Appetitive Philosopher-Runner
An article about me, from almost 20 years ago. I'm still running, thinking, being. All be it, much slower. Thank you Lili - one of my readers here.
I’m reprinting this here, just to keep some electronic copy alive. I once had my “15 minutes” years ago and Lili, the author is a reader here on Naked & Alive. It was a beautiful talk with her and she put it together in an article.
It’s not about my running. By then, I wasn’t running anywhere fast (though still winning). I was 42, running to keep myself inspired and hopefully inspiring others. Just like I try to do with my writing - an expression of self.
Anyway, I hope Lili is ok with putting it up here - electronically. I publish it too because I have very few of all the articles, TV stuff from back then, as memory. Also, it isn’t so much about running as about life, living your truth. Lili did a great job and remember our meeting fondly. She’s an accomplished athlete in her own right and that shows in how she handled the subject, this subject. Thanks Lili, sending you blessings and good vibes.
By Lili Hrabchak, Ed. D. - published in The Ontario Roadrunner, 2004 Summer edition.
Understatement, 2004: “We cerebral and perfecting Virgos can be hard on ourselves.” ~Deubelbeiss, May 2004~
Is there any experience more gustatorily gratifying to a thirteen year old boy than a free-for-all feast of juicy, grill-sizzled hot dogs, each one oozing sloppily with French’s mustard and Heinz’s sweet relish? And is there any more uncomfortably impossible than racing six laps of the school’s parking lot with a belly bursting after eating five of them? On such an occasion, 28 years ago, David Deubelbeiss began his love affair with running, though it was the only race he never completed.
Between then and now David excelled in many sports: soccer, running, rowing, skiing, cycling and adventure racing. To the present, whatever the contest, he continues to place in the top three most times.
Let’s take a look at some of his recent accomplishments. David is the Ontario Champion in the 100k. He is the Canadian Masters Champion in indoor rowing (2000m in 7 minutes) and the Canadian Champion in the 24 hour run. In Toronto in January, 2003 he ran on a treadmill for 24 hours covering 211 km to set the Guinness World Record. Just over a year later, he attempted to improve on that, but dehydration, brought on by high heat and stifling air conditions, interfered. For three days afterwards he was delirious and bed-ridden; he admits to never having felt worse. Nonetheless David acknowledges that it was entirely worthwhile since he helped to raise 2.1 million dollars for the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. At the 25th anniversary of the 100k track world record of Donald Ritchie, David represented Canada at the IAAF’s ‘Stars Under the Stars’ in Italy. Since no Canadian has ever beaten him in an ultra, including this spring’s Ganaraska 50k and the Greater Toronto 50k, he justly claims the title of Canada’s fastest ultrarunner.
Rarely does one perform optimally at both short and long distances and on trail, track and road. In 2003 David recorded the following times: the mile--4:31; 1500m—4:19; 5000m—16:07; 15k—52:02; marathon—2:41; 50k— 3:11 (part of an extended marathon with an unofficial time); 100k—7:57.
If this is all there is to David Deubelbeiss, a pair of fleet feet, this story can end right here. Indeed, if you have no interest in the appetitive philosopher, but only the runner, turn to the next selection. In doing so, however, you relinquish the best parts, those which reveal the person who propels those feet, as well as his tips for improving your running.
David’s propensity for bizarre running extremes has its roots in his earliest years. At birth he was sickly, diagnosed with acute pneumonia. He survived that, only to face a harsh childhood and subsequent years of grueling manual labour on the family farm in New Liskeard. There was neither running water nor electricity on that farm. As soon as he proved to be strong enough, his father put him to work. He carried five gallon pails of water to the house, hauled and cut logs, mended fences, plowed the fields, harvested the crops, pulled nails out of old boards, hand-milked goats and a few cows and shoveled manure out of the barn. These arduous and repetitive tasks, performed for long periods of time, and generally alone, made the teenaged David resentful but the adult David grateful. In retrospect, he regards that life favorably as the crucible that forged his future: It is why I am who I am, and it is for the better. Quoting an ancient Hasidic proverb, he posits: We are like olives; only when we are crushed do we give our best. Surely it is a moot point, but it does shed light on David’s perspective.
For reasons best understood by him, a deeply ingrained, seemingly insatiable appetite for physical labor became integral to his adult personality. Accordingly, in his university years David sought full-time work forming concrete, a job with long hours and severe and back-breaking work. To toughen his hands, he worked without gloves, relishing the discomfort, proud of the pain.
After he graduated from Waterloo University with a degree in anthropology, he chose to work as a steel rigger. High up on the beams, he felt free and fearless: I love being in control, having my destiny in my hands. Up there on the beams, that is how it is. I am afraid to ride a roller coaster because I am not in control of it. I only feared the beams when they had ice on them. And all this time David ran-- long, long distances. This is as natural to him as breathing.
David describes himself as a natural runner, one who enjoys the motion of running for its peace, flow and grace; someone who looks into the distance and says, ‘I want to go there,’ and then does it on foot. While not all in one day, he has run from Toronto to Orillia, 145 km, and to North Bay, 354 km. In his university years he occasionally ran home to North Bay, 400 km, and when he worked as a steel rigger in various parts of the province, he often ran home over the weekend from wherever he was. While in Europe, he ran 171 km around Lake Geneva and 225 km from Prague to Vienna.
If there is any rationale to account for these unorthodox endurance feats, it may lie in the central premise of karmayoga, which David embraces. It is a Hindu term which derives from Mahatma Ghandi who spun cloth for eight or more hours daily. Karmayoga is the belief that spiritual upliftedness comes from doing repetitive tasks. When the mind is absorbed, it is unable to focus on negativity; godliness and enlightenment then become attainable. Ultra-running provides this state of mind for David. In addition, he says: It tests my limits; it’s a safe place for the self. It is a place I can find out who I am.
It is noteworthy that until 2003 David did not race at the ultra distance despite being a true ultra runner. He attributes this to ignorance of the existence of races over 50k+ distances until about 8 years ago. I loved going ‘long’ for the mere personal, individual test it involved. Most long distance races he has entered recently or intends to in the future were part of a plan, a deliberate attempt to wait until he knew he was ready for them. The event he directs his training to now is the World 100k Championship in Winschoten, Holland in September. While he doesn’t intend to set a record, as a member of the Canadian team, he hopes to get close to or under seven hours.
Most likely, David’s is a life that one day will be celebrated in a biographical tome. It is beyond the scope of this piece to do more than tickle the taste buds of interest in this marvel. Consider his range of interests and talents outside of athletics. He has traveled extensively throughout Europe where he worked as a teacher of English as a second language and a copy editor of a Chinese newspaper. He has published poetry, philosophical treatises and a book about the philosophy of commitment to be released in the late fall of 2004, Only One Ball. Among many other things, David is fascinated with European history, literature, art and heroes from disparate fields. Whether he is speaking or writing, he quotes them, tossing out their names as if each were his friends: Goethe, Irving Layton, Sir Randolph Fiennes, Earle the Pearle Monroe, Kurtz, George Sheehan, Seneca, Pascal, Eckhart, Primo Levi, Samuel Beckett, Nietzsche, Bruce Chatwin, Browning, T.S. Eliot, and others. Based on deeply held personal beliefs born of experience, reflection and study, David is a motivational speaker with expertise in the areas of commitment, self-competition and leadership.
Currently, David teaches physical education and ESL in Toronto’s public school system. He taught full-time last year, but is now a supply teacher. His teaching career came to him by happenstance. In 1990, while working as a steel rigger, he fell off a ladder from 8 metres up. Suffering multiple critical injuries, he was hospitalized for a long time. After a seven-month rest, he resumed running. A year after the accident he raced in Sunnybrook Park. It was the fastest 10k of his life: 32:20, I think.
Though David tried to return to steel work, severe headaches and a distaste for the menial, ‘easy’ tasks offered to him, prevented that. Since he was living in North Bay, and because there was a teachers’ college there, rather than do nothing, he enrolled. His first assignment was nightmarish: teaching high school geography to the class from Hell. He hated it. Seeking a simpler, more peaceful life, he fled North Bay, driving to Deep Cove, BC. Don’t ask me if he found serenity, or what he did in the interim; I didn’t ask. Of greater purport is the exciting new path he has chosen to follow in the months ahead.
David laments the appalling physical condition of our nation’s youth. In his Manifesto for an Active Canada he points out that ‘one in three Canadian children is overweight and their health at risk’…from…’type II diabetes, heart disease, cancer, asthma and respiratory diseases.’ He contends that not only do these obese youths face a shortened life span, but they are also prone to lethargy, depression, low self-esteem, criminal behavior and under-performance in school. To avoid an economic catastrophe from direct health and social costs, he recommends intervention by national corporate and government bodies directed at promoting an active, healthy life style for our young.
David believes that great athletes have a responsibility to effect change in others in terms of fitness and self-actualization. In return for their God-given gift, he asserts that they ought to give something back to benefit society. To that end he has undertaken some ambitious initiatives. David has founded a program similar to the now defunct Participaction. It is tailored to youth with upbeat, ‘hip’ ads to entice youngsters to get active. It’s called
TAKE PART.
His treadmill ultramarathons of 2003 and 2004 were not simply an exercise in self-aggrandizement. One could achieve that much less painfully. Primarily, through his stunts, he wants to get the message out…that we are miraculous creatures and capable of so much more. We set our bar so very low, and in so doing don’t ever live near our potential, don’t squeeze the real juice out of life.
At the end of June, there will be a running show at the CNE in Toronto. David has suggested that he might do a 48 hour treadmill run there: I really don’t want to pass up the opportunity to show others again what miracles each of us is. That we can do so much more than we think.
Ironically, the night that I sent this story to David for his perusal/comments, etc. he was suffering grievous pain from a messed up ankle, the result of over-exuberant soccer playing with students earlier in the day. The 48 hour treadmill attempt, therefore, is in jeopardy. I think Fate, David’s dearest soulmate, has intervened.
Next year he intends to follow in the footsteps of one of his heroes, the legendary ultrarunner, Al Howie. Daringly courageous, all ‘sinew and willpower,’ in 1991 at age 45 Al ran an average of two and a half marathons daily for 72 days in a cross-Canada trek.
David plans on doing it in 80 days over the spring/summer of ’05, but his endeavor is part of a much broader dream: ‘for each child to get a medal, to claim their own world, to be a winner.’ Working as executive director with the entrepreneur and founder, Lou Donato, for the love of kids, a private organization, was established. Funds raised through this body are and will continue to be funneled into programs to combat childhood obesity and its related diseases. David’s cross-Canada run will promote for the love of kids as well as the organization which he founded, Run for Hearts. The latter, a non-for-profit charitable body raises money to promote sports for children.
If you have read to this point, by now you are weary of the tease. Where are those #*%&@% tips? Like other runners, David is particular about the factors to which he attributes success in running. Cold baths and showers, endured for 8-10 minutes, as well as the ingestion of bee pollen, are his trade secrets. The training regimen he described to me is simple. It includes a 3-4 day per week gym routine with 20 -40 minutes of rowing to develop flexibility and core strength. For improving speed at short distances he advocates alternating two programs. In the first he runs full out for 15 to 20 minutes over 5k, then calls it a day. In the other he goes to a track and performs a drill during which intervals are not timed, but the overall time is recorded for comparative purposes. He jogs 200 metres, then runs 200 metres. Next, he jogs 200 metres, then runs 400 metres. He repeats this five times at 95% effort on the runs for a 5000 metre total.
To build endurance and ultimately speed at longer distances, David recommends applying a program developed by Dr. Philip Maffetone that relies on the use of a heart rate monitor. Maffetone advises runners to build a strong aerobic base by training at a heart rate that is at or near 180 minus their age. Followed religiously, this purportedly leads to faster running at the same heart rate but with little negative chemical response by the body. In layman’s terms it is about ‘running slower to run faster.’ A fuller report of the Maffetone method may be found at this website. Now that I’ve located my HR monitor, I’ll try it out and report back in the September edition.
Since it works for David, it’s worth a try.
In a recent note to me David offered his outlook on human potential: We all have a seed within us— potential. It is our perfect future. So many don’t see the seed come to flower. The goal of all life, the will, is to see the potential, this latent perfect future in the seed—see it bloom. David’s seed is a perennial. Accordingly, he has unearthed his potential, a bountiful and brilliant bouquet. May he continue to awe, inspire and motivate us, and may his potential be nurtured and redistributed for the continuing benefit of others for many years to come.
Here are a few articles about me.
Treadmill Champ Inspires Kids To Be Fit | Roadrunning Magazine: David | Sick Kids Hospital 24 hour Charity Run | Runner’s World | Men’s Health | I found this on an old hard drive. Speech I gave way back when, when I had my 15 minutes of fame. Breakfast Of Champions. Breakfast of Champions YMCA Speech
Thanks for sharing some of your running history. I used to always look at running as being boring but necessary training in order to be good at playing so many sports, which is something I did a lot of in my youth. Over the last decade or so I have become fond of jogging and fast walking. I am inspired by those such as yourself who've taken running to a higher level of accomplishment than most people have ever attempted to achieve.
Libor, will keep reading. Though my wine bottle runeth low but alas, all good things are lowly - we need to turn our eyes hither. Keep hammering. You seem very much like a modern George Fox or maybe even Wat Tyler. I do like so far, how you stir the pot. No stirring, things spoil.