"We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey." - Kenji Miyazawa
Join us Friday September 13th at 6:00pm at Schmidty's for our Social!
Spelunking in the Pain Cave
Find the Bigger Purpose
What meaning does the pain have? What is your "why? Think of the short term benefits - satisfaction of a solid workout, knowing you gave it your all. Think of the long term benefits - health, achieving your goals. Can the pain teach you anything? Can you learn to sit with it? Can it make you kinder to yourself or more compassionate to others?
Explore the Sensations
What does the "pain" actually feel like? Pain is not always a bad thing. Find the good in it. Bring truth to the phrase "hurts so good." Find different ways to describe it. Maybe it's not even all that painful; maybe you need to expand your vocabulary and perceptions of the sensations. Explore the hidden corners of the pain cave and find the secret treasures buried there. Other interpretations: sharp. Dull. Achey. Stabbing. Shooting. Numb. Pressure. Poking. Bring awareness to it. Find the awareness to explore it by remembering to breathe. In the breath, you can find the peaceful, pain-free part of your awareness.
Find What Feels Good
If the sensations get hard to manage, you can turn towards the feeling, or you can sit with it while focusing attention on what feels good. Maybe your quads burn, but your arms can still pump fast and furious to move you along. Maybe your feet are sore, but your glutes can power you up the hill. Focus on the good, the strong, the positive.
Use Nature as an Ally
Feel the rocky, rooty, ground under your feet (or the concrete, asphalt ground). Focus on the contact. Can you feel the dirt? Can you feel the variations in surface? Can you feel the gradual incline? Notice the gradual downhill, the twists and turns of the trail. It's like an ocean wave, up and down, spinning you around and around. Feel the wind at your back - nature pushing you along. Listen to teh birds cheering you along - the best crew in the world! Hear the breeze rusling through the trees. The heat of the sun beating down on you becomes the warmth of a summer run, your thirst makes the cold water afterwards all the more satisfying. You have the power to spin the situation towards the positive, and it helps to take a focus on the outside world.
Use creative imagery
How is your breathing? Take a big, deep breath, fill it up like an enormous balloon on the verge of popping - but then slowly deflate that balloon, let it all out. Let out the pain and negativity and struggle. Next breath in - let the air and oxygen flow through you - refreshing! Breathe in this moment, the good of the moment. Breathe in what's going well and what you feel good about in life. Treat the hill like a challenge in life that you want to overcome. When the pain hits, your legs burn, your lungs cry out for oxygen, don't fight the moment in which your body tells your brain to stop. It's a natural physical reaction. But with that, your brain can tell your body to keep going. You can choose your response. Do you want to meet your life challenge? Use that as your reason to keep going. Try pretending you're not a human body. Be a snake, slithering lightly along the trail. Be water, wrapping itself around the rocks, flowing along the bends of the trail. Be a bat, flapping its wings like it's flying out of hell.
Find the gratitude
Going back to the bigger purpose. How blessed to be alive and able to even feel the burning pain of running - or any type of pain at all. Finding the meaning, the why, the bigger purpose of pain, can help you appreciate it and be grateful for it, at the same time that part of it sucks. You can sit with it, rather than default to push it away or try to escape from it. This removes the secondary distress of being stressed out about the pain! You might not like the pain or want it in this moment, but by finding a higher purpose for it, you can better live with it. And when pain is just pain and you struggle to find a higher purpose, use it as all the more reason to be kind to yourself. Open up to others about it - receive comfort and connection in empathy. Use it to open your compassion for others in pain. In doing so, you live the higher purpose of the pain. It's a reminder to be self-compassionate, empathetic, slow down, connect with others that way. Pain is funny that way - it is the best sort of teacher. It pushes you, makes you uncomfortable, challenges you. It can also teach you much about yourself and others, make you more compassionate, help you slow down and enjoy the view, and cause you to grow, if you let it.
Race Results
Thank you Dave Bange for the compilation
July 14, Catfish Days, Trempealeau, WI
5K
Darick Bloom 23:42 (1st 30-39)
Ramses Anderson 25:40 (1st 12 & under)
Noah Anderson 27:26 (3rd 12 & under)
Casey Anderson 31:47
10K
Ruben Anderson 45:42 (2nd 40-49)
Jerry Reuteler 50:46 (1st 60-69)
Grand Island 50K
James Stenulson 5:26:47
John Blanchar 5:26:46 (3rd 60-69)
7 Lakes Half Marathon 8/3
Bonnie Stubbendick 2:08
RU Chicken Trail Run 8/24
Julie Wiebke 1:20:49 (2nd 50-59)
Amy Perrin 1:27:33
Shari Hegland 1:31:15
Pete Knapik 1:36:49
August 31, Rockin Brews, Madison, WI Marathon Ann Brice 5:20:15 Half Marathon Mike Mulroy 2:43:33 (1st 75+)
Outstanding Volunteers
Eric VanOsdol - Firecracker 4 Mile. Finish Line 7/4
Len Pitt - Firecracker 4 Mile. Water Station 7/4
Michelle Pitt - Firecracker 4 Mile. Water Station 7/4
Tonya Pitt - Firecracker 4 Mile. Course Marshall 7/4
Janelle Lantz - RU Chicken Trail Run. Food and soup 8/24
Margaret Ho - RU Chicken Trail Run. Food and soup 8/24
Andy Hutson - RU Chicken Trail Run. Course sweep 8/24
Paul Priem - RU Chicken Trail Run. Course sweep 8/24
Thank You!!!
Volunteer Opportunities
9/20 - 9/21: Goosebumps Run 10/12: Sparta Half Marathon - would like an RCRC crew to staff the first aid station, hours 7:30-10:30! Email Margaret Ho if interested! 10/20 & 10/27:: Hixon 50
Eat Up and Slim Down
Jane Kirby, R.D., and David Joachim Beef ‘n’ Macaroni Skillet Supper -Carole Plaza-O’Conell 1 cup elbow macaroni ¾ pound extra lean ground beef 1 clove garlic, minced 1 can (3 ½ ounces) fat-free evaporated milk 1 envelope (2.1 ounces) chicken noodle soup mix ¾ cup water ¾ teaspoon ground black pepper ½ teaspoon dried Italian seasoning 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded reduced-fat extra-sharp Cheddar cheese Cook macaroni according to package directions. Drain. In large skillet over medium-high heat, cook beef and garlic 10 minutes, or until beef is no longer pink. Stir to break beef into small pieces. Drain and discard fat. Stir in evaporated milk, soup mix, water, pepper, Italian seasoning, 2 tablespoons cheese, and cooked macaroni. Top with remaining cheese. Cover and cook over low heat 10 minutes, or until hot and bubbly. Makes 4 servings Per serving: 476 calories, 37 g protein, 31 g carbohydrates, 21 g fat, 93 mg cholesterol, 1,479 mg sodium, 1 g fiber Diet exchanges: 0 milk, 0 vegetable, 0 fruit, 2 bread, 4 meat, 2 fat