Holiday Lake 2006:  Almost Valley Forge ?

               By Jim McFarland, CMT

 

 

     I have to confess: this is my first successful Holiday Lake finish.

Gotta thank Dr. Dave for his encouragement - and his example

of perseverance and heroism in his PCT run this summer.

 

     This year's race in the snow and mud was difficult - those who

started the race know this.   Put it in the perspective of Valley Forge ,

however, and it doesn't look so bad: they didn't have aid stations,

a warm place to recover after the race, food.    (They might've had cold

showers, like we did, but more likely they had a cold stream to wash

off in, if they were able to wash at all!)     Valley Forge .

 

            A personal victory

 

     Last year, I tried to run the race in nearly perfect conditions.

I only finished half of the race, entirely due to a condition called

"enthesopathy."   Basically, it was weak sacroiliac joint ligaments,

and at the end of the first loop, I had shooting pains in the glutes

and was in incredible pain.  Fortunately, I had learned about

enthesopathy from Dr. Dean, and Osteopath in Charlottesville

at a seminar just two days before the race.   Later in the spring/

early summer, I started treating the ligaments - (actually my

friend and co-worker Jim Patterson did the treating) - with

deep friction treatments on the ligaments.   After that, and

with continued treatment, I was able to begin to run longer

and longer training runs - and with no pain!

     I also had a running coach and EXTREMELY conscientious

training partner, Rich Brooks.   Rich and I ran a lot of miles

together, starting last summer.  I had been planning to run only

half of this year's Holiday Lake , but as Rich and I got in 14 milers,

and then 18 milers and 20+ milers, it became evident that I could

do this year's race.   I owe a lot to Rich; wouldn't have considered

doing the race, had it not been for him.

     

     Hey!  I had been feeling a little like Charlie Brown in Dr. Horton's

races, having been 0-for-2 in this one, and 0-for-3 in the Masochist.

(If I was Charlie Brown, who was Lucy?   Hmmmm.  Next time

you see Dr. Dave, you might have a new nickname for him?  He

LIKES nicknames!)   

 

 

 

 

                                                         2

 

                       Race Conditions: the Mud Run

 

     About a month ago, I was getting worked on, and on the Massage

table I had a vision of snow in this race.   I promise you, it LOOKED

like a dry snow, very runable!   And on the early part of the second

loop, at the top of a ridge above the lake, I saw that picture that I had

seen a month ago in that vision, but this one in reality.  The light was

a little different, but it was the same one otherwise.   And up there,

at that spot, it wasn't muddy!   I think the Lord sent me that vision

so that I'd do the race despite my own past failures, my own weakness,

and despite the challenging conditions.

     In reality, the rest of the course had so many mucked-up places,

it would be surprising if someone didn't have their shoes sucked off

by the mud!   I've never seen so much mud!

 

                       Failure?

 

     I don't consider anyone a failure who begins the race.

     It's a failure when we don't start.  

     What we learn from not finishing is often more important than what

we learn when we do.   I learned more about my own practice of

Massage Therapy - especially the technical stuff that I make most

of my living from, as a result of not completing so many of these races -

(the only Ultra I did finish was the first Promiseland, and that was when

the cutoff was 11 hours, in the first Year;  I did it in 10:01 ; the next year,

the cutoff needed to be 10 hours)  I didn't enter that year.  In a sense,

I was a failure that year - I didn't even start!

 

                     Friends

      

     This year, I had lots of friends who helped encourage me to finish.

I count them a blessing.   I ran in the race with some runners I'd never

met before:  they were a blessing, too.   Really enjoyed their company.

All the encouragement at the aid-stations?   Those folks were great!  

Just phenomenal!   A great - big - huge - blessing!  And those people

who finished, all congratulating each other - just the fact that we'd

raced in those conditions - that was a blessing.   The loud cheers

at the finish line, heard from a mile away, at the last part of a tough

race!   Thank you for that sound!   It was really encouraging!  

And now, I've completed my first Holiday Lake :  thank you, Dave;

thank you, Rich.  Thank you Wilbert and Bob and Rebekah and Tommy

and Drew all my other friends who are so encouraging!    

     Most of all: than You God, for giving us the health to run these

races and events.   Thank You, Lord!

 

                                                    3

 

       If You Ran.

 

     I don't know about others who ran the race this year feel about it;

maybe they don't share my feelings about the race - (maybe they will

when they look back and see what they've done?) - but I really, really

enjoyed this year's race!   I hope those of you who started - no matter

if you finished or not - will remember this as a good thing. 

Maybe you learned something? Maybe you learned something about

yourself?   Maybe you learned that there are lots of people who are

willing to share your experiences,  pain and all, side-by-side! 

You are not alone!  

     And remember: there are very few people who are able to even begin

to run the race you ran!

 

     And finally.

 

 

            Valley Forge

 

     Conditions were challenging - for sure - but they sure weren't

Valley Forge , in that terrible winter when our ancestors fought and

won their first major battle for our Nation's Freedom!

 

     Still, I think we might feel maybe just a little like they felt,

after they crossed that river.  Maybe just a little.