Regrets? I'm not sure . . . but a few things I wish I had done.

We're talking running here!

Not going to be thinking about all those things in life that I wish I had chosen differently!  For sure I've made some really bad choices in my life and would like a chance to go back and try again!  Hopefully I would choose differently.  BUT . . . that said I am who I am based on all the things I've done up to this point, so if I changed those bad decisions into better decisions I wouldn't be who I am.

Okay . . . that's a rabbit hole I don't want to go down!  At least on this blog.

No . . . I'm focusing on my running here.  I started in 1974 I believe.  For the life of me I can't really remember for sure but it was 2-3 years before I got married and that was in 1977.  So 1974 is a pretty good guess.  So 45 years of running.  Well . . . that's not exactly right!  There were plenty of times I stopped running. Some breaks were due to injuries and some times where life just got in the way, and some times for sheer laziness!  But I'm not going to worry about those details!  I've been a runner for 45 years!!

One early choice I made was that I figured out that I got way more satisfaction from running a longer distance than I got from running something fast.  For years I was focused on trying to run fast 5k and 10k races.  But I found I got a huge personal satisfaction from running a race that I wasn't sure I could even finish!  My first marathon back in the 1980s I actually cried when I finished!  I had worked so hard and had suffered to accomplish that 26.2 miles!!  I was proud of myself.  And that feeling was way stronger that any feeling I got from running a "fast" 5k.  So that choice took me in a very different direction in my running life.

Probably the most critical running choice I made was in 2005.

I had suffered from some serious knee issues and chose to follow doctors' advice.  Trying surgery, PT, and finally trying "no running" at all.  Things had just gotten worse and worse and worse.  I had trouble simply walking around casually!  Until by accident in 2004 I found something that started making my knees feel better.  And I really worked hard at this crazy "something" and it started paying off!  My orthopedic doctor told me I was crazy and that what I was doing had no chance of working!  But it did work!  And in 2005 I trained and finally ran a "Return to Running Marathon" . . . the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach.

I was "over-the-moon" with my newly found return to running and ended up doing quite a few more marathons that year.

And it was at one of these marathons that I made the choice that I'm talking about here!!  I went up to NW West Virginia and ran the Ridge Runner Marathon.  I had already run several marathons that spring and I was tired and decided to just take it easy on this marathon.  I decided to take a camera with me and shoot a bunch of pictures of things I saw and people I met along the way.  This choice has made all the difference and I knew it right after I finished that race!

1. First - (and most importantly) I had fun!  It was a blast just not worrying about my time . . . just running along at any pace that felt good at that time!!  And I recovered within a day or two!!  This was a life changer!!
2. Second - I loved looking back at the pictures I took and having those pictures to  help me recall details about the race.

So these two things totally changed my running from that point on!  Later I did have to start worrying about my running pace at some races where there were time cut-offs to be an official finisher for the race.  Honestly . . . I started HATING races with cut-offs . . . it just took all the fun away for me.

But I do I have any regrets?  Not many . . . but a few!

1. I had a goal of running a sub-20 5k.  I trained hard and I ran hard but I never was successful!  The frustrating part is that I got soooooo close three separate times!!  I had three 20:01 finishes!!!  So close!  I kept thinking I would finally do a 19:?? but it never happened.
2. My first marathon DNF haunts me.  The Leadville Trail Marathon.  This was one of the toughest marathons I ever entered!  The races started at 10,000 in elevation!  Climbed up to about 12,500, dropped to 11,000 feet and the climbed up to 13,185 feet at mile 13.1!  Then, you turn around and run back!!  I got to mile 20 and felt great!  But climbing that 13,000 bugger had really taken it out of me and the trail up was all loose rock . . . some big chunks and a ton of medium rocks.  And it was the most insecure footing I had every run on and my knees weren't all that good.  So I had come down the mountain slow and easy and found that I had missed the 20 mile cutoff by 4 minutes.  They had a van there and insisted I had to stop.  So I did.  But in hindsight I wish I had simply given them my race bib and continued on to an "unofficial" finish.  I think about that race and my choice often . . .
3. The Bloody 11w race was my first successful 100 mile race!  BUT there is a catch.  The full race was 111 miles but they had the option to stop at 100 for what they called their "Fun Run."  Even when I started the race I only intended to run 100 miles and not the full 111 miles.  But in hindsight I know I could have gone the additional 11 miles and finished the whole race.  I've wanted to go back and do it again . . . and finish 111 miles!
4. The Last Annual Volunteer State Road Race.  To ultra runners almost 100% know all about this beast of a race!  314 miles of fun starting in Missouri, into Kentucky, then diagonally across Tennessee and into Georgia for the finish!  It's an adventure race with no aid stations and run in July!!!  Heat and humidity is guaranteed!  I was signed up for this race when I had my foot accident.  So I never got my chance to fail!! This race has a daily cut-off time.  When the race starts the "Oprah" starts running and she finishes exactly 31.1 miles every 24 hours.  To be allowed to continue on each day you must be ahead of "Oprah."  If you fail to maintain that pace you are pulled from the race . . . no chance to try and catch up the next day!

So these four things haunt me.  The first two are totally "water under the bridge."