Thursday, October 21, 2004

Doing the impossible: Goal setting and the Red Sox

First, today's run: Decided to add the pick-ups that Dave had on his marathon schedule to the 1-hour run that I switched from yesterday to today on Mike's schedule (too stiff-legged to run that long yesterday, just ran 47:17, 8 little pick-ups to something imitating running pace for 100ish m.). Today's were to be from one to three minutes. So I decided to make a pyramid out of it: 200, 400, 600, 600, 400, 200. Listed below are the times for these repeats and, in parentheses, what I guessed the times to be before looking at my watch (in some cases, I didn't remember to guess):

200--56.14 (62)
400--1:56.5 (2:04)
600--2:54.34
600--2:54.? (Note: stopped and accidently restarted watch so time said first 2:54something, then 2:55.8, but I'm going by the 2:54.)
400--1:55.51 (!:58)
200--53.84

I was thinking about Larry Simmons while doing these, and Russell. Russell used to say "breathe in, breathe out!" and now I know he must have gotten that from Larry. I found myself working the repeats a little harder because I sensed Larry's voice--"let's see what you can do with this"--and I was surprised that both my 600s were under 3 mins. and that although my original plan was to go 200 or one min. whichever came first, 400 or two mins., etc., I decided that would be too complicated, and I'd do the repeats w/out all the permutations (less bothering with my watch as a result)

Pylometric drills--not quite 15 mins. tho. I did five reps of the following: high knees, skip bounds, quick feet, "majorettes" (kind of a speeded up version of a t'ai chi kick), and butt kicks. Any resemblance between my style of doing these and, say, Maurice Greene's would be nothing short of miraculous, unless we're talking about Maurice Greene at, say, 89.

***

Then there's that Red Sox win! They're the first team in history to come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a pennant. As Pirates broadcaster Bob Prince was prone to say when his Bucs would come back from what seemed to be a deep hole to win a game, "we had 'em all the way!"

I made a lighthearted comment several days ago on the Dead Runners Society listserve that I'd consider an ultra if the Red Sox won the World Series. Hah! The rascals are out to get me to run an ultra! When I do, I'll wear a Red Sox cap by way of thanksgiving (or blame?). But the connection seems appropriate. They have shown us all something about doing what can't be done, about skipping past the "can't's" and making something happen. I think to myself--ME? Run an ULTRA?? No way!! Yet these guys came back, gutted out two consecutive extra-inning games, made us all sweat with them, pushed the boundaries of our beliefs, and told us, yes, this too can be done.

I want to carry that into other areas of my life. In darker moments, I sometimes think, "I can't do things right! I'll never find the right job. I should just settle for whatever I can get." But I had an odd feeling. Today I will find exactly the right job. I am right on the trail of it. Sometimes it's what you believe in that you'll get. I don't mean that if I believe I'll win the Philly Marathon overall that in fact I will. But I also know that if I expect that I'll run the best marathon I'm capable of, set my sights a little higher than I think is possible, I'll surprise myself--I'll find a stronger runner than I thought possible. We form partnerships with our physical limitations and our capabilities--and our dreams...and we set goals accordingly.

Last night, the Red Sox taught us something about perseverence and faith and setting goals. They recognized as an organization what they needed to do to win, what their strengths and weaknesses were, learned from their mistakes, and did the "impossible."

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