Follow My New Blog

I just started a new blog.  This blog had a specific purpose, which was to document my training and fund raising as I prepared to run my first marathon.  However, I am not always "training for a cause", so to speak.  So, I decided to start another blog that was focused on my interests in running more broadly.  While I still plan on fund raising for a cause next year, I will blog about it under a separate string on my new blog, which I've entitled "Forever Run: for athletes who love to run".

My new blog is for real people who enjoy being active and love to run.  If that's you, then please start following me on my new blog!

I did it!

Just a short post to say I did it!  I finished the Baystate Marathon today.  3:47:58.  I placed 508th out of 1144 runners, and 120th in my age group!  I was hoping to run faster, but as the saying goes, even the best laid plans go awry sometimes.  Let's just say, I should have fueled better.  Oh well, there's always next time!

Anyway, right now I'm too exhausted to write more!  I'm just proud to have raised more than $1,300 for the North Shore Medical Center's Cancer Center, and to have finished the marathon in a decent time, considering the circumstances.

WOOHOO!

One week until the Baystate Marathon, and I feel great!

I feel as great as I can feel right now, considering I had the flu earlier this week.  However, despite the lingering ills, it's amazing how my body feels right now.  I have never felt so in shape.  I'm not in the same shape as the incredible athletes seen this summer in London, but I have come a long way from the 230 pound guy I was back in June 2010.  I used to say that I was in the best shape of my life when I was a senior in high school and that I've gone down hill ever since.  I take that back Now!  I think I am in the best shape of my life!

It sounds crazy that at 38 I am finally hitting my stride (pun intended), but its true.  I am now 190 pounds!  40 pounds less than I was in June 2010.  Amazing, huh!  I'm stronger than I was at the beginning of this summer, and I am faster. 

I'm not the only person who has lost weight, and gotten healthy.  In fact, I've lost weight before, only to gain it back.  The difference this time is that I have found a lifestyle that I love even more than the lifestyle I previously lead.  You couldn't even drag me down that old road again!  I am never going back to that sedentary lifestyle, with fast food, sugary baked goods, and tons of meat.  All that is gone from my life (except for the cider donuts we enjoy every fall up here in New England!)

Anyway.  Marathon Sunday is in one week, and I am so looking forward to it.  Someone today said to me "Are you really going to run a Marathon?  26 miles?  That sounds awful!"  Not to me.  It sounds like only the tip of the ice burg!  Could an ultra-marathon loom on the horizon?  Who knows!  But first, let me see how the Marathon goes.  Then, maybe, I'll consider other options.

Safe running my friends!

So you think failure is bad?

When I was a kid there is this poster that hung in my 7th grade class room.  It said "I never make the same mistake twice...I just make many new ones."  I embrace failure.  I'm not afraid to fail a few times to find success.  Sometimes you need to fail to succeed!  Check out his video.  I think it speaks for itself!

A Runner's Rhythm

"The rhythm of life is when you experience your own body, mind and soul."

-- Quote from Yogi tea bag

I read this quote on my tea bag earlier today.  I got me thinking about running. 

I love just heading out for a run.  Just run and have fun.  I doesn't matter to me if plan in place, such as a specific distance, pace, or time, or if I am just heading out without any plan at all.  I just like running.  It's fun.  I know for many non-runners this sounds crazy, but to me it is fun.  As the good Theodor Geisel once wrote, "These things are fun and fun is good".

For runners, like myself, we feel more connected with our body's when we run.  When you know your body, you know how fast you can run, or how far you can go, and you don't need a chart, GPS watch, or heart rate monitor to tell you this.  If you feel that rhythm, and you can ease into it, you will run just right.  I've heard it called the Goldilocks zone.

That's the way running should be.  When you are fully connected to your body, and you understand your body's rhythm, you can develop a stronger connection to your mind.

On my last run I found a wonderful rhythm and during that run I was able to focus my mind so well on what I was doing and where I was going.  It was great.  I was in that zone, in the moment, and nothing could have distracted me from that.  I ran well, and I felt great.  My mind was clear, and my body was relaxed. 

After I read the quote I realized that while running in this state I was becoming more connected to my soul.  Who am I as a person can be found while running.  Wow, that's cool.  You should try it.

Powerful Memories

Putting my daughter to bed tonight I sang the song Long December by Counting Crows.  I very nice song, but a sad one.  However, it has special meaning to me.  The song came out not long after my father passed away.  One of the lyrics goes "Long December, and there's reason to believe, maybe this year will be better than the last."  I remember listening to this song for the first time.  It just happened to be December.  I sat there thinking to myself that maybe this year will be better than the last.  Lord knows I couldn't have gotten worse!

The loss of a parent is so powerful.  I love my father so much.  Every day he is not with me is a sad day.  Don't get me wrong, I don't go though life sad and depressed all the time.  There is just this ever present sadness that simply exists because he is no longer part of my every day life.

Sometimes I feel sad because my father never met his grandchildren.  Sometimes, I feel sad because I just want to feel his embrace one more time.  Just one more reassuring hug so that I will feel like a kid again, a time in my life when a simple hug made everything OK.  Sometimes I just want to hear his voice one more time; hear him laugh; hear him tell those same jokes he told over and over again.  Sometimes I just want my dad. 

Little things set me off, like that song did tonight.  However, as I write this, despite my twinge of sadness, I still have a smile on my face.  I guess that's a good sign.  I guess that's what keeps us going on when we lose a loved one.  It's what gives us the strength to live our lives to the fullest, so that their lives, lost too soon, won't be lost in vain.  Love you dad!

Rest in Peace Avalanna Routh

Just a quick post today.  I heard a story in the news back in February about a cute six year old girl from named, Avalanna Routh, who was suffering from a rare form of brain cancer.  Avalanna was in love with Justine Bieber and so wanted to meet him.  Now, I am too old to be a Justin Bieber fan, and I don't listen to his style of pop music, but young Mr. Bieber showed the world that he was brought up well and has a heart of gold when he visited his biggest fan, Avalanna, on Valentines Day earlier this year.  Way to go Justin!  Good job bringing joy to the heart of a six year old girl.

Sadly, it was just announced on the news this morning that Avalanna died yesterday morning.  It was heart breaking to hear of her death.  The story of Justin Bieber's bond with Avalanna is heart warming and it highlights how love and compassion are what make the human experience so incredible.  Justin Bieber did not just visit Avalanna once and then move on.  He maintained contact with her and her family, and made this young girl's last few months on this Earth so special.  Avalanna may have died too soon, but while she was here on Earth she touched many hearts, and she experienced love on a level that most people who live a lifetime will never experience.

I don't know Avalanna, but I will keep her spirit, love, and strength in my heart when I run.  Rest in Peace.

Trail Running is Fun

I decided to go for a run after work yesterday.  I thought a nice relaxing trail run would be a good change of pace.  Since I am coming off the half marathon my training plan says I should have done an easy 4 to 5 miles yesterday.  So, I found a route that was about 4.5 miles.  I choose a trail run because I haven't run on a trail in a while.  I was warned by one of my co-workers that I might see a few deer along the way.  Sure enough not five minutes into the run there were two does (that's female deer, not does or does not) staring at me.  They were about 5 feet off the trail, so I was a bit startled to be so close all of a sudden.  They, on the other hand, were not startled.  I guess they are used to us crazy runners in the woods.

I plodded on, working my way up Mt. Joy (aptly named, since I was having so much fun).  This is in Valley Forge Historic Park in Pennsylvania.  I am working out of my company's office down here this week.  I have never run this route before, so it was fun to be exploring a new route.

I continued on to the top of Mt. Joy, only to be greeted by two more deer.  This time it was two young bucks.  I was worried that the bucks might be more aggressive than the does, so I tried to avoid any sudden movements.  They were un-phased by my presence.  I guess they too are accustomed to crazy humans running along in the woods for no apparent reason what-so-ever.

The trail wound down the opposite side of the hill.  I say hill because for all intents and purposes, Mt. Joy is a hill.  It may have the prestigious title of mountain, but it's just a hill.  Now going over this hill required an elevation gain of 560 feet, so it's not tiny.  For someone like me, who does not run over mountains on a regular basis, it's a bit of a challenge, but in the grand scheme of trail running as a sport, it's small potatoes.

I continued on down the opposite side, then up another smaller hill, where the trail narrowed to the point where only one person can pass at a time.  A sharp drop was on one side of me, and a sharp incline on the other.  This was a fun goat trail!

I came to the end and turned around to head back to my car.  After completing the route I felt great.  I wasn't tired, I wasn't sore, and I was having fun.  The sun had not gone down yet and I had plenty of time until sunset.  So I thought to myself, should I do it again?  That would be 9 miles!  Hmmmmm?

So, I turned around, and with a smile on my face, I repeated the joyful journey of surmounting Mt. Joy!  What a joy!

Run Happy!  I sure did last night!

Completed Wicked Half Marathon!

I completed the Wicked Half Marathon in Salem, MA on Saturday (9/22).  I ran it in 1:36:33.  I placed 88th out of 813 runners, and 29th in my age group!  Considering I planned to finish the race in 1:42:00, I'm pretty satisfied with the results.

Thank you once again for supporting my training and racing to benefit the North Shore Medical Center's Cancer Center.  So far I have raised $1,232.40.  While my goal is $2000, I still raised more than last year.  For that I am thankful. 

Now I have more race...the big one!  The Bay State Marathon is on October 21st. 

You can still sponsor me by making an online donation at the link below until October 1st.  After that you can mail in a check to address is below!

Donate here:
http://nsmcgiving.partners.org/nealgrasso

or, mail a check here:

North Shore Cancer WALK/RUN
Development O ce
81 Highland Avenue
Salem, MA 01970

Thanks again!  Wish me luck next month!

A Runner's Prayer

The following was the opening prayer at church a few weeks ago.

Divine Physician, healer of bodies and souls, stretch out your hand and touch us.  Recreate us in your own image, and restore us in Christ, so that we may run the race and receive the prize of everlasting life.

While I realize this prayer has a deeper meaning than running, I couldn't help but adopt this payer as my own running prayer.  The way I look at it I'm doing more than just running.  My prize is not simply a metal, or a personal best time.  My prize is not my own, it's the families that will benefit from my efforts.  The ultimate prize is everlasting life.  I'd give up some of that everlasting life if I could help someone else live a little longer, and a little more comfortably in this life.  It's the least I can do.

What are you doing?  Get out and run!  Do something incredible!

Taking Stock

As of today, September 7th, and since June 1st, I have done the following:

• Run: 264.53 miles
• Bike: 198.03 miles
• Swim: 6.19 miles

This adds up to a total of 468.75 miles and 65.36 hours of training.

Not bad!  Kind of puts this entire effort into perspective.  It will be interesting what this all adds up to once I run the final race on October 21st.  Now, this is still small potatoes compared to what professional athletes do, but it's pretty good for an amateur runner, father of two, with a 40 hour plus/week job.

This is where the training = sacrifice.  It's more than just the three races (which add up to 42.44 miles). It's the whole training program. 

So, if you are thinking about donating, but have not, consider these numbers.  If you have donated, and you want to donate more, consider what all this training is worth, and the ultimate cause...helping families who are struggling to care for a loved one with cancer.  I am training for these families, as well as for those I know personally, who are or have struggled with cancer.  Keep that in mind.  I know I do!

Happy running!

Hard is good

A difficult challenge is hard.  Overcoming a difficult challenge feels good.  Therefore, hard = good.  I can lay it out like a math problem.  If, C = Challenge, H = Hard, and G = Good, then:

C = H

C = G

so

H = G

It's that simple.  I've done some hard workouts lately.  20 miles on Saturday.  A 10 mile bike ride on Monday.  Almost 6 miles yesterday, which involved running 1200 meters (3/4 of a mile) at a sprint pace, four times in a row, with little rest in between.  Finally, a 16 mile bike ride today.  All where hard.  All were good! 

The running was harder than the biking.  But, despite the difficulty, when I was done, I felt great.  I kept telling myself that hard is good.  I kept telling myself 'if others, who face more adversity than I do, could do greater things, I surely can do this'.  It's all about perspective. 

Running 26.2 miles is hard, for sure, but there are those in life who have done much harder things.  I can start listing them here, but this entry would not end if I did.  Suffice to say, if you were to take 5 minutes and think about what could be harder than running 26.2 miles, you wouldn't be finished when your time was up.  I think about this every time I head out for a run, or hit the gym.  You should too next time you face a challenge.  It may be hard, but hard is good!

Running and Overcoming Adversity

Running can teach you ways to overcome adversity.  In fact, I just finished a book by ultra marathon runner Scott Jurek, entitled Eat and Run (a great book, which I highly recommend).  In his book Scott described a four step method he uses for dealing with issues, such as injuries, that come up during training or a race.  This method could be applied to any aspect of life, so I thought I would share it here.

The four steps are:

1. acknowledge how you feel;
2. take stock of your situation; 
3. think about how to remedy the situation; and 
4. separate negative thoughts from reality. 

Seems pretty straight forward.  Lets look more closely.

Acknowledge How You Feel
Are you angry, sad, disappointed?  Is there pain?  Is it unbearable?  It's OK to express how you feel and accept it, no matter how strong or weak the emotion.  The important thing is to recognize your feelings and comprehend them.

Take Stock of Your Situation
Objectively evaluate your situation.  List the positive and negative aspects of your situation.  Assess what you have at your disposal to continue on and reach your intended goal.  This is your opportunity to list the who, what, when, where of your situation.

Think About How to Remedy the Situation
Now that you have acknowledged your feelings, and you have objectively evaluated the facts, you can figure out what to do next.  How are you going to reach your goal?  What is your game plan?  How do you implement that game plan?  This is where strategy comes into play.  The better your strategy the more likely you will achieve your goal.

Separate Negative Thoughts from Reality
A game plan is only 1/3 of the solution.  The other 2/3s are implementation and positive attitude.  Implementation is easy.  You have a plan, now do it.  However, if you have any doubts, you may not be able to effectively implement your plan.  So, you need to eliminate your doubts and move forward with out any hesitation.  If you have effectively done steps 1 through 3, you can tell yourself that the reality is that you have a plan, your are ready to go, and you know you can do it.  Keep those negative thoughts out of your head, maintain a positive attitude, and you are more likely to succeed. 

Running can be so much fun!  Life is like a good long run.  You should enjoy every minute of it...the beauty, the challenge, and the success!  Run happy, and have fun!

Its been a while...

So, it's been a while since I posted.  I've been a little busy, but that's OK.  Allow me to recap:

• 8/15 - Went to Wisconsin for business and ran 5 miles along Lake Superiror.  What a spectacular run!  The mist off the lake first thing in the morning was absolutely stunning.
• 8/17 - Ran 8 miles at a very strong pace.  I was very pleased with my speed and will continue working on that.  I think I may have a decent time in the marathon.  I guess the training is paying off.
• 8/19 - Ran 12 miles like it was nothing.  It felt really good, and once again I ran at a very good pace.

This week, I'm gearing up to run 17 miles on Sunday.  So far so good!


On another note, I've been reading a new book.  Terry Fox, His Story.  Terry Fox was a young athlete in Canada who was diagnosed with bone cancer and lost his leg at mid thigh.  With a prosthetic leg he ran across Canada in 1980 to raise money for cancer research.  He called it the Marathon of Hope.  His path was to run over 5300 miles from St. Johns, Newfoundland to the Pacific coast.  He made it to Thunder Bay, Ontario (3339 miles) before he had to stop for health reasons.  Terry died in 1981 due to complications from cancer.  Since 1981, the Annual Terry Fox Run has taken place across Canada to raise money for cancer research.

The book contains excerpts from Terry's personal diary.  On April 26th 1980 he wrote "I want to set an example that will never be forgotten.  It is courage and not foolishness.  It isn't a waste."

Terry's selfless, relentless, running is more inspiring than you can possibly imagine.  If he can run 3339 miles, in tremendous pain, I'll be fine.  Besides, it's a selfless act that I am performing for others.  It isn't a waste.

Be inspired!  Run and have fun!  Run for someone else!  It isn't a waste!

20 miles!

I just ran 20 miles.  Wow. I feel ... tired.  But not too tired to continue on.  My workouts have been great lately.  I ran 7 miles on Thursday like it was nothing.  I ran 16 miles, all on trails, while in New Hampshire last weekend.  It was spectacular!  Best of all, I am still receiving donations.  Every donation goes a long way, and helps keep me motivated.

While I was running today I had my I-pod on shuffle.  A John Denver song came on that I think sums up the long distance running experience quite well.

Sometimes I fly like an eagle
And sometimes I'm deep in despair

The despair comes when you are very tired, and every muscle aches.  But the flying happens when you are just cruising along and everything is going your way!  Most of the time I'm flying.  When the despair comes, I just think about flying. 

Check out the entire song by John Denver, Looking for Space.  It's a beautiful song!

Run happy!

Olympics

With the Olympics coming up I am looking forward to some additional inspiration.  The US team has a really good chance to medal in the Marathon, as well as other long distance events such as the 5000 Meter and 10000 meter event.  How exciting!  If that's not inspiring enough, I bet the human interest stories that are always featured will prove to be very inspiring.  They always seem to be able to find the athlete with 11 kids, grew up in poverty, had to fight a life threatening illness, but found the motivation, energy, and strength to train for Olympic gold!  If that guy can achieve his drams, so can I!  Wow, what an adrenaline rush!  Watch out world, here I come!  Get out, get moving, and run happy!

Plug for "MapMyRun.com"

So, I've been logging my workouts on mapmyrun.com, which is affiliated with MapMyFITNESS.com.  I have to say, this site is the best site to keep track of your workouts.  You can log everything you want from a walk to a swim, and everything in between.  You can even keep a food journal.  No only that, if you have a GPS watch, or an i-phone, you can upload your workout data with easy.

I map my runs ahead of time so that I know the route before I hit the road.  It works great.  Then you can monitor your progress when you run that route again in the future.  The mapping feature is easy to use and you can view your route multiple ways, including a profile of the elevation changes.

Another cool feature is that you can checkout how your friends are doing.  It's set up like a social networking site, so you can friend people you know, then either compete with them or encourage them to keep up the good work. 

If you want to follow my workouts, you can go to mapmyrun.com, look me up, and then you can see how I'm doing.  You can send me notes to encourage me, or just sit back and see the progress.  Better yet, you can start logging your own workouts!!  So get outside, hit the road or the trail, and run happy!

Goal Setting

Set goals that will push you beyond what you think you can accomplish.

I read this once in some training materials that I received from my employer.  Goal setting is something one needs to do in every aspect of their life, not just at work.  Seems to me that running a marathon fits the description above.  It's not going to be easy, but it's a worthy goal.

The alternative is to set goals that are easy.  Where it he challenge in that? If you know you can do it, without much effort, then why do it?  It's much more exiting and rewarding to do realize a goal that was a difficult.

I guess I have always done this.  When I was a senior in high school my guidance councilor guided me towards colleges that were easy to get into.  I thought she was nuts!  Yeah, you have to have a safety school (one you are guaranteed to get into) but thought it was better to try for harder schools.  I did that, and got into one of my reach schools, Skidmore College.  Once there, I continued the trend and stretch myself outside of my comfort zone.  I still do that today.

Doc Brown, the crazy doctor who invented a time machine in the 1985 movie Back to the Future, would say "if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything."  I'll amend that to include your body too.

Go out and achieve something!

Neal

Endurance

Merriam Webster's dictionary defines endurance as "the ability to withstand hardship or adversity; especially: the ability to sustain a prolonged stressful effort or activity".  But to me endurance is more than just withstanding hardship, or just dealing with a bad situation.  Endurance is more about transcending hardship, or rising above a difficult situation.  When we just deal with a bad situation, we are saying to ourselves that we accept that situation without question, thus addressing only the immediate hardship.  But when we rise above adversity, we enable ourselves to see over the forest to the mountains and valleys beyond.  We not only address the immediate situation, but we find the path to avoid theses adverse situations again, or at lead to better deal with these situations.

This brings me to another definition of endurance.  Permanence.  Homer's The Iliad and the Odyssey endure because the stories are so meaningful and accessible.  You many even say they transcend time!  So, when I think of endurance I also think of permanence, or "the ability to continue or remain without fundamental or marked change".

When people say that marathon runners are "endurance" athletes, most people think of only the first definition, the suffering part of endurance, but they forget the permanence part of endurance.  Marathon runners endure.  Not only can they suffer through the difficulty of running 26.2 miles, but they have the ability to run mile 1 and mile 26 at exactly the same pace, with the same amount of strength and ability.  Endurance is more than suffering.  Endurance is transcendence.

Ready to Get Back Out There

After much needed rest, I think I'm ready to get back out there and hit the road.  Well, as I said earlier, I think I'll hit the trail instead.  Trail running can be easier on the body because of the increased shock absorption of the trail surface, so may be my joints and muscles will be less injury prone.  Pavement and other hard surfaces do not provide any shock absorption, so that may have contributed to my injury.  So, I'll take it slow and easy and be gentle on the body before I jump back into my Marathon training mode. 

I've created a marathon training plan, based on the Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training (FIRST) 3plus2 training program.  3 key runs per week and 2 (or 3) cross training seasons per week.  Lots of work, but lots of fun too!  Looking forward to it! 

Find a fun trail to run near you here! Your body will thank you!