Ultra running – Serenity Through Sweat

It was winter break of my junior year of college, December 2007 and January 2008. I was burning the candle at both ends. Flying, studying, surfing, partying, playing ultimate Frisbee. Even youth has is limits.

I had a stress fracture in my shin and arthritis in both ankles at the ripe old age of 20.

I was laid up on the couch and my roommate had given me the first few seasons of Lost on DVD.

The rooftop from our airbnb in Marseille

This was back when we would sit down together for scheduled programming. If we were lucky, it was DVR’ed, and we could fast forward through commercials.

I was two or three seasons behind and the combination of my limited mobility and break from school made the perfect environment for a binge watch.

It’s hard to go back in time to relive the cultural phenomenon that was Lost. Game of Thrones maybe came close, but it was a different time.

The cold open of season 2 episode 1 Man of science man of faith originally aired Sep 21 2005. It brought a swift end to the cliffhanger ending from season one introducing us to Desmond Hume the sole inhabitant of the hatch.

Cathedral Notre dame and beach day in the Mediterranean

We see Desmond go through his morning routine in the isolation of the hatch while listening to “make your own kind of music” by Cass Elliot.

We also see lead character Jack Shepherd meet Desmond in a flash back as they are both doing a tour d’ stade. Running every step in every section of a stadium.

I was hooked on the show and couldn’t wait to catch up and watch weekly with my friends.

This was also the time when I first thought about endurance sport. I remeber watching Lost on DVD in my basement while wearing an air cast and elevating my leg and looking up ultra marathons at the same time.

Boat tour past Chateau D’if and haling and swimming in the Frioul archipelago

I was unable to put weight on my foot without pain, so the obvious reaction for me was, when this is healed, how far can I go?

I have yet to do an ultra marathon, but I’ve done my fair share of tour d’ stade around the country.

Needless to say, the show, and those characters specifically, had a big impact on me. I still like to use Desmond’s line when he leaves Jack to resume his stadium run, “I”ll see you in another life brother” in that dashing Australian accent.

All that trip down memory lane to say, I was thinking about that song, that show, that simpler time in my life, while I was reflecting on my summer vacation with my family.

We had planned to take Speedy and El Duderino on our first big trip once they were both over five. We took months planning a trip to Marseille and continuing on a Mediterranean cruise out of Athens.

The places we visited and the memories we made were magical. I wouldn’t trade them for anything. And yet, there were aspects of the trip that made it feel like a national Lampoons family vacation movie.

Our flight plans changed last minute due to airplane swaps and an ATC strike in France. We ended up flying to Amsterdam and taking two trains with a subway connection through Paris to Marseille. From the end of my work trip to reaching our Airbnb, I think it was roughly 36 hours of travel time.

My father was pickpocketed while protecting Speedy in the subway car in Paris, in almost exactly the same spot I was pickpocketed years earlier on the trip where I proposed to Heather.

At the Airbnb, my father fell down some stairs breaking a few toes. El duderino fell in the pool and got a cut under his chin that probably could have been stitched. Speedy fell off the deck and we were worried about a concussion.

Acropolis tour and getting on the cruise ship

There were wildfires in the Calanques National park not more than a few miles from where we were staying. The smoke was bad enough to close the airport to all flights the day before we were scheduled to fly to Athens for our cruise.

During the cruise, Heather, Speedy, and I all took turns with 2 day colds and fevers.

On paper, it seemed like a comedy of errors. Like one thing going wrong after the next. But that isn’t really how i saw it. That isn’t how it felt.

Sometimes, in a bjj or wrestling match or in a race, things aren’t going your way, but you are in it. You quickly acknowledge the setback or the unfavorable circumstance and move forward. The clock is ticking, and you need to adjust your strategy and keep moving. Sometimes you come out on top, and sometimes you don’t. But you keep moving.

There were certainly times when I felt overwhelmed. Times when I felt like I would be letting the family down if I couldn’t solve the next problem or tackle the next challenge.

But I dont think that is how I will remember the trip. I certainly dont think that’s how the boys will remember the trip.

Sometimes, we get to make our own kind of music. The music can change the way the story feels. The way it unfolds in our minds and our hearts in spite of what is in front of our eyes.

We saw such beautiful places and we did it together. We had experiences, fun, and challenging and new. We rolled with the punches, and we overcame. Together.

I hope that my boys can look back fondly on this first of hopefully many family trips.

I hope that they can appreciate the time spent together in a family adventure.

I hope that someday, they can laugh with me about obstacles overcame and challenges met that they hopefully didn’t even recognize.

I hope they can grow into young men who can meet those same obstacles and challenges head-on with families of their own.

Boat cruise, swimming and Delos tour in Mykonos

I hope they can make their own ki d of music, to whatever beat they find appealing. I hope that they can be the author of their own destiny, writing the story the way they want it to be read. I hope we can all find serenity along the way.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. We have officially crossed the one year mark, and I’m grateful for all of you who have followed along. I especially appreciate your readership because I know sometimes I can get lost in the woods or have a wonky perspective. With that in mind I want to talk about alternative facts.

The phrase coined in 2017 during Trump administration, alternative facts, are a fancy way of rebranding a falsehood. But I will use the phrase in a different and I think more appropriate way.

I have been searching through running world archives for one of my favorite running stories, and have been unable to find the article so forgive me for paraphrasing and not citing. The story goes something like this:

A husband and wife are competing in the same ultra distance trail running event. At the end of the event each of them is interviewed. In the husband’s interview he recalls memories from his time on the trail, winning the race, helping his wife cross a creek that was too deep for her, and his wife eventually coming in dead last. In the wife’s interview she recalls memories from her time on the trail, being the first female finisher, and her husband finishing next to last.

The husband and wife were the only two people racing. So while both interviews were factual, the tell two very different stories. Now this could be called perception, or connotation, but I think alternative facts is actually a great descriptor.

The husband won the race, that is a fact. He also finished next to last, that is an alternative fact. They are both real and true and describe the same event. The order of which is the “fact” and which is the “alternative fact”, is interchangeable depending on the message you are trying to communicate.

I read this story a few years back and it stuck with me. It stuck with me because of: how zany ultra runners, especially when married to each other are, the fun and interesting ways we can present the same information, and how we choose to present the same facts, especially when we are motivated by competition.

Switching gears to my work peers, (feel free to skip ahead three paragraphs if this doesn’t apply to you) I think we find ourselves in a similar situation looking at the current LOA vote. I am not nearly smart enough to find all the easter eggs and “what if’s” in this deal, but the main issue seams to be the TLV reduction.

The TLV reduction, just like the ultra runners, is either a quality of life win, or a concession to the company, depending on where you sit and what your message is. They are both true concurrently, and our individual competitive need to be right, further fueled by being “fact” (or alternative fact) based, is why we are seeing the high level of division within our ranks.

El Duderino digging in to some Deer Poop (chocolate covered raisins)

It is important to remember that like the runners, we are married to each other and running the race together. We each have a vote, and it is not in the scope of this publication nor is it my personal desire to sway you one way or the other. I would seek only to remind us all that we are on the same team, and the “alternative facts” of the LOA based on your perception, should not diminish our enjoyment for this race we embark upon together.

When forming an argument, the facts are obviously important and essential, but the message, intent and tone, take a close second. In cases where “alternative facts” are present those secondary factors are further amplified.

A couple good runs since the arrival of friendlier Florida temps

Being a zany endurance althete, and a competitor by nature, I often find myself alternating between “fact” and “alternative fact” as it suits my message and desire to win an argument. It is a bad habit that results in compromised communication and added angst in my relationships.

As we move through a contentious election season, a potentially dividing LOA, and a tumultuous 2020, I ask that we all consider the facts, and the alternative facts, and then engage each other as colleagues, peers, and friends.

Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.

Tag: Ultra running

Make your own kind of music

Alternative Facts