Man Vs. Corn and the Muir Beach Marathon

It was a foggy morning, April 11 2010. The Muir Beach Marathon is probably one of the most incredible marathons* (notice the astrix) there is. Leaving Stinson Beach you run up Steep Ravine, a towering jungle of ferns, redwoods, and waterfalls. You run through trees (literally), up a ladder....Then after climbing 1,600 feet, your run 1600 feet down to Muir Woods. As you run through dense redwoods, you make your way back up to Pan Toll Ranger station and then run about 12 miles along a ridge overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Amazing. Oh yeah, the astrix is for the 23 miles that GPS actually recorded the race....The organization is a little liberal on their definition of a marathon or their way of measuring it. Oh well, my 4:37 time sounded a little too good to be true. I should have known that a 4:37 at a 13 minute average pace really has not been done before....

As I was racing, several people past me along the race. As my friend Clifton passed me two minutes before the end, as happy as I was for him, my competitive nature was a little knocked...but do you want to know the truth? The competitors in the race are not the enemy. Corn is your enemy! Corn is an evil fruit, used by our government to manipulate the entire food industry, at the cost of many lives...

After World War 1, the government needed to find a use for all of the excess ammonium nitrate it used to manufacture bombs. They turned to agriculture and soon learned that ammonium nitrate could make an acre of land go from 45 bushels per acre to 180 acres. (at a cost of about 180 gallons of fossil fuel) If that were not enough, the government decided to give away cash, a lot of cash, to any farmer that would produce corn. The government manufactured an industry that would literally change life as we know it. This corn is used as the primary food source for virtually all of our meat. In addition, it is used to make corn syrup, a very inexpensive ingredient to produce (thanks to the government subsidies and the annual glut of corn we have). Because corn syrup is so cheap, companies such as Coca Cola were able to become mammoth companies. Fast Food companies were able to make cheap "All beef patties" because cheap corn feed made it cheaper to produce meat...and make a killing from the 95% profit margin on their soft drinks.

Today the average American drinks 600 12 oz drinks a year. Americans eat 75% of their meals at home, but out of that 75% half of those are fast food. A typical fast food lunch has between 1,300 and 1,700 calories. An adult should be eating about 2,000 calories a day but the average American eats 3,800 per day. I ate at Pasta Pomodoro before my run. They now publish their calories on their menu. I learned that a typical Pasta dinner was around 1,500 calories (including bread but not drinks).

Back to the race...Its interesting when I run by people on the trail, they are amazed that we are running a marathon in the woods. The people I talk to are all inspired by my trail running. Even my wife has started working out and running because she has been inspired. I also try to live a healthy lifestyle by eating local, 100 percent grass fed meats and organic vegetables. I want to eliminate all forms of processed foods. People change by watching and learning from what we do. Everyone wants to live a healthy lifestyle but nothing inspires them more than seeing people live it out. So....I run. Not to beat everyone but to live a lifestyle that I believe in. I push myself, train, and run crazy miles because that's who I am and I hope others in their own way will try to fight the darkness that is killing our kids and destroying the quality of life in our friends. Every time I see a friend, who has a few extra pounds pick up a corn syrup ladened, insulin spiking poison tonic or vittle, I cringe. I know whatever I say wont make a huge difference...I don't know maybe it will, but they will notice when I run. And when I am running races at age 50, 60, and 70 and feeling great, when I am playing soccer with my teenage kids and running circles around them....people will notice and ask how....and I will tell them how I do it. We are on a mission! We are conquerors. We will not be beaten. Lets get ready for the next run!

Motivation...To Run or Not To Run

Well that title doesn't sound very inspiring...Ok so before I start, let me bore you with my morning run details and then I will get to the point. So I left this morning after downing some waffles with the kids and wife and ran to Petes to get a double shot of espresso. On the way there I got nipped in the butt by a big dog. The dogs owner was this lady in a wheel chair that was talking to some guy right on the bridge. I was kind of ticked that she didnt appologize for her dog or even sternly yell at it. So I got to Petes a little shaken up and after downing the doubleshot I was on my way to the hills of Novato. I ran up some streets, passed some wild turkeys and got to the trail head. The creeks were running from last weeks rains and the smells of moist soil was refreshing. I pushed my way up a 600 ft hill and stopped a minute to hear several birds chirping away. I took in the nature as I ran down the ridge. I exited the open space and ran by several farms. I heard chickens, saw baby goats, saw a pair of peacocks pass me, saw some horse being fed their morning hay. All in all it was a nice run. Just about 8 miles...no big deal. But, really, do I have to run 100 miles to be inspiring these days? I mean they are saying yesterdays 100 mile is today 135. What will be tomorrows distance to write home about? 200? 300?
This gets to my point. Dean Karnazes one day ran 25 or 30 miles for the first time. He was so inspired that he ran the ARC 50 not long after that. Then he did Western States which was a monumental accomplishment for him. But do you think that he would ever write about doing Western States again? Been there done that, right? Next he ran from Calistoga to Santa Cruz for a cause. Then he ran 50 marathons in 50 days. But what is he going to write about next?
Scott Jurek, one of my trail running heros recently wrote an eye opening article in the April issue of Runners World. After being a 7 time Western States winner, he is no longer winning races. He got a divorce from his wife, and he just seems unmotivated to race. His mission is to help people be healthier and he asked himself, "how is beating everyone helping them with that goal?" He got disillusioned and his motivations of competing and being the best led him away from his true passions. You can see by visiting his blog that his passion for running has fallen off the cliff. There is not a single post for 2010. Hopefully he will find himself again. Or maybe he did and running races is not himself.
I knew a guy who would buy a brand new car every 6 months. He would buy the car, smell that new car smell, show off his car to his friends and then get bored with it and buy another one. People do that with relationships too. You know that song..."You lost that loving feeling". If love was a feeling then we would be trading our wives every 6 months too, right?
You know what I think the problem with motivation is? We don't appreciate the little stuff that makes what we do great. If I can't enjoy the turkeys, peacocks, birds, trees, streams and just breathing the fresh air on a nice run. If I can't enjoy the redwoods in Muir woods, the ocean views, the rolling fog over the hills as I run free in the mountains. If that stuff doesnt motivate me to get outside and jump into my running shoes...then I have lost it.
If I can't enjoy giving my kids piggy back rides, putting them down at night and talking about my day with my wife...If I can't enjoy solving a computer problem at work and making someones day a little more productive...then what am I living for?
I love looking forward to races. I want to run from Oregon to Mexico along the Coastal trail one day. That stuff excites me. It gives me something to look forward to, but if I can't enjoy the ride there, then I will quit. PR'ing, distance goals, big races are all great, but if that is your motivation, then I say you are not going to be running 20 years from now. You will one day injur yourself, get too old to do something you have never done and loose your mojo. You will be a slog watching Oprah Winfey reruns on your old couch, telling your friends what a great runner you used to be. Maybe I should change my blog tittle to To Run or watch Oprah? or PR today Couch Tomorrow. Hmm, let me think about that...