Success Leaves Clues

Once you have figured out what you want to do chances are that someone before you has already done it. They have left clues behind and by finding those clues you can then start making adjustments, improvements and changes in order to accomplish you goals and dreams.

Success Leaves Clues is the title of Jack Canfield's Success Principle #9. He states that there are several reasons we don't seek out clues and they are the following:

1. It never occurs to us.
2. It's inconvenient.
3. Asking others for advice or information puts us up against our fear of rejection.
4. It usually involves change and we don't like change.
5. It usually means hard work and we don't really like to work that hard.

The he makes 3 suggestions on what we need to do:

1. Seek out a teacher, coach, mentor, manual, book etc. that will help you achieve your goal(s).
2. Seek out someone who has already done what you want to do.
3. Ask someone of you can shadow them for a day and watch them work.

For me personally books have been powerful. Last year I was in an exercise rut. Triathlons were going well, but I wasn't feeling joy while doing them, I wasn't really having fun. Then I friend (Gian) recommended the book Born to Run which totally blew my running paradigm and was a powerful tool in digging me out of my rut. The Greatest which is one of the biographies on Haile Gebrselassie was motivating and helpful. Then most recently for Christmas my in-laws got me a book I had asked for called More Fire: How to Run the Kenyan Way and that was what has been the best as far as success leaving clues.

Indisputably the Kenyans are the greatest long distance runners ever and you could say middle distance too. They dominate. Ethiopians are also up there especially with Kenenisa Bekele and Haile Gebrselassie. So this book More Fire had training plans for what the Kenyans either do or used to do. I started doing that and I've had some great short-term results. We'll see what happens long-term.

I invite you, if you have dreams, to dream first of all and make goals. When you have that then start looking for the people that have done what you want to do. They're out there. You just gotta find them, if you want it. Run fearless, okay?

Would you like to be a guest blogger on my blog? I would like that

I am not so naive to think I am the one that can always, often, and/or frequently inspire, motivate and teach the world. You-all out there are the ones that inspire, motivate and teach me so I want you. Yeah, you heard it, I want you. I don't care how old you are. I don't care if you're black or white. I don't care if you're from another country, actually that would be bomb!

All you gotta do is let me know and we'll put a date on it. I'll send you my suggested format for guest blogging like for example, "Who are you? Where are you from? What do you do? What are your notable achievements? What makes you able to run, live and/or be fearless?"

Those are just examples. Fo sho! you can advertise for whatever you do, like if you have an online business you can definitely put something in there with a link. If you have a blog you can direct people to it too.

Anyways, start thinking, and if you're interested let me know in the comments below and I'll contact you. It might be better if you sent me a message either through Facebook or email at runfearless@gmail.com

Have a great day and run fearless!

Today I went to Hogwarts and a granola bar saved my life

It's true today I went to Hogwarts and a granola bar saved my life. At least that's what it felt like. You may have been wondering why I posted this post so late. Consistently I've been posting in the morning, but not today because today I went to Hogwarts.

(At the request of my friend Brant I am adding in a random photo of when I was probably 17 at a road race in Portland, Oregon. See more pics on my Meet Caleb page.)

I started my new schedule at work today: 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. with an one hour brunch-break. The early morning shift is the U.K. shift so I was partnered up with Jason as he spoke to merchants on the phone. It was so cool! And I felt like I was in a Harry Potter movie. That's probably because that's one of the few movies I've seen recently where the people talk in British accents besides Chronicles of Narnia. We also talked to an Irish guy who thought we were ridiculous. "Well, we'll see who's ridiculous when your business gets compromised and you end up going to bankrupt!" I wanted to say, but I'm glad I didn't. I couldn't have anyways because I was just listening in on the handset-phone where you can only hear, but they can't hear you.

I didn't eat breakfast because for some weird reason I wasn't hungry at 4:00 a.m. It's been a long time since I got up at 4 a.m., oh wait, I never have really gotten up at 4. Except I did get up at 4:50 a.m. almost everyday throughout high school to get ready for early morning seminary and school. Anyways, tangent, so I started getting hungry and it was that sick-stomach type hungry. I remembered that I had a Kashi granola bar in my bag. So I fished that out and ate it. Oh, that saved my life.

I want to apologize because my posts from now until the end of the summer may be crazy. I hope they'll just come out later. I'm going out of town Thursday, so we'll see what happens then.

I started getting sick and I'm feeling tired. Even though this week was going to be another hard week, I'm going to play it safe rather than sorry and back off a bit. I think that would be wise. I think that's what you gotta do. Have a good day and run fearless!

By drinking this kind of water you will become... Invincible!

Saturday was incredible. Actually the whole last week was incredible. I started my new job and was working 9-5 every day. I planned in a workout in the morning and a workout in the evening and totaled 75 miles. You can see my workouts on my training page. There were several wonderful things that happened for which I am grateful. I believe that by being grateful our lives will improve. How does it work? I don't exactly know, but here's how it worked for me...

I am grateful for women at the top of the Y who have extra water. I went running and it was mountain running day. I hydrated well during the day and at the base of the Y trail there's a water fountain which I used. When I got to the top of the Y I kept going and as I came down I realized that I was very thirsty. More thirsty than I thought I was going to be. There was group of women at the top that had hiked up and I asked them if they had some water to spare, they did and I drank. They told me I was incredible for running all the way up the Y. Who doesn't like to hear that? Well I happen to like it and that was wonderful. I thanked them for the water and left. As I was running down I felt like a new man. That water had saved me. Then I remembered the scripture in John 4:13-14 which says, "Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."

I felt the Spirit of God fill my soul as I was running. It was awesome! I realized that water is a type of Christ. I had learned that before, but now it really meant something to me. I was filled with gratitude towards God and His Son Jesus Christ. I realized with more conviction and power than ever before that Jesus Christ is where my power comes from. It is through Him that I can be clean. It is through Him that I can return and live with God the Father after this life. It is through Christ that this world was created. Without Him I am nothing.

You may or may not have the same belief as me and I am not here to argue or force anything upon you, but I am here to testify that Jesus Christ lives. He suffered for our sins, died on the cross and was resurrected. Because of that we can become clean in order to have joy in this life and prepare to return and live with God after this life.

Jesus Christ is one of the principal reasons why I am able to live fearless, be fearless and run fearless. Christ takes the fear away. Have a fearless day and run! (fearless:)

Chunk It Down! (How to eat an elephant)

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one." -Mark Twain

I don't know about you, but I love the cliché saying of 'How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.' This is what Success Principle #8 is all about. Jack Canfield goes through suggestions on how to chunk down what we want into steps so we can get there little by little.

The first suggestion he makes is to start from the end and look backward. You are now where you want to be in life with all the things you want, doing everything you ever wanted and being who you want to be. What did it take to get there? You can visualize it or write it down. Before I started reading this book (The Success Principles) I attended an activity with the BYU Concert Choir. My wife used to be in the choir and they were having an activity for the choir members and their loved ones--I was a loved one thank goodness! At this activity the choir director talked about this orchestra professor and what he did a particular semester (or every year, I can't remember) with his students. He told them that he had given them all "As" and to take time at that moment to write down everything they had done to earn that "A".

That story was inspiring to me and I went home and after my wife had gone to sleep I stayed up writing ferociously in my journal--and when I say "ferociously" I mean it. I was writing as fast as I could as all these ideas poured in my head. I felt inspired. I wrote for about two hours. By the end my handwriting was dying, became more spaced out and bigger. I picked a particular date in the future. It was a day of December 2016. I wrote in the past tense as if I had accomplished everything I wanted to. I won three gold medals in the Olympics and I wrote about how I had done that etc. It was powerful!

Canfield recommends "mind-mapping" or in other words a series of circles where in the middle you have your goal and then connected with lines and circles you have things that you have to do to accomplish that goal. He shared a great piece of advice and that is to figure out one to five things you MUST accomplish on any given day and then pick the one that has to be done first. The suggestion is to then accomplish this task first. The last piece of advice he gives is to plan out your day the night before.

There's power in planning. No matter what your personal beliefs are when you plan you send out a signal. You are calling for help. For me personally when I plan I'm calling on God and He helps me. I see each Sunday what needs to happen during the week to accomplish my goals and then each day I review where I'm at and where I still need to get. I plan out more specific workouts, adjusting them to how I'm feeling. Certain things I can't do on my own and I plan those out too.

For example, last night I planned on doing repeat miles for this morning. This week has been CRAZY to say the absolute least. Started work full-time and still was getting in two workouts/day and finishing the week at 75 total miles (Check out my updated Training page.) I didn't know what was going to happen, if I was really going to feel up to the workout and worse, for me, I didn't know if I was going to be able to perform well. There's nothing I dislike more than a poor performance, even when I'm not feeling good. I went out there this morning and ran the first mile repeat in 5:02! I was stunned! I thought I had read my watch wrong and I looked again and sure enough, it was. If you recall from my post, Believe It's Possible, I did an all-out mile on the track and could only do a 5:03. Then I came back and did mile repeat number 2 in 5:07 and mile 3 in 5:04 with mile work recovery jogs in between. It was amazing and I know that God blessed me.

I know that as we take our goals and chunk them down into manageable portions that little by little we will come closer and closer to our goals until one day we reach them. I invite you to do that. Have a great weekend and, as always, run fearless!

On Parents Not Pushing Their Kids Too Hard

Obviously by the title you know what this post is going to be all about. I read a little article on the Runner's World Racing News page that talked about a young man named Robby Andrews (who won the NCAA Indoor National Championships (video below) beating Andrew Wheating then taking 2nd in the Outdoor NCAA to Andrew Wheating in the 800 meters.)

Okay, so this kid is intense! He's a Freshman and he comes out in the prelims and runs a 1:45.54 which is smokin' fast then comes back two days later and runs 1:46.83 for 2nd place. Just a side note, had Robby equaled his prelim time in the final he would have won the whole thing (if we go by time) because Andrew Wheating took it in 1:45.69.

Now that we have validated Robby Andrews by naming his incredible achievements, let's cut to the chase. This is what the Runner's World Article on Robby Andrews said,
"Robby Andrews' Quick Progress Surprises His Parents
Andrews, of course, just completed a freshman year at the University of Virginia that included a victory in the 800 at the NCAA Indoor Championships and a runner-up finish behind Oregon's Andrew Wheating at the outdoor NCAAs. "I never would have projected this," says his father, Bob Andrews. “It might sound weird, but I wouldn’t have even desired for him to do this well so soon. I’m always more conservative. The coach hasn’t been training him to compete on this high a level. The coach has been training him as a freshman." Bob Andrews himself was a high school track coach, and his successor in that job remembers "he never forced anything on his kids…Bob always kept it fun for (Robby). And the relationship is still the same." Robby recalls "at the dinner table we would have a no-track rule. We definitely found a balance and I was really thankful for that. You hear stories of fathers who push their kids and drive them from the sport and my father wanted no part of that." Robby Andrews is running the 800 at the USA Junior Championships in Des Moines this week."

I'm not going to write a lot more, but this reminded me of my family and my parents. My dad was a swimmer growing up and a dang good swimmer at that. I had swimming lessons when I was young, but never really got into competitive swimming until my Sophomore year in high school. My dad NEVER told me to do swimming. I had a buddy named Scott who invited me because there were 2 or 3 people from my high school on this team, so I did it and I loved it (although not more than running because after my Sophomore year I didn't really competitive swim anymore until I started Triathlons.)

I remember my mom making a rule that we could only do one sport at a time. I remember not wanting to do Cross Country or Track and my parents telling me that that was fine with them. They let me make the decision myself and that has made all the difference. I will win an Olympic Gold Medal and I can say that much of that has to do with my parents not pushing. I am grateful to my parents for helping learn how to run fearless. Thank you Dad and thank you Mom. Have a great day and run fearless.

Avoiding Heat Illness, gotta be careful

When I was getting ready for the BYU Cross-Country tryouts last year I was running a lot. I had just discovered barefoot running by reading Born to Run and I started running as much if not more than I ever had before. I was getting faster and faster, and as I did that I was more and more confident that I was going to be able to make the team.

My Freshman year I tried out. The next fastest guy made the team and from me on back they cut. So this last year I was comparing my times to my Freshman year and they were significantly faster. I went out and did a 4 mile time-trial by myself and ran about as fast as my 4 mile race time my Freshman year. Man was I excited! I figured that if I was equaling my time on my own during a workout then the tryout race a couple months later would go VERY well.

Obviously it was getting hot during the day and I thought that because I was hydrating really well that I had nothing to worry about. As long as I was putting enough water into my body then I would be protected by the heat and its nasty effects. I avoided working out in the heat of the day, between noon and three-ish, because that's when I figured it wouldn't be a good idea to do hard workouts.

Then around August 22nd Utah had some of its hottest days. I made the mistake of working out around 4:30 and trying to do a long run. I can't remember why, but we had some obligation in the evening. I was working full-time and got off work around 4 so 4:30 was the best time to run. I remember it being really hot and running laps around the BYU intramural field. I remember downing a whole Nalgene 32 oz. water bottle and then wanting more. Each lap got slower and slower. I became more and more tired until I cut my run a couple mile short.

In the days that followed whenever I would run in the sun, no matter what time I felt very sluggish. My heart rate would go way up and I was craving more and more water. Some days I would drink about 160+ oz. of water and still be thirsty when I woke up the next morning.

Cross Country tryouts came and I wasn't excited at all. I was tired, weak, depressed. The week of tryouts there were some days that we were expected to run on our own if we couldn't make it to the workout. Those were the days that I went home and slept. I debated running the tryout race and in the end I did. I even ran 30 seconds faster than my Freshman year, but I felt like crud! (Excuse my word choice, but that's how I felt.) I went to the doctor a couple weeks later because even though I had stopped running I was still weak, depressed, fatigued and so tired.

He told me, after a series of tests (blood, urine, EKG) that I had gotten heat exhaustion. I should have run in the morning, even if I had to wake up early and I should have waited until after 6 p.m. He said that a lot of people get away with training during the heat of the day, but sooner or later it hit them if they keep it up. Don't make the same mistake I did. Avoid the heat and take care of yourself. Have a great day and run fearless!

The Barefoot Race 5k (It's gonna be intense!)

Okay, so this morning I went for a run like normal at Kiwanis Park in Provo and I just started having this flood of ideas and I want to announce to you one of the first of its kind... The Barefoot Race 5k. Now I know there have been other barefoot races so it's not 100% original (I know because I did a google search about it), but its going to be awesome!

It'll be at Kiwanis Park in Provo on August 7th, 2010 and the purpose will be to raise money for Give One Million for St. Jude which deals with helping children with cancer. I can't hardly contain myself. I could barely finish my run because I was so excited.

Everyone is invited so stay tuned for more details visit the Give One Million for St. Jude website/blog and check it out. A perfect opportunity to learn about barefoot running and/or try it out. You won't be required to run barefoot, but you can if you want. There will be pre-registration and regular-type registration etc. And I have a TON of other ideas that I will contain to reveal as time goes on, so stay-tuned! Even if you don't run you can come and walk and donate money to a wonderful thing. Have a great day and be fearless!

Unleash the Power of Goal-Setting

"If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes." -Andrew Carnegie. This quote is inspiring to me. I don't think that happiness come solely through goal-setting, but I do know that when I come up with an incredible goal it is one of the most exciting things in my life.

This post is based on Principle 7 from Jack Canfield's book The Success Principles called Unleash the Power of Goal-Setting. I will sum up the principles, quote some of the quotes, tell you how I've applied it in my life and encourage you to do the same.

"...the brain is a goal-seeking organism. Whatever you give to your subconscious mind, it will work night and day to achieve." This is what the chapter starts out teaching. Canfield explains that in order to unleash the power of goal-setting that a goal must have two major/main components: 1. How much and 2. By when. (Look to the next paragraph for my examples.) Put the goal in detail. Create a goal that by accomplishing would really be "a quantum leap for you and your career" or life. Read your goals 3 times each day, visualizing them as if you have already accomplished them. Carry your most important goal around in your wallet. Set a ton of goals and start right away.

"If you are bored with life, if you don't get up every morning with a burning desire to do things--you don't have enough goals." -Lou Holtz

Here's my take and application. Check it. How much by when is our criteria so here are some of my goals as examples:

1. I will run 4 miles in 19:35 by 3:00 p.m. in Provo, UT on September 4th, 2010 Saturday. (This goal is also one of my breakthrough goals because if I can do this then I will for sure make the BYU Cross-Country team and it will springboard me forward into the collegiate running scene)
2. I will run 10k in 28:30 by 3:00 p.m. in Terre Haute, Indiana on November 22nd, 2010 Saturday. (Which I figure is fast enough to win the NCAA D-1 championships provided that Sam Chelanga and David McNeill don't get a ton faster.)

I really believe that once we really get specific with what we want, then set a specific goal to get there, reading it every day and working so hard to get it that our mind will figure out a way to accomplish it. Our energy will pull other opportunities into our path so that we can accomplish what we want. Let me give you an example:

I have discovered that in order to become the best runner in the world I need to run more. 100 miles per week would be a great start. The best Kenyans are doing three workouts a day. I want to be the best so bad that I'm willing to do that, but I didn't know how it would be possible. I was only doing two workouts and stressed out about finding a job a providing for my family. Then I got a job about 7 miles away. Yesterday I rode my bike to work and back: 14 miles total. I did 4 workouts yesterday: 1 in the early morning, another to work, another home from work and another run in the evening. It is perfect for me and my situation and I'm getting exactly what I've been wanting.

I encourage you to figure out what you want. Read my post on Be Clear Why You're Here and Decide What You Want and then set specific goals accordingly. Read them 3 times a day and figure out how to accomplish them. I know you can do it. I know you can do it. This is not an error, I know I am typing this three time, I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT! You can and you will if you want it bad enough and if you do what your heart tells you (as cheesey as that may sound.) Have a great day and live fearless!

Don't let your circumstances control you (I got a job!!!)

As you could read from the title, I got a job! What a wonderful thing! Yes it has been wonderful to do a lot of running and get this blog off the ground and flying through the world, but it is nice to start bringing in money for the family. I have been unemployed for the last month and a half and although it has allowed me to do things I would not have been able to do, it's time to move on...

New schedules can be daunting. This week is training at my job at Security Metrics and it's the normal 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. schedule. I have been doing two workouts every day, one at 7 a.m. and the other at 10 a.m., but that won't be possible this week, unless I want to lose my job. (Where's the new guy? Oh, he went for a run... Bad.) So I gotta adapt. I woke up extra early this morning so I could read from the Ensign as a supplement to my scripture study and in preparation for Family Home Evening tonight. Then I went running at 6:10 a.m. and I will do another run around 6:30 p.m. this evening. That's how each day will look this week, but next week will be my set schedule.

I will work 5 a.m. - 2 p.m. which is kind of a nice shift, and I'm so grateful for the full-time, but it kind of shoots my morning running in the foot, so I gotta adapt. I will run on the BYU indoor track at 2:30 every day for my easy 1st run and then I will do my second workout at 6 p.m. every day. I did some research to figure out when a safe time of the day would be to run when it's been hot outside. A lot of the sources said 6 p.m. so that's when I'll go.

When school starts again it will be another schedule because most likely I'll start working part-time. The message here is not to let your new circumstances take control. YOU must take control and figure out what you have to do to accomplish what you want. Don't let new schedules and demands control how you feel and what your dreams are. We can't always control the circumstances, but we can control the way we react to those circumstances. Have a great day and run fearless!

Perfect Weather, Perfect Race, Tired Boy

Okay, I'm just going to unload my whole brain about today and tell you everything that happened and we'll start with this morning and go 'til right now...

Got up. 6.5 hours of sleep. They say two nights before the race is the most important so that was my best night for sleep. Woke up at 5:20, prayed, ate (half a grapefruit and a bowl of oatmeal with agave), read scriptures (New Testament, Matthew 8) then woke my wife up. Then we left.

Arrived in Pleasant grove 20 minutes later from Provo. Wonderful weather, the sun peering over the mountains and a cool air, but not quite a breeze. There was music playing at the Fire Station which is where the race started. Picked up my race number and did a 15 minute easy jog warm-up.

The race started with a military guy shooting a machine gun into the air (I hope they weren't real bullets, do they have blanks for machine guns?) and an explosion of some sort. I rushed to the front and after a few minutes found myself in 4th place. I tried to hang with the three guys in the front, but I wasn't feeling good about that. At the turn-around/half-way mark I could feel some guys coming up on me. After a couple minutes I was passed.

I stayed with those guys, going back in forth between 4th, 5th and 6th place. Then one of the guys took off, but I found it hard to stay with him. Then the other guy passed me, but I stayed with him. At the end I gave it all I had and passed that guy taking 5th place overall with a time of 17:29.2. I am pleased with that time. It wasn't what I wanted, but I did my very best and I pushed my body to the limit.

I felt tired. I was breathing pretty hard, wheezing at the end. I think my Thursday workout may have been a little too hard for me, oops. Overall I am pleased and life is good. My wife gave me a great Father's Day present and I ate food and took a very small nap and now I'm ending this post with an invitation the run fearless and tackle the day! (Brant:)

(5K) Racing strategies (I'm racing tomorrow!!!)

I, Caleb, am officially announcing my entry into the 2010 Strawberry Days Guns & Hoses 5K Race. I'm not exactly sure what the "Guns & Hoses" business is, but it seems like a pretty legit race. It'll be in Pleasant Grove, UT and will start at 7:30 a.m. Stay tuned for my post tomorrow where I'll tell you ALL about it, okay maybe not all, but as much as I am willing to share...

I'm pretty excited. The last race I did was September 5th, two weeks after I got heat exhaustion and it was a miracle that I was able to do it, then I took some time off, then came back, then got injured, took some time off, got diagnosed with parasites (which you can read about in my post on Viruses, Parasites, Homeopathy and Healing), then started making my way back. Okay, too much information (tmi), but my point is that it's been a while and I'm ready to get back into things. I think a 5K is a good place to start.

There are a lot of different strategies you can utilize, here are some that came to mind (I will end with my strategy for tomorrow) and if you have any strategies for running a 5K or adjustments to make to my ideas, please, comment below:

1. Just get through it. (Not one I prefer, but it works for some.)
2. Get your MP3/iPod ready and have songs picked out where you'll run hard and other songs where you'll slow it a bit.
3. Run with someone. It doesn't have to be anyone you know. I remember the first road-race I ever did, an 8K in Vancouver that the hospital put on, there was this guy running with a hat and he was running about the pace that I wanted to run so I stuck with him.
4. Reel people in. If you're the racing type, then pick people and catch them. Pick someone ahead and catch up to them. Run with them for a minute or more, then pick your next victim and have at it. The fun part is that there's a chance someone's doing that with you:)
5. Start off slow and gradually speed up depending on how you're feeling. Sometimes that works really well for me to say, "I don't have to run fast if I don't feel like it." Then I go out, I'm calm, cool, under control, start off slow and then I speed up and have a great race.
6. Fartlek it. If you have a count-down timer, set it for a minute or two and run one minute hard then one easy, or one minute hard, two easy etc. Similarly you can pick out landmarks and tell yourself to either get to that without walking or to run hard to that then you get a little rest or something.

My strategy will be one that I read about in the book "More Fire: How to Run the Kenyan Way" Many times you will see Kenyans run in races and they'll start off at a blistering pace and try to hold that high speed the whole time. Sometimes they'll run so hard that they'll drop out. That's my plan. I want to start off fairly fast and hold that speed. I want to find the lead pack and get in with them. I want to see what my body is capable of right now. There's only one way to find out: Push it and push it hard. Time-wise I'd like to break 16 minutes. My PR for 3 miles is 16:04 so it would be great to beat that at 3.1 miles and at elevation. I feel like it's possible. Have a great day and run fearless!

Which religion produces the fastest runners?

Is it the Catholics? The Protestants? The Lutherans? Baptists? Mormons? Seventh-day Adventists? Jehovah's Witnesses? Muslims? Buddhists? And there are many more that I could mention, forgive me for not. Which one produces the fastest runners?

This is not meant to turn into a religious debate, so don't start:) Many of you know that I am a Mormon (or as we like to refer to ourselves by the name of our church, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or LDS.) For those of you who didn't know, surprise! (Read more at My beliefs page)

A UCLA study proves that Mormons live longer than the average American. My exercise physiology professor says that Seventh-day Adventists live longer than members of the LDS church, and a large part of that has to do with the fact that they're vegetarian. But that still doesn't answer our question, but that's not the purpose of this post (sorry) and to be honest I don't know which religion produces the fastest runners. If you figure it out I would be curious to know and I'll let you be a guest blogger. Really I don't think it matters too much. The purpose of this post was to draw as many people into this post as possible because I want to tell you what it's like being LDS from the perspective of an active, believing, LDS person's point of view and especially as an athlete and runner. (Again to find out more about my beliefs go to my "My Beliefs" page.)

This post will focus on something incredible. It's called the Word of Wisdom. I've been thinking about posting what it's like for me to be LDS for a while and it seems right to me. If you're offended, let me know. You can start a blog too. Being LDS helps me to run fearless, period. So that's why I'm writing about it. If it didn't help me then you wouldn't see it on this blog.

The Word of Wisdom is probably one of the coolest things ever. This commandment was revealed to a modern-day prophet in Kirtland, Ohio on February 27, 1833. Now, mind you, this was before people knew that cigarettes were bad for you. Back before drinking and driving existed, it was like drinking and riding, but to my knowledge nothing bad enough happened that they had to make a law about it (unless I don't know something, which is very possible.) And this is back before drugs were as powerful, potent and addictive as they are today.

God revealed to His prophet at the time, Joseph Smith, that they were to abstain from tobacco, alcohol, coffee, tea and harmful, habit-forming drugs. They were also commanded to eat healthily. A lot of research has come out in the last many years to prove the validity of these things and I could make an already long post longer by talking about all of them. I'm not going to do that. What I do want to do is tell you that I am impressed, grateful and awe-struck. God loves us. He wants us to be happy. He provided a way that all of us could avoid things that would enslave and make us miserable and that is why I am grateful.

I want you to know that the principle reason why I am able to run fearless, why I have never given up and why I will NEVER give up is because I have a testimony that God lives and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Christ's true church restored to this earth. Thank you for reading and for being awesome. All of you inspire me and for that too I am grateful. Have a great day and run fearless!!!

Lukas Verzbicas, Up and Coming!

Alright, today's post is a runner highlight, not that he needs the attention because he's the talk of the running world, is on Lukas Verzbicas. This is a kid, who in my opinion runs fearless--and that's why I'm talking about him.

To read some biographical info on him go to a biography on Lukas Verzbicas.This past weekend at the Adidas Grand Prix they had a special event called the Jim Ryun High School Dream Mile. Jim Ryun was the high school mile record holder for many years until Alan Webb broke it in 2001. (Which seems like yesterday to me, but when you do the math that was 9 years ago, okay I'm getting older every minute.)

Okay, so back to the dream mile. Adidas picked all the top high school milers around the nation and brought them together for a championship race. I believe Lukas's PR for the mile before this race was 4:15 and then he goes out with the intention of winning and runs the mile in 4:04. (Watch the race below.). Incredible! I don't know, this kid impresses me. In an interview done with Lukas on Flotrack he seemed pretty humble and grateful--which, at least for me, is refreshing to see nowadays.

Once again I picked this guy because I think he is someone who runs fearless and I wanted you to know about him too. I didn't put all the accomplishments he's ever achieved in this post like winning the Foot Locker Cross-Country championships as a Sophomore or as a freshman, setting a national high school indoor record in the 5K with a time of 14:18.42 at the 2009 Nike Indoor Nationals. So check him out and run fearless for goodness sake!

Could healthy eating be the answer (to everything)?

Does a competitive runner (or athlete for that matter) really need thousands of calories every day? I went in to a nutritionist and I was told I needed to be eating more, approximately 2800 calories per day. Do I really need to eat this much? Or do I need to just eat better? This is something I've been struggling with/studying/searching/EVERYTHING!!! This post and others to come will focus on healthy eating and what it really means to do that, but here's a post that introduces the concept, gives some examples and real-life stories and then I'll tell you what my plan is. How do you feel about that? Me too. Good. Let's go...

I am looking into going raw. Tim VanOrden does that at http://runningraw.com/. He's running about the same mileage I am, 66 miles per week, but hardly eats any calories. This guy eats a ton of fruits and vegetables. He takes no supplements and performs surprisingly well. To seeTim VanOrden's meal plan click here. Is he super-human? He says he's been asked a hundred times where he gets his calories, carbs etc. and you can click here to find that out. I don't know if this guy is right or wrong or both, but what I do know is that I have learned that I know almost nothing and even people with Ph. Ds can be be really wrong...

There's a lady by the name of Meredith Fishman who was a VERY active woman. Marathon runner and everything and all the sudden started having health problems, specifically rheumatoid arthritis. You can go to the story of Meredith Fishman for more details. Basically, once she started eating healthily all of her problems went away and she then ran a marathon, qualified for and ran in the Boston Marathon.

One of the best runners in this nation is finding this out too. Dathan Ritzenhein is the current American record holder in the 5,000 meters and he blogged about his views on nutrition. You can read a full account of Dathan Ritzenhein's diet views on his blog post. Basically one of the greatest American distance runners is realizing that, in his words, "...if the furnace is hot enough it will burn anything. Unfortunately it took me a long time to figure out that is not true." So he's changed his diet.

I am no doctor nor do I have all or many of the answers, but in my mind, from what I've read and experienced I have found the following to a make a lot of sense: When you start eating healthy food all the time meaning lots of fruits and vegetables, no processed foods, no white flour and more whole foods and whole grains that haven't been processed THEN you start seeing your body change into the body you want and you begin to see health problems literally disappear. I think that the major cause for health problems in the world is poor nutrition, pure and simple. I look forward to writing more posts about this and I hope you look forward to reading them. Have a great day and run fearless!

Keeping a record

When I was a senior in high school there was a girl that told me that she had written about me in her journal. The was the impetus that started the ball rolling that has made a huge part of my life and that is record keeping. Because of this girl, Theresa, I was inspired to start writing in my journal. I began to write every Sunday.

After church I would sit down and review the week. I would evaluate my efforts. If I had had any races I would record the splits and overall times. Of course any significant event was written in too. Journal writing/record keeping really helped me to know my own self.

We live with ourselves. We spend more time with ourselves than any other person. You would think we would know ourselves pretty dang good, but my experience has been the opposite. I spend so much time THINKING I know myself well that I don’t spend the time to actually search inside to know what is really going on.

Keeping a record of some sort helps us see progress. For me progress is motivating. Becoming a better person, mastering myself and my feelings, running faster times each year. Those kinds of things tell me that I’m becoming better, I’m improving. As I’m writing this I think there may be people who say, “Well, why do you need to progress? Isn’t it just as good to survive? To get by, relax and enjoy life?” So I thought about that…

For me the more I know the more I can help people. A doctor for example has to study a ton. Lots of school plus residency and then he or she goes on if desired and specializes in something specific like rheumatology for example. Why? Why do they need to know so much? Why do they need to have learned so much? So they can help people the best possible. That’s why many school districts will offer teachers incentives to go back to school and get master’s and doctorate degrees. They know that with more knowledge and more progression the better someone can perform.

Keeping a record is something that helps me run fearless. I can watch myself progress and it's inspiring. No matter what you do keeping a record of the things that happen will help in a myriad of ways. Have a good day and run fearless!

Become an Inverse Paranoid

"I've always been the opposite of a paranoid. I operate as if everyone is part of a plot to enhance my well-being." -Stan Dale

Principle 6 of Jack Canfield's The Success Principles is Become an Inverse Paranoid, or in other words act as if everyone in the world believes in you, likes you, wants to help you and thinks you can do it. Most of the time we imagine that people are thinking these crazy things about us, but that's not true. Most people are self-centered meaning they're trying to do what's best for them and they don't take time to think about what you're doing.

This morning I did mile repeats at the park. It was a little chilly so I had my black spandex running tights on and my New Balance Under-Armor-like black top on and I probably looked weird. There was this other guy running and I saw him look at me. My first thought was, 'He's probably thinking What a weird guy wearing a weird outfit' but then I thought, 'No, he's thinking You can do it! You're the best runner in the world.' Today I had one of my best workouts so far this year.

Canfield talks about when he lost his job, but as a result of that he found something better. Captain Jerry Coffee took this to heart as he spent 7 years as a prisoner of war, but he turned that negative into a positive and spent many hours reviewing in his mind every interaction he had ever had with anyone. He is now a deeply spiritual man, a happy family man, a successful author and a moving motivational speaker.

We need to ask ourselves, "How can I use this experience to my advantage?"

"Every negative event contains within it the seed of an equal or greater benefit." -Napoleon Hill

Whether it's a positive or negative experience, there's always something to learn. In the Fall of 2007 I crashed hard-core on my bike. My helmet saved my life, but I was wearing a short-sleeve shirt and my arms and hands were torn up. I was told that I couldn't swim or do anything that required water on my body because they bandaged me up and I wasn't supposed to get the bandages wet. I looked like a mummy. I remember getting weird looks at church that Sunday (Except they were probably thinking Man that guy is so hard-core! He's awesome!). It was very frustrating. I had been approached by a triathlon training company for a potential sponsorship and now I couldn't, nor did I want to train. I realized that I had been neglecting important things in my life and it was a wonderful cue from above to stop, slow down and take some time to breath. I did and it was wonderful.

I encourage all of us to take time and become inverse paranoids, believing that everyone we come in contact with and everyone one that sees us really is there to help, support and encourage us. As we do more positive energy will flow into our lives and because of that attitude we will be able to be more successful ourselves and better help those around us. Have a great weekend and run fearless!

The most intense and beastly track race ever

The Steeplechase, in my opinion, is the most intense and beastly track race ever. There are a few events that are held at the collegiate level and not at the high school level. The hammer throw for instance is one of those. The javelin in some states is not allowed at the high school level. The Steeplechase is one of those too.

(For further information go to the Steeplechase (athletics) Wikipedia page) This is a 3,000 meter race (3200 meters = 2 miles) around the track where four barriers are located. They are called barriers because they're not hurdles, meaning you can step on them. You can jump over it like a hurdle if you want or as you're jumping over it you can step on top of it and spring yourself forward. This is especially effective on the barrier that has a water-pit right after it.

There is one barrier on the track that is either located on the inside a little or on the outside a little that has a pit of water which is 12 feet long and starts off at 27 inches deep and gradually slopes up meaning that the longer/farther you jump the less water you encounter.

Steeplechase is a bit dangerous because the barriers don't really move. If you hit one, it's over. The world record is held by Saif Saaeed Shaheen (originally from Kenya, now from Qatar) in a time of 7 minutes and 53 seconds.

Friday the final for the NCAA Steeplechase will be held and these are some of the guys who will be in the race: Donn Cabral, Princeton 8:42.84; Matt Hughes, Louisville 8:43.08; Steve Sodaro, California 8:43; De'Sean Turner, Indiana 8:43.44; Julian DeRubira, Santa Barbara 8:43.62; 6 Hillary Bor, Iowa State 8:43.82; Barnabas Kirui, Mississippi 8:43.66; John Sullivan, Stanford 8:44.03; Gilbert Limo, Texas Tech 8:43.70; Richard Nelson, Brigham Young 8:44.39; Stephen Finley, Virginia 8:43.71; Joonas Harjamaki, Lamar 8:45.17; John Martinez, NC State 8:43.82; Brett Hales, Weber State 8:45.28.

Down below I have posted a video of Steeplechase for your viewing pleasure! Run Fearless!






This one is a little longer, but it's the best one of U.S. men that I could find.

NCAA Track and Field National Championships start today!

If you're a runner, and even if you're not, then you have to follow the NCAA Track and Field National Championships which start today at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. I don't know all the information nor do I know all the names of the top athletes, but I'm excited and you can follow the results at NCAA Live Results site.

Today we got part of the Women's Heptathlon, Men's Discus and Triple Jump, Women's High Jump and Discus. We got prelims for the following men and women: 400 m relay, 800 m, 400 m, 100 m, 400 m hurdles and only men for the 3,000 m Steeplechase. There is a final and that will be the Women's 10,000 m run which I'm excited to see.

Some of you may be wondering what is included in the Women's Heptathlon. If you're not wondering, then it's just me and this post is just for me. But if you're curious too then keep reading...

Women's Heptathlon: 100 m hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200 m dash, long jump, javelin throw and a nice 800 m race to top it off. Pretty intense in my opinion. A certain amount of points is awarded to the athlete depending on her performance. (For a more complete explanation go to the Heptathlon page at Wikipedia.) The athlete with the most points after the final event is the winner. If I understand correctly (and please correct me in the comments if I'm wrong) an athlete may win the 800 m run and then the points are totaled up and then after waiting a while the winner is announced. Many events in track you know who the winner is almost immediately, unless there's a photo finish, a disqualification or they're measuring the distance of a jump or throw. Cool.

People who do heptathlons, they know how to run fearless. That's all I have to say, hope you have a great day!

Running Injury: What do I do?

Disclaimer: I don't know everything. I'm not a pro runner. I'm not a pro coach. I don't have a degree in exercise physiology. I just love running and everything about it. I have been running consistently for a long time. Okay, alright and with that said, here it is!

There are a few options you have when you start feeling hurt or get injured:

1. Keep running and make it worse.
2. Stop running and let it heal.

Now, for most of us the second option is probably the best. For some the first option can be better depending on the severity of the injury and the future that's at stake. For example, in my biomechanics class at BYU my professor, Iain Hunter, told the class about Josh Rohatinsky who won the NCAA Cross-Country championships in 2006. He started feeling hurt, but it was close to the championships so he kept going and eventually won, then took a long break afterward. He is now sponsored by Nike running in Oregon.

In a my post on High School Cross Country I talked about pool running. In 2006 that's what saved me. I had been living in Argentina and I had done a TON of walking. This walking was all in dress shoes and it was wonderful except that I developed sesamoiditis where the sesamoid bones in my feet shifted a millimeter causing intense pain in my feet that prevented me from running and almost stopped me from walking. Because I wanted to run, and especially race so bad, I would go to the pool, to the diving area and pool run. I tried to mimic running form as best as I could and I tried hard ot get my heart-rate up. This was enough for me to then be able to go out and do a 5K or 10K and then return to the pool.

Recently I had a stress fracture in my right foot. I go to BYU so I have access to a gym where I can use the exercise bikes and elliptical trainer. That's what I did for several months. A heart-rate monitor is especially handy as I would have a target heart-rate I wanted to hit on certain days.

Being injured is probably one of the worst feelings I ever get. I feel like a race-horse who's good-for-nothing. I think in the moments when you feel like that it's important to stop. It's not over, you haven't been defeated, you can still do it. Praying to God, for me, is powerful and it helps get me through those times. I stop and evaluate what I CAN do and not what I can't because that only makes me feel more frustrated when I focus on what I can't. Then I create a plan.

If it's a pain that I've felt before then I usually don't go to the doctor and I treat it myself. If it's a new pain or if the pain persists then I go see the doctor. I think there's a lesson in every injury. For me the lesson many times is: "You didn't learn from the last time this happened so it's happening again." I think it's important to ask yourself when injuries or injury-like things happen, "What am I supposed to learn from this?" Anyways, these are things that have helped me to run fearless and I know they'll help you too. Have a great day! (If you have any other ideas on how to beat injuries or heal please comment below:)

Believe In Yourself

"You weren't an accident. You weren't mass produced. You aren't an assembly-line product. You were deliberately planned, specifically gifted, and lovingly positioned on the Earth by the Master Craftsman." -Max Lucado

This is the quote that starts off principle 5 of Jack Canfield's The Success Principles. The more I read this book, the more I study the scriptures and the more I take time to dream, set goals and make plans the more I realize that I have the ability to accomplish whatever I want. The power is in me to do absolutely anything. I can do it. Having this mentality is an attitude, it's a choice. Some people don't have the ability to do anything because they have not made the choice to do so. So really it's not that they can't, it's that they have chosen not to. I received an email from a friend who was told all her life that she couldn't do physically demanding things because she had asthma. She told me that now she realizes that that belief has been limiting her throughout her entire life and that she actually CAN do more than she thought previously possible.

Canfield shares an inspiring story about a woman named Laura Shultz (maybe related to my high school cross country coach:) who picked up the back end of a Buick to get it off of her grandson's arm. By the way, Laura was 63 years old. She was reluctant to talk to anyone about the event because as she said, "If I was able to do this when I didn't think I could, what does that say about the rest of my life? Have I wasted it?" She went on to go back to school and study geology and to then teach it at a local community college. Not bad for a 63 year-old.
(More on Laura Shultz at http://www.christianitytoday.com/biblestudies/articles/theology/thatisreallylife.html )

"The phrase I can't is the most powerful force of negation in the human psyche." -Paul R. Scheele.

Don't tell yourself you can't, tell yourself you can. I have had a dream to be a great runner ever since high school. I've always thought I wasn't very fast, that others were faster. Well, frankly, that was the case in high school because that's what I CHOSE to believe. I didn't really know how to train, I was too prideful to seek help. Now I am making a decision to be the very best I can possibly be and I am setting the bar extremely high. I recognize that I may be setting it too high, but I'm sick and tired of having this dream inside of me that I can't suppress and telling it, "Sorry, you picked the wrong guy. You see, I can't do it." I AM DONE WITH THAT! (Deep breath, smile--Okay, now I'm excited and happy.) I have made a decision to believe with everything I can that I CAN. It's possible and I can do it!

Like I said on my Goals page, "I would rather attempt the impossible, fail horribly and look like a fool than live someone else's dream looking back with regret and shame of what might have been." (Read this post.) And that's how I feel. I invite all of you to listen to your hearts. Figure out what you REALLY want to do with your lives, and then go do it. It's never too late, just look at Laura in paragraph 3. You can do anything. That's what I'm doing and that's how I run fearless.

High School Cross Country

As I was thinking about what to write today I thought about the Summer. I thought about all the Seniors in High School that graduated this year. Then I thought about all the kids getting ready for their first season of High School Cross Country. I thought back to my Summers preparing for Cross Country season and they were wonderful--Defining Summers of my life. I thought, What would I do differently if I could go back? Here's what rushed into my mind:

1. More running on grass and barefoot running. I had a lot of injuries in high school. Lots of tendinitis. I'm not saying all of my injuries would have disappeared, but what I am saying is that I think they would have been reduced significantly. Running on grass can be troublesome. If you're wearing shoes there's a concern for rolling your ankle. One of the reasons for that is because you're higher up. Get down lower and you begin to solve that problem. That's where running barefoot comes in handy. (Go to my Barefoot Running page to learn more about barefoot running.) Yes, you can step on things. Yes, it's not the safest thing. But neither is running on the street. I think the benefits heavily outwiegh the limitations/cautions. I run primarily in my Vibram Five Fingers. You can run in sandals, or something that get's you close to the ground. I definitely would have experimented more with this in high school.
2. More miles. I had some pretty high goals in high school, but I didn't achieve them. I think part of that was because I lacked the knowledge I have now. I would have run more miles. Longer warm0ups and longer cool-downs. In an upcoming post I will address why great runners of almost all distances need to put in a lot of miles, and it's not as simple as increasing aerobic capacity, maximum oxygen uptake or VO2 max. Stay tuned!
   
3. More 2-a-days. What I'm doing now is, in my opinion, the best thing. I get up at 6:00 or 6:30 and I read the scriptures for 30 minutes. I try to drink as much water as I comfortably can while I'm reading and then I do a 20-40 min run. Then at 10:00 a.m. I do my second and primary/main workout. Before noon on most days I have done anywhere from 8-17 miles. Check out my Training page to see what I do and for more ideas.
   
4. Better nutrition. I would have eaten less sugar and more vegetables. There are so many important vitamins and minerals in vegetables that our bodies need. I felt like eating sugar took the place of other things. Have you ever eaten so much that you're no longer thirsty? Maybe you were thirsty before, but now that you've stuffed yourself you are no longer thirsty. I think that happened with my efforts to eat healthy--they were thwarted by my addiction to sugar and unhealthy food.
   
5. More stretching. I would have taken 10-30 minutes after each run, specifically and especially after the hard workouts to stretch at least the main muscle groups.
   
6. Better planning for better rest. I think I would have tried harder to do certain things earlier in the day so that I wasn't staying up at night trying to finish them and then going to bed late. I think the optimal time for running is in the morning so that requires getting up early and THAT requires going to bed relatively early (and/or a nice nap during the day:)
   
7. Pool running when injured. When I started feeling hurt or pain I would have gone to the pool and done pool running. (This post is giving me a TON of good ideas for future posts like when I got back from my two-year mission in Argentina and I got sesamoiditis and how to stay in shape I pool ran...cool!) Also I would have taken more advantage of both a regular and exercise bike.
8. Swim team during the Winter. That's what I did my Sophomore year and it was great, then I went full-time, year-round running and I had more injuries--imagine that.
   
9. Less ignorance, more knowledge. I would have read more books on running, learning as much as I could about EVERYTHING about it. Knowledge is empowering especially about something you love to do or want to do really well at. My Bio-mechanics professor won the St. George marathon in 2009, Iain Hunter, and knowledge has definitely empowered him. (I ran into him running one day, not literally, but at a park in this is the advice Iain Hunter gave me.)
   
10. Racing often. I would have picked a race at least every month to see where I was at, if I was improving and what I needed to improve on. Racing for me is always a time of learning. It is a powerful tool for teaching I think.

I hope that was helpful to all, if not, sorry. Have a great day and run fearless! Yeah!

Believe it's possible

"You can be anything you want to be, if only you believe with sufficient conviction and act in accordance with your faith; for whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve." -Napoleon Hill

Principle #4 from Jack Canfield's book The Success Principles is Believe It's Possible. I love that quote at the beginning by Napoleon Hill. There are two conditions to achieving goals and dreams, 1. You have to conceive the goal/dream and 2. You have to believe it. Like I have done before I will highlight the chapter, apply it to myself and then apply it to everyone in general.

The world is filled with inspiring stories of people who have conceived a goal, believed it, let their lives pay the price to be able to achieve it and then have. Tug McGraw of the Philadelphia Phillies was one of those who was a pitcher in the World Series and had visualized and played out in his mind every day winning the World Series, and then it happened. Ruben Gonzalez took up the sport of luge at age 20, originally a soccer player from Argentina, and went on to compete in 4 Winter Olympics holding a record for the only athlete to compete in four different Olympic games in four separate decades.

For me, if I want to accomplish my goals and dreams then I have to believe it. Yeah, easier said than done. I REALLY, TRULY and DEEPLY have to believe that I can be one of the best runners in the world. I have to convince myself and my subconscious beliefs that it is possible and that I really can do. Every day I need to visualize myself winning races, being where I want to be and doing what I want to be doing. I must expect nothing less than that. I must replace negative thoughts, feelings and emotions with positive ones. In the upcoming principles we'll see more of how this is possible, but for now we gotta believe that what we want to achieve is possible.

Now, for you. You have desires deep down inside. You are the one who decides what you will or will not accomplish. "Sooner or later, those who win are those who think they can." -Richard Bach. You have conceived a goal (or you are about to) now believe it. Don't listen to anyone! Don't listen to people who tell you that you can't. Don't listen to people that tell you that you need to scale your goal down because it's TOO lofty--chuck that out! And believe that you can. You can do it, you can do it, you can do it. I will end this post with the famous words from one of my best friends Brant, "Never look back!" Have a great weekend and run fearless.

(Returning and reporting yesterday's workouts: 1st, 27 min run easy; 2nd, 55 min run easy AND today's workouts: 1st, 30 min run easy; 2nd, 20 min warm-up, mile time-trial by myself at the Provo H.S. track 5:03, 20 min cool-down) Great week. God is great, merciful, kind and loving.

How do I get motivated about running?

This is a question I got from another friend and she says the following: "I do enjoy running, but lately I have found quite a bit of lack of motivation to run lately. Any advice? I use to run in cross country in high school and I loved every minute of it but now I'm having a hard time keeping the motivation to run without my friends around. :("

This will be similar to the post two days ago Breaking through the running wall, so check that out because there's a lot of carry over. Also check out the comments in that post, especially the one from my friend in Sweden who gave an INCREDIBLE reply, check it out! What I mean by it being similar is that there's a lot of carry over, but this post will have some additional things that apply more towards motivation. Here are my ideas and once again if anybody out there has any additional ideas please feel free to share!

1. Make a goal and stick to it.
2. Post the goal all over the house, specifically in places you'll see it.
3. Sign up for a race. Knowing that a race is coming up, like a 5k, 10k etc. is motivating for me. I know that when I race I want to 1. Be at my best and 2. Be able to run the fastest I possibly can.
4. Get a cool running poster, or just buy an issue of Runner's World or Running Times and cut out a bunch of pages and make a motivational collage.
5. Ask people to run with you. Now is the time to get out of your comfort zone and look for people to run with. I guarantee you are not the only person lacking motivation and friends to be able to run--You just have to find those people. Facebook can be a waste of time, but it can also be used as a powerful tool to make your dreams come true and accomplish your goals.
6. Music is motivating (like I said in the previous post, 2 days ago). Put some of your favorite songs on your MP3/iPod and get going!
   
7. Just get out the door. For some people this works, for others it doesn't, but I think it's worth a shot. Just get out the door. Set out your clothes and shoes the night before, wake up, put them on as fast as possible and then just get out the door. I think those first few steps are some of the hardest, so just get out the door and start running.
8. Write down all the different workouts you can do on separate pieces of paper, then the morning of pick out a piece and do that workout. Surprise can be motivating and exciting.
9. Watch a good running movie. This site has great running movies.
10. Watch some running clips on YouTube or at CompleteRunning.com
11. My last piece of advice is to read this blog every single day!

There are many more things to be said, and more that needs to be discovered. For now this is good enough for me and I invite you, my friend, to Run Fearless!

(Returning and reporting yesterday's workout: 30 min. run; 58 min. Tempo run, 20 min. easy warm-up, 30 min. race pace. 8 min. cool-down)

Smashing frustration with a mountain

I just picture the word frustration, or the thing making me frustrated then I see myself picking up a mountain--yes, a whole mountain and just smashing the frustration. Squishing it. Pulverizing it. Crushing it. Breaking it into a million pieces. That's what I did yesterday.

I was feeling quite overwhelmed, tired, frustrated (like I said earlier) and down-right discouraged. I decided that I was going to change my workout a little and switch Wednesday with Thursday. Today I'm doing the Tempo run and yesterday I ran up the mountain.

Close to BYU is located a Y. A huge letter Y that's made of large rocks, cement and white paint. It's not the steepest thing you'll ever encounter, but it does the trick if you're looking for something really hard to run up. It had been a while since the last time I ran it and it just felt right. I thought, "There's nothing that can help me feel good. I don't know what's wrong, but I am mad!" So I started up and up and up. It was hot and the switchbacks seemed to go on without end. There were a few times I thought about stopping to rest, but I told myself to take smaller steps and just make it to the top of the next switchback. That's what I told myself each time.

When I arrived at the top I was so thirsty. There was a family up there and I asked if they had any water to spare. They did and I was extremely grateful. Then the mom gave me some Gushers which I was a little skeptical about because I'm all about healthy eating and anti-processed anything especially sugar, but I took them and ate them. It was wonderful.

All of that really helped to clear my mind. I was able to smash frustration with a mountain. We all get down, depressed, discouraged etc. and I am here to tell you that when that happens it is the start of self-defeating behavior. Stop it in its tracks! Find a mountain and smash it! Your mountain may be a musical instrument, it may be meditation or reading--It doesn't necessarily have to be intense. Sometimes we need to change plans and do something that will help calm us down and focus on what is most important. That is how I run fearless.

(Returning and reporting yesterday's workout: 30 minute a.m. run; 60 minute mountain run with cool-down)

Breaking through the running wall

This post is DEFINITELY one that I cannot handle all by myself. I am not a running pro nor do I claim to have all the answers, so we're gonna need everybody's help that can. I had a friend send me a question about running, and the paragraph below is that question. I will do my best to answer it and then ask all of you to comment so that this question gets answered. I am not so naive to think I have the perfect answer because everyone is different and you may have an answer that works better for my friend than what I have. That said I have my friend's permission to use her question, so here it is:

"Alright...I need your running wisdom Caleb! I've NEVER been a runner but am TRYING to be one! I've successfully gotten to the mile mark without stopping...something I didn't even do in high school once. But now what? My body is SCREAMING at me saying NO WAY, NO HOW AM I GOING TO RUN FURTHER THAN THAT!!! I'm training for a RAGNAR in October and am freaking out about the whole running 6 miles in a row thing. Suggestions? Advice? HELP?!"

To learn more about what RAGNAR means go to the RAGNAR about page. Couch to 5K is also a great resource. Okay, here goes, first let me restate that different things work or don't work for certain people and these are a few ideas that have come to mind as I've been letting the question process.

1. Run with someone. For me at least, it's easier to run faster and longer when I run with someone, especially someone I like being around. It in no way takes away the pain, but makes the pain bearable many times.
2. Run for time and not for distance. That's something I read in the book More Fire: How to Run the Kenyan Way. They are not so obsessed about mileage as they are getting as much as they can out of a 30 minute run for example. Start of with the time it takes you to run a mile, for example 10 minutes. Set a goal to run 10 minutes every day. When you hit 10 minutes see if you can go another minute or thirty seconds and when you hit that see if you can do it again. Pick out landmarks like fire hydrants, telephone polls, plants/trees and/or buildings and just get there. The following week set a new time goal, for example to run non-stop for 12, 13, 14 or even 15 minutes. Each week, and each day (if you feel ready) try to increase the time. Obviously if you feel really tired or you feel like something's wrong, back off and rest. (My post on Why is my heart racing when I'm not even running that hard? could help with that)
   
3. Mix in a day or two of cross-training. Get on your bike, in the pool, in your roller-blades (if you have some) and just enjoy doing something you love that also gets your muscles moving and heart pumping.
4. Have hard days, easy days and a complete-rest day. I try to do 3-4 hard workouts a week with two easy days and a complete rest day on Sunday. You may want to do 2 hard days, 4 easy and 1 complete rest. It's good to follow a hard day with an easy day.
5. Make a chart you can see your progress. Something that motivates me are charts. Make a graph to show the time (and/or mileage) that you have done/achieved and put a mark for how much you want to be running my a certain date then figure out what you need to be at each week. For example if you're at 10 minutes/day and you estimate that to run 6 miles non-stop by the first week of October you would need to be able to run non-stop for 60 minutes then this week you run ten minutes each day and then each week for 16 weeks you would need to increase your time by 3-4 minutes each week. Chances are if you're doing all that running you'll easily be able to do that.
6. Don't look at your watch. Try to run as long as you can without looking at your watch. You and I both know that as we spend more time looking at our watches the run seems longer, harder and many times down-right unbearable. So go for as long as you can without looking at your watch and if/when you have to look, look and then don't look for as long as you can afterward.
   
7. Set up a rewards program for yourself. It could be daily, weekly, monthly etc and you set the goal and you pick the reward. For example, I try not to eat a lot of sugar stuff (I'm addicted) so I have a goal that if I run every day for two weeks for at least 30 minutes then I get a candy bar of my choice.
   
8. Be accountable to someone. It could be a close friend, teammate, spouse, son/daughter etc. Let them know what your goal is and return and report to them. They could even be in charge of the reward
   
9. Get some music. I know for me I don't always like to run with an MP3/iPod, but music, at least for me, is motivating. If you want to get more intense you could figure out how long certain songs are, put them in a certain order and say, "After these songs I will be done with my workout for today." And then put an intense song at the end. Something that gets my mom pumped is the Mortal Kombat theme song.
10. My last idea is to run barefoot on a couple days out of the week. When I hit a running slump/frustration I started running barefoot at parks and it was very enjoyable. Along with all of the physiological benefits it is just refreshing, fun and cool.

Anyways, that's what I got and I WOULD LOVE anyone else to comment below to what they think could help my friend--or if you have a variation on one of my ideas, bring it! I would love that and so would my friend.

If you have any questions for me, running related or not, please do not hesitate to email me at runfearless@gmail.com or shoot me a message through Facebook. If you haven't been to the Run Fearless website on Facebook then I invite you, just type Run Fearless into the search on Facebook. Have a great day and run fearless.

(I am returning and reporting for my workout yesterday: 1st run= 24 minutes easy, 2nd run= 35 minutes easy. I'm feeling tired from yesterday's workout.)

Decide What You Want

Principle 3 of Jack Canfield's The Success Principles is called Decide What You Want. You will recall that the last principle we talked about was Be Clear Why You're Here. Once we figure out what our purpose in this life is, then we need to determine what we want to do, be and have.

Canfield proposes that the reason why we don't get what we want is that we haven't decided what we want--We haven't "defined our desires in compelling detail". That's so true, at least for me, I decide I want something, but it's usually a thought in my head. Many times it doesn't go down in a journal or on a 3x5 card underneath the bathroom mirror or something like that.

Don't live someone else's dreams. Stop settling for LESS than you want. These are things that I'm trying to do right now. I still don't have everything figured out, but this blog is a manifestation of me trying to fulfill my purpose and do what I TRULY want to do.

Ask anyone and they'll tell you the same thing--I love running. I have some of the most lofty goals when it comes to running--Be the best in the world--it doesn't get more lofty than that. I don't know why, but this goal came into me and refuses to leave. I've had a lot of goals throughout my life. Many have come and gone, but this goal about running has always stayed. I love watching running, I love reading books on the science behind it and the greats that have done amazing things like Haile Gebreselassie, Roger Bannister and Jim Ryun to name a few. Sometimes unhealthily it consumes my thoughts and I have to do things to get myself back on track.

A lot of people, and well-meaning at that, have told me either directly or indirectly that my goals are fun, but unrealistic and I need to pick something in case it doesn't pan out. Well the truth of it all is that I don't want to do anything else! I love running, and I know deep down inside that 1. There is a way to do what I love and make a living and 2. If I don't do what I feel is right deep down inside then I will live with the regret of what might have been. The other night I had this thought: I would rather attempt the impossible, fail horribly and look like a fool than live someone else's dream looking back with regret and shame of what might have been.

So what should we do? Make an "I want" list. Ask yourself or have someone ask you "What do you want?" Over and over until you have emptied your brain of everything you could possibly want. Make a list of 30 things you want to be, 30 things you want to do, and 30 things you want to have--And this is not a time to be humble (if that makes sense). Be true to yourself and write down EVERYTHING! Don't settle for anything less. I love the quote in Canfield's book by none other than Michelangelo himself: "The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." Reminds me of the quote by Tellman in my post on Run Tellman Run that "...I live by a guiding principle: If you don’t set yourself extremely ambitious goals, nothing great will ever be accomplished."

I challenge you to do this. Make a list of all the things you want to be, do and have. Figure out where you want to be in life, what your heart longs for you to do. What have you always wanted to do? The next post (probably on Friday, but no guarantees, but there's a good chance...) will be Principle 4 Believe It's Possible which will help with how you will be able to achieve your dreams and live the life you always envisioned.

Whoa! That was intense, now I gotta go run and live my dreams. Have a great day and run fearless!

(And I'm returning and reporting for yesterday: 34 min run in the morning and 1:40 run in the evening)