The Quest #13: Rambling and Gambling
September 10th, 2024 to October 8th, 2024
Another major evolution to Sendō - this is almost good enough to share with real people. Didn't run the half-marathon I wanted to in September but every single inch of this website and my mind are getting sharper. Maybe I'll make it out alive with some dignity and cash in my pocket.
Long story short: I became a stay-at-home deadbeat because life got too hard for an emotionally unstable yuppie. Now I'm trying to redeem myself by running a lot and talking about it. Hopefully you find this entertaining enough to subscribe, buy merch and become inspired to follow your own Quest.
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The Quest
Run a 5K (3.1 mi)
Run a 10K (6.2 mi)
Run a Half (13.1 mi)
Run a Marathon (26.2 mi)
Run a 50 Mile Race (80K)
Run a 100 Mile Race (160K)
About Sendō
Project StartedJuly 2023
Last RaceApril 2024
Next RaceFebruary 2025
Time Remaining633d
Found a new sweet spot to train in East Austin: super quiet, lots of hills and deep in nature. My pace is still trash but I know the constant elevation change will pay off on the next race day.
This Chapter
Number of Runs+9
Mileage +20.85 mi
Run Time +348.03 min
Avg. Run2.31 mi / 38.6 min
Longest Run6.32 mi / 117.9 min
All Time Data
Total Runs 54
Total Mileage 184.91 mi
Total Run Time 43h
Average Run 3.42 mi
Longest Run 15.56 mi
Got a cool pic you took on a run? Send it to Sendō! You'll be featured below.
Current Favorites
AlbumMEGAN by Megan Thee Stallion
BookCan't Hurt Me by David Goggins
GameElden Ring
MovieThe Last Dragon
SongLive the Life by Hiroshi Watanabe
TV ShowFROM (MGM+)
Real talk, The Last Dragon feels like a fever dream but it was everything I needed at this moment in time. Can't recommend it enough.
FROM is great too: there's been a gap in my soul for a good mystery box show since Lost ended. Almost done with Season 1 but really enjoying the ride.
Elden Ring: I'm close to the endgame, though I've hit a wall at three bosses in different locations, so I'll need to grind a bit to beat these fuckers. The cold place is brutal.
Can't Hurt Me has been inspirational and humbling. It's a reminder to focus on strengthening the mind and you can handle more than you think.
Question Of The Month
What does the Wu-Tang Clan have in common with The Clash?
Scroll to the end to find out!
Trivia
Five fun facts from the wonderful world of running.
- Born to Run: The Tarahumara people of Mexico are known for running long distances on trails wearing simple sandals called "huaraches."
- Longest Run Streak: The longest recorded running streak is held by Ron Hill, who ran every day for over 52 years.
- Most Marathons Run: The record for the most marathons run is held by Ricardo Abad, who completed 607 marathons in 607 consecutive days.
- Back-to-Back Ultras: Multi-day ultras, like the Marathon des Sables in the Sahara Desert, require runners to complete consecutive marathons across multiple days.
- Longest Race on Earth: The Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race in Queens, New York, is the world’s longest certified footrace.
My unedited ramblings, typically after a run. There's some gems between the manic thoughts.
9/11/2024
Always feels awkward writing something on this date as a New Yorker.
The next few days and weeks ahead are going to be an absolute grind, but it's needed. I've been hearing this saying lately from the startup world, going 'founder mode'. The idea's nothing new - just dedicating yourself purely to your efforts. 'In the trenches', 'late nights in the lab, going 'beast mode'. You get the idea. I've been clearheaded lately which is great, but now the next step is reducing all of my technology and BS intake. At night, I'm actually going to keep the phone under my bed and not use it until the next morning. During the day, I think imma have to delete some apps and just perfect my discipline and routine.
--
The days feel so much longer when you're in charge of what you need to do. But I'm going to embrace this mind feeling of going insane, I know this is a membrane that I have to pass through on the way to becoming a real human. Hot dog though, I'm going a little crazy staying at home. I don't have much in the bank but maybe I could hit up the public library as a safe place to read and write. My head feels like it's in a weird fog, but I actually think this is just what 'being' feels like. A lot of work is just getting used to 'being', whether it's just being myself or learning to hang. I always think of musicians as the best people who can just 'hang'. It's like, you can be relaxed, but when you need to perform, you can instantly turn it on. I want to develop myself in that same way. I don't need a coffee, or a drink, or a joint, or anything to feel good, and I can just switch on a dime to kick ass and go for a run or write or help someone. But I'm naturally a stick in the mud, so it's all about fighting the nature that I've set in stone over the last few years.
9/12/2024
Reading On Writing by Stephen King. Great book and it's showing me how much I've fallen off in my creative pursuits. I forgot that I need to treat writing just like running, I've got to sit down and dedicate the time each day. Putting the reps in, so to speak. I'm going to commit to 500-1,000 words a day as the great master recommends. My muse has long since abandoned me, so I need to earn her respect back with a little bit of elbow grease. And it can't just be running through my random thoughts as I do with this blog post, it's got to be a bit more involved. So I decided with this blog that I would write these monthly chapter but I'm also going to write a long-form article each month, just like you'd find in a magazine. Lots of pictures, one cohesive adventure from start to finish. I can definitely loop in professional help for these pieces because it doesn't give away the broader project.
9/13/2024
Got this week's long run done today. 6.2 miles, or a 10K. Felt good until about 4 miles then, then the pure exhaustion kicked in. I feel like right now I can run a little over a mile nonstop at a good pace, then it becomes a dance of diminishing energy. This is where the interval training comes in clutch, I've realized. Once I burn through that initial battery of energy, I just have to focus on running for 400m or so and taking a break, and not hating myself for that. I also try to run nonstop for a minute and a half, which makes it easier to handle these longer runs. I know if I keep this up, it'll get easier to handle. When I first restarted running, I could barely run a quarter mile nonstop. So this is where the real work begins - using different types of running practice to perfect these long runs. My biggest weakness that I can identify is that the bottoms of my feet start to rub raw on the bottom of my running sandals. I run on the ball of my feet typically, but after a couple miles, the skin starts to peel off and do all sorts of gross things. Then I go back to running on the back part of my foot, but that doesn't feel as good and it's harder to sustain. I've been using surf wax, like you'd use on a board, on the my sandals where the toes are. That's helped quite a lot, and it helps keep my dream of being a surfer alive. Instead of the ocean, I'll ride the vibrations of the earth. The wax still isn't enough though - the rubbing starts eventually and I then just default to running with a heel strike. Hm...I think I should go to Fleet Feet, because I think there's fundamental technique I'm missing. Could it be that my running style is wrong? I don't know.
I tell you what though, it's these runs that make me really think if I can reach a hundred miler. But I look at it like becoming an astronaut or a doctor, or some other equally insane and far off idea. It's just about taking it one step and a time and staying committed to the plan. Do that, and I think I'll pull this off. The marathon is my next big focus, I'm trying not to even think about the ultras. In fact, I shouldn't. Step 1 is mastering the art of the marathon, then we dance with the ultramarathons. Step 0 is mastering the art of a single step. I'm using the word art too much.
9/16/2024
Sick as a dog so I haven't completed Week #10 of the training plan, I only have one Speed Run left. I'm supposed to run another trail half-marathon in about two weeks, and while I'm not even halfway through the plan, I feel like I could complete the race and PR. Until then it's time to focus on getting better. I've been chugging lemon & ginger tea like nobody's business. About to get the VapoRub from CVS to let the healing truly begin.
--
I learned about two ULTRA ULTRA marathons, Morocco's Marathon De Sables and the Self-Transcendence 3100. Each takes place over several days, and you have to cover dozens of miles a day. It sounds completely psychotic, but it excites me to another level. It's a challenge that speaks to my soul. I visited Morocco about a year ago and loved it, and I would love to return to take on this challenge and raise money for charity (you're supposed to say that, right?). Then the Self-Transcendence 3100 seems super intriguing too, and it was created by a monk who recognized that running is a helpful tool in the path to self-actualization. It's the longest footrace in the world, where you're expected to cover at least 50 miles a day, for at least 40 days!!! So both of them are right up my alley, but of course I'm getting way ahead of myself. Just sharing the cool things in this sport that are getting me fired up.
9/18/2024
Sick as a dog still, but coming out the fog. Good news is that I'm clearheaded so the writing has been really flowing lately. I've got a good game plan on both this blog and actually being myself in the real world too. Just one more run left on this 10th week of the training plan though, so frustrating....would it be death if I did try to run for 30 minutes? I can barely breathe without hacking up and my eyes look watery and frankly insane.
9/23/2024
First run, still not 100% but I needed to finish the last run for Week #10. Now onto Week #9 of a training plan I was supposed to finish by this Saturday for my next half marathon. Ask me how it's going. Cash is a figment of my imagination that comes and goes every two weeks or so, and this week she's in Cancun. So while I won't run this race officially (no, not race banditing), I'm going to show up at one of my favorite trails at 7am and run 13.1 miles for the hell of it. Will I have what it takes to run nonstop for 3 hours? Obviously I've done it before but it's a different vibe when the pressure's on. So let's see what I'm made of when there's not a soul around.
9/25/2024
Got another run in yesterday, too. This was a speed run, so it was running for 30 seconds, rest for a minute, repeat for twenty intervals. I'm still hitting this wall at about 30 minutes and another wall at an hour, but I'm training to surpass these limits. I'm back on the war path though, these last few months have been pretty gnarly but it's been an eye-opening experience too. I have no guilt and shame about hitting rock bottom anymore, in fact I needed these experiences to humble me and make me a kinder person.
9/26/2024
15 minute recovery run today. I ran at about 2pm, so maybe that explains it, but even 15 minutes was brutal. 13 minute mile too. Could it have been humidity? Lack of hydration? Bad time of day to run? Even my running technique could be off. No matter what though, I'm realizing that I've gotten so much weaker even compared to a few years ago. Anyway - the positive is that every time I'm deep in the woods at Roy G, I see tons of deer. Today there were a couple baby-ish deer, and watching them all run is so elegant and beautiful. I want my running style to feel like that - this elegant kind of infinite bounce that they have.
I got a solid lift in yesterday, and adapted the 5x5 Strength Training post in SenDex to help myself. There's a worksheet in there that I can print out and a timer so I can throw it up on my computer while I work out in my room.
9/27/2024
Another lift in. I created an awesome worksheet that I can print out, just like the running training plans, so this is actually way better at keeping me on track. I think I'm going to totally transform by October. This isn't even my final form.
9/29/2024
Doubts are healthy and normal. That's what I keep telling myself. But I'm feeling it in full force. This idea is the one thing I've got that actually feels good and makes sense to me, but it's not exactly appropriate to put on the resume or on my portfolio. But what's next? I applied for a bunch of 'product manager' jobs because that's what I've convinced myself that I am, which is more or less true, but I can't land a job anywhere else. They want data-heavy people, real tough killers and warriors. I guess I've got some training to do to improve, but at a fundamental level I realized I'm not a product manager. I'm a writer, a designer, and a semi-decent engineer. But those roles don't pay well, so what do I do? Create something of my own, but...I don't know. This is the life of being creative I suppose; constant self doubt. This feels dumb in so many ways, but it feels genuine. It's just - can I make enough money to get out of the black hole of debt with this? Can I really save myself and my family by being an artist? Am I just going to end up selling paintings at Sunday markets? I know there's a big world out there and many ways to make it. Guess the doubt and the reality of my situation is really settling in. I'm ok with it though in some ways - for the first time in a long time, I'm learning to be me. And I'm also taking the time to have empathy for all past versions of myself; they led to this moment where I have the clarity to create a new future. Just not quite sure what. But I'm scared as hell. But - gotta have faith, right?
10/01/2024
It's officially spooky season. The mornings are starting to feel chilly. It's Austin, so it'll be boiling by 11am, but the cool mornings are the brief reminder of back home in Winterfell. Went to Enchanted Rock yesterday, and that was great. It's so quiet and peaceful there, and the views are incredible. The further out from the city that I got, the more this sense of peace washed over me. Like I could breathe a bit easier. I really like it out there in the Hill Country, and Enchanted Rock truly feels special.
10/04/2024
Finished my first week of the 5x5 strength training plan I designed. Pretty proud of the page on SenDex, and I'm printing out the worksheets to track every workout. I'm hoping that in 12 weeks I'll be absolutely shredded. Or at least look healthy. Haven't run in a while, and my goal is to get three more runs in before this chapter goes out. This is coming together more and more each day. Been a while since I've engaged in this 'applied effort' thing.
10/05/2024
Another Interval run in the book. I try not to look at the overall pace since it gets me down, I have to just remember I'm focusing on training in small bursts. One last run of the week for tomorrow - an 8 miler. Should be fun. Biggest issue I'm realizing is that my diet is limiting my strength I think. I can't eat out at Cava every day, so I need to rethink my diet completing and start going to the grocery store more consistently. Running on a lean diet like I am now is just going to hurt me long term. That'll probably be a focus on the site over the next few months - taking a serious look at nutrition and writing up easy ways to cook healthy meals.
10/07/2024
Grinded out two short runs with a meditation session in between. I still need to bang out an 8 mile race to continue with this training plan, but at least I was able to get a solid under 12 minute mile in. My body feels weaker and weaker to be honest though. It's a mix of dehydration, decreasing muscle mass and a lack of consistent nutrition. There's no way in hell I'm going to run a hundred mile race like this. The next month will be probably be focused on identifying what's up with my body. Also learned I've got kind of flat feet, but I'm going train through that. Delusion works wonders for the body.
Question Of The Month
What does the Wu-Tang Clan have in common with The Clash?
Nothing!
--
This was a Rock Fact from Sifl & Olly. I put it down as a placeholder but decided to keep it.
Shout out to Liam Lynch and Matt Crocco. Their show is further inspiration to just go for it. Hopefully it'll make you laugh too.
Motivational Quote
After realizing the intent of Zen,
people in ancient times used
to spend decades polishing themselves thoroughly
in order to free themselves from compulsions
of conditioning and habit.
This is called the work of maturation;
the completion of maturation
is called the attainment of unification.
Muso Kokushi (1275-1351)
From DailyZen.
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