Original Content

All of my life, I've been trying to fight the fight of staying original. True to my roots, and what I believe. It has been one of the hardest things I've ever done. Everyday you're tempted by society's tricks and gimmicks to make you buy a certain type of clothes, listen to specific artist, or buy this car or that house. Media and money run this world, and it is nearly impossible to avoid he bull shit and have you own real thoughts.

I have tried to live by the quote, "You were brown an original, don't die a copy", and there is nothing more beautiful and attractive than being committed to this and being real. The one thing that has helped me stay in touch with my beliefs is of course running As in every blog I write, I thank running as if it were my God. My bible, Once a Runner, touches upon a lot of things that are important to me. Being able to find meaning and beauty of a run, and how anything can be brought back to the simplicity of a choice. One quote in particular stands out to me, "My only real secret was, commitment to the task. A promise so simple, but so impossibly hard to honor. How they could be expected to understand that?..." I feel like sometimes its my job, my duty, to show people the beauty of a run, and how being committed to a task can be the best thing in your life.

The spring time itch has taken over again, and the hunger for long miles, trail runs and the discomfort of lactate threshold induced miles has risen. I am in no where close to where I want to be fitness wise, but I'm really enjoying the process, or as Quenton says, "the task". As of now, it looks like I will be ready to roll again in late May early June. I had to forgo my indoor/outdoor season due to a knee injury in late January, but it gave me enough time to enjoy the woods and welcome in the warm spring weather, and now my legs are hungry for what lies ahead.

These past four weeks I have been slowly building up my mileage while participating in a study done by a graduate student at Ohio University. He is comparing the benefits of running vs. EliptiGO training. After two VO2 Max tests and a couple 5K time trails, I am now free to train the way I want to, and I have set forth a hearty summer race schedule.

I will end with yet another quote that I find enjoyable to ponder upon.

"Isn't it true that you start your life a sweet child, believing in everything under your father's roof? Then comes the day of the Laodiceans, when you know you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, and with the visage of a gruesome, grieving ghost you go shuddering through nightmare life".
- Jack Kerouac

Go and be real.
- BJW

Building Roots

The Adult life is in full swing in southeast Ohio. Tucked in collard shirts, wrinkle free dress pants, and squeaky leather shoes have become my everyday norm. My title, Kitchen supervisor at Morrison Healthcare, has become a big part of who I am now. I am beyond lucky to have been offered this career, and I finally feel like everything about my life in Athens, Ohio has become complete.

After taking off more time than I could fathom for my injury to my knee, I have once again became a hobby jogger, slowly building my mileage after my work day is over. My routine is coming together nicely, and the opportunity to trash my body everyday in hopes of moving my legs fast over an extended period of time has become available and I don't plan to waste it.

There is something about healthy routines that make things in life more enjoyable and more rewarding. I guess you could say that's part of growing up and becoming mature. The tricky part about life is finding the balance. Finding a routine that both is both efficiently productive, and mentally rewarding. This past year has been a roller coaster ride for me. I struggled to find the balance in my life, and it has ruined a lot of things. But, at the same time I refused to settle for a life where there was limitations to life and I was no where close to true happiness.

It has taken me a lot of time to realize that the balance in life is not necessarily where you work, or the stability of your everyday routines, but more of how you simply stop and appreciate the minutes. You must take advantage of that simplicity of time. True happiness comes within, and no matter how hard you work, you will never appreciate life if you settle down and accept these limitations.

Here is to the balance of my everyday real routines of true happiness.

Keeping Faith In The Simplicity of Hope

To a runner, being injured is one of the hardest things to overcome. Anger, doubt, depression are all stages and symptoms of a runners copping methods. Mentally, it's a daily battle between the positives and negatives trying to take control. Physically, it's usually out of your control.

Most of the time it's the mental battle that takes control and creates this "Monster". The only cure to defeating this monster and becoming that runner you once knew, is simply getting healthy and overcome the injury. So, you take a couple days off, ibuprofen becomes your daily vitamin, and icing at night is as important as "Netflix and chill"; But yet that monster is becoming more and more prevalent in your life. You thought this would be a quick fix, a minor hiccup in what seems to be your best build-up of you running career. You start to become anxious, worried for what lies ahead. At this point, you are willing to do just about anything to get back out on the roads and get that feeling of accomplishment back.

So, without much improvement or signs of healing you do just that. You become the bigger monster. You don't have time to wait around for something to tell you when to run. But, without much surprise, that injury and monster you thought you defeated, shows up with vengeance. It quickly reminds you who decides your fate. It is at this crucial point when a runner realizes everything is out of their control, depression hits like a tun of bricks. The choice to continue the battle or let fate have its turn must be decided. So, it's back to the drawing board. Stubbornness didn't defeat it, perhaps more rest and treatment will do the trick. And the cycle continues to repeat itself until one of two things happen. The positive outcome of a runner getting their life back and continue on the path of self righteousness, or the monster wins and you are a nobody.

Most of you can't comprehend what any of this means or feels like, but if you are one of the select few who are blessed by the curse of the miles of trials, you'll know that times like these are of the darkest times. Since moving to Athens and making my training a priority in my life again, things have been absolutely beautiful up until a couple weeks. I was getting in great shape, running 80-85 miles a week, lifting five times a week, 6 mile tempos ending in sub 5 minute pace, 15 milers at 6:10-20's. Paradise is being in the thick of the grind, healthy and hungry for the time where you finally are able to cash in your hard work on the track and run something fast, and that's what this spring was looking like for me.

After a hard hill session and 18 mile day, I decided to run a trail race at my friend Reece Browns cabin. My competitiveness got the best of me and I ran hard from the start to the finish even though my legs were screaming at me the entire time. The trails were drenched in thick mud, not to mention the aggressiveness of the terrain and elevation. The run left me in really bad shape, and the following day I noticed the outside of my right knee flare up pretty bad when attempting to get in my long run. I had to stop after 4 miles and that's when the monster and the above scenario started to take control. I believe their might be a slight tear in my lateral collateral ligament. It's been 16 days since that trail race, and I haven't been able to run pain free since. All I've managed to do is 4-5 mile runs, with a couple workouts that's left me limping on the cool-down. Hope is at a all time low.

I have always been drawn to running when times are tough, and now that I don't have that escape, it has been very difficult not to loose my shit. There are days when I have no pain and the joy comes quickly again down my spine, and everything seems right in the world, but soon after the realization of something that is not healed overtakes everything positive and drowns it with sorrow. So, the monster seems to be winning right now. As I continue treating the injury as best as I know, all I can do is try to hold onto any fitness gains I had leading into the injury, and hope I can still come back and do what I want to do on the track this spring.

Here's to defeating your own monster and keeping faith in the simplicity of hope.

- BJW

Life Thoughts: One cup of coffee at a time

What determines how successful you are in life? The square footage of your house? The dollar signs behind that new car in your driveway? To me life is not measured in numbers, or possesions. It is simply a short period of time in which you must do everything and anything in your power to take advantage of the beauty of the worlds offerings.

Many people in today's society can't seem to understand or comprehend what I just said.

Success is a word created by those trying to fill a void of emptiness in their long boring planned out lives. Is money important? Yes. Does it have to determine everything in your life? Absolutely not. What is important? Friends, Family, Heath, Nature, and being as present as possible while experiencing beautiful moments that cannot be repeated.

I can not tell you the number of times my family, or friends have tried to stamp their shallow opinions into me about how I should live my life. I refuse to be un-happy. Period. Therefor when I'm in a situation that I feel I am not my true self, I simply remove myself from whatever it is. Rather that'd be to change jobs, move away, or simply take time to myself to get back to my roots of happiness.

I am a big believer in making the most out of every single day. Living in the moment is very important to me, but in a world of tweets and fast moving things, it can be nearly impossible to stop and, "Smell the Roses". People can spend their entire life searching for something or someone that brings them happiness, when it can be easily obtainable. By simply putting down your phone, and having a conversation with someone, or heading out for a hike. Real experiences that are influenced by absolutely nothing are what we should strive for everyday.

For me, the ideal situation where I feel the most alive and in the moment can be mapped out by these simple things. Mid 60's with a light drizzle, coasting down a soft pine-needle bedded single track trail, healthy as a bear, surrounded by nothing but dense forest. Nature will, and has always been, my roots. A kind of reminder of the importance of being alive and in the moment. There is nothing more real then putting on a pair of running shoes and heading out into the woods.

Find something that reminds you of how important it is to have these real experiences, no matter what that is. Something that makes you feel alive and appreciative of the short or long life you may have. Something that makes you say, "How beautiful it is to breath in this air and live my life to the fullest".

- BJW

Southeast Ohio Dreams

One year, two months and twenty six days later...

And once again a lot has changed. I've moved three times in the past year. I was a professional runner in Greenville, South Carolina, then I was a Chipotle manager in Dayton, Ohio. I was engaged to a beautiful women, now I live with my best friend and former college teammate Jeremy Anderson. I had a great job with opportunity and a bright future, now I make subs. I ran away from all of my problems in Miamisburg and moved east into an 18th century wooden house in the middle of Southeast Ohio.

Now I'm not sure who I am or what the future holds, but like usual I find myself slowly throwing my mangled beaten up body down the road again and again, day after day, to get in my miles. Running is the only thing that makes sense to me in this world. I am eternally thankful for the countless times it has picked me up from my lowest points in life to remind me that there are brighter days ahead. In a world full of hypocrites, smart phones and fast moving fake things, running is the last beautiful thing in life that no one can take from you.

I've accepted the fact I'm never going to be the best. I've accepted the fact that I'm never going to even come close to being noticed, but none of that matters to me. Running has been there when no one else has, and for that I owe it my life.

I've been training full-time now for over two months, and its been a hard but rewarding task. It has been over a year since I put any thought and effort back into my training, and now that I'm slowly making a comeback I feel alive once again. The world is brighter, my food tastes better, and my body aches of satisfaction from the days effort. There is nothing in this world more real and honest than putting on a pair of running shoes and hammering away on a autumn day.

I've got a long way to go, but the demons are still screaming not to give up. I've got a couple things I want to do still on that 400 meter circle before I'm content with becoming a hobby jogger, and I intend to go after that full fucking throttle ahead.

Here is to the long cold winter of training ahead.
- BJW

Falling In Love With The Grind

"If you desire long term success, fall in love with the grind

and the process of your passion -- not the end result"

- Josh Cox

 

 

After what seemed to be an eternity, I am back healthy, and hungry and training full time with my team after spending a majority of my first couple months in Greenville dealing with an injury. Many hours were spent in the pool aqua jogging and working out, attempting to hold onto any gained fitness I had, and now that my hip is 100% pain free, I can finally start to enjoy the day-to-day process of training again! Thanks to Brad and the staff at Performance Therapy, and my coaches, Mike and Laura Caldwell, the slow painstaking process of easing back into things is finally behind me, and I can look forward to the fall season!

 

The big focus for GTC Elite this fall will be put on the 2014 USATF Club Cross-Country Championships December 13th, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  The race will host some of the very best runners and clubs in the United States, going after each other for ten-thousand meters in hopes of making the USA team for the World Cross Country Championships which will be held in Guiyang, China in 2015.

 

As I'm getting back into the routine of things here in Greenville, I am very focused and determined on the future and the task ahead. I have never ran a 10k Cross-Country race before, and to be with the very best doing so for the first time every this December is going to take a lot of hard work and effort to get there. You've got to appreciate the painstaking task of training full-time. With every ache and pain, is just another muscle or cell getting acclimated to the stress. After acclimation, follows adaption, and with adaption becomes results. Fall in love with the grind, and embrace the task, and results will come.

 

- BJW

Don't Pinch Me, I Don't Want To Wake Up

I thought it would be appropirate to update this old thing since it's national running day!

Over the course of the past two months, a lot has changed in my life. I graduated college from Shawnee State University, ran some of my last workouts with the Bears as they headed south to Alabama for the NAIA Track and Field National Championships, Said goodbye to my friends and family and moved to Greenville, South Carolina in pursuit of a professional running career.

This past semester has came and gown in a flash, and now that I have some free time to reflect, I can take the time to appreciate everything that has happened to me. Leaving Shawnee State, Eric Putnam, and my Bears was one of the hardest decisions I've had to make. They have become like family to me, and without the guidance and support from my college coach Eric Putnam, the other coaching staff, and my team, I wouldn't be where I am today. I know that the program is in great hands, and will continue to dominate on the national level.

Mike and Laura Caldwell, coaches of the Asics sponsored team Greenville Track Club Elite, gave me a shot, and May 15th I packed up my belongings and headed South to join the very prestigious GTC Elite. I am truly blessed and grateful to be given the opportunity to chase my dreams and persue my running potential. This has been something I've been dreaming about for years, and I don't plan on wasting a single moment. Since moving to Greenville, I have been slowly getting into the daily routine of waking up, going out and breaking down the body, each muscular fiber at a time, and following that up by refueling and recovering, only to wake up the next day and do it all over again hopping that my body will adapt and something beautiful will happen in the near future. Or, as Quenton Cassidy calls it, "The Trial of Miles; Miles of Trials".

My new team, the GTC-Elite

Greenville has a very warm family-type feel to the town, with an amazing downtown area that has a wide varity of restaurents and eatieries that can satisfy any food craving. The nearby Appalachian foothills makes for a lush green environment, with a variety of nearby trails that makes for any runners dream. I've been here for almost three weeks now, and still have so much more to explore and discover about this town, but so far it already feels like home.

Downtown Greenville

I will make up my GTC-Elite debut at this Saturdays Music City Distance Carnival in Nashville, Tennessee where I hope to improve on my 5k PR. You can follow me on twitter at @BlakeWysocki and instagram at BlakeWysocki where I will probably be tweeting something running related, or posting a picture of a nearby forest.

Now get out there and enjoy the freedom and beauty to put one foot infront of the other and run!
- BJW