Testing Yourself Two Friends Who Are Much Crazier Than I Ever Was
When I was old enough to know better-rapidly closing in on 40-I approached life with a degree of carelessness that in retrospect I am not terribly proud of. I won’t go into detail but the fact that I was divorced after twenty years added to my tendency to live and not question any of the rules I applied to life. I made a set of three goals to fulfill before I turned the magic 40: to white water canoe, to learn to fly fish and to run a marathon. I survived the canoeing, ignored the fly fishing and bought the popular book Eat to Win.
What followed was a year- long preparation for the most challenging experience of my life. I researched a number of races (I had run ten kilometer races for years) and selected Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota because it had a reputation of having a great post-race party. To capsulize, my diet changed dramatically and my training took on an urgency never before experienced. I succeeded in beating my goal of four hours and vowed never again would I consider doing such a stupid thing…but I did it and proved something to myself.
Somewhere along the line, age won and I physically regressed and passed the baton of craziness to younger men. So in this blog I salute two friends, one my son in law, Charlie Smogoleski, and the other my friend Steve Wood who have far outdone me.
My daughter Marie met her future husband when she was the only young woman playing in a men’s basketball league. They eventually married and their adventure together has taken them from Mt. Pleasant, MI, to Erie, PA, to Rome, GA, to Greenville, SC to Peoria, IL and finally to Eaton Rapids, MI. In the meantime they had twins, Riley and Braylon, who just turned five.
Charlie almost did not pursue running because he hated going around in circles, therefore he is one of the few who excelled at cross country but never ran track in high school. As a freshman in high school he was 5’6” and 220 pounds, but when he reported for cross country in the fall he had grown a half foot and lost sixty pounds. He found immediate success. His favorite accomplishment in high school was that he set a record of 54 minutes in the 9.3 mile E-Kup race. As a senior he was selected to participate in the Gatorade National Championships in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Just as abruptly as he had found success, he stopped running and for seven years had no interest in it. Marie took a job as assistant basketball coach at Berry College in Rome, Georgia and entered a 5k. Charlie ran along and soon was rekindled an interest in competitive running. He signed up for the Twisted Ankle Trail Marathon in Summerville, Georgia, which included a 4000 foot elevation change. Without training for any appreciable time he finished fifth in just under four hours. His goals suddenly changed and he ran the Atlanta Marathon intending to qualify for Boston. His 3:01 time was good enough and within a year he set a course record in winning the Silver Comet Marathon in two hours twenty four minutes.
Last month Charlie finished third in the Detroit Marathon, won the Ann Arbor Marathon in record time and made two thousand dollars pacing Lebonese women’s national record holder Chirine Njiem through the first twenty miles of the Indianapolis Marathon as she attempted to set a personal best. Three marathons in a four week period redefines craziness. In February Charlie has been invited as one of thirty runners to compete in the USA Track and Field 50k Championship on Long Island. He is sponsored by the New Balance Playmakers Elite.
His goal is to qualify for the Olympic Trials. He figures to do that he must run a 2:15 marathon. Presently he is in the top ten runners in America in his age group.
He reflects on his dedication to running and the success he has enjoyed. “Running allows for solitary time and rids you of whatever frustrations have accumulated. It’s given me clarity for understanding who I am and allows me to be a role model for the twins.” The motto he has adopted is ‘what the mind believes the body achieves.’
Unlike Charlie who has focused his craziness in one area of exercise, my next subject, good friend Steve Wood, has spread the insanity over several stages in his life. He began “breaking nearly every breakable bone” by riding endure competitions. His competitive side emerged early as he was crowned Eastern UK Regional Champion after only three years of competitive riding.
Twelve years ago he turned from the motorized version of biking to the pedals and guts version. He rode time trials for a couple of years until his first long ride from the Irish Sea to the North Sea. The ride covered 1036 MILES from Lands End to Jon O’creats and took nine days. He has also completed the Raid Pyrenean, a ride from the Mediteranean to the Atlantic through the Pyrenees. It extends for 830 kilometers. Locally he is best known for his holding the record of four minutes fifty four seconds descending the six kilometers of the Col.
Four years ago he began running, and then the real craziness began. His first 45 km race (about 30 miles) was the Font Romeo. The one which tested his endurance and toughness was the 65 kilometer night race through the mountains. He said the footing was treacherous, especially near the top where it was snowing. He did single out the last ten miles as the worst experience he had ever encountered. “It was painful.”
I asked Steve what he hoped to do in the future. He said the one thing he is curious about is if he could run a ‘flat marathon’ in decent time meaning somewhere under four hours. We continued our discussion and he made a statement which resonated with my. “There are always new challenges waiting to be attempted.” I’m guessing in Steve’s case that means there are mountains that have yet to be climbed, and maybe a new sport to be attempted. A triathalon sounds like a worthwhile challenge.
These are only two examples of people I know who step outside the bounds of normal sanity and accept whatever challenge is conjured up by their imagination. Many of you are able to brag that at sometime in your life you have taken steps out of your comfort zone and walked a 5 km race, swam one extra lap or tested yourself in ways that you previously thought were out of reach. Keep it up.