A thriver's guide to physical health and wellness
World-class tips, tactics, strategies and serious motivation
Paris, 2009, heading to Helsinki, Finland for the Masters World Championships…
I’m here to help you stay motivated. Don’t let disappointments convince you to quit. Ever.
Held every two years, the World Master’s Athletics Track and Field championships begin today in Sacramento, California. First time in 15 years Worlds has been on America soil.
With every reason to be bitter for missing this (potential once-in-a-lifetime) home field advantage, I refuse to.
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Which One Set A New World Record?
Let’s shake it up a little bit today. You good with that? Good. Let’s go back to this past summer.
Here’s the scene. Early August, 2009. Sunny, clear, 70 degrees.
Finland.
Master’s Track & Field 2009 World Championships. Men’s 400 meters, 70-74 year old age group.
Enter a German man.
Click here to see the secret this “old man” reveals about getting and staying healthy.
PS. If you are too busy to follow this and invest two more minutes, please go look in the mirror and say something like, “I really do want to get healthy and stay healthy, but I just really don’t want to work very hard at it.”
Tell Them Age Is An Excuse
What can we learn from defeat, loss, failure?
Many things to be sure. But only if we try hard to learn from setback. And only if we listen. And only if we then try again.
Are you listening? And I don’t mean, “Sleigh bells ring, are you listening”.
I mean, are you the kind of person that will pick yourself up after you fall?
Are you the type of person that finds a million ways to stay motivated?
You see, getting motivated is one thing. What makes winners is staying motivated.
Oh wait, you want to tell me something, right?
Okay, go ahead.
“Jeff, you don’t understand, my life is hard. It’s very difficult.”
Here’s a Christmas gift for you, and it is given with the most hopeful and sincere intent – “No one has it easy. Period. End of story.”
This may scare some people off, and I would hate to see that happen, but I can’t allow myself to make excuses.
How can I teach our son (9), that it’s okay to make excuses?
World Championships Gold Medal
Have you ever had something really important or “big” in your life, a long-time dream perhaps, where you where getting close to the end of your journey?
And you were so close you could see the glorious end in sight, but then the unthinkable happened.
How did you deal with it? Did it work out for you?
Where you forced to compromise? Or maybe (gasp), quit?
Pain in the as foot.
Pain in my left foot. Still.
It plagued me during the August Master’s Track & Field World Championships. In fact, it has bothered me all year.
In the Spring, it seemed to be a dominant topic at Lane 8.
By June however, I pretty much had stopped writing about the pain, but not because it went away.
Eventually, I had to suck it up and do what needed to be done to make it happen.
In Finland, it didn’t turn out the way I had dreamed, but that’s the beautiful lesson – nothing turns out the way we dream.
It’s either better or worse, but never the same.
Click here to go to the WMA Masters Athletics Track & Field 2010 Indoor World Championships in Kaamloops, British Columbia.
Most likely, I’ll be the only one clicking on the link. Why? Because there are not too many people smart enough over 40 years old (any age really), who focus on their wellness as much as I’m motivated to do.
Why? Well, um, well, I really don’t know. Probably has something to do with an unresolved emotional issue or a predisposition to over-achieve. Everyone has unique quirks. Staying healthy is one of mine.
Last night I could barely walk. Foot pain. Left heel. Why? Not sure.
Some of you know I represented the United States at the 2009 Masters Track & Field World Championships in Lahti, Finland. The first week of August seems like so long ago, when in fact, it wasn’t. Since then, I’ve completely tapered off on training. Completely.
So why the pain?
What is amazing to me, and something I tried to hide in the Lane 8 blog posts before traveling to Finland, is that I was actually able to compete at all.
“Then why put yourself through all this”?, is a common question. Roger Bannister, the first human to break the four-minute mile barrier, said it best:
“I sometimes think that running has given me a glimpse of the greatest freedom a man can ever know, because it results in the simultaneous liberation of both the mind and body….. The runner does not know how or why he runs. He only knows that he must run….. We run, not because it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves”. — Roger Bannister 1956
Lane 8, “What’s next”?
Face to face questions, as well as emails, ask the same thing, “Are you preparing for any upcoming meets”?
Yes, and no.
YES, there are two big meets in 2010. The WMA Masters Track & Field Indoor World Championships in early March, in Kamloops, British Columbia. And there’s the USA Masters Track & Field National Championships, in July, in Sacramento, California.
NO, the left heel pain precludes me from anything remotely intense enough to be considered world class training.
This may be a good thing. If you don’t know, it was never the intent to become a world class Master’s athlete. But after several years of running and making common sense, common practice, I wanted to see if it could actually be done.
Tomorrow I’ll describe the level of fitness that I didn’t even know I had achieved. And what it feels like to see it slip away and the thought process on how, and if, I should deal with that.
Pain update. Short and sweet.
Yes, the pain is still nagging me, slowing things down, tempting me to become very discouraged.
Tempting me, and I shudder to think about it, to quit.
Quit?
Yes. Quit.
This has been going on for years. YEARS!
Being 50 years old and achieving and sustaining a world class fitness level is not easy.
Why work so hard, so long, so quietly? You know there are many, many people who know me well and have no idea I went to Finland for the 2009 WMA Master’s Track and Field World Championships? So yes, quietly.
So why then, all this work?
Remember my big goal? To see our son graduate from High School in ten years. No man on my Dad’s side has made it past 60.
What’s your “excuse”?
Today would be a decent day to venture over to jungle jeff’s blog.
Why?
Because today’s message at jungle jeff is very relevant to what Lane 8 is all about.
Setting goals, achieving goals and sustaining those goals. Modifying or changing our lifestyles to a more desirable, healthier state.
Motivation is the key. But many people have false notions about motivation, inspiration and even excitement.
Here’s another short, quirky You Tube video from jeff noel at University of Oregon and Track Town USA.
If you are not a Track fan, that’s ok. This blog isn’t about Track anyway, it’s about excellence, our physical well-being and our approach to what we do with it.
But you already knew that, right?
Mind, body, spirit, money, and hq...
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America's unheralded work life balance expert. jeff noel, is a Servant, Husband, Dad, Boomer, speaker, author, runner. He believes work is only work if you'd rather be doing something else. Allergic to most pollens and mediocrity, he can't wait for the alarm clock to go off every morning.