Let the Music Play

I ran both cross country and track in college.  On race days I would always listen to music while we warmed up.  Most of us did.  We all ran together carrying our huge, yellow Sony Walkman Personal Stereos and listening to our mix tapes.  It drove my coach nuts.  She would be trying to talk to us about our upcoming race; maybe giving us advice or information about our competition and none of us could hear her because we were zoning out to our tunes.   Every meet she would get annoyed and tell us to lose the headphones and every meet we'd do it again.  And then, one day, she made us leave them behind.  For good.  That was a huge bummer.  Huge.  Now that I am a high school cross country coach, I completely understand where she was coming from.  I also feel a little guilty, but there's not much I can do about that.  Today, my runners listen to music; most of them on their iPods or phones.  They listen as they walk to practice.  They listen on the bus to meets.  They listen while they are warming up.  They listen as they stretch.  They listen.  A lot.  And I get it.  In running, it is often music that inspires us. That calms our nerves.  That gets us fired up.  That helps us focus.  That is part of our ritual.  All that said, it is very hard to get large group of girls to pay attention when their music is on.  To some degree, I now see what my own coach was up against.  Are there times when I expect my runners to un-plug?  You bet.  Whether it be so I can talk with them or just so they can have a quiet moment to themselves; as I both understand and appreciate the subtle impact of silence.  I do, however, think there is room for music as long as there is a solid understanding of when it works to plug back in.  And if listening to a "go-to" song helps my runners get to the starting line feeling confident and ready to fly then, by all means, they should turn it up.  And, they do.

LHS LADIES XC: CURRENT TOP PICKS

Obey Your Guns - Matrimony  
Jump On My Shoulders - AWOLNATION 
Can't Hold Us - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (feat. Ray Dalton)  
Sail - AWOLNATION  
Spaceman - Hardwell  
Lose Yourself - Eminem  
Hungry Hearts - Nause  
Classic - MKTO  
Mammoth - Dimitri Vegas, Moguai, & Like Mike  
300 Violin Orchestra - Jorge Quintero  
Brave - Sara Bareilles  
I Will Wait - Mumford & Sons  
San Francisco - The Mowglis  
Radioactive - Imagine Dragons  
A Flat - Black Violin  
The Pheonix - Fall Out Boy  
The Show Goes On - Lupe Fiasco  
Daylight - Matt & Kim  
Anything Could Happen - Ellie Goulding  
We'll be Coming Back - Calvin Harris (Killsonik Remix)  
Eye On It - Toby Mac  
Cassiopeia - Sara Bareilles  
Lonely Boy - The Black Keys  
Pompeii - Bastille  
The Middle - Jimmy Eat World  
You Need Me, I Don't Need You - Ed Sheeran  
Fighter - Christina Aguilera  
I'll Make A Man Out of You - From Disney's Mulan  

Talk. Laugh. Listen. Dance.

"Nothing's better than the wind to your back, the sun in front of you, 

and your friends beside you."

~ Aaron Douglas Trimble

Yesterday I did a long run with my running partner and good friend, KH.   We are both training for a fall marathon and, thankfully, our running schedules are pretty similar.  I have been running solo for most of the summer so I was more than thrilled to have a wingman.  We were on the road together for 3 hours. T-H-R-E-E. Hours.  You know I love music.  A new song or album can motivate me to run like nobody's business.  But, truthfully, I'll take running with a buddy over running solo with a new playlist any day.  The first hour or so of our run literally flew by.  We both have kids.  We both have jobs.  We both have a love/hate relationship with running.  And we haven't seen each other all summer.  Let's just say there was no shortage of conversation.  

Talk.  Laugh.  Listen.  Repeat.  Talk.  Laugh.  Listen.  Repeat.  

As we got into the second hour, our conversation shifted into shorter phrases and one to two word sentences such as; "Stop looking at your watch," and "I'm dying" and "No, you're not" and "What the hell was THAT guy doing?"  And, as you'd expect, by the end, things got pretty quiet.  We were both really tired and we'd covered every topic we could think of.  And we were both really tired.  Did I mention how tired we were?  But even still, the steady rhythm of our feet and our breathing was as good, if not better, than the beat of the music that I depend so heavily on when I am running alone.  It was long.  It was insanely hard.  It was hot.  And in it's own, crazy, backwards way, it was awesome.  For me, running is like dancing.   Dancing is fun.  And I have no problem doing it by myself.  But, it's a lot more fun to dance with a friend than to dance alone.

Listen to this:
Pumpin Blood - NONONO  

New...Again

We are young

We are one

Let us shine for what it's worth

~ The Royal Concept, 'On Our Way'

Yesterday was our first 'official' cross country practice.  Can you feel me smiling?  I am a new, different and, in many ways, better, person/runner/mom/friend when I start a new season.  My energy is refreshed.  My senses are heightened.  My emotions are tapped in new ways.  I see things differently.   I hear things differently.  I relate on a new level.  On their level.  But also on mine.  From day one, I start to learn from them as I hope they learn from me.  Yesterday I was surrounded by almost 50 high school girls who love to run and love to be a part of team.  Who support each other.  Who laugh together.  Who struggle together.  Who push themselves beyond their comfort zone.  And who come back again the next day and do it all over again.  I am giddy.  I am nervous.  I am ready.  And I am so damn lucky.  I have the best job in the world.  GO LEX!

Listen to this:
ON OUR WAY - The Royal Concept  

The Joy of Running *

* Full disclosure. It's a long one.

"Life (& running) is not all about time but about our experiences along the way."

~ Jen Rhines

On Monday I had an epiphany.... a re-awakening of sorts.  Let's rewind a bit first.  About six years ago I ran my first marathon.  I had been living in MA for several years and the Boston Marathon had always been on my bucket list.  I'd just given birth to my second daughter and I was fired up to get back into running.  I really wanted to qualify, so I gave it a shot with the Baystate Marathon in Lowell (fast and flat, baby!).  I squeaked into Boston by a hair.  Literally.  30 seconds slower and I wouldn't have made it.  Talk about lucky.  My plan was to go ahead and run Boston the following spring since I already had the mileage under my belt.  Unfortunately, that didn't work out due to a stress fracture, so I had to defer my entry and take a few months off to heal.  As soon as I could, I started to run again.  My mileage base was zero, so it was a slow start.  But, I was determined to run Boston come hell or high water, so I didn't care.  As I began training again, I started to run some shorter local races to mix things up.  With each race, I saw my hard work come to fruition with some solid race times (for me).  And the harder I worked, the more my times came down.  That spring, I successfully completed the Boston marathon.  Once I crossed that line, I was hooked.  I had tasted the Kool-Aid and it was really good.

More, more, MORE!

After the marathon, I decided to shift gears, ramp up my training and see what I was capable of.  I started working with a coach and dedicated most of my free time to running.   I had two goals - I wanted to run a sub-20 minute 5K and I wanted to bring my marathon time down.  After several months and several races, I accomplished my first goal and broke through the 20 minute barrier.  I instantly reset my goal to sub-19.  The next year, I checked off my second goal, bringing my marathon time down by 7 minutes.  Yippeee!!  It was all very exciting, rewarding, thrilling, etc.   But at the same time, it was never quite enough.  I had crazy-eye and my eye was always on the prize, but the prize was ever-changing and always just out of reach.

In this case, I am the cat and the fish is the PR;
always moving and slightly unattainable.

This past March I ran my sixth and fastest marathon to date in Albany, GA.  I knocked almost 25 minutes off of my first marathon time.  I came in 4th overall and first in my age group.  When I crossed the line, I was very happy.  I hugged the pacer and walked around feeling like a super star....for about 5 minutes.  Maybe 10.  And then, my wheels started spinning.  What next?  When?  Where?  Come on, come on, let's go.

So...close.  Just can't...quite...get...it.

Fast forward to today.  Yes, I am still training.  Yes, I am still working with a coach.  But, over the past few months, my priorities have shifted.  I love running.  I love the way it makes me feel.  But, as I got more into the racing side of it over the years, I now realize I was often running for the wrong reason.  More often than not, the pure joy of running was lost on me.  Since March, I have run 5 short, local races.  My times - for all of them - have been the slowest they've been in years.  No joke.  And yet, they have been some of the most rewarding races I've run to date for reasons totally unrelated to my performance.  (See Samantha's Harvest, Murdick's Run the Chop & Race for Jabberwocky).  In all of these cases, I never walked away feeling defeated.  Something inside of me had shifted and my perspective had changed.

HAAAAALLELUJAH!

On Monday, I got up early to run 14 miles.  Rather than rush off as I usually do, I sat and enjoyed a cup of coffee with my mom for a while before I headed out.  It was lovely.  I grabbed my music and left my watch behind.  The weather was perfect.  After about 30 minutes, I ran into my friend, Johanna; also a runner.  She was with her boys who were biking along side her.  She asked me how much I had left and I told her I wasn't sure but it would be a while.  She said, "Boys, Mrs. Trachsel is running 14 miles today.  Can you believe that?"  Her son, Jack, who is 7, said, "Can I run 14 miles, mom?"  We laughed.  "Yes, but when you're older" I said.  I gave him a high-five and continued on.  I cruised along, smiling at nothing in particular, soaking in the moment, feeling each step; reveling in the simple joy of running.  It was one of the best runs I've had in years.  This, I reminded myself, this is why I run.  

Listen to this:
Let Go - RAC (ft. Kele & MNDR)