Steve the Owl's Blog

Tomorrow is another day! Scarlett O’Hara, Gone with the Wind

Yesterday, I posted about the difference in expectations when one sees progress and what can happen when we see improvement, but not as much as we had hoped. I came to this realization after disappointment at seeing that my pace didn’t meet expectations, even though it was much faster than it was when I tried the same workout only a week earlier.

Back to the Grind

As has been part of my schedule for the last few weeks, I ran intervals (800 meter repeats at a little faster than 5K pace with a recovery in less than the time of the run) on Monday and repetitions (repeats at roughly mile pace with a shorter recovery) on Tuesday. So, after Monday’s disappointment, this meant that today was a huge test to see if the improvement was there to the extent that I thought was there, which would be a good confidence booster for the pursuit of a five-minute mile.

One of the things that worried me a little about this one was the fact that my speed just wasn’t there at the end of my workout yesterday. Because today was a faster pace (albeit for 400 and 200 meters at a time rather than 800 meters), this was a huge concern. My workout on these days involves 4X400 meters, 4X200 meters, a 200-meter slow jog recovery between each individual run except for the one after the last 400, which is a 400-meter slow jog recovery, and a one-mile slow job recover after the last run. I run the last at each distance where I want to be by the end of the season, and the others where I am now. That meant 400′s of 1:40 and 1:36, and 200′s of 49 and 47 seconds.

So, I went into the first run with some nervousness, but I simply reminded myself that this was only 25 seconds per 100 meters, and this wasn’t a big shift from what I’d done before. (I’d had 400 meter repeats under 1:38, so I knew I could do it at least once.) I kept to my plan, and the first one passed in 1:39.90, just under the goal time. I ran the second in 1:38.56 and the third in 1:39.62, meaning that I’d gone under the pace, but not by much. Then, it came time for the fourth one, with my pace going to 1:36. I knew that it would be close going into the last 100 meters, and much to my relief, I crossed the finish line in 1:35.61, for a combined time of 6:33.39 and, most importantly, a big boost going into the next step.

Then, it came time for the 200-meter repeats, which were a little bit faster, but still at almost the same pace. I more than pleasantly surprised myself running it in 46.88 seconds, a little bit faster than my goal for the last repeat. The next two weren’t quite as fast, but I still hit them in 47.41 and 47.68, respectively. I had one repeat left. I knew that I needed to run each 100 meters in 23.5 seconds or less. The first 100 meters was at about that point, but I didn’t know how much speed I had left as I ran for the end of the run. Finally, I saw the finish line directly under my foot, and I hit the stopwatch. I was tired, but when I looked down and saw that I did it in 45.67, I felt relieved that I had met all of my targets, and the exhilaration of finishing a goal when its outcome was in some doubt.

This reminds me of the need to always focus on each day at a time. Rather than focusing on each disappointment, remind yourself that each day is a new chance to turn things around. If you aren’t happy with where you are now, you can always turn things around.

What goals have you met recently that boosted your confidence?

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I love movies. One of the things that is so great about movies, and a lot of great art, is the way that it so eloquently describes our conditions and our dreams. I have seen a lot of movies in many genres. One of those genres that I have thought about recently is the romantic comedy. Some versions of romantic comedies are geared towards a heavily female audience, and they get the sometimes undeserved label of “chick flick.”

The Need for Competition

My favorite romantic comedy of all time has to be The Baxter. It was released in 2005 starring Michael Showalter in a movie that examines what happens to the other guy in romantic comedies. In this movie, the other guy is referred to as a “baxter,” the man who is destined to be dumped. This got me thinking: how many romantic comedies that I have seen have the other person who is destined to be dumped because the leading lady is already in a relationship at the beginning of the movie? In Bridget Jones’s Diary, it is a battle between Daniel Cleaver and Mark Darcy; in You’ve Got Mail, it’s Joe Fox vs. the Greg Kinnear character. In The Baxter, there are actually multiple competing love interests going on involving people who must get hurt. However, this movie is a satire of the genre. I realize that there are times that there are multiple people who love the same person, which means that someone’s feelings will get hurt. However, there are also plenty of relationships that start between people who happen to be single when they meet.

The End… Or The Beginning?

At the end of Bridget Jones’s Diary, the words “The End” are crossed out and replaced by “The Beginning.” However, how many romantic comedies end things right there when the couple have found each other? With the prevalence of divorce, I wonder how many people decided that the reason why they couldn’t be in the relationship any more is because the “new relationship excitement” is gone, and they become junkies for that feeling. However, here is the problem with that line of thought: real life is often what happens after we lose that initial excitement and decide to commit to a lifetime.

Why This Happens

I don’t think that romantic comedies are doing this with a goal of sabotaging the institution of marriage. I think that they are trying to present a storybook fantasy, and they skip over just what “and they all lived happily ever after” really means. So, why do they end there? Because, from a cinematic point of view, the interesting part is the chase. There are some movies and TV shows that illustrate the difficulty of this thinking, although it seems more prevalent in TV where the artists get years to develop a character, as opposed to a few hours.

So, if you are looking for that fairy tale moment, never forget that these movies are meant to convey a fantasy. There is nothing wrong with fantasy at all, but we have to be able to tell the difference between the two, and decide every day to make the commitment to make our marriages work.