Here's What, Here's How, Here's Why

One day a red-tailed fox was strolling through an orchard and saw a bunch of grapes ripening on a high vine.  “Just the thing to quench my thirst,” he thought.  Backing up a few paces, he took a run and jumped at the grapes, just missing.  Turning around again, he ran faster and jumped again.  Still a miss.  Again and again he jumped, until at last he gave up out of exhaustion.  Walking away he thought: “I am sure they were sour.” 

A while later a graying fox strolled through the same orchard and saw the same bunch of grapes.  “Just the thing to quench my thirst,” he thought.  He looked around for the best way to approach the grapes, for he knew he would not have many chances to grab them.  He found a path and with one long, powerful drive he charged at the grapes, leapt and snatched them from the vine.  And they were sweet indeed. 

Here’s What:

On Sunday I ran the Colfax Marathon in 2:56:43 (6:44 / mile pace).  It was a personal best and placed me 9^th overall, 1^st Masters finisher. 

Imagine playing a game.  Each time you come to a decision making point you either chose correctly or incorrectly.  Correct decisions are reinforced and incorrect decisions give you an opportunity to make a correction.  With enough corrections, you come to the right decision.  This was my 15^th marathon and here are some insights.

Here’s How:

I registered for the Colfax Marathon the first week of January.  I visualized the outcome of the race and asked myself, “If I were to run the marathon perfectly, what would that look like?”  “What would I have to do to prepare myself for the race?” 

For the past few months I have limited the amount of meat, gluten and dairy I consume.  This has given me more energy, especially in the later stages of races.  I also drink about three tablespoons of apple cider vinegar each day.  That helps reduce the acidity of my body, reduces inflammation and helps my body process food more efficiently.

Every workout I do has some race pace conditioning.  Even easy days are punctuated with 100 yard striders to remind my legs of race day turnover. 

Several months ago I read an article by Kimberly Keenan-Kirkpatrick, Women's Long Distance Running Chair for USA Track & Field.  She advocated a phase of speed work, then adding distance training when training for the marathon.  So, this winter I spent one workout per week doing Yasso 800 intervals on the treadmill at a 2:56 (5:52 / mile pace). 

Thank you, Bradley Cooper – no, not That Bradley Cooper. 

One Saturday in late November Tim Gentry and I ran a few miles with Brad Cooper.  Brad had recently finished 66^th in the Arizona Ironman Triathlon.  His marathon split was 3:16:56.  Somehow we got on the topic of weight.  I don’t recall Brad’s weight, but I remember thinking about how much more weight I was carrying than he was.  If I could lose weight, I could run faster. 

On January 1^st I weighed 182.4 lbs.  This past Tuesday I weighed 161.4 lbs.  The graphic of my weight loss since January is compelling. 

The results have been remarkable:  personal bests in the ½ marathon and marathon, top 10 finishes and Masters victories in both.

Here’s Why:

Thank you, Heather Utrata.

After the 2012 Platte River ½ Marathon she dissed me on Facebook with this exchange about a photo taken along the course.

Kim Dobson This picture just makes me laugh. Look at our expressions!?!? Pretty sure we have a pic together in this exact same spot from last year.

Heather Utrata yep. and pretty sure we have quite a few where we're passing a bunch of dudes... i like it!

I am one of the dudes she is passing and it is not a flattering photo.  Heather is a great athlete and her comments were made in jest, but they stung nonetheless.

Thank you, Robert Herz.

At last year’s Colfax Marathon Robert passed me within sight of the finish line, beating me by seven seconds.  That was demoralizing and I resolved never to let that happen again.

There are other reasons, but I thought these were worth mentioning. 

Think you can’t achieve the same results?  Think again.  I told myself I could do better.  So can you.