

Slug Scott: If you take one more step I am going to %$!@?! throw you in front of a car!

Concerned Scott: Do it for your health. Do it for your wife. Do it for your kids.  Do it for your youth group!

Slug Scott: Is that ice crystals that I feel forming in my lungs? I have buggers that are turning into ice cubes.  What if I slip on ice?

Concerned Scott: I just need to force myself for the first mile and then I will get warmed up and find my stride for the rest of the run.

Slug Scott: I AM YOUR FATHER!

Concerned Scott: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

So once I got back to the house today, the run in the cold winter weather wasn't all that bad!  It was a matter of getting past the first mile and warming up but once I did I felt great.  It was kind of fun to be out in the cold running. 

So hear is the challenge I am throwing out to my youth group.  I want to sign up for the half-marathon this year for the Flying Pig.  I have to do this race simply because they have the coolest promo for it which states, "Get Your Oink On." I want that shirt really bad.  But I don't want to do this alone.  Are any of you up for the challenge? Let's do this together.  Who's in? Let's get our oink on!