taraschiroFiled under: Asthma | Tags: Asthma, exercise asthma, exercise-induced asthma, running
I’m running a 5K race tonight and I’m tired. It’s hot outside. The air here in Southern California isn’t that great. I’m trying not to psyche myself but a part of me can’t help it. I can only do what my lungs will allow; I’m at their mercy. But, if I keep pushing, my lungs will do more than I give them credit for. This is the struggle. Knowing how far to push, how hard to train. There’s always the fear in the back of my mind of what will happen if I go too far. Will I pass out on the trail? Will someone find me? I run with my cell phone but not always my inhaler. On race night I take neither. On race night I wear the Garmin to track my pace. On race night the goal is to loose seconds, preferably minutes, off my best time. Can I do it?
This particular race series is seven weeks long. We race every Thursday night at the local college. We start on the baseball field, meander through the campus, and then up and down the hills along the freeway for a mile before heading into the stadium for half of a lap around the track to the finish line. Official results are printed each week. My goal is to decrease my time each week. Last week, the air quality was so bad it sabotaged my efforts and I gained an entire minute. Am I being to hard on myself? Why can’t I just run?
Two years ago my time for this series was 45:00 all seven weeks. Last year I started the series at 46:00 and ended at 36:34. This year I started at 32:12. I’m still hovering there with four weeks to go. I would like to end the season with a 30:something but this would require consistent ten minutes miles and through the hills, well, I’m not so sure this is possible. My husband thinks I’m crazy to be so concered with times and scores. He doesn’t have asthma. His lungs don’t rebel against him. His mind doesn’t say, “let’s go!” with his lungs laughing somewhere deep in a cavity of obstinance. It makes me crazy.
I just want to able to go and do what I please. However, the voice in my head is nagging me to look at the bright side. Last Sunday I ran four miles without stopping. This is a milestone. I went slow, an average of twelve minutes per mile, but I did it. I am running stronger. I am running faster. In my mind just not yet strong and fast enough. Why am I so hard on myself? Because I do not like being told no. If I want to do something, I should be able to do it. I’m thinking that there is only one brain in my body so if I am in charge of that brain, and I say to run faster and stronger, they why are my organs not listening? Why can’t I make them behave?
They have a mind of their own. They do what they want. They will improve on their timeframe, not mine. I have to listen to them, not the other way around. I don’t like this paradigm. In the January 2008 issue of Runner’s World magazine there was a quote by General George Patton, “If you are going to win any battle, you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do.” I’m guessing he didn’t have asthma.
What will I do tonight? Will I push to the liimits? Maybe it is all in my mind. Maybe I can run faster and stronger but my fear of consequences (passing out) holds me back. Or, maybe I wouldn’t pass out at all. Maybe my lungs are stronger than I think but my fear keeps me from really putting them to the test. Another deep inhale; I keep doing this to see if the airways are currently swollen. No. Just nerves. They seem to be fine. But I am tired from this weeks runs. Or do I just think I’m tired?
It is 9:30 a.m. The run is at 7:00 p.m. I have to announce the Junior Olympic swimmeet today for a few hours; that will keep my mind off of the race for a while. But, I will be out in the heat sucking energy out of my body. Announcing is exhausting; the ultimate multi-tasking job. Maybe it will tire me out. Or maybe it will energize me. 9 1/2 hous and counting…
(p.s. the swim club is doing a live web cast this year of the 5 day swim meet. they added an underwater camera which is pretty cool. i’m on today from 11:00-2:00 and again on
Saturday from 8:00-11:00). www.canyons.org)
Filed under: writing | Tags: autobiography, book as business card, entreprenuer book, tell your story, write your story
What does your character want? This question must be asked even when you are the main character in the story. The reader needs to know why he should keep reading, why he should keep turning the pages.
I’ve come across several autobiographies recently that did not address this question. In one particular story, the result was complete boredom. I had to force myself to keep reading. It wasn’t that the main character, the autobiographer, didn’t have some very interesting stories to tell about his life as an ethnic individual growing up in San Salvador and then moving to the United States. I found many of his life’s lessons and journeys quite intriguing. But the question I kept asking myself is why? Why am I being told this story? What does he want? What am I supposed to be rooting for? His survival in San Salvador? Breaking free from his abusive father? Living in the U.S.?
Consider the Lance Armstrong book, It’s Not About the Bike. The reader knows right up front the challenge Armstrong is facing: cancer. The reader immediately knows her role: root for him. Armstrong wants to survive the cancer and get back on his bike, pure and simple. Would he overcome? Dealing with this question causes the reader to keep turning the pages to find out, even if we already know the outcome. Not only did he survive the cancer but he won seven consecutive Tour de France races. I hope this point is not getting lost as you think about your own story: even though we know the outcome, even though the media has already spoiled the ending for us, we still read the book because it is a page turner. Armstrong doesn’t just give us his life story, he gives us a reason to root for him and keep reading. He answered the question by saying ‘I beat the cancer, I became the record holder for the Tour de France, and this is how it happened.’ He then tells us all the ups and downs on the way to winning. It’s a great read.
Why are you telling your story? What do you want? In order to answer this you have to go back in time. You may be eight years past your struggle, you’re over it now. But, your reader doesn’t even know the problem, let alone the struggle and resolution, so you have to go back and take them on that journey. You could phrase the question differently, “What did I want?” The reader is coming to your story fresh; most likely they have no knowledge of you until they buy your book so you need to put them in your life at the time when you had no clue if you were going to make it. Introduce the problem then solve it. You might say, I wanted to be free from the eating disorder, or, I wanted to be out of my father’s house, or, I wanted to beat the cancer and get back on my bike.
Readers do not have a lot of patience. They need a reason to spend four or five hours of their day with you. I wanted to root for the San Salvadorian man but I wasn’t sure what to root for. His story was chronological, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but to the point that I had no idea what his thesis was. I wasn’t clear about the point of the story or why he’s telling it. I stopped reading. Don’t let this happen to you. Be respectful of your reader; show her that your story is worth her time by clearly defining the role she must play.
The popular Twilight series of books is a good example. Bella wants to become a vampire. Will she do it? Will she abandon her human experience forever to be with her true love? This question will be answered once-and-for-all when book four is released in about three days, thirteen hours, forty-five minutes and thirty-three seconds as of this posting. Not that I’m counting or anything. Clearly define your struggle, tell the reader the outcome you’re hoping for, and then take him on the journey. If you do this, he’ll love you for it; in sales.
