Whit on the Race

He emailed this to students, family and such.

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Hey, folks!

Sifu Whit from Jade Mountain Martial Arts, here. Just wanted to pass on a little story.

Sunday marked my second attempt at the Houston Half-Marathon, and I thought I'd share the experience. EEaarRRGHhhhHH!!!!!!!! I keep forgetting that 13.1 miles is exactly that...13.1 miles. I ordinarily don't drive that far in a day, much less run that far! Nevertheless, I was determined to run this race again.

As many of you may know, I ran this race for the first time a year ago. I have never been a long distance runner. I think the most I've ever run in training or for fun was less than five miles, and I usually do sprints, interval workouts, or shorter distance runs of around two miles, when the notion strikes me. I ran track back in High School, but I was generally in the back of the pack, and only ran the 800 meters, which is just two laps around. To be honest, I stunk. But I never let that stop me. ;-)

Sometime in 2004, I got the idea that running the 2005 Half-Marathon in January would be a good idea. My own Sifu had often run marathons and triathlons in the past in order to 'foster the mind-body connection.' I liked the sound of that, and decided to see for myself how that would feel. Many of you have heard, in great detail, how that first race went, and know that I was thrilled (and quite stunned) to put up a time of 2 hours 10 minutes, which is quite average for a decent runner. Since I'm not generally a decent runner, I was very happy with that. As the year went on, I looked forward to the next race, and hoped I could beat my time.

This year, the old specter of asthma showed up to haunt me. I haven't had asthma in over 20 years. But I'm 36 now, and the body is a bit different than it was in my younger days, and I started having trouble with my breathing way back in September. It took quite awhile for me to decide that something was actually wrong, and then more time to go see a doctor about it. During all of this hemming and hawing, my training suffered for lack of the ability to take a deep breath, and the race crept ever closer.

It came time for the race, and my breathing was somewhat improved, but was nowhere near what it had been the year before. Running two miles had recently proved a challenge for me, but I was not about to let the facts stand in my way of giving it a shot. A dear friend of mine, Brian, had come down to run with me, and there was no way I'd say, 'You go on ahead, and I'll stay here and wave at you when you cross the finish line!' I jokingly told him to just kick me to the side of the road if I passed out.

It was cold, around 50F, when the starting gun went off, but not as cold as last year. The sunrise was beautiful, and there were far more people on the sides of the road to cheer us on than last time, and their yells and applause kept us going. After the first few miles, it became apparent that this run would be struggle. Legs were fine, arms were fine, but the muscles that kept me breathing were actually getting fatigued from the workload. Nevertheless, I plodded onward. Brian was running a nice, easy pace, and seemed to be drifting effortlessly along. I focused my efforts on breathing in and out and on staying relaxed. Mostly, I just didn't quit. I just kept going.

I was relatively OK for the first 9 miles or so, slowing only to gulp water or Gatorade at the drink stations along the course. After that though, it really started to feel like my lungs had shrunk, and my pace slowed. I started taking short walking breaks along the course, running for awhile, and then walking for 30 seconds so I could catch my breath now and then. But I wasn't about to quit. I wanted to finish this race, 'Run, Walk, Stagger, or Crawl', so I kept going.

There was a point near the end when someone said, 'It's just around the corner! You can do it!!'. So I turned the corner and saw the finish line...and it looked like it was another 10 miles away. Argh. Even so, I kept going. Walking, running, walking again, but never stopping. Always going, always moving.

And after what seemed like 6 years of running, I crossed the finish line. I raised my arms in the air as though I had won an Olympic medal, thrilled to still be conscious and able to walk. Wow. 2 hours 24 minutes 11 seconds. Not nearly as good as last year, but not too bad. I staggered into the George R. Brown Convention Center to await Brian, who had dropped back late in the race, and thought to myself that this was a pretty good day. Honestly, I don't know if I'd have been able to do this well without Brian's support, and I'm glad he was there for me. Thanks, Brian!

So why am I writing this? The point I wanted to make is that we all have obstacles. Sometimes, things can be tough. Injuries and illness, work issues, family troubles, there are so many things that can stand in our way as we make our journey through life. But don't give up. Set a goal, make a plan, find some support, and then get moving.

There will always be obstacles. So find a way around them, over them, under them, or blow straight through them. We grow from challenge. Sometimes we challenge ourselves, and sometimes, the challenges aren't asked for, but either way, we grow from facing them. Don't ever give up. Believe in yourself, and you'll be surprised at what you can do.

Have a great day! Train hard, and live long.

Sincerely,

Sifu Whit McClendon
Jade Mountain Martial Arts
22123 Katy Freeway
Katy, Texas 77450
281 395 5935
www.JadeMountain.org