Review of "14 Minutes: A Running Legend's Life and Death and Life " by Alberto Salazar

14 Minutes: A Running Legend's Life and Death and Life by Alberto Salazar
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love to get into successful runners heads and see what makes them tick, what is the edge that makes them succeed . This is why I bought this book. in 1985 I was a freshman in high school and was just getting into running. My brother Tom , who was a star runner at the school I went to always talked about Salazar. I graduated high school in 1989 and that is also when my running career faded.

Fast forward 20 years to 2009, I started to run again and have been very interested in the mental aspect of running. I recently ran the New York City Marathon and did not fair to well. I have been questioning my mental toughness and have been looking for answers, and "14 Minutes: A Running Legend's Life and Death and Life " definitely helped. I bought it because my brother used to rave about Salazar's toughness and I thought it would give me some clue to what i was missing.

Throughout this book, Salazar gives many examples of his grit, his confidence and his faith. All things in which I have been lacking lately . I will try to use what i learned from this book to help me succeed as a runner and to better myself personally.

View all my reviews

I Am Afraid of Success

It was around mile 14 this time when I felt it start to break down. The whole race I was with my brother running what I thought was a smart race and then it happened. I started to feel a cramp forming and instantly I started to panic . In my head the excuses started to form to why I was going to fail. I wasn't hydrated enough , I didn't eat anything, my training wasn't up to snuff and many more. Some of these may be true , but the biggest obstacle was my lack of mental toughness. I am just not strong enough to succeed in my head. I give up too easily.

I told my brother to go on , that I would be fine  I was for a while but then it all fell apart. I finished the marathon with my second worst time ever and my brother ended up smashing his personal best. When we talked about the race he told me that he felt the pain too, but he just kept going . If he were to slow down or stop it would have gotten worse . Although I am proud of him, I am envious of his willpower to overcome the adversity and triumph .

This is an issue for me. I can hit all my goals during training . I can feel good about my training , but when it comes to race day , everything falls apart . Here is another example.

This summer I was running an 8k in my hometown. I started off great then it again started to fall apart. A friend of mine passed me going up the hill , she tried to encourage me , but it didn't work. After I got up the hill I got my legs back and caught my breath. I had a chance to catch my friend, I physically felt I could do it, but I talked myself out of it and finished well behind her.

Physically , I think I am a pretty good runner. I am in shape to accomplish many of the goals I set for myself , it is just that when I toe the line to try to achieve the goals , something in my head always prevents me from doing it. Sure I may place in my age group and win some awards , but something always prevents me fro unleashing my full potential during a race. I am trying to figure out what that is and how to prevent it.

My best guess is that I accept failing too easily. I have gotten used to not achieving my potential that maybe I am afraid of  success . I look at my brother and my friends and although I am proud of their accomplishments , I am envious of their mental toughness and I have to find out how they are different from me.

That is my goal for 2014, is to build my mental toughness . I set up my race schedule to do that. I chose races that I can beat personal bests and to build confidence , I will be changing some of my training to do things that I have not done before , that I might have been scared to do. I will be using a lot of techniques that I learned long ago as a theatre major to block out the world around me and focus on the task at hand. I will not worry about others around me , but continue to focus on the goal.

I will force myself out the door , even when I don't want to go for a run. I will (and have) run in snow storms, ice storms, excessive heat and rain.

This will be the year that things start to change.

2014 Tentative Race Schedule

I think I have it set for next year, I want to focus on the Half Marathon a bit more, I feel that is my best event , so here it is. I may add more.

• March 1,2014 Shamrock Run (8K) in Buffalo NY (Corn beef Sandwich!)
• May 3,2014 GBTC Grand Island Half Marathon in Grand Island, NY (Flat,Fast Route)
• May 25,2014 Buffalo Marathon Relay (4 member team relay) in Buffalo NY (Go team "The Runs")
• June 28,2014 50 Yard Finish 1/2 Marathon in Orchard Park NY (I am the 2 time champ of my age group)
• July 19,2014 Laurel Run (8K) in Silver Creek,NY (My favorite race of the year!)
• September 14,2014 Erie Half Marathon in Erie PA ( Reubens with Aunt Marge and Carrie!)
• October 3,2014 Wineglass Marathon in Corning, NY ( This was my 1st Marathon in 2009 Seems appropriate to go back 5 years later!)

I would like to do the Olivia's wish run (5K) as well but I am unsure of the date. I was also really looking hard at running the Chicago Marathon , but there is a family obligation that weekend and can't do it. I also wanted to keep things local this year .

I hope many of my running friends can join me for any of these events . Should be a fun year!!!!

What My Head Scan Revealed Today

A few things that are circling around in the old noggin this morning.

• There have been times in past years where I have broken out the Christmas music and listened to it as early as the day after Halloween . This year I have not, but if you want to, do it. If you don't want to then don't. I have heard many complaints about a local radio station playing Christmas music beginning early November . If you don't like it don't turn it on, the radio station most likely has done the research and that research most likely shows that people tune in when they play that type of music .

• Speaking of Christmas, I have always felt that it was an employee morale killer to keep your business open on Christmas day. I think that businesses that are able to close , should. However the argument for keeping certain businesses open on that day is that it is one of the busiest days of the year . So we have no one to blame but ourselves because although we say it is wrong, but we use the service that these businesses provide on December 25th .

•   For the first time in my life I have to work on Christmas day, I work in health care and we can not close on that day. I am a little bummed about this , but will go in and try to put a smile on the people I serve faces , because where I work is home for them and they deserve nothing but my best , if I can make their Christmas special , it might make mine special too.

• I am suffering a bit from the post marathon blues, but not as bad as I thought. I mostly have been looking ahead and I can't get the Chicago Marathon out of my head. The more I research it the more I want to run it. 

• The Cleveland Browns are fun to watch. However, this talk of playoffs are a little premature. We have too tough of a schedule remaining . Years of disappointments have taught me not to get too excited , to enjoy any success on a weekly basis, because the following week it can all fall apart. 

• Lately any political talk has given me an upset stomach. If you know me , you know I love to talk politics , but lately when I hear it I reach for the Pepto.

That is about it for right now, I hope everyone is having a great day!

Friday's Feel Good Song of the Week- "Wishing Well" -Terence Trent D'Arby

O.K. it is Saturday, but I think you will like this one.

Whenever this song comes on , volume goes way up!

I Did It!

What an incredible weekend !

I wanted to give it a day or 2 before I wrote about my experience running the New York City Marathon, I had a wide range of emotions that I needed to sift through before I can really let you know how I felt about it. In fact I am still trying to sort it out as I heal from from the aches and pains .

Me at the Expo

I have to say this was one of the most incredible things that I have been a part of. It is so easy to get swept up in the emotion of the event and I did. Throughout the race I kept thinking that I am running the freaking NYC Marathon! This was a a dream of mine since I first laced up my running shoes and heard about a Math teacher at my high school who ran it. I also ran the first 15 miles with my brother Kevin , which made it even more special.

My first reaction to the race was disappointment, my personal best marathon was a 3 hours and 34 minutes , I did that back in 2011 in Erie PA. I finished Sunday with a 3 hours and 59 performance. It was my second worse marathon ever. I can put that on not being very smart with my nutrition and hydration before and during the race. I got caught up in everything that was going on that I did not prepare my body the way I should and was playing catch up throughout the race. Lesson learned.

My brother and I before
the race

I also felt so much pride in my brother Kevin (A.K.A The Wouk) , he crushed his personal best time ! Kevin ran a very smart , determined race and was rewarded with such an awesome result. I also want to thank him,his wife Kristen and his friend Johnny (who ran with me and Kevin) for showing such great hospitality for me and my wife this past weekend. Kevin and Kristen have been so supportive of me since I got back into running , offering advice and cheering me every step of the way . They have been my un-official coaches, and big part of any success I have had.

Another person who has helped me is my friend Tracy, I have known who Tracy was since my high school days when she was one of the area's top runners. We were introduced through a mutual friend and she has had to deal with my stupid questions and lame attempts at trash talking ever since. I am so impressed with her determination and dedication , that paid off with a personal best and a third Boston Marathon qualifying time on Sunday. I am very proud of her!

Crowd shot my wife took , it was loud!

The crowds were just simply amazing in New York, it seemed like a different city than the one that I have visited several times before. The crowd was shoulder to shoulder on both sides of the street the entire 26.2 miles . They were so loud and supportive! I can not tell you how many people I gave high fives too! The excitement on people's faces is something I will never forget. I have so many stories that I could share hereabout people who I met or saw along away, it would take forever to write. I will share with you about a man who seem to be  homeless . Walked up to me as I was trying to stretch out a cramp, and was trying so hard to encourage me to keep moving it got me through pretty much the rest of the race.

Thank you to everyone who sent me words of encouragement before,during and after the race. You don't know how much it means to know that so many people were supportive of what I did. I wish there was a way that I could show you how much I appreciate it other that saying thank you.

My wife Sheri has always been my biggest supporter. Someone said recently that she is my rock , I will do one better. She is the foundation for everything in my life, without her I would fall apart. God truly got got it right when he paired us together.I thank Him every day for that.

Now what?

I am mulling over several things I want to do next year, but I haven't nailed down anything yet. For now I can relax and be proud that I was a part of something truly amazing and created a memory that will be with me the rest of my life.

Marathon Info and Friday Feel Good Song of The Week!

Well here it is! Marathon weekend!

I can not believe that it has come so quick, it really seems that I just heard the news that I will be running this year and now I am packing my bags for the trip! I know that I have annoyed several of you with posting so much about the New York City Marathon, I am obsessed with it and I feel I am ready.

My strategy  for the race is to take it all in. Since I started running almost 30 years ago .this race and Boston have been my dream. Now I get to run it and I couldn't be more nervous,excited and pumped ! I have decided that I want to take in the crowd, the sites and the city of New York. I will let how my body feels dictate the pace, I am not really going to shoot for a personal best. This is about enjoying the moment.

I hope you can enjoy it with me. I will be using social media to post stuff all weekend long so you can follow me in the following places (Click To go to Sites):

Follow me on Twitter

Follow my Tweets here on Densil's Head Scan!

To track me during the race :

http://www.ingnycmarathon.org/spectators/trackmyrunners.htm

There are 3 ways you can track, by text, by web, and/or you can download an app for your smartphone.The text option does cost $2.99 , the other two are free

My bib # is 18388. If you search me by name , make sure you look for Densil not D.J.

Thank you everyone for all the support, it really means alot ! Here is the song of the week "Dreams" by Van Halen: