Suffering for Your Sport

Here are a few things that have kept me busy during the last two weeks:

 Watching friends race The Carlsbad 5000!  It was a windy day but we had lots of fun spectating.

 Stinky Pants has a disco party in the bath tub.  These are GLOW STICKS which provide at least ONE HOUR of bath time fun(as long as your little one isn't afraid of the dark...).

Bobbing and swaying for EASTER PEEPS.  This was so fun to watch.  My kinders "earned" a marble jar party through good behavior and actually requested this activity as their "party."  It also gave me a glimpse into their mouths and I was very impressed with their clean, white teeth...which were about to be covered by sticky, purple,  PEEP!

In contrast with the low key FUN I've been having during my two weeks of SPRING BREAK,  I've also been training for a 5k which I'm running tomorrow(down low race-K)and I'm  training for a hilly trail 22k race in Malibu in a few weeks...

and thinking a lot about SUFFERING.  As in PAIN.  It came to me last week after reading an elite's blog about how she wakes up every single day with some type of pain and also runs with pain, generally, throughout most of her runs.  She isn't injured, just a fast runner who  must MANAGE her pain. Check her out here:   http://camilleherron.com/

That's me!   Well, not the FAST RUNNER/ELITE  part but as I've begun to put weeks of hill training into my running schedule and then follow that with interval training at faster paces,  I've realized that my body is SORE.  I'm not afraid of this pain anymore,  after a few marathons you begin to appreciate that the pain is a reflection of how hard your body has worked and performed.  I have, instead,  learned to welcome the pain and even ask for more, especially during races.  It's not the DEBILITATING pain that makes you want to limp, fall to the ground and reach for ice.  It's more like the eye rolling pain, the pain that sets in when you've pushed your body to it's limit and you still know you have more to GIVE.  It's just a GOOD KIND OF SUFFERING.  A "bring it on suffering."  A PUSH THROUGH-HANG ON  suffering.  

Frank Shorter once said,  "Marathons hurt up to point and then it doesn't get any worse."  I have become a seeker of that most ultimate pain and suffering just so that I can KNOW that that's where the threshold lies and it won't ever pass that point and get any worse.  So far,  I continue to seek it in every race.  It's become a new THING of mine.  Crazy, I know, but still fun in the sense that it's connected to RUNNING and moving forward as quickly as possible.  Pain is just a part of that game.

I know that we all have different reactions towards pain, running and racing.  Some have a higher threshold of pain.  Some not so much.  It's become an interest of mine as I take on more hills at a faster pace and get ready for my race in a few weeks...trying to find the threshold which is NOT the sweet spot of running but rather,  more like the SUFFERING SPOT.  Such a challenge.

How do you react to pain and that SUFFERING SPOT during a race?