My blog is usually non-topical on purpose. I try not to cover the stuff that you read about in Runner’s World or the the things you hear on TV. This is because, well, you’ve already read/heard it.

However, I did feel the need to discuss a certain Chilean miner running a prominent marathon in America’s largest city.

Edison Pena competed in the New York Marathon, finishing in five hours, forty-one minutes (he could only train so much underground). Pena remarked on the warmth and hospitality of the sideline supporters; this is how we know they weren’t New Yorkers. These fans waved Chile flags for Pena’s sake, which he said pumped him up enough to kick the end of the race.

It’s easy to be cynical, to say that an obscure Chilean miner was trying to extend his fifteen minutes of fame. But reading what Pena had to say on the marathon, and on his training, I think that Pena’s tapped into the running spirit. One statement in particular stood out to me: He said running was his salvation — his way of proving how much he wanted to live.

It reminded me of similar stories told by famous athletes, such as Dean Karnazes or Philippe Croizon (“J’ai decide de vivre”). And of course the less dramatic examples. I think a lot of non-famous runners can identify with Pena’s sentiment. Though we never had such a literal death bearing down on us, we understand.

There’s another kind of death, one that happens to you when you spend day after day the same exact way, when you’re never challenged and never try. You give up on your dreams, and just kind of fade away. Running is for so many a way of staying one step ahead of mediocrity, ahead of stagnation. In other words, a way to live.

There are several questions that come up when someone hears that you’ve run an ultra marathon. Perhaps the most common one (after “are you nuts?”) is about motivation. How exactly does an ultrarunner get in the zone before such a long race?

This question usually bring me back to the day before the Lone Ranger Ultra, sitting in the movies and waiting for Toy Story 3 to start. A preview came on for Legend of The Guardians : The Owls of Ga Hoole. It’s a kid’s movie about owls. I’m not sure who decided that owls would be fitting protagonists for a Lord of the Rings rehash, but that’s not the point. The point is, this movie looks epic; take a moment to watch if you don’t believe me:

The song they used, Kings and Queens, gives me goosebumps every time I hear the ending, when the instrumentals fade and the chorus kicks in. Hearing it in the theater, with the giant 3D owl in flight before me, I wished that I could do something epic.

It took about a minute to realize that, in 24 hours, I would begin a 50-mile run.

So the next morning, when it came time to psych myself up, I turned to music. I don’t usually use music to prepare for a race; I run better given time alone in my head. But this song connected my upcoming race to the adventure I craved. This would be my chance to do something awesome. With that in mind, how could I wuss out?

After that I found this. I’m kind of a sucker for sappy stuff; it made me well up. The clip of Derek Redmond hit especially close to home. With this video looped in the background, I read articles on past greats– not Pre or Bolt but rather Terry Fox and Cliff Young. Inspirational figures who put my 50 miles into perspective. A heady dose of techno topped off the emotional overload.

And so it came to be that, as my brother drove me to the race (thanks again, Chris), I was already emotionally drained. But my spirit rose all the higher for it, unfettered by tangled emotion. My mind was sharp and my body energized. It was a new way to prepare for races. And a good one, I think. It got me through a challenge that was truly epic.

Imagine climbing mount Everest. The days of arduous trekking in full gear. Disassembling your tent knowing that it’s going to be another cold, hard day of climbing. Your joints aching, your breath frozen on your goggles. Trudging forward all the same, knowing that the summit awaits you.

Now imagine that there is an elevator leading to the top of mount Everest. Would people still venture to the summit? Sure, but they wouldn’t tell their grandkids about it.

The point is, people climb the mountain precisely because it’s so hard. Its challenge breaks us away from the mundanity of comfort. Much like running, actually.

And so we arrive at my point:

First off, you can see why this ad attracted my attention. I’ve heard similar arguments over the years from many half-assedletes, but never in reference to marathon training.

A marathon is the Everest to most runners. To run 26.2 miles– well– requires several months of consistent, disciplined training. And I like to think that most marathoners, when they excel in such a challenging event, take pride not in how easy their task was, but how difficult.

After all, you’re not going to sit your grandkids down and tell them about the time you took a shortcut to marathon greatness (Unless you’re Rosie Ruiz). You’re going to tell them about the hard work that went into preparing yourself, mentally, physically, and spiritually for the 26.2.

Even if this method worked (which seems unlikely) it would be like an elevator installed at Mount Everest. You could get to the top, sure, but why bother?

Ever heard of the River to Sea Relay? It’s a relay race from the Delaware River to the Eastern Coast. You and 6 teammates run 92 miles across New Jersey (about 13 miles each).

Some of my Moravian teammates suggested using it as motivation during the summer doldrums. 7 of us could enter, and then we’d have to be in pretty damn good shape by August 1st. The race sounded like a good test (and a lot of fun) until I saw the entry fee.

It costs $450 a team to compete in the River to Sea Relay. Split evenly, that would cost us about sixty-five each! I usually expect to pay between twenty and thirty bucks for a race. I understand why such a long event would cost extra, but I (along with most of my friends) just can’t swing over sixty dollars for a run.

So we will not be competing in the RtS Relay. But we are still looking for a mid-summer, tri-state-area race to run as a team.

Any suggestions?

Most of my team spent last Friday afternoon on the track, doing an endurance workout. This by itself would hardly be newsworthy (even post-in-an-obscure-blog-worthy). But two of my teammates did something that I think deserves mention.

The workout, called “Endless 2′s,” is one that I’d never heard of before coming to college. My coach swears by it, though- he says that it’s great for building endurance. This drill centers around doing many, many 200-meter sprints with little rest in between. Most of the team usually does about 20 sprints before they’re done. Coach has me do low 30′s.

These two friends of mine, though, decided that they weren’t going to settle for reasonable (when do we ever, right?). They were out for a new record. Coach had told us before that one of his runners once did 50 sprints on this workout; respectable, but beatable.

51 sprints later, the battered remains of my friends accompanied us to a lovely cafeteria dinner. One almost fell asleep in the middle of his meal. The other was high as a kite on endorphins. They had averaged a 30-31 second pace on all of their 200′s- not much slower than my fastest sprint.

So, Connor and Pete, Here’s to you guys- For not letting reason get in the way of a great workout.