A Passion for Running

I’m sore from head to toe this morning but feeling very satisfied about it since yesterday was the finale to an extremely challenging week.

The week began with last Saturday’s run completely draining my tank and leaving me feeling awful for pretty much the rest of the week. Add to that the stress of Christopher being sick and all of us not getting sleep and I was very out of sorts by the weekend. This Saturday, Lori and I went to her Gramma’s farm to help her parents clean things up so it is presentable for sale or rental (Lori’s Gramma passed away in November). I must have walked up and down the basement stairs a hundred times carrying junk out of that house. Once the basement was finished, we cleaned about 50 years worth of junk out of the farm yard. I did a lot of lifting and carrying and the day ended around 7:00 when I finally got home and drug my tired carcass to bed.

I woke up Sunday morning tired and dehydrated and prepared myself to run in the Energy Capital Half-Marathon Championships. All I could think was, “what the HELL am I doing?”. The odds were stacked against me in terms of getting a PR or even doing well but I resolved to run the race one step at a time and just see what the running gods would have to say. Prior to the week, my goal for this race had been to run it in 1:45 or better – I had no idea if that goal would be anywhere close to possible but I thought if I did it today after the past week’s challenges, it would be a tremendous accomplishment.

I got to the start line with Tom and Aaron and, as expected, the beginning of the race was brutal. My two friends pulled away from me in the first 4km – not by much though since I could still see them but I knew they were maintaining the 8 minute per mile pace we were all seeking whereas I was a bit better than an 8:30 mile. By the fifth kilometer, I had stabilized my pace into 8 min/mile but still felt awful. My right calf was rock hard and hurt immensely and my right quad wasn’t much better. Still, I knew if I could just keep running, the pain would likely subside between 40 and 60 minutes into the run (experience talking!).

I persevered for 57 minutes like that…in extreme pain – step by step.

On the 58th minute I realized the pain was going away and I turned my focus away from myself to passing other runners. I used the old fishing imagery trick. I’d cast my line out and reel in a runner – then another and another. From that point on, noone passed me and I consistently passed others.

Then, around 16km I got a surprise – sister Corinne was standing at a water station waiting for me. I was confused. I knew she had a faster time goal in mind so I wondered what the heck she was doing. She explained it “wasn’t her day” and that when she realized she was in pain and wasn’t going to achieve her goal, she decided it was time to have some fun with the run and to hook up with “big brother”. I was happy to be running with Corinne and we carried on cheerily. The first kilometer together was a bit slow as we caught up on the chit-chat but then we got back to business and began passing more runners at a steady 5min/km, 8min/mile pace.

We reeled in a couple of friends – first, we caught Ken who had passed me very early in the race. Next, it was Jason. He, like Corinne, had gone out much faster than I. Corinne and I encouraged him to finish with us but he just couldn’t hang in there and dropped away after a couple hundred meters.

Then, a funny tug-of-war thing happened between us and one of the runners. We approached a young girl and when we got beside her, she surged ahead again. I looked over at Corinne and wondered aloud if she drove like that too. This little game happened two more times over a stretch of a kilometer or two. I wasn’t sure what was going on in this gal’s mind but I THINK she had decided she didn’t want anyone to pass her in the last few kilometers. I think that is a fine strategy to have in a race but I also believe you can’t set yourself up to “die on that hill” either which is what she eventually did. We passed her around 19km going up a hill that bended around a corner. She responded by elbowing past Corinne on the inside lane like she was running a hundred meter dash! Corinne and I were dumbfounded but kept running a strong, steady pace. At the crest of the hill, I decided I’d had enough and pushed harder. Corinne was happy to oblige and we surged ahead of the girl and “put her away”. A minute later, she was completely out of site. Her mental strategy had obviously doomed her. She would have been better off to not to have put so much at stake in preventing others from passing her.

Anyway, the last two kilometers were tough but we finished them strong. I finished in 1 hour 47 minutes which turns out to be about an 8:10min/mile pace overall and which means I ran a good negative split. Corinne, of course, was right by my side – a nice bonus since she and I had never finished a race together!

Aaron had a tremendous run. He finished around 1:43 but is afraid he may have paid the price by doing serious damage to his knee. My prayers are with him. Tom was happy with his run too having finished in 1:45.

I’m very pleased with my effort having gone into the race tired and having such a horrible start. This past Sunday, my mind conquered my body – it was “mind over matter”! I’m also happy because over the last few races, I’ve learned I’m a much better finisher than starter – something I’m just fine with!

Bring on the next run…

P.S. Sunday, AFTER the race, Aaron helped me move a fridge and stove out of my home and replace them with newer appliances from Lori’s Gramma’s house – more lifting! I’m tired!!!