Maximum Enthusiasm

“How excited are you for the Boston Marathon?”

As the race draws near, this question comes with increasing frequency. It makes my heart rate jump 10 beats and my cheeks flush. My body reacts with excitement, but almost as quickly, my mind fills with memories of racing Boston in 2017.  I remember sweating on the bus to the starting line, going out too fast for the warm weather and vomiting at mile 10, walking with my head down around mile 18, spending miles berating myself, and the deep sense of confusion and disappointment as I crossed the finish line barely under 4 hours when a day before I had no doubts that I was in shape to run thirty five minutes faster.

Last week, my close friend and SWAP teammate, Alex, asked me this question. I gave my typical tepid response, but I felt disconnected from the words. It was a rehearsed answer that no longer felt accurate. This training cycle has been far from perfect, but I am proud of the work I’ve put in and I’m genuinely excited to race. So why was I so hesitant to say that?

I had convinced myself that the best way to protect myself against the heartbreak of another bad race was to try to persuade myself and others that I didn’t care as much. I was erring on the side of being cynical and pleasantly surprised than being excited and disappointed.

Well, fuck that! Whatever happens on Marathon Monday, I am approaching this race with maximum enthusiasm. Because if racing the Boston Marathon doesn’t make me happy and excited, then I need to find a new sport.

The ruth is that I dreamed about qualifying for years, and I’ve dreamed about the opportunity to return for the last two years.

The disappointment I felt in 2017 had nothing to do with allowing myself to be excited about the race and everything to do with my inflexible race strategy and narrow definition of success. So my race strategy for this year is flexible and success will only be defined by my ability to smile through the suck, control the narrative in my head, and make happy memories.

Freeing myself to feel excited the last week felt like taking off ankle weights. I felt weightless on my last workout; literally doing airplane arms and smiling ear to ear as I clicked off miles at marathon effort. These past few days, every time someone asks me how excited I am I respond honestly: I can’t wait!

Runner Slang

She got the FKN and negative split the segment!

Um, What?

I love wearing this "Positive Vibes Negative Splits" sweatshirt because other runners read it and smile, but most non-runners seem to assume it's a yoga-thing. Here's my cheat sheet for runner slang:

• 10% Rule: Don’t increase your mileage by more than 10% each week

• Active Recovery: Low-intensity, non-running exercise

• AG: Age Group

• Bandit: Someone who runs a race without registering.

• Barkley: Barkley Marathon

• Beer mile: A 1-mile race that typically takes place on a track. Racers chug a beer, run a lap, and repeat for 4 laps and 4 beers.

• Bib: Your number and often tracking device for races. Bibs are typically pinned to the front of your shirt for road races.

• Bonk: a sudden and overwhelming feeling of running out of energy, also known as hitting the wall. Bonking often happens during a long run, hard workout, or race.

• Boston: The Boston Marathon

• BQ: Boston Qualifier

• Brick: Doing two

• Buns: Also known as racing briefs. These are like full bottom underwear that women wear for racing.

• Carbo-loading: consuming a large quantity of carbohydrates, in order to increase stores of glycogen in the muscles before a race.

• CD: Cool down

• Chip time: Official races make runners run with timing chips on their bibs or around the laces of their shoes. The course has various timing mats that read the chip as you pass. At the end of the race, the time recorded on your chip is your official time.

• Corral: Starting lines for races are organized into corrals, which are typically based on runner's pace. The faster you are, the closer your corral will be to the start line. At big races, each corral will have an individual start time.

• CR: Course record

• Crew: typically only needed for ultra

• Chasing the unicorn: Trying to qualify for Boston.

• DFL: Dead fucking last

• DNF: Did not finish. Referring to starting but not finishing a race.

• DNS: Did not start. Referring to someone who is registered for a race, but never makes it to the start line

• DOMS: Delayed onset muscle soreness

• Double: Running twice in one day

• Drafting: Running closely behind someone to benefit from the air draft that they’re creating.

• Dreadmill: nickname for treadmill

• Fartlek: Any workout where you oscillates between fast and slow paces.

• FKT: Fastest known time

• FML: Fastest mile last

• Fuel: any food or high calorie drink consumed during a run in order to maintain energy during longer runs or races.

• GMP: Goal marathon pace

• Hardware: A fun way to refer to your race medals.

• Harrier: nickname for cross country runners

• Hitting the wall: a sudden and overwhelming feeling of running out of energy, also known as bonking. Hitting the wall often happens during a long run, hard workout, or race. In the marathon, mile 20 is often referred to as “the wall”.

• HM: Half marathon

• HR: heart rate

• HRV: heart rate variability

• Hypoxic: a condition in which the body or a region of the body is deprived of adequate oxygen supply at the tissue level. This typically happens at high altitude.

• ITBS: IT Band Syndrome

• Jack Daniels: Legendary running coach who developed well-known training plans. The principals outlined in his book, Daniels' Running Formula, are still widely used today.

• Junk miles: miles run without any training purpose or benefit.

• Kick: Sprinting to the finish line

• Kills: The total number of people you passed. Each person passed is 1 kill

• KOM: King of the Mountain - a title awarded on Strava to the man with the fastest time up a hilly segment (running and cycling).

• LSD: long slow distance

• Maraternity Leave: a sick day after a marathon to avoid work, stairs, walking, and situations where napping and icing your leg/butt/thighs may not be appropriate

• MLR: Medium long run. Typically used to describe your second longest weekly run.

• MP: Marathon pace

• MPW: Miles per week

• Naked: Running without a GPS watch

• Negative split: When the second half of your run or race is faster than the first half.

• NR: National Record

• ONB: out and back

• OTQ: Olympic trials qualifier

• First Pancake: First race of the season or after an injury. (I've actually only heard Devon Yanko use this term, but I love it and want to make it part of the runner lexicon.)

• Pacer: Someone in a race who is there to run a specific time goal. Pacers are common in half marathon, marathons, and can be used in some ultramarathons during the last half of the race.

• PB: Personal best

• Peak Week: Highest week of training done before a big race. Peak weeks are typically 3 weeks before a race

• Pickups: A few miles where you pick up the pace. These are longer than strides.

• Plantar Fasciitis: Common injury

• Point to Point: A type of race where the start and finish are at two different places. The course runs from one point to another

• Power Hiking: A fast hiking method used on trail runs and in ultraraces.

• PR: Personal record for a race result. Ex. “My PR in the marathon is 3:11”

• Pronate: the inward movement of the foot as it rolls to optimally distribute the force of impact on the ground as you run. Overpronating is when your foot rolls inward to much after landing. Underpronating is when your foot rolls outward too much after landing.

• QOM: Queen of the Mountain—a title awarded on Strava to the woman with the fastest time up a hilly segment (running and cycling).

• Quad buster:

• Rabbit: Nickname for a pacer.

• Recovery: Easy paced run after a hard workout or race.

• Rest Day Brag: Bragging about your recovery days, made popular by this instagram account

• Runcation: A vacation focused on running

• Rungry: Ravenous hunger and anger brought on after a run

• SB: Season’s best, referring to a runners best time that year for each distance.

• Segment: The way Strava breaks up popular running routes into segments.

• Segment hunting: Basing your run and effort around Strava segments.

• Singlet: Running tank

• Skyrunning/Skyracing: Trail running that exceeds 2,000 meters where the incline exceeds 30 percent and the climbing difficulty does not exceed 11 degrees. 

• Streaking/Streaker: Running every day

• Strides: A set of controlled sprints lasting between 15-60seconds, typically done at the end of a run.

• Taper: A period of time following the peak of your training when your training decreases in order to allow your body to fully rest and recover before a race. The duration ranges from 3 weeks for marathons to only a few days for shorter distances.

• Taper tantrum: Also known as the taper crazies. This is the emotional rollercoaster that often comes after peak training before a race.

• Tempo: also known as an anaerobic threshold or lactate-threshold run—is a pace about 25 to 30 seconds per mile slower than your current 5K race pace,

• The Wall:

• Threshold: A comfortable-hard pace that could be held for 3-4 miles.

• Tready: Cute nickname for the treadmill, also known as the dreadmill.

• TT: Time trial

• Ultra: Short for ultramarathon Any race longer than a marathon.

• Unsanctioned race: A race run without permits on open roads, often these races are free. Sometimes they have no established route only checkpoints that the racers must pass but they can choose the route they want to take to get to those checkpoints.

• VDOT: A training tool that uses a PR to calculate an equivalent performances at other distances. For example, if your mile PR is 9 minutes, your VDOT would tell you how fast you could run a 5k.

• World Marathon Majors: These are big guys when it comes to marathon racing, and they comprise of six prominent races: Boston Marathon, Chicago Marathon, NYC Marathon, London Marathon, Berlin Marathon, and Tokyo Marathon.

• WR: World Record

• WU: Warm up

• Yasso 800: a workout popular with marathoners that consists of running ten 800 meter repeats with each 800 being your goal marathon time. For example, if you want to run a 3:00 marathon, then you would aim to do ten three minute 800s.

• Yellow Gate: The start and finish of the infamous Barkley Marathon

What am I missing? What's your favorite run slang? 

Becoming A Runner

Lately I have been feeling like Tom Hanks in Big, it's as though I fell asleep one night an awkward teen and woke up in my mid-twenties. I have have grown good at faking the maturity and confidence the 18-year old me would expect from someone in their mid-twenties, but without the genuine resolute in my actions and character.

Somedays it feels like everything is fluid and up for debate-- Where am I going to live? What is my career? Who are my role models? How do I like my eggs? It's exhausting. However, there are things I know:

* I can bike 100 miles

* The best way to start a morning is with a quad soy latte

* I am going to run a marathon

* I am passionate about politics, social entrepreneurship, and technology

* I enjoy writing

* I love dogs

* I am a city-person

* I like overcast weather more than sunny

* I am a good listener

* I am more introspective than outgoing

* I am not a patriot, but I cry every time I hear the national anthem

These things feel absolute and unwavering. They hold true on my best and worst days. Why isn't more of life charging towards things that are resolute instead of fretting over what those goals are (or should be)?

Recently, I have had two revelations. The first, is that as I get older, goals become fewer and less obvious. Graduating, getting a job, moving in to my first apartment were all goals that I worked for and that my whole support system helped me achieve, but as I get older there aren't as many of those obvious "firsts" to work towards. The second, is that maybe that is the point. Maybe being an adult is all about making those goals for yourself. Maybe, it's about defining new firsts and charging at them.

Four months ago, before I had fully realized these revelations, I signed up for a marathon. Four months ago, I hated running and I had never run more than three miles, but when I asked myself if there was any part of me that ever wanted to experience running a marathon I found myself intrigued by the challenge. Turns out being a marathon runner had unknowingly been on my bucket list and, as soon as I acknowledged it, I became passionate and driven towards succeeding.

Today, I can proudly say that I run 35-40 miles per week and ran the first half of the San Francisco marathon. I will be running the entire Nike Women's Marathon on October 14. I don't know if I will always be a runner, but after I cross that finish line I will be forever be a marathoner.

photo credit: dvdbeaver

NYC Marathon Through The Eyes Of The Talented Christoph Niemann

Christoph Niemann, illustrator and columnist for the New York Times sketched and tweeted while running the New York City Marathon.

credit: @clarajeffery

see more sketches from the marathon @abstractsunday

One of my good friends ran in yesterday's marathon so I tracked his progress mile-by-mile on the

marathon's website

and cheered most of the morning at 86th and 1st avenue. It was the first time, despite living in Boston and New York for the past eight years, that I really paid attention to a marathon and I was overwhelmed with respect and admiration for the energy, determination and endurance that all the runners put forth. It is truly remarkable what people are capable of when they are determined to reach a goal. All afternoon as I listened to people cheering on the runners, I kept thinking about the power of setting goals. The marathoners had a clear goal and a finish line, but I would argue the Occupy Wall Street protestors also have a goal and while it is more abstract, they are enduring discomfort, energy and determination with a goal in mind. Then I think about the Super Committee, which has arguably the most important goal, to improve the budget of our country and therefore do what is best for the majority of American, but there is little hope that they will meet that goal. Of course, there is only one course to finish the marathon and there are dozens (if not hundreds) of possible "courses" to the betterment of America. Everyone in the marathon agrees that the goal is to cross the finish, you can run or walk but everyone sets out with the same image for success in their minds. The problem with the super committee is that the image for success vary and, at times, are diametrically opposed. The video from my previous post makes me proud to be an American, but iI know it infuriates and disappoints many others. How can something be so clearly a point of pride and national identity to one American and not another?

As I transition in to the non-profit sector, people are continually pointing out that through stories it is easy to remind people, who on the surface may look like they have nothing in common, of their similarities. For the most part people are good and they want the same thing. We have to simplify the story, remind Americans of their commonalities and whenever possible set small, clear goals with limited "course" options.