Just Do It

It’s been a long, long time.  Too long.  This week, I began cross-training again (that is doing workouts that include activities other than running).  This of course is fantastic news for me because I only cross-train in a gym.  In fact I was a gym rat for many years.  THEREFORE, this means . . .  wait for it . . . I have a gym membership once again!  (Thanks to my hubby for this wonderful gift.)

So excited to visit the gym again, I wasn’t able to get out for a run this week until this evening.  But beforehand, I  spent two hours in the gym doing cardio and strength training in the early afternoon.  Back home, I rested up for about two hours.  Then I was off again headed for the coastal hills.  My objective:  to run on tired legs.  And boy were they TIRED.  My legs were so tired in fact, as I set off into Wood Canyon, I really didn’t want to do this short out-and-back at all. 

“Just do it,” I said to myself.  I wonder if Nike, or whoever it was, knew the power of those words when they began using it in their ad campaign.  Just do it.  Just do it.  And I was off, one foot in front of the other, knowing that all I had to do was “do it,” and I would soon be finished.  The steepest portion (Cholla Trail) I found profoundly difficult to run, especially with no breeze and hot weather.  After that, each step became more and more bearable.

I saw two other runners, running together, one hiker and two mountain bikers.  I also saw two coyotes, on separate occasions, one bunny and about twenty-five lizards.   I didn’t run any loop-de-lu’s, like I usually do to fancy-up this out-and-back.  Instead, I ran straight to Top of the World, re-filled my handheld, turned around and ran straight back.  Total miles: 6

Glorious.

View of Pacific Ocean from West Ridge:

Top of the World:

View of Saddleback Mountains from West Ridge:

Why I Cross-Train

Okay, I know that I’ve mentioned this probably a dozen times before, but I’ve never considered myself an athlete.  I feel this way even though I’m a trail runner and have played various sports.  I think I’ve never considered myself an athlete partly due to the fact that I come a family of superb athletes – I mean superstars in their sports (not professional sports, but sports they’ve chosen in their lives: baseball, softball, hockey, figure skating, wrestling, football, to name a few). Though I experienced some triumphs, I pale in comparison ability-wise to siblings, cousins, uncles, my father.  I also don’t think that I “look” like an athlete – however, I now know that athletes come in all “looks” and that is WONDERFUL.

Slowly (very slowly – pun intended – those who’ve run with me get the pun :), I’ve been coming around to admit that I’m an athlete.  I just can no longer deny it.  I mean, I keep showing up at these races, and people are starting to recognize me!  Not only that, I cross-train for goodness sake.

Cross-train.

Me? 

I didn’t begin cross-training on purpose.  I cross-train because I have to.  I mean REALLY HAVE TO.  I run 3 to 4 times a week, and I’m at the gym the remaining days (with one rest day).  I swim.  I weight train.  I spend hours on the elliptical crossramp.  I even ride the life cycle (what we used to call the stationary bike – they don’t even call it a “life cycle” anymore, that’s the 80’s brand.)

When I began running, I thought that running would make me strong enough to run.  Even before I hit the trails I learned that running didn’t make me strong enough to run.  Right about the time I could run ten miles, my body started saying “NO WAY, you are not STRONG ENOUGH!”  And it started tweaking in different places.  I remember the first time.  I don’t recall the exact injury.  But I remember sobbing as I called my husband to pick me up at the marina, because the pain was too great to run. 

Still, I endured the injuries, took time off, then moped around the house because I couldn’t run.  And then the big awakening happened in my life.  I began my passion at the ripe age of 43.  Trail Running.  And injuries abounded. 

With each injury I learned a new body part that needed strengthening, strengthening that could not be done by running.  But I could strengthen different body parts in the pool, or on the elliptical or with weights.  And that is why I cross-train – so I can be strong enough to run the trails.  And now, I love it, cross-training that is.  And as an added bonus, I fall less on the trail because I am strong enough to pull my self up as I’m going down.  I don’t fly off the cliff when I run off the trail, because I am strong enough to turn my body around mid-air, and crash into the hillside instead (see San Juan 50k).  I can jump from boulder to boulder.  And more importantly, I know when I should jump, because I now know my body better – I have been there, I have seen the light, I can feel every muscle and can judge whether or not I should make that jump.

Cross-training is a big plus in my life.

Therefore, I suppose I am an athlete.