Rushmore of Inspiration

Now, I could be wrong, but I think we are all led to our professions and hobbies by someone else. A role model, a venerable figure, an inspiration of sorts. I chose my major by my closest friend, father figure and mentor Tim Massie (with his own exceptional blog at http://timmassie.blogspot.com/). Seeing my teammates succeed in their running inspires me every day. It's impossible not to be more motivated when people around you are being named top social media strategists in the country, or running 29:45 10Ks.  I am so privileged to be around people who are doing just that.

There are four people, or groups, in particular (hence the Rushmore allusion) that inspire me the most to be better, to work harder, to be more than I am today. I look to these people daily for not only guidance, but for a Mount Saint Helens'-type eruption of ambition that cannot be understated in significance to me. Without further ado, these are mine, and why.

One: Steve and Nancy Shane Yes, these are my parents. Saying parents are your role models and motivators has become cliche and lost its meaning. It's said too often without the necessary fervor it deserves.

This is not one of those times.

My mother is the survivor of cancer times three. First breast cancer in the 1970's that she beat, then she overcame skin cancer in the 1990's, and thwarted off bladder cancer just several years ago. Mom never let her ailments get in the way of successful careers as school teacher, real estate agent, broker on Wall St. and nursing supervisor, or wondrous parenting. The intestinal fortitude she possessed at all these times is most laudable. If three bouts of cancer isn't going to kill you, nothing will.

My father was an avid runner until about three-and-a-half years ago, when he suffered a heart attack while running. Dad stopped running for several years, saw my transformation into a runner and yearned to get back into it. He not only got back into shape, he ran the 2010 Lake Placid Half-Marathon just three years after a heart attack, finishing in 2:53 as a 56-year-old. Before that day, Dad hadn't run more than 10 miles; he never raced a half-marathon or any significance distance, and did it on one of the more challenging courses on the East Coast. He could have just eschewed the thought of no longer being in shape and never gone out the door and tried, especially at his age, but that was not an option; few people displayed as much effort and gall in their lifetimes than my father did on that single day and it was a moment that will forever move me.

Two: Tim Massie As aforementioned, Tim is the reason I chose the path my academic career has followed. Ever since I met him through a family friend of mine three years ago, I have been utterly amazed at Tim's humility, wholesomeness and unshakable dedication as Chief Public Affairs Officer of Marist College. Tim commonly refers to me as his "adopted son" with pride, and I return that pride by calling him my "adopted father." After knowing him for 1/7th of my life, I've come to know that Tim's life has not been easy either, but his commitment to staying true to himself, his sheer altruism in always helping those around him and devotion to his line of work to be the best he can be is rarely attained by mortals. Tim is that man who makes you want to be a better person just because he is that good.

Three: Teammates The men with whom I have the sheer privilege of sharing the starting line every cross country race motivate me in ways I cannot explain. Their accomplishments are so unfathomable that, to me, it is surreal that I am even spoken of in the same regard. Among them are a high school national champion, Adam Vess, whose abundance of running talent could be considered alien. There is Will Griffin, who just ran the first sub-30-minute 10K in school history doing most of his workouts in the pool. And, there's close friend Brian Townsend, who lost his entire sophomore year due to numerous stress fractures. Months went by in between runs for Brian, who's as competitive and driven as they get. His mental toughness to get back, fight through those injuries, and come back his Junior year running a 15:24 5K indoors and an even further impressive 26:59 8K in cross country this year. The strides he made (running pun intended) after almost a full year off from running is just unheard of and gives me internal strength to want to be a better runner myself. He'll be back and even better next year.

Four: Every single serious runner there is The toughest thing to do if you're a runner is that first step out the door. As the Chinese philosopher Lao-tsu so eloquently put it, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." All of us runners are on that journey to our goals. What the goals are, how fast you are, what race you run, are all meaningless in the big picture. What's most important is that you all go out there every day, balancing work, family, maybe work again and a social life, and still go out there and dedicate yourself to running. That's no easy feat. There's a reason why only 1 in 300 Americans run a marathon; it takes a special breed of a human being to possess the work ethic runners have. And for me, that's the deciding factor. It isn't easy for any of us, and that is why I am overwhelmingly inspired, motivated and moved by every single runner around. We all have our triumphs and our failures and it doesn't stop us. And that I find to be a phenomenal accomplishment time and time again.

Who is in your Rushmore of Inspiration? Why are they there? What have they done to get there for you? Let me know and we'll discuss.

Monday Miles, Part 1!

I know, I know, it's Tuesday. But Monday was a busy day for me. Considering I had two classes, practice, a second workout, three meetings, and a presentation due the next day, I acquiesce that I could not get to blogging, sadly. Today is different. Today a trend is going to be developed.

Inspired by the hashtag "#MondayMiles" that Runner's World Magazine, the world's most venerable print running voice, created on Twitter, I have decided to begin a weekly "Monday Miles" report of my own where everyone can share their workouts from the previous week. I'm hoping that, eventually, all of us runners can share workouts and stories to collectively benefit all those who are reading. For me, though, a pretty short week, as it was my first full week back since Boston.

Monday: an easy 6 miles in 41 minutes

Tuesday: an easy 6 miles in 43 minutes
The year's first 80-degree day is one I always welcome with a cold shoulder. Pun INtended.

Wednesday: off.
This was a day where I was hoping to run more, but I was actually sore after two days of running. Wasn't a good sign. This partially inspired the previous "Big Sponge Theory" detailed in my previous post.

Thursday: 8 miles in 52 minutes
A major relief, considering I thought I was in rough shape and didn't recover as much. This run showed that I was going to be okay.

Friday: 7 miles in 45 minutes
Took a stroll on my favorite route that led me to go a little faster than I wanted. Even introduced some strides for the first time that went well.

Saturday: 8 miles, 54 minutes

Sunday: 5 miles, 34 minutes

TOTAL: 40 miles

I was hitting double this weekly mileage routinely during the apex of my training for Boston in the winter. And I don't know which one was tougher; even with stretching three times a day, shorter runs and an overall break, I am still sore after this week. I know my sponge is almost entirely full still. That means no workouts for at least another two weeks. As long as I take it easy for another two weeks, though, I am sure that I'll be ready to start bumping mileage at that time. Then, I'll be needing some motivation, which is the subject of my next post: those that inspire me (and a major thank you to all them).

So what were your Monday miles this week? Any interesting workouts? Put them down and we can hopefully get a good discussion going.