Thoughts on Training

This week's running keeps getting delayed. Hanging out with friends, playing music, plans to cut the jungle that is my yard after breaking my reel mower and getting boatloads of rain: These things get in the way. But that doesn't stop me from thinking about the running I'd like to be doing.

Despite my decision to DNB the Akron Marathon this year, there's still a strong desire to crack the 20-mile threshold at some point this year. And so that's how I started to build my loose training plan for the Leave No Trace half marathon in August.

The problem is that my buildup has be a little quicker than I'd usually like, but hey nothing's perfect. Going with more of a "15 percent rule" and three days a week, because let's face the fact that I'm barely getting two days a week of running right now.

I'll be honest, the idea of training is freaking me out a little, just as the idea of parenthood freaks me out a lot.

While these two events don't align on an apples to apples comparison, they are both forms of creation. Both require sacrifice, nurturing, consistency and reigning in chaos to produce the desired results. Am I ready to bring this high-tuned running specimen into the world?

Mrs. Viper and I talk a lot about how we want to be good examples for our child. We agree part of that means being fit and active parents.

Some of my fondest memories of my dad are of watching him race the annual 10K in my hometown. I'd go with him to pick up his bib before the race. We'd see him off at the start line. I'd wear the T-shirt while he ran. We'd eat breakfast at the Friendly's that was on the final hill of the route. I can see him waving backwards as he left us behind and how sweaty-gross he was when he returned.

Not that those memories played a part in my becoming a runner, but the importance of sport was always part of my life. When I did start running when I was 26 and decided to enter my first race, I wanted to run that 10K with my dad.

But he wasn't my only influence. Other early memories were of playing in the lobby of the local ice arena while my older brother played hockey. My sister played basketball, then field hockey. My mom used to be a pretty savvy tennis player. I played little league baseball and ice hockey growing up. Until writing this post, I didn't realize how active we were as a family.

With a kid on the way, I want to encourage exercise no matter what activity it may be, and it starts with me and Mrs. Viper. Right now, I may struggle with the fear of training again, but it's important that I find the will to overcome that anxiety. If you scroll down the right column of this blog, you'll see a quote by Dr. George Sheehan, which seems appropriate here.

"Success rests in having the courage and endurance and, above all, the will to become the person you are, however peculiar that may be," he wrote in On Running & Being. "Then you will be able to say, 'I have found my hero and he is me.'"